The Smiley Smile Message Board

I have not seen any news on Brian's second Disney album for quite some time.  Has it been recorded?  When will it be released?

Good call. IIRC it was planned for early 2011, and that might imply that recording is imminent (assuming that, had it been started already, or even finished, someone here with the initials AGD would have told us so...)

I would ?  :o

I mean, yes, I would.  ;D

It will come out when the crow cries uncover the cornfield.

The new pending release date is for Feb 2, 2189.

What's the rush? BWRG is only just out... and the Big Man has released a raft of fine albums in recent years.

Give him chance!

I bet they'll market this one better. (http://sae.tweek.us/static/images/emoticons/rolleyes.gif)

Couldn't be marketed any worse.

please quit blaming BW's chart failure on poor marketing.

Speaking as one who was disappointed in the final product, I still think the marketing was terrible.  If it had been better would it have sold more?  Well, we'll never know. As for the new one, I'm not interested in Disney, particularly the syrupy, sappy stuff, but I'll buy it because it's Bri (after all, I bought Dylan's Christmas album because it was Bob, not for the two decent songs on it) - but someone please tell me when it comes out in case I miss it!

Nobody on this thread has blamed marketing on BWRG's chart failure, at least not yet. It was marketed poorly once the album was released. That's all anybody's saying as of now.

Also, "Must Be Santa" is an awesome song. I think Brian should have returned the favour of Dylan guesting on "Spirit of Rock and Roll" and showed up on that late-career gem! :lol

So how many copies of BWRG have sold so far?

Less than 100,000 worldwide.

Yikes....it sold less than The Wilsons?! By comparison, how much (or little!) did GIOMH sell?

Roughly the same.

To be fair, all albums sell much worse now. The market is far smaller than it was even five years ago. Certainly smaller than it was 10 years ago.

Good point...the time where physical CD sales have gone the way of the Dodo are very close...

Not a good thing. Sorry, I'm old school...I like the feel of unwrapping the sonofabitch in the car.

Same here. But I would predict that CDs, as do LPs, will continue to be a niche market. There will always be sound buffs and high end freaks, and lovers of the physical like you and me. The great unwashed never care for aesthetics and quality, so we must be the bearers of the torch.

Neil Young's foray into the sound-a-delic world of Blu-Ray seems to be half-hearted now, as hi new album has only just come out on Blu-Ray, only in the US, and has no more content than the DVD edition.  Which will seriously aggrieve fans like myself who've bought a player an Archives 1 on Blu-Ray for the supposed high quality an extra content he was selling.

Another kick in the ass for lovers of the physical.

I have a friend at WEA, or whatever it's called now, and he just told me that industry-wide, sales are down 12.5% as compared to last year. which I imagine was down from the year previous.

 We're sure to sell a million units — in January!

Screw Disney...where's the rock and roll album??!!! Bathrobes, coke, grunting, Shortenin' Bread, cigarettes going pffft in the toilet, a fast rock and roll song showing up as the bridge of a slow romantic ballad, farting Moogs...

Where are all the 8 track tape collectors?

Here, sir.

Amateurs. It's all about the wax cylinders ;D

Ask Melinda

Let's face it, those days are probably over once and for all and in terms of the coke and the cigarettes it's probably better this way... Personally, however, I think that BW's latter-day solo creations really could use a lot more of the man's trademark eccentric humor. Dust off the vintage Moog synth if it helps, it's a beautiful instrument anyway.

I feel like sometimes his musical approach comes across as trying too hard to sound like a Brian Wilson record. Also, I feel that his soul is in a more classically refined space rather than a Rock n' Roll-type of urgency head space. I do wonder what would happen if you gave him a pot of coffee and a bottle of wine...could he handle that or is it strictly Apple juice and Hummus at this point....?

Think we should all bear in mind that Brian's idea of rock & roll might not be the same as Chuck Berry's or Nick Lowe's.

We must be realistic. A man with Brian's medical history, at age 68, should really not use coke, cigarettes, and what-have-you to please us fans. I for one would feel like a voyeur, a pimp, or worse, but not a genuine music fan and admirer, if I would secretly harbour that wish.

Moreover, I deeply doubt whether substances would make Brian produce another type of music. At his age, he'd probably do nothing anymore.

Scott Bennett talks about Brian coming over to his home studio and having a Corona before working on the demos that would become TLOS.  So it looks like Brian has the odd drink from time to time.  Of course we all remember the "Van Dyke Parks is the biggest butthole!" incident of the mid-90s.  Interesting that Brian drinks from time to time considering his history with alcohol abuse.  Although there are cases of alcoholics taking sabbaticals and then returning as very moderate and safe drinkers.  So who knows?  It did make me smile to think of Scott and Brian havin' a few beers and hangin' out...just bein' boys.  And then creating some fine music.

While I don't drink it all the time, I think Corona is a nice tasting beer and I don't feel like it's odd at all.  Now if you'd said Woodchuck Cider  or Tsing Tao, that would be odd. 

This guy said to me once that Brian's new album, the Disney album would be done "in a rock style"..."whatever that means!"??

I'm exceptionally curious as to what will be on this album. When you Wish Upon a Star i think is obvious, and it'll be a nice itnerview point when he can talk about how it inspired Surfer Girl.

Just watch the rest of the album be covers from Pocahontas and the Aristocats.

*insert Shortenin' Bread joke*

A one hour version of 'Heigh Ho' is a good idea.

I think "someday my prince will come" would be a natural after "I loves you Porgy"
Miles Davis did well with it, why not BW?

Do we really care how much Brian's albums sell, at this point? Most of the public don't know or don't care to learn more about the names "Gershwin" OR "Brian Wilson." At the point, I think his only option for worldwide fame as a solo artist would be to team up with a "current" name, like Santana did in the 90s. That song Santana did with Third Eye Blind or whatever it was sold, but it kind of sucked. I'd rather Brian do his thing and stop worrying about sales. There are lots of good albums that barely sell. There are lots of horrible albums that sell millions. The Gershwin album was good.

While Brian may be happy with "good" , any company offering his releases would obviously rather sell millions. 
And since I don't sense Brian/Melinda wanting to handle their own sales/distribution, some middle ground would be the best, if we expect to continue to see product from Brian. 

But do the companies that sign Brian actually expect/seriously think it's possible that a BW album will be a big seller, a smash, a commercial success? (Yes, BWPS and TLOS charted relatively high but dropped out or into the lower regions of the charts rather quickly.) Have Disney commented on the sales on BWRG?

I wouldn't be surprised if the next Disney album doesn't happen. Planning a follow up release that far ahead never goes quite right in the music business. Things change too often.