The Smiley Smile Message Board

Sounds promising!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6UHx_95I9Ic

Brian's voice sounds great. Don't really hear any autotune.

Sounds good

Nice that he didn't lower the key. I dig that. He sounds a little loud and shouty, but it's not the easiest song in the world to sing, so I think it sounds pretty good.

I couldn't tell if the counterpoint vocal lines were being done by Brian, or doubled by somebody else.

There's no blatant, vocoder-like autotune on it, although it's possible some of those counterpoint/background vocals are processed or autotuned a bit.

Nice vocals, Brian's a bit shouty on the loud bit...  but yeah, it's got that magic!

Cheers,
Jon Blum

I can't stand Maccaman's version of this choon but Brianized I can't stop listening to it, mad or what?!

Thanks for this. Love it!   :)

I relate.

Paul's version does nothing for me (like most of his solo material) but I'm loving the sound of Brian's take on it

Here's a shorter preview on Instagram (different section from the youtube preview):  http://instagram.com/p/tYEGOPlTdt/?modal=true (http://instagram.com/p/tYEGOPlTdt/?modal=true)

(https://fbcdn-sphotos-b-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xpa1/v/t1.0-9/10646937_1486737318276709_4171843685090885559_n.jpg?oh=dba682ad5ee20e348658fec162badc9c&oe=54CA216F&__gda__=1418439941_36803455e7a0e48741de19b57a3166ca)

Damn.. Brian sounds great!!

Brian sounds amazing here. If this is what his vocals sound like on the new album.......well....awesome.

the part from the instagram preview sounds great, the part from the other preview sounds a little shouty but i'm sure in the whole it'll be good.  I love how Brian is back to singing 'high' and doesn't really give a sh*t if it's perfect or not.  I'm not familiar with Wanderlust so I can't compare it to the original...

Yeah, i like hearing Brian sound like Brian. If that's what he sounds like, then that's fine with me. I don't want an overly robotic Brian.

Now, is this gorgeous, natural-sounding vocal co-produced by Joe Thomas?

Have him redo the first lines of the album version of Isn't It Time INSTANTLY!!!

Funny how this tribute album that is out on November 14th is getting a million times more promotion than Brian's album which is out 10 days earlier on the 4th. Actually then haven't even officially announced Brian's album exists. Amazing.

On a positive note, Brian sounds incredible in these clips.

I love this. :) "Wanderlust" is one of my faves, and I was a bit concerned when I saw it was the track BW was going to cover. So glad to hear these samples, sounds like a great vocal and a very cool cover. :)

I'm happy to hear Brian sound so naturally, though it's quite rough. Cool to hear the Be My Baby beat being used!

Compared to GIOMH? Or BW88?

LOL

Can't say I was too impressed with what I heard.  Brian's vocal doesn't sound all that good. 

This would have been recorded between Gershwin and Disney albums

Was kind of hoping he'd record his cover of "She's Leaving Home", which he did a swell take of during some of his shows.

Yeah... he sounds so old on that.  Then he starts doubling it in the background and he sounds young.  So it's like a duet between 70 year old Brian, and 30 year old Brian.

Ahhh.... the best of both worlds

When was this actually recorded? Judging by the photo, if that is indeed from when it was recorded, I might guess around 2002 or so. His voice kinda reminds me of GIOMH era. From what I understand this Macca project has been in the cards for a very long time now, so it's possible this was done long ago. And therefore I don't think anybody should draw any conclusions about how Brian will sound on his new album from this.

3rded. Hearing 2 versions back to back, I realized that I like Brian's voice a great deal more than Paul's. And the backing track is just so much better than the original, it's an ear candy. I'm glad hearing only 30-sec. snippet, tho, I might get bored listening to it further.

If one actually likes this *song*, I can’t imagine *not* liking McCartney’s own original version. The excerpt of Brian’s version we’ve heard is not insanely altered in terms of arrangement. It’s in the same key. The only difference is that McCartney’s voice was about 100 times more versatile and youthful sounding than Brian sounds now (or McCartney these days too). I think it’s cool to hear Brian’s take, and he sounds okay on this new recording from what we’ve heard. But it’s typical latter-day Brian; kind of shouty. I do like that they kept it in the original key, and I like that Brian (or someone) picked one of the less obvious selections on this covers album. Just reading that Steve Miller is covering “Hey Jude” nearly makes me fall asleep.

