The Smiley Smile Message Board

Looking at the timings of some of the tracks on this compilation, it seems to me that several of the tracks will likely be different to what we have.

The live tracks will need to be edited differently - looks like Brian talking about the Flintstones movie might be a goner!  :(  [Reminiscent of the 1985 Malibu Emergency Room concert where he talks about royalties derived from David Lee Roth's release of California Girls!]

On the upside, by my reckoning, Midnight's Another Day looks to be 12 seconds or so longer than the previously released version.  :)  I don't recall if that was one of the tracks that was "shortened" for the That Lucky Old Sun release, but it would appear so??

Also wondering about the possibility that Soul Searchin' is the original "solo" version sans Carl Wilson vocal. A possibility at least.

Time reveals all!

Yeah, on compilations that include live tracks, most banter is taken off, unless it's a super short intro. 

I'm pretty sure that Soul Searchin is the GIOMH version, as the only unreleased tracks advertised are Some Sweet Day and Run James Run

Especially when we're talking smaller discrepancies in track timings, I wouldn't assume there's anything particularly different on "Playback" compared to the original releases of each respective track. The timings could be slightly off, or just a case of including a bit more of the track's outro that was tacked onto the next track. Or, in the case of the live tracks, I'm sure they'll remove most if not all of the extraneous chatter, as it has no place on a compilation album (it's weird enough that they're sticking live tracks on it in the first place).

While compilations (and even sometimes straight album reissues) can sometimes randomly (either by accident or purposefully) including alternate mixes/edits, I think the general idea with "Playback" is that they're all versions issued previously by Brian.

I think the press release for the album specifically mentions Carl's part on "Soul Searchin'", so I can't imagine why it would be anything other than the GIOMH version.

What I *do* hope is that "Playback" includes the correct mix of "Let It Shine" rather than the incorrect one used on the 2000 CD reissue of BW '88 (I didn't pick up the more recent re-re-issue CDs of BW '88, where I would hope they used the correct mix).

I've read on a certain Japanese BB fan site that latest reissue of BW88 has correct mix for all of the songs, including Let It Shine.... and, according to what I've just checked, except for There's So Many.

If that's the case, I might have to break down and buy it again as I have the 2000 reissue.

It makes sense the new 2015-ish reissues would have the correct mixes (and now that I think about it, someone *may* have confirmed this back when they were issued). Back in 2000, as I recall, Mark Linett prepared fixes for Rhino to put into production, but it was never confirmed whether Rhino went to the trouble of mastering it again with those fixes back in 2000, and if so, how to ID whether a 2000 CD is the old or new version.

This was (kinda) released on Apple Music today and the mix for ‘Melt Away’ now includes the fixed harmony in the coda. No more having to play my vinyl to hear it!

That being said, it appears that the Gershwin material through NPP isn’t available on the Apple Music set (even though these albums are available on AM). Doesn’t make any sense to me, hopefully it gets sorted out.

The purchase-for-download MP3 version on Amazon has those same songs listed as "Album Only":

https://www.amazon.com/Playback-Brian-Wilson-Anthology/dp/B074XP6NR3/ref=sr_1_1_twi_mus_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1506090022&sr=8-1&keywords=brian+wilson+playback

I'm guessing it's just a case of contractual stipulations with those songs; Disney and Capitol may have agreed to license those songs to Rhino/Warner, but only bundled with the full album (physical or download). That way, any revenue for people buying just those individual tracks goes straight to Disney and Capitol respectively via purchasing those songs off of the original albums.

But really people, I stream and download tons of stuff, but the CD is $9.89 on Amazon! Buy the CD! It sounds better than streaming or MP3 options, and you can also stream it and rip it and all of that too.

Sure, if you happen to have a CD player. I've got two turntables but not a single working CD player. Spotify should have it soon. I'm good.

16/44.1 Redbook CD is everybody's friend! A well mastered CD beats the glut of mediocre, overpriced vinyl being churned out these days. And certainly better than streaming. I have an iPod Classic, and also stream stuff all the time. But when a new album comes out, it's CD all the way (or maybe SACD or high-rez). 

I'm one of the people who sent my BW88 2000 reissue back to Rhino right after it came out and got the "corrected" CD, with the right mixes, right away. So it's been available for a long time. (How to ID a wrong vs. corrected CD, I don't know).

