The Smiley Smile Message Board

Discuss, review and rate Musicares: A Tribute to Brian Wilson, released February 6, 2007.

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I have the "All-Star Tribute to Brian Wilson" on DVD and enjoy it very much. It featured mega-stars like Elton John, Billy Joel, David Crosby, and Carly Simon among others. I was a little hesitant on this DVD since, being an old geezer, I hadn't heard of half the performers. I needn't have worried. The performances are stellar and prove that Brian's music stands on its own merits regardless of who performs it or what decade it's performed in.

The Red Hot Chili Peppers' performance wasn't particularly inspired but things really take off after that. I enjoyed Richie Sambora's rendition of "City Blues" and Jamie Cullum's version of "Sail On Sailer" was incredible. John Legend did a masterful job on "I Just Wasn't Made For These Times", even vocalizing the theramin part at the end of the song. The Backstreet Boys were a pleasant surprise with their performance of "When I Grow Up To Be A Man". Shelby Lynne was pretty low-key, but did a repectable job on "Surfer Girl".

Being a stickler for lyrics, it troubled me that Michael McDonald flubbed the lyrics to one of Brian's prettiest ballads, "Don't Worry Baby". But his vocal was very good as was Billy Preston's collaboraton on organ. Jeff Beck did a lovely version of "Surf's Up" on guitar and then proceeded to really rock out on "Surfin' USA" along with Jeffrey Foskett's lead vocal.

Earth, Wind, & Fire performed nicely on "Don't Talk, Put Your Head on My Shoulder", followed by Darlene Love's very upbeat version of "Wouldn't It Be Nice". Brian's band got to solo on "Pet Sounds", and then it was time for the big man himself to appear on stage.

Brian and his band played rollicking versions of "Heroes and Villians", "Good Vibrations (with SMiLE lyrics), "Fun Fun Fun", and Brian's normal show-closer "Love and Mercy".

It was great to see another video of Brian and his killer band. I saw them live in the summer of 2005 and they are amazing. The audio and visual quality of this DVD is very good. If you enjoy the music of Brian Wilson and the Beach Boys, you'll love this DVD and the refreshing versions of his music performed by very talented musicians.

Hmmm - sadly I was left feeling a little non-plussed after viewing this DVD. I agree that there ARE some decent performances - UK's very own Jamie Cullum was a real treat, whilst Earth Wind & Fire performed a lovely jazzy-arrangement to "Don't Talk", and the Backstreet's take on "When I Grow Up" was surprisingly fun-filled ... but the overall feel was a considerable let-down for me, especially after the previous 'Tribute' concert that worked so well ...
Brian looked great - even tho' his 'speech/read-through' was so rushed that the organisers must have been left feeling a tad-bewildered, but his brief set-list was nicely held together by the usual stellar-team behind him. It was noticeable however that so few people knew the lyrics to "Fun Fun Fun" during the all-star show closer !  :-\

I always cringe when I see Brian having to speak in public.  He does fairly well with concert "small talk" when seated behind his keyboard, but at a podium he has that "deer in the headlights" look.

Rather than wait for the applause to die down, he launched right into his spiel and when the applause subsided he was already done and walking away.  I imagine the Musicares people were going "Huh?"  :)

Just one of those things that make us want to take Brian home with us.

I ordered it today... And even though I hate John Legend with a passion and think that Jamie Cullum's version of Everlasting Love was the worst cover song ever by anyone of anything, I'm looking forward to it.

Red Hot Chili Peppers - I Get Around: Pretty good. They stayed very close to the original and did a good job.
Shelby Lynne - Surfer Girl: Very decent.
Backstreet Boys - When I Grow Up: I hate to admit it, but they did an excellent job.
Earth, Wind & Fire - Don't Talk: I didn't really like what they did to the song. They totally changed the structure.
Michael McDonald & Billy Preston - Don't Worry Baby: McDonald completely messed up the lyrics - he got them wrong in every single verse. Too bad, cause otherwise it sounded pretty great.
John Legend - I Just Wasn't Made For These Times: I really don't like his style of singing, so I couldn't really enjoy this.
Richie Sambora - City Blues: Decent version of a mediocre song.
Jamie Cullum - Sail On Sailor: Excellent.
Barenaked Ladies - Brian Wilson/Til I Die: Excellent.
Jeff Beck - Surf's Up: I think it sounded weird with backing vocals but without lead vocals (he played the vocal parts on his guitar).
Jeff Beck - Surfin' USA: Jeff Foskett on lead vocals and Beck on lead guitar. Pretty good.
Darlene Love - Wouldn't It Be Nice: Pretty good too.

4. I really enjoyed the Chili Peppers. The only "meh" moment for me was Michael McDonald who ALWAYS bores me to tears no matter what he does. ;D

behind the scenes bonus? more like a promo for music cares

Yeh I hate when companies do that. But yeh I didn't mind this DVD wasn't too bad. Not as good as the other Tribute DVD but still nice enough nonetheless

Overall I like this dvd..Not as strong as 1st one but enjoyable...Beck on Surfs Up is brilliant..Sambora rocks City blues nicely also..No bad performances at all.. Looks to me between both tributes that they show BW music reaches out to everyone..No matter what race.. If this was the point they succeed nicely...!!

Just watching this again, does anyone else agree with me that on Jeff Beck's performance of "Surf's Up", Jeff Foskett shouldn't have done the "by gone, by gone" bit? I don't know, it sort of spoils it a bit for me, they should've just left it all instrumental until at least the fade.

A lot of things bug me about Jeff Beck's appearance.

Why?

Didn't Neil Young perform "In My Room" at this very concert?  Guess he got edited out.

The Michael McDonald performance would have been great had he not botched all the lyrics up.