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Brian Wilson That Lucky Old Sun

Brian mentioned in an interview that the Smile tour that began in 2004 really got his creative juices flowing. There is definitely a similarity in the way that Smile and That Lucky Old Sun flow together. Most of all, to me, Brian seems more emotionally into it than Imaginations or Gettin in Over My Head. His voice is the best it has been in over 25 years in my opinion. This is a concept album based around the title song. Several songs Brian collaborated with band member Scott Bennett. Brian's Smile collaborator, Van Dyke Parks, also wrote lyrics for the spoken word sections of the album. I believe That Lucky Old Sun will only grow in reputation over time. I feel that Brian has created a masterpiece once again.

THAT LUCKY OLD SUN (Released Sept 2008)

1. That Luck Old Sun (Gillespie/Smith)                                                         8
2. Morning Beat (Wilson/Bennett)                                                                7
3. Room With a View (Wilson/Parks)                                                          10
4. Good Kind of Love (Wilson)                                                                     9
5. Forever She'll Be My Surfer Girl (Wilson/Bennett)                                       9
6. Venice Beach (Wilson/Parks)                                                                   10
7. Live Let Live/That Lucky Old Sun-reprise (Wilson/Parks-Gillespie/Smith)     10
8. Mexican Girl (Wilson/Bennett)                                                                  6
9. Cinco De Mayo (Wilson/Parks)                                                                 10
10. California Role/That Lucky Old Sun - reprise (Wilson/Bennett-Gillespie/Smith)      8
11. Between Pictures (Wilson/Parks)                                                            10         
12. Oxygen to the Brain (Wilson/Bennett)                                                      9
13. Can't Wait Too Long (Wilson)                                                                 8
14. Midnight's Another Day (Wilson/Bennett)                                               10
15. That Lucky Old Sun-reprise (Gillespie/Smith)                                          8
16. Going Home (Wilson/Bennett)                                                               8
17. Southern California (Wilson/Bennett)                                                    9

Album average:                                                                                     8.8

Generally, I like this album. Not as much as 88, though the production is clearly better.

The spoken doggerel, I can take or leave. Really don't like Goin' Home or Mexican Girl or Oxygen to the Brain.

The spoken word and reprises are essentially filler. Without them the record wouldn't be a full length.

I'd too thought about this before. In my mind TLOS always seemed like a really long album but then one day I finally tallied it up and figured out there's really only ten "full songs" and honestly, it does seem a bit short, and in reality kinda weak, as I think stuff like "Mexican Girl" and "California Role" is a bit cheesy, and a few of the other songs just kinda underdeveloped.

I suppose when you add in all the bonus tracks though it becomes a bit more substantial.

It is interesting with the Brian narration. Strong feelings.  I enjoy it because for so long we didn't hear from Brian, so it was like a long-gone friend returning from a journey.  And of the work, I like the Wilson/Bennett stuff best.  He seemed to really get into "The Beach Boys zone" during C50, and seems that he is a real fan, as well. 

TLOS is Brian's story of The Beach Boys.  It was a real treat to see it live.   ;)

My favorite tracks are California Role and Oxygen, don't care for Mexican Girl.  Who actually produced this album?

I love this album, I do. My favourite solo album by Brian after BW88, and I was thrilled by the Van Dyke participation.

For me, the spoken interludes are colourful and vibrant and fresh and keep the album rolling along simply and beautifully.

(Only one track I usually skip, 'Morning Beat', of which I find the melody a bit sluggish.)

When someone mentions length of an album, it's purely subjective. An album can be too long, but rarely too short. regardless...

38:01 Full LP
32:25 10 Song LP

I gave the spoken words high marks because the sum is better than it's parts. The Lucky Old Sun sections and Been Too Long are great, but I tend to grade down on covers or old songs. But they all work well together.

Exactly - they give the album the perfect imagery that it needs. TLOS is a story of California, and VDPs words seem to fit right in.

I really hope that Brian does more concept albums like this.

The endearing thing about the spoken interludes, at least to me, is that no matter how many times I've heard them, it always sounds like he's seeing them for the very first time as he reads them,  :)

I don't mind Brian's reading, I just find the words a little forced.