It's almost certainly a moot point now with the 2015 re-re-issue, but I would imagine unless the manufacturer makes an effort to do something to the packaging to let fans know it's the "fixed" version (e.g. some "fixed" Blu-rays have had things like alternate color barcode backgrounds, etc.)), the only way to know would be matrix numbers in the hub of the CD itself.

I never wanted to send back the 2000 CD with the incorrect mixes, because even if they were "missing" things (or in the case of "Let It Shine" just sounded muddier), they were genuine, previously-unreleased alternate mixes (akin to the 1990 "MIU Album" CD) so I think form an historical perspective it's good to have both versions.

Is this a turn of phrase, or did Rhino actually offer an exchange?  I'm only asking because I hate buying things twice. 

I've read that they offer an exchange, quated from an unknown BB forum.

I might try to contact them and see.  It's worth a shot, right? 

I did get Capitol to send me a corrected Disc 3 of MiC, even though I bought it two years after the release date.

Good luck 17 years later!

Actually, I could picture them just saying "Sure, why not?", and sending you the 2015 disc.

But as I mentioned, for completists and scholars and whatnot, it's worth keeping the alternate mixes. The barebones 2015 disc (as opposed to the "expanded" 2015 disc) is probably pretty cheap. Or, alternatively, you could even just track down a super cheap copy of the original 1988 CD, which was actually mastered just fine and sounds just fine.

For your information, it is reported that there was a reissue of BW88 based on the original CD released around last year here in Japan.

Oh, I thought they might've offered exchanges when the 2015 remaster came out.  Oh well.   

And this seems to be that, though I'm not actually sure because I've never got it:https://www.amazon.co.jp/gp/product/B01B7ZM4E6/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=247&creative=7399&creativeASIN=B01B7ZM4E6&linkCode=as2&tag=agttbb-22 (https://www.amazon.co.jp/gp/product/B01B7ZM4E6/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=247&creative=7399&creativeASIN=B01B7ZM4E6&linkCode=as2&tag=agttbb-22)

It was released in the US around the same time.   I think they wanted to time it with the L&M movie.

In the US (and worldwide most likely), there is:

The original 1988 CD, which went out of print in the 90s at some point

The Rhino 2000 CD reissue with numerous bonus tracks. I guess at some point this went out of print as well, although it likely was never very difficult to find nor expensive.

In 2015, indeed as a tie-in to L&M, they reissued the album again on CD. They offered it in both an album-only CD release as well as the same "deluxe" version with a bunch of bonus tracks. Strangely, whether it was due to trying to stick to each version's original, authentic artwork or, more likely due to laziness/cheapness, the "album only" CD retains the artwork from the original '88 CD (with the Sire logo, etc.), while the expanded version replicates the 2000 Rhino CD artwork.

Does the 2015 expanded version with the bonus tracks include the 2000 master of the album.  Or should I just get the "album only" L&M - Rio Grande version of the 2015 version (assuming the bonus tracks are the same). 

I don't have the 2015 CDs, so I'm honesty not sure if they're newly remastered. I'm guessing they're either newly remastered, or both work off of the "corrected" 2000 CD master (with the album-only disc simply dropping the bonus tracks).

If you just want all of the correct mixes and already own the 2000 CD with incorrect mixes, the cheapest solution would be to either buy an original '88 CD (as I said, the mastering on that one is quite good) or whatever is the cheapest version of either 2015 CD you can find.

Related: The 2000 "deluxe" removed all of Landy's credits, but also omitted the album's dedication to Dennis and Frieda (if I recall correctly).

I might see if I can find an original 88 CD on the cheap. 

I know they removed Landy's name from the songwriting credits, but did they retain his name as "Executive Producer" at least inside the booklet of the 2000 CD? I seem to recall that may have been left intact, although moved from the back cover to only the CD booklet.

Looking at the "Playback" CD booklet, and "Run James Run" is credited as being "Produced by Brian Wilson and Joe Thomas." So, assuming Joe wasn't at the sessions for the song earlier this year (it seems sort of unclear, but I think the implication is that Brian and Joe haven't done much together since the middle of the NPP sessions in 2014/2015?), it would seem to indicate that they used the "NPP" sessions version of the song as the basis for this released version. Which all makes sense to me, that the main thing they needed to do was wipe Al's lead off and record Brian's.