In any event, for those unfamiliar with McCartney’s solo catalog, I would suggest seeking out the *original* version of “Wanderlust” from the 1982 “Tug of War” album, and not the re-record included on the 1984 “Give My Regards to Broad Street” soundtrack album, which sounds rather stiff and stilted in comparison.

Yeah; that sounds horrible.  Maybe he'll step it up though and make it rock like his best stuff.  Or make it a waltz.  You never know!

Tastes differ. I'll take shouty Brian over youthful versatility of Paul any day anytime. He's my favorite solo Beatle, but compared with Brian, he's far behind. And "Wanderlust" isn't even among his best material.

I agree 100% with this post.

He may be a Beatle, but he'd have been nothing (or close to it) if it weren't for those other 3. Including that glasses wearing, Thomas The Tank Engine narrating drummer muthafucka.

So, I'm listening to it now, and I like it. There are some nice piano parts, like the beginning, that I wonder if Brian played. Some nice brass in there, too.
So far, I'm not noticing any auto-tune on Brian. There's a lot of voices in the song, not just Brian.

Full song?

Yup, full song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0B2nhYffSo8#t=1432
The song starts when the solo piano part starts. I think this is supposed to be some kind of secret stream, but oh well.

Thanks for the link!  Sounds good.  I have it pre-ordered and looking forward to having it in the collection.  My fave part is when Brian sings "Oh where did I go wrong my love" section.  He sings it very sweetly.  It gets a bit shouty in some other places, but it is a nice production.   

Does anyone remember that fake paul tribute that was being talked about during the imagination era that said Brian was going to cover Dear Boy.  I was really hoping that it was a real tribute as Dear Boy is one of my fave Paul tunes.  I'd love it if the beach boys had covered that in the early 1970's.

Very nice find, thanks for the link.

Have to say I'm loving Brian's take on this song, sounds fantastic.

I love Brian's voice on this.

That sounded amazing.  Especially at the ending.  Sounds leagues better than his voice on Our Special Love. 

Brian is hitting some decent notes there!

All that being said, I think there's a good chance that Brian's vocal on this is up to a decade old.


Read more: http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/paul-mccartney-tribute-comp-bob-dylan-kiss-cover-beatles-20140909#ixzz3Ijf8yUNg
Follow us: @rollingstone on Twitter | RollingStone on Facebook

Well, however old it is, Brian sounds really good. I like the depth of the production as well.

That....isn't entirely believable. ..maybe he re-recorded is vocal, or it's a typo and should've been 2013.

I don’t know if Brian’s track was cut in 2003. The article only mentions that Sall worked with McCartney in 2003 (which is correct; and I’m not sure how much if at all he has worked with McCartney since), then mentions he came up with the idea to do the album, and Brian was the first to accept. But Brian could have accepted in 2007, or 2010, or 2013.

I’m guessing the track could be at least several years old. Reports of this covers album have been going around for a couple of years now at least. I recall reading the reports of the Cure cutting a track with McCartney’s son at least a year or two ago. I think the “Kiss” track was reported quite awhile back too. Here’s a report from early 2012 about the album:

http://ultimateclassicrock.com/paul-mccartney-tribute-album-cooper-kiss/

I’m thinking that if Brian was the first to sign on, and material had already been recorded by early 2012, Brian’s track may have been recorded in 2011 at the latest. Sall mentions in this 2012 article that he has worked on it for “more than two years” which would put the start of it back to late 2009 or early 2010.

My best guess is that Brian’s recording is from around 2009 or so, give or take a year (though he certainly could have done an overdub more recently; though I can't imagine his voice in 2013 or 2014 would be markedly stronger or better than five years ago).

