The Smiley Smile Message Board

wanted to hear Keep an Eye on Summer tonight.  Played the original followed by the Imagination version.  I know this has been discussed many times over in the past on this forum.  But  in listening to and reading the Imagination packaging I was reminded (correctly?) that Brian did all of the lead and background vocals.  No one else sang.   I am having warm feelings about this album  and Joe Thomas.  this is some sweet music that I think has not been fully appreciated on its own merits.  I find myself wondering about some of the Joe Thomas bashing I have heard over the years.  He gave us this and TWGMTR.   These are arguably the best sounding BBs related LPs in the post 90s catalogue.  KAEOS remake is just as sweet as it sounded in 1998.  I hope the new BW lp is anywhere close to the staying power of this.  would like to hear some current commentary, in retrospect on this material from you folks who share my obsession with this music

I'm with you Donald...

I love Brian's vocals on this album..... the best he has done since I reckon....

his ballad and falsetto shine on the album.....

I dig the 'accapella' 'imagination' probably the most...... Brian magic!

the production work is debateable I guess, I like it...... but it is very 'digital'...... but it was 98' thou....

great tunes on there, actually, not one I don't like......... but I am a BW fan thou...  ::)

RickB

I have a soft spot for a lot of this album, as much as I simultaneously criticize a lot of it. I wish it weren't wall-of-Brian, but considering it is, it isn't bad. My issues with it are generally more in instrumentation and production. Still, even considering those, the aforementioned soft spot remains. It has its sweetness. I was a newish serious fan around that time and found what sounded to me like a depth of emotion in some of those songs, and a brilliance of pop in others.

What's astounding is how long ago it was done. Sixteen years now! That is a substantial block of time.

Joe Thomas is the biggest nitwit on planet Earth. He cannot produce music that sounds like music. He cannot find his ass with a map.

I am legitimately a better producer than Joe Thomas. Most of you probably are, too.

I'm interested in this ass-map. I'll take a Beyonce.

I really like Imagination. It was the first BBs release after i became a fan. I remember BBC Radio 2 previewing a different song each day for a week pre-release.

I like the nylon-string guitars and the production as a whole, but I'm not a fan of the soft pad sounding drums.

The Sgt Pepper-ish touches on the tag of Your Imagination are a real highlight. Lay Down Burden and Cry are beautiful. Sherry She Needs Me was handled gently. South American is an insanely catchy pop song.

Probably my favourite BW solo album, along with Gershwin.

I like the first two cuts on the CD a lot. Overall though it's a bit too "adult contemporary" for my tastes.

The vocals do sound pretty good, but you can tell a lot of studio trickery was involved to get them to sound the way they do.

I would love to see BW re-record "Dream Angel" as a lullabye. I don't have a daughter, but I imagine if I did that would be one song I'd sing to her at night.

I think I enjoy the senior Brian having a shot at some of the old chestnuts of his catalogue.  The concept has worked with others.   I'm talking studio rerecordings  , not live performances.  who better to rerecord , with due respect to these "filler" tracks from a bygone era,  these neglected songs , than the original artist?       I'm thinking of Keep an Eye on Summer reimagined by Brian and , just what if he redid Betsy, as Mike and Scotty have so successfully done?   

Think you'll find he already did that, and to no real end...

Think he meant a re-re-record

The "end" is that I find the rerecording to be very pleasant listening.  An older, more mature voice, and a nice arrangement. 

Meh - glad that you like it, but it had no place on that album. "Soon we'll be graduatng" was a good lyric for Brian in 1964 (and even then....not that good!), but in 1998, it's quite silly.

would that be sillier than BW singing "I Loves You Porgy"? (another very pretty song)