I think you're right.  And I'm pretty sure Landy kept his songwriting credits on the 2000 2fer that included BB85.  I know it was a different label, but I just thought that was a bit odd.

Hmm.. if Joe coproduced this track, I wonder if all the complaints about his vocal production techniques influenced him to dial them back?

For the 2000 BB '85 two-fer CD, Landy's name was removed from "Crack at Your Love" but remained on "It's Just a Matter of Time" and "I'm So Lonely." No explanation of why, and the only difference between "Crack..." and the other two was that Al was also a co-writer on that one song but not the other two.

I also see reports/posts that for the 2015 vinyl reissue of BB '85, Landy's name was removed from all three songs. His "Special Thanks" credit remained.

The exact timeframe and mechanics of Landy's name being removed from all this stuff is unclear. His name was still on "Love and Mercy" for the 1995 IJWMFTT soundtrack, and it was removed from some but not all items by 2000.

And/or he got a credit simply because the track includes remnants of the sessions he produced circa 2014.

The one thing that seems almost assuredly re-recorded this year for the song is Brian's lead. I'm also unclear if Beck played any guitar specifically on the NPP session for "Run James Run." If he did, that has been wiped for this released 2017 version.

Not sure if it's appearing here for the first time or was added for the 2000 reissue, but Brian has an "Arranged by" credit on "Let It Shine" that wasn't there on the original album (at least it wasn't on the '88 issue right alongside the writing and production credits the way it is here on "Playback.")

Of note is that Brian's Flintstones patter remains before "This Isn't Love."

Well......if someone didn't have ANY solo Brian in their collection at all, then this would be a serviceable place to begin. As it is, the sequencing leaves a lot to be desired making for a disjointed listening experience (why not just go chronological? That would've helped) but I suppose in this day and age of iTunes and everyone living in an eternal shuffle mode it hardly matters.

Of course, everyone here has their opinion on what should've been included (2 songs from GIOMH and only one from TLOS???? No "Imagination". It was a f**king single!) but I'm guessing this was a licensing issue between Rhino and the various labels Brian's recorded for over the years.

Nice to have the 2 unreleased tracks for hardcores but Brian's solo career deserves better. 

If it were me (and Rhino had deeper pockets)...

1. Let It Shine
2. Melt Away
3. Rio Grande
4. On The Wings Of A Dove
5. Orange Crate Art
6. Love and Mercy (IJWMFTT version)
7. Your Imagination
8. She Says She Needs Me
9. Gettin' In Over My Head
10. Some Sweet Day
11. Live Let Live
12. Midnight's Another Day
13. Nothing But Love
14. The Bare Necessities
15. Sail Away
16. One Kind Of Love
17. Run James Run
18. Surf's Up

IMHO *all* compilations/best ofs should be chronological...

Strange note: This is the first time any of the GiOMH tracks or the Live at the Roxy tracks appeared on Spotify...  Just checked it out today.  It's fine I guess, for a comp.  Wish it included some deeper Brian cuts like What I Really Want for Christmas, Nothin' But Love, and basically more from NPP or Gershwin...  I like the Brian picture on the cover though and the tracks sound great.  Some Sweet Day and Run James Run are a nice bone for us fans.  Wish those Paley Sessions would get a box set...

Agreed. It's the best and easiest way for new fans to learn about any musician's career.

All Music has Carl listed as composer on all tracks, not Brian ::)

http://www.allmusic.com/album/playback-the-brian-wilson-anthology-mw0003069252

Southern California is one of Brian's finest solo moments, top 3 in my opinion.  The fact that it was left off this collection is a huge error on the part of those who compiled the album.

100% agree. Elton John's "To be Continued" did this very well for example.

If the label gave me the PLAYBACK disc and asked me to make changes (hey, it's my fantasy), here's what I would have done with it..

1. Love and Mercy
2. Walkin' the Line
3. Melt Away
4. Let It Shine
5. Some Sweet Day
6. Your Imagination
7. She Says That She Needs Me
8. Lay Down Burden
9. The First Time
10. Gettin' In Over My Head
11. Saturday Morning in the City
12. Heroes and Villians
13. Surf's Up
14. What I Really Want For Christmas
15. The Like In I Love You
16. Forever She'll Be My Surfer Girl
17. Midnight's Another Day
18. Sail Away
19. One Kind Of Love
20. Run James Run
21. Southern California

That's 80 minutes.. As it is, the official disc is a great listen, but I can't help but think casual fans miss out on too many gems.