I recall even longer ago there was a presumably faked tracklisting for a McCartney covers album that suggested Brian would cover “Dear Boy.” This was reported to be a fake listing, but I always wondered if it was more like some producer compiling a “wish list” of artists and songs. I wonder if perhaps Sall’s original idea was for Brian to cover that song.

Now let's have a double album tribute to Brian with artists of this calibre (or better...)

To be better, Brian would have to do all the tributes himself

Brian did a fine job for his friend and he was a good choice to cover this song (though I too love to muse on the idea of Smile era Brian covering the future Dear Boy). Wanderlust is more or less in his wheelhouse, and the chorus and harmonies are stunning. Half-iistening to this whole album from kitchen while making coffee, one indelible tune arriving after another, it is simply stunning what a seemingly endless fount of melody McCartney's very being is. They seem to come to him like the very air itself - and we now live in a culture that has completely lost its way around vertical melodies in a time of mostly horizontals and rhythm. Short, enforceable hooks by din of endless repetition, not developed melodies.

I am very grateful to have lived during the era of these two devoted giants of music. Which means the album of covers has essentially done its job, however flawed many of the covers are compared to the originals.

Listen to the full album stream here:
http://www.theguardian.com/music/2014/nov/11/the-art-of-mccartney-album-stream

I get shivers when Brian sings "help us to to be free",  he sounds powerful.

I think I hear Taylor Mills in the mix somewhere.

What are the lyrics to Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey all about?

here's a new Rolling Stone article on the release: 

http://tinyurl.com/kt4fhy4

A very nice track and version of the song. Brian's in fine fettle. Something about the triumphant arrangement and production remind me of What I Really Want For Christmas. Just an observation, not saying the track dates from that period.

Listening to Brian, at a guess his lead vocal was done in the last 2-3 years, ie. a better enunciated lead than he often did between Imagination and TLOS.

Something of a mea culpa here from Harry Connick Jr. who once famously called The Beatles "music for 5 year olds".

Who is singing the falsetto here?  Doesn't sound like Jeff to me, but I could be wrong.

Matt Jardine?

Doubt it.

No idea either but maybe someone from McCartneys band?


In most cases, Sall personally matched the song with the artist he wanted to cover it, and McCartney's backing band – whom McCartney loaned Sall for the project – provided the backing.


http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/the-art-of-paul-mccartney-inside-tribute-album-20141113

While you're on the page, scroll down and read about Carol Kaye playing on every record known to man: 

   http://www.cracked.com/article_21660_5-unknown-people-who-secretly-made-all-your-favorite-music.html

 :lol

Here it is: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0B2nhYffSo8#t=1434 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0B2nhYffSo8#t=1434)

Sounds so damn good, great production and Brian's vocals are fantastic as always

Pleasantly surprised by the high pitch. :) Great cover by Brian.

I think all the vocals were done by Brian

I've had a peek at the credits. All of BW's band is on this -- but the version that had Jim Hines and Taylor. So the track was recorded before 2008, at the latest.

Just heard the entire thing. Very nice arrangement. A bit too close to Paul's original version, but with just enough Brian to make that forgivable.

I got the “Amazon exclusive” 2 CD/1 DVD set. For those wondering, Brian is not mentioned or shown in the nearly 90-minute long documentary on the DVD. Kind of weird. Clearly, they weren’t trying to feature every artist on the DVD. But neither his nor Jeff Lynne’s contribution (the two I was most interested in) are even mentioned.

As for the track, the track credits do indeed indicate this track is at least 6-7 years old. Which doesn’t bother me at all. The vocals sound relatively Brian-ish, this isn’t wall-of-Fosketts or anything. Brian’s lead sounds pretty good overall. It’s also interesting that McCartney’s tour band played the bulk of the backing tracks for the artists on this album (Sall oddly feels this gives it a “McCartney vibe” even though most of the band joined in 2001/2002), but in Brian’s case he used his own band.

I read a comment online from someone who said Ralph Sall mentioned in an interview that Brian was the first to accept the offer to record for the album, so Brian's track could actually be as old as 2003/2004.