Was a really nice album when it came out! I wish the lyrics to "Goin' Home" weren't as cliched, the "turned out the light" bit makes me cringe. The low points for me are "Forever..." and "California Role" whereas I absolutely love "The Good Kind of Love" and the "I'm Into Something Good" cover. Don't mind the narrative bits, should've been read out by Parks instead, however. Anyway, this was so much better than stuff like the Christmas album. Like urbanite, I'd like to know who actually (co-) produced the album.

Definitely more than the sum of its parts, but some of it goes a bit runny... even the songs I like have parts I'm not entirely sure about.

Once the bonus songs are included - Message Man, for example - things look up enormously.

There are issues with the sequencing and selection of material. The original version of Live Let Live should have gone in. So a reworked TLOS for me would be


That Lucky Old Sun      
Morning Beat
Between Pictures      
Oxygen To The Brain   
Can't Wait Too Long   
Venice Beach   
Live Let Live/That Lucky Old Sun (Reprise)                  
Good Kind Of Love         
Midnight's Another Day      
That Lucky Old Sun (Reprise)   
Just Like Me And You            
I'm Into Something Good    
Message Man
Southern California   


but even with this, there are bits which are a little bit sketchy. so it goes...

Agree about Mexican Girl, not really into the whole Spanish guitars/mariachi thing. Others, though, are great, Oxygen to the Brain especially very charming.

Re I'm into Something Good, it'd be nice without Carole King. Don't like her voice at all which is a shame given Tapestry is a strong album, from musical standpoint. Herman's Hermits is classic.

I think the weaknesses on here are some Mike Love ish lyrics "Forever you'll be my surfer girl" and the part about "singing with my brothers supporting each other" tries to be a touching moment, but comes off a little cheesey. But I am willing to over look bad lyrics if the music is good. Like "California Girls"  :)

No cheese, here, in my opinion with the "singing with my brothers..." I think it makes it so real that Brian does articulate that theme.  It is a family-based band with that commonality of experiences.  It is the dynamic. Oldest-achiever, middle-child (syndrome) and baby of the family.  And powerful images of the brothers, on the screen as they performed it live. 

Too bad, Mike didn't do the lyrics. He is the best!

But, great as a solo project and Bennett did a good job. 

Glad you started the discussion on this one and GIOMH.   ;)

Gotta love someone who gives Mike a kicking for lyrics he didn't write.

No... wait... no, you don't, because it's pure, 100%, undiluted Bloo mentality at work. Dumb, dumber and dumberest. Seriously, that's about the flatout dumbest comment I've read here that wasn't by OSD or one of his lackeys. Think I'll take to blaming Brian for the global economic crisis. Seems fair to me...

I don't think it is that bad of a comment, MTR is just saying the song has lyrics in the cheesy Mike Love style.

I think that it would have been more interesting if Van Dyke did the spoken parts and make it  a Wilson/Parks cd.....

A mistype there. Fish was suppose to be ish.  I didn't mean Mike wrote the lyrics, I meant that there are moments that remind me of something he would write.

I want to point out that Mike has written good lyrics as well. Warmth of the Sun, Good Vibrations, Let the Wind Blow and Big Sure to name a few. And Brian has written some awful lyrics on Love You and other post 70s songs.

Not criticizing this thread, but the place where it was posted bothers me:

Are we going to flood the main board with review threads? There is a full section of this messageboard dedicated specifically to album reviews. Just saying. :(

The only spoken word piece that works for me is "Cinco De Mayo", I think that's pretty cool, the rest sucks.

I love this album, wore the cd out when it first got released.

At least it has people talking about the music. Better than talking about Paul McCartney surely.

I think this album indicates that even with Brian`s solo stuff that the managers realized that including Beach Boys themed stuff about the sun, surfer girls and California was the best tactic to try to sell CDs.

Generally it is done pretty well though (except for Mexican Girl) and Scott Bennett clearly played a huge role both lyrically and musically.

TLOS is the best Beach Boys record they never made.

Seconded.  It's uncanny how easy it is to hear how the parts would have been handed out -- from Mike chiming in on the "mow mamayama" hook to Bruce on the final bridge of "Southern California"...  Probably Al on "California Role", or maybe "Live Let Live"...  Mike, Brian, and Al trading off couplets on "Morning Beat", and everyone taking lines on "Southern California".  Course, if Mike actually sang the "Hey bonita muchacha / Dontcha know that I wantcha" lines in "Mexican Girl", we'd never hear the end of it!

Brian's voice is probably the best it's sounded since the sixties here too...