Make it a 3 disc comp!!!

D1
1. Love and Mercy
2. Melt Away
3. Walkin' the Line
4. One For the Boys
5. There's So Many
6. Meet Me In My Dreams Tonight
7. Let It Shine
8. Rio Grande
10. Concert Tonight/Someone to Love
11. Water Builds Up
12. Don't Let Her Know She's An Angel
13. Love Ya
14. Make a Wish
15. The Spirit of Rock and Roll (featuring Bob Dylan)
16. This Song Wants to Sleep With You Tonight
17. Gettin' In Over My Head
18. Saturday Morning In the City
19. Marketplace
20. Some Sweet Day

D2
1. Slightly American Music
2. I'm Broke
3. Proud Mary
4. Your Imagination
5. She Says She Needs Me
6. South American
7. Lay Down Burden
8. Brian Wilson
9. This Isn't Love
10. City Blues
11. A Friend Like You
12. How Could We Still Be Dancing?
13. Do You Like Worms?
14. Cabin Essence
15. Wonderful
16. Surf's Up
17. Heaven
18. Morning Beat
19. Good Kind of Love
20. California Role

D3
1. Mexican Girl
2. Midnight's Another Day
3. Southern California
4. The Like In I Love You
5. Summertime
6. I've Got Rhythm
7. Listen to Me
8. Sail Away
9. The Right Time
10. Guess You Had to Be There
11. On the Island
12. Saturday Night On Hollywood Blvd.
13. The Last Song (with Lana Del Rey-Does a recording with her vocal even exist?)
14. Run James Run
15. Danny Boy (with Jeff Beck)
16. Metropolis (with Jeff Beck)

I tend to agree with this nine times out of ten, but some comps have mixed era with good results IMO

Van Halen - Best of Both Worlds
Pink Floyd - Echoes
The Beach Boys - Sounds of Summer / Warmth of the Sun

But, in general, I like the chronological ones so you can hear the evolution of the band's sound.

Genesis kinda turned that on its ear with their Platinum Collection where they started with I Can't Dance and went backwards to Trespass over three discs (even if Disc 1 confusingly ending with the title track from their final album Calling All Stations). 

Why do many fancy her voice? Did I miss sth. & deep down the boring core there is really truly sth. precious?

I have to agree there.  I've only heard a couple of her songs, but her vocal style seems to lack any real emotion.  Frankly, I was released when it was announced Brian was singing lead on The Last Song. 

That's her schtick: disaffected vaguely (or explicitly) druggy character who's just too cool to care. Like a Nico minus the good songs or collaborators. I'd be interested to hear her version out of curiosity, but she's not a very good singer from what I've heard (several albums) or even an interesting character. I got bored pretty quickly after Video Games.

Ah, the purposely detached character who doesn't show emotion.  Very hipster.  "Yeah, I'm a pop star, but I don't care about being a pop star." 

Didn't she once say in an interview that she, for lack of a better term, blew her way to the top?  I always assumed that was a bit schtick-y too.   Or, if the story is true, sticky. 

I bought the CD version and the LP.
LP is ok, but sadly I have to notice that the CD version looks very cheap, low quality made package. It would have been more appreciated if it could have had a fuller booklet also.

Anyway I hope they'll continue to release material.
:)

A solo Brian anthology CD isn't going to burn up the charts, so I think it's expected that the package and packaging are going to be pretty standard/minimal. It's fine for what it is. The lavish liner notes and packaging should be saved for a boxed set of Brian rarities/demos/outtakes.

I'm surprised Your Imagination wasn't included on Playback. I used to hear it on the piped in music at my local CVS pharmacy all the time, made me think it was more popular than it was.

I've heard it there, too. I never heard any Brian solo songs on actual radio stations, but I might have heard one of the Xmas songs on in-store music several years ago.

That’s probably exactly why it wasn’t included on the set haha. I love ‘Your Imagination’ but the AC production and subject matter make it a shoe-in for constant play in department/grocery stores. I think that’s why the more serious songs from Imagination were the only ones from that album to make it on this set.

"Your Imagination" is possibly the only BW solo track I still listen to outside NPP. I like to think of myself as a Brian Wilson fan, but I'm completely non-plussed by any of his work after about 1970. It's disconcerting, frankly.