It appears the album’s producer Ralph Sall “co-produced” or “produced” most of the individual tracks (the former in the case of Brian), and I can’t say from the evidence at hand that he’s sonically a very interesting producer. A lot of the tracks sound muted, almost muddy. I know in a lot of cases these are older artists, so perhaps Sall is trying to not make all the vocals bone-dry and up front. But a lot of the tracks lack any sort of bunch. In the case of something like Kiss on “Venus and Mars/Rock Show”, the Wings track from 1975 is literally punchier.

Brian’s track isn’t too bad in this regard. He tends to make very wet, reverb-laden mixes often anyway. Brian’s track still sounds a bit sleepy, but I can say as objectively as possible that Brian’s “Wanderlust” is one of the best tracks on the album. He at least did a few interesting things with the vocal arrangements, and his pick was at least a bit “outside the box.”

Also, listening more to Sall talk about the album on the DVD, the vintage of Brian’s track makes even more sense. It appears this album hasn’t just been in the “planning stages” since 2003. I wouldn’t be surprised if some of the tracks on the album were recorded all the way back in, say, 2004. It also appears that in most cases Sall gave the artists one or two songs to pick from, rather than having them choose their own. Sall does indeed seem to be a McCartney uber-nerd and actually knows his back catalog (he apparently even knows of McCartney bootlegs, having suggested “A Love For You” back in 2003, and suggesting stuff like “So Bad” for Smokey Robinson), so I wouldn’t be surprised if he suggested “Wanderlust” to Brian.

Sall doesn’t do the album any favors by having Billy Joel (who I do like) open *both* discs on the album with rather bland, rote, key-lowered versions of overplayed McCartney songs. By its very nature, I’d say this album is a better-than-average tribute album. But unfortunately for Sall, it appears he put about a million times more effort into it (over a decade?), and it’s only maybe 50% better than a typical tribute album.

Of course Wanderlust is 'album only' on iTunes and Amazon.  I don't care for McCartney, so I'm sure as hell not paying $17.99 for an album of subpar covers just to get it. 

I hate the music industry.

Just record it from youtube, then.

Isn't this the one area where the music industry has, for whatever reason, been more consumer-friendly? (Though arguably injuring the artistic integrity of the idea of "albums").  In the pre-download days, how would you ever buy individual tracks other than singles?

The reason they often make tracks "album only" on tribute albums is for this very reason; a bunch of people will buy the one track they want. This would never have been possible on a tribute album released in 1995 on CD or something.

If you actually dig the *song* "Wanderlust", then you'd have to be really close-minded musically to not dig at least some of McCartney's output. I've never grasped, outside of the obvious idea that everybody has their own opinion, that there are Brian/BB fans who literally have no interest in anything to do with Beatles or solo work, or that there are Beatles fans who have zero interest in the BB's. It's not like we're talking about Pat Boone versus Megadeath or something.

If you like the song "Wanderlust", then you like McCartney. He wrote it (and Brian's arrangement is not terribly dissimilar). If you don't like the song, then I wouldn't burn any effort trying to track down a Brian recording of a song you don't like.

Not a bad idea, temporarily, if I could get any of the full song YouTube vids posted above to work.  Spotify premium actually has a YouTube import feature that takes any YouTube URL and allows you to add the track to a playlist.  Audio quality is often poor, but generally listenable.  Eventually I'll play into the industry's hand, get sick of the poor audio quality of the YouTube vid and fork out $17.99 for 36 tracks-- only one of which I'll ever listen to.

Did I mention I hate the industry?

Let's get this straight-- I dig Brian.  I dig his vocals.  I dig his production.  Not once while listening to the sample did I think, wow, those are great lyrics and music.  Bono could have written this song and I wouldn't have known or cared.


I don't grasp it either, honestly.  I've given the Beatles and some of their solo stuff a few honest tries over the years.  They're fine, just not to my taste.  Or more accurately, not to my taste enough to seek out or buy their material.


I like the song, but only because that's Brian's voice and arrangement.  I don't care for Buddy Holly but I bought Brian's cover of "Listen to Me."  It is possible to enjoy (even greatly) a version of a song while not knowing, or caring about, or even being interested in the original artist.