Cheers,
Jon Blum

I think the production on the Gershwin album is miles better (Al Schmitt?) giving Brian's original/semi-original tracks much more depth. It's not without its issues, TLOS... though I love bits of it. [adds: if they could get Schmitt to manage the re-recording, mixing and production of the Paley songs it would be  :afro ]

Al Schmitt remixed the album (why, I have no idea - the original mix was perfectly fine and, TBH, almost indistinguishable from the released version): he had nothing whatsoever to do with the recording and production.

Originally I was just posting a link to my Facebook page, but some people aren't on Facebook so they asked me to post the whole thing here. It is mainly for my Facebook fans that don't know much about Brian Wilson but interested in learning more about it.

"TLOS is the best Beach Boys record they never made."

Hell yeah!  I really adore this album, the only bad thing I can say about it is that it's not a full on BBs album.  Because, man, that would have been amazing.  Imagine if instead of TWGMTR (which I also truly love), the reunion album we got had been "The Beach Boys starring in That Lucky Old Sun"... a focused, themed album, nostalgic but modern, happy, melancholy, poppy, deep, silly, meaningful, SMiLEy.   It would've been the Beach Boys truly making ART again, and I think general audiences might've been a little more blown away than the generally positive but totally not blown away reaction TWGMTR generated.

Instead, it's just Brian, which is still perfectly fine.  :)

And damnit, I love Mexican Girl!  And I love Forever You'll Be My Surfer Girl!! 

Also, while I must to admit to being a life-long card-carrying atheist, I can't help but always joyfully sing along to this....

"I got a notion we come from the ocean and GOODDDDDD ALLLLLMIIIIIIGGGGHHTTTYYYY... has his hands on the water!"

Oh Brian Wilson, one of the few people that can make light-spirituality work for me  :)

I'm with you on all of this. Nice post! :)

He's accredited with production, must be nice work if you can get it :-)

I think TLOS sounds a bit flat by comparison, though I'm not sure whether or not this relates to something or someone different involved with BWRG... has anyone got the vinyl of TLOS? How does this compare with the CD? Is it a good pressing?

I'm looking at the CD booklet now, and he's not. His only credit is "mixed by". Disney requested a remix and nominated him. He did no production work whatsoever. Suggest you stop digging that hole.  :old

http://www.discogs.com/buy/Vinyl/Brian-Wilson-Reimagines-Gershwin/152644734?ev=bp_titl was my (unreliable?) source for this...

on the other hand, the fact I don't like the sound of TLOS is simply an opinion, right? No holes, or assertions.

Album Liner Notes - Reimagines Gershwin (http://aln3.albumlinernotes.com/Reimagines_Gershwin.html)

I've checked this against the CD booklet (five minutes ago) and the relevant part is transcribed with 100% accuracy.

You any kin to a certain female bass player ? I ask because you seem hell-bent on not believing a thing I say.

Well, it says 'ere:

Producer, Mixed By – Al Schmitt

which makes him (a) producer of the record, right? 'Cos producers normally do the mixing? Ultimately I think it's a semantic point, but can we have an arm-wrestle over it?

probably the main point here is that BWRG has a less plastic, or at least, more refined sound than TLOS, to these ears at least. And Brian's vocals sound better, generally. (Of course, I think the lyrics are also better, but that's another point for another slow Wednesday afternoon).

You're quoting from a website. I'm quoting from the actual credits of the album. No, wait, I can do better than that:

(https://scontent-a-lhr.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-prn1/t1.0-9/10170785_1420417144894560_2743178672154768597_n.jpg)

Not the worlds best scan, but the salient information is easily discernable, at least to those with the eyes and smarts to see. Does it say "Produced by Al Schmitt" ? No sir, it does not.

From an 8/17/2010 online article by Peter Ames Carlin:

"When Wilson finally felt comfortable enough to invite the Disney executives to listen to the all-but-finished album this spring, their reaction was so positive he wept with relief. “We realized instantly we had something very special,” [Disney label chief Jim] Weatherson says So special, in fact, that Weatherson decided to pay vaunted engineer Al Schmitt to re-mix Wilson’s original finished tracks."

But, if you want to continue making an ass of yourself, please carry on. You're doing an excellent job, btw.

It is good, but not amazing.  Definitely an improvement over the cd but it isn't stunning in the way BWPS is on vinyl, for example.

The (Gershwin) producer credit was just entered incorrectly on discogs.  I just looked at my record and BW is the only credited producer.  Schmitt is only credited with the mix.