For me I like McCartney and the Beatles' stuff, but I still don't want to buy a whole album when I'm only interested in one song.  I have no interest in most of the other artists and I'd rather hear Paul singing those songs anyway.  Sure it wasn't even possible to pick and choose songs in 1995.... but it's 2014, not 1995!  Now with all of that said I'm sure I'll end up buying the album.  :lol

Have you heard McCartney's original recording of the song? It's the same melody, and about 97% the same arrangement.

Of course it's possible to like a cover version without caring about the original. I'm suggesting simply being open to finding that you like the song, as in the *composition*, and that will perhaps lead you to other music you like.

I say this from experience. For many years (and still to a lesser degree these days), I was too close-minded musically. You can't force yourself to like something, but I have to detach from just liking an artist and everything they do, and instead like the *music*. It's just my opinion, and I'm not trying to attack anyone in saying that there is just no internal logic in *loving*, say, 1962-1967 Beach Boys and just having *no interest* in anything the Beatles did. People surely do really feel this way. I just wish I could help people bridge that tiny gap. Again, not talking about trying to get into White Zombie or something.

HeyJude, I totally get what you're saying.  I do evolve, but not on everything and not immediately.  In musical discovery I tend to enjoy music-- at least initially-- completely divorced from its context.  I like a song, or part of a song, or a "feel" on its own merits musically and aesthetically.  I tend to buy based on that alone.  Then I evolve from there.  For example, with the BB, what initially drew me in was the combination of Brian's "whine" and the sibling harmony of a couple of their Christmas tunes.  I then discovered (or re-discovered) their early material, then began appreciating Pet Sounds, then falling head over heals in love with that and Smile.  I still have less interest in the post-Brian whine era of the BB, but I find myself listening more and more to later stuff.

Where I'm at now, specifically with this McCartney track, is finding and purchasing Brian-sung tracks-- regardless of who originally wrote them.  This is the discovery phase, where I hone in on something very specific (like Brian vocals), and move out from there.  And when I like what I hear but can't buy it without buying all the unwanted (for now) stuff that comes with it, well, I get grumpy.

Oh, and about 1995.  No, I couldn't buy individual tracks, so, due to my financial status at the time, I waited until I could find the cassette or CD at a used music store.  Back then the label would have made no money from me.  Today, because I can purchase a la carte, they at least get something.

I'm sorry but Billy Joel sounds Drunk on maybe I'm amazed and live and let die..  :-[

Has anyone seen a legit purchase/download site where you can download Wanderlust individually and not "album only"?  I've tried all the major sites I know of and it's listed as "album only" on everyone.  Thanks for any help!

this set is 'terrible' sorry!!!! won't be buying........ so

 can anyone confirm when Brian did record this? is it in the credits????

while it sounds way cool, disappointing to know it was 'tracked' so long ago! 

wow, did any insider's know this info???? 

to me, it's the best 'sounding' track on the album, which tends to tell me

it was probably all Brian's guys and none of the mccartney band...

thoughts???

OT: Willie does a great 'yesterday', but man, Billy Joel sounds 'unlistenable'.......

and I LOVE his 70's/80's period  :'(

and Bobby boy, Mr Dylan should really not even open his mouth on a record anymore lol

RickB

It's kind of an acquired taste.  Things you have to know about Billy to understand why the f*** he would do that

1. He doesn't write anymore, so he only covers
2. He's pretty disenchanted with all of his big hits.  He likes to do weird album cuts in concert
3. He's very intelligent, and a very stylized singer, he tries to sing the songs the way he thinks he should sing them.  I.E., he won't do a cover and make it sound like the original, he wants to change it
4. He's making fun of Paul McCartney

check out his cover of "Hey Girl".  Same thing, he sings it his way, very punchy but look how he pulls it off.  He's capable of doing AMAZING covers.  Enunciation; phrasing; timing; power; passion. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tMfLKrGvCzI

I've just come back to Billy lately. There's still an awful lot of his stuff I really like. I think he would have been a great Tin Pan Alley songwriter had he been born 40 or so years earlier.