Do you own the CD? Check that CD first. Why would you ever trust what is on the Internet over the actual booklet? Just  because some smoe wrote "Producer, Mixed By" doesn't mean it is so.

It is quite possible that the details in Discogs are wrong, as I initially acknowledged. I'm not the one using green ink.

"http://www.discogs.com/buy/Vinyl/Brian-Wilson-Reimagines-Gershwin/152644734?ev=bp_titl was my (unreliable?) source for this..."

Can people take a deep breath, perhaps? Before inventing a conflict, when one doesn't actually exist? What's in the water on the Surrey/Hants border these days?

Nope. Your knowledge of how an album is recorded is... sorely ill-informed.  ;D

Duly noted - do you think it's worth going for BWPS vinyl over and above the Smile Sessions vinyl? (sorry for going a bit OT)

I haven't been here for a while, I'd forgotten what it was like sometimes  :-X

See Reply 38. You asked the question and now we're setting you straight on the answer. You had no problem trying to set AGD straight when you thought that you were right. That sh*t works both ways, you know. ;)

Plus, you should know better than to question stuff like that in here. Most of us know this stuff already and if we don't, we go and check.

Actually, yeah.  The Smile Sessions does sound better than the cd, but BWPS is night and day.  It's so far ahead of the cd it's shocking.  One of the best sounding LPs period.  This is the US pressing btw.  I haven't heard a European pressing but those that have both say it's not as impressive.

I'm kind of surprised at the disdain the spoken word parts receive.  I kind of like it.  Most of the people on this board pride themselves in being nuanced, sophisticated musicphiles so I would think that most of the snob... urgh... FANS on here would enjoy something as artsy fartsy as a spoken word interlude lacing tracks together :)

I think it's worth mentioning too that when Brian recorded this, he was in the habit of touring and performing FULL albums... so when he performed this album live, it had video and slideshows, etc. to accompany the spoken word parts.  It was more than just an album, it was toured around and presented as an art performance. 

I never understood the criticism, either, of saying the album isn't long enough.  Says who?  If an album only has 3 songs, what is there to complain about unless you're complaining about the cost.

I thought it was a pretty damn solid album.  I can't even call out any weak spots on it... Live let Live was great; Forever (she'll be my surfer girl) was fantastic I thought.  Oxygen to the Brain I loved, It sounds like Brian making fun of his fat, sleepy 70's caricature.  It sounds like Fantasia, there's so much going on with the horns and everything it sounds like Mickey conducting the mops and everything around while his hands swirl around his head.  At least that's what I see when I hear it!  Midnight's another day is great; Mexican girl I enjoyed...

Another interesting thing that I thought about back when the album came out, was that it kind of lines up with Brian's life.  I dont' know if he purposefully does that but I've noticed that a few times in his music. 

So for instance, Morning beat is his birth... Good Kind of Love represents the sweetness of his teenage years, forming the band... Forever She'll be my Surfer Girl of course represents his life with Marilyn... Live Let Live represents the peak of his creative years, mid late 60's.... Mexican Girl fills in for the years when he was at his weirdest (mid 70's) it's almost a Love You outake.... California Role represents the polished cheese of the 80's...   Oxygen to the Brain Brian's talking about overcoming his insanity and represents all the therapy years with Landy... Midnight's another day is about coping with Carl dying, and the rebirth of Brian's life with Melinda and the children... Going Home is about his twilight years that he's living right now... and Southern California is a little reprise of his life.  "Glad it happened to me...."


Or I could just be imagining it. 

..I heard that .the original mix by ? of Gershwin was so bad it was deemed unreleaseable by the label and Schmitt agreed when he heard it.

Indeed ? That's not what I've been told by people who've actually heard the original mix (which was by Brian, Darian & Nicky, btw - check the album credits). My understanding is that it is all but indistinguishable from what was released.

Yeah, I think that's just your imagination runnin' wild.

My understanding is Al Schmitt told several people the original mix was total shite which is why he was hired to remix it. And why else would the label spend all that extra $$ if the first mix was any good? You don't fix what isn't broken , and Schmitt's name doesn't sell records .

But it does win Grammys, which I think was Disney's goal. Al S's name is also pretty prominent on the packaging.

Me, too. I used to say the BW88 was his best album, but the production is a bit dated. TLOS may prove to hold up better through the years.