Every once in a while I go back thru the solo catalog trying to find something I'd like to listen to again.  I pause on "Your Imagination," fantasizing about a more modern production, then skip, skip, skip my way to tracks like "Sail Away" and the brilliant intro (and ONLY the intro) to "Our Special Love."

If I were ever to buy Playback, it would be for "Run James Run." But that's on Spotify, so...

"Your Imagination" should be on there, and it's non-appearance is likely due to nothing more than not picking it. It died a quick death in 1998. Playing in elevators hasn't overexposed it.

But it's objectively one of the best tracks Brian has released solo. I don't even think the production on that particular track is that bad. I could do without the woodwinds perhaps, but it actually has punchy drums and even some actual electric guitar punching through.

I'm hard pressed to pick more than a half dozen or so songs on the CD that deserve a place more than it. Certainly "Your Imagination" is preferable based on every standard (better song, better performance, better for entry-level fans, etc.) than something like the utterly boring, rote "The First Time."

I think the real treat of this anthology is the release of "This Isn't Love" -- when I was a kid, this song stuck in my head like crazy. It wasn't available online, besides on a limited (and relatively unavailable) release of Live at Roxy. That's definitely a worth it for me.

Some other songs I would have liked to see included:
"This Song Wants to Sleep With You Tonight" - B-Side of "Do It Again" in the UK 1995, never officially released in the US.
"Live Let Live" - from the nature documentary Arctic Tale, different Van Dyke Parks lyrics and I think superior to the album version.
"What Love Can Do" - Co-written with Burt Bacharach, featured on a Various Artists comp of the same name but never on an official BW album.
"Everything I Need" - Written with Tony Asher, recorded with Carnie and Wendy, re-recorded for The Wilsons album but the unreleased original is superior.

While the initial 2000 release of "Live at the Roxy Theatre" was indeed relatively obscure in that it wasn't in shops and had to be ordered online directly from BriMel, it was eventually picked up by Oglio for distribution in the US and was available at record stores, etc., and also got UK distribution and in other territories. The Roxy album actually ended up being one of the most "reissued" albums with numerous variations. There was the original release, then the Oglio set added some bonus tracks, and then as I recall the UK and/or Japan versions added different bonus tracks as well. There was also a "DVD Audio" release of the album in high-rez 5.1. So I think there were at least around five versions of it.

"This Isn't Love" certainly is more *interesting* than "The First Time", though I don't think either track particularly belongs on a single-disc "Best of" set. Both tracks, both now and especially back in 2000, kind of struck me as a case of Brian having a bit of writer's block at that moment in time and resurrecting two old B-list songs to tout as "new" songs for those Roxy shows/album. I think he even admitted (either on the album or in an interview) that he found "The First Time" in a briefcase of old material, or something along those lines. Indeed, there exists a circa 1983 demo of "The First Time" that is just as "meh" as the Roxy version.

I think the Roxy album *is* an important album in the context of Brian's solo career; I would have just picked one of the better back catalog selections from that album for "Playback." Maybe even the exhilarating show opener, "The Little Girl I Once Knew."

I mentioned it a ways back in a thread when "Playback" was first announced, that a good idea would have been to release "Playback" as-is, and then have either a 2-disc "Deluxe" version or add a second "bonus" disc as a retailer exclusive (e.g. Target or Best Buy) where a second disc could be a catch-all for previously released stuff that didn't make the cut on the first disc (e.g. "Your Imagination"), other rare b-sides and soundtrack songs and things like that (e.g. "Walking Down the Path of Life", "This Song Wants to Sleep With You Tonight"), and other miscellany. Maybe not even delve into much actual "unreleased" stuff, but maybe sprinkle it in there, as a sort of "teaser" for an eventual multi-disc Brian "Rarities" sort of set full of demos and outtakes. With such a disc, though, I'd lean more towards the "hard to find" stuff rather than one-off soundtrack or multi-artist compilation tracks that are still pretty easy to find (e.g. "Wanderlust", "What Love Can Do", etc.)

Was the promo by Rhino shared here already?

https://youtu.be/x9OifqO-CQ8 (https://youtu.be/x9OifqO-CQ8)

There's also a new, very basic, promo clip for Love and Mercy (the song) ...

https://youtu.be/2y3J46DhoL0

Thanks for the link, but this is not new. I recorded this with my VCR purely by chance around 1990, here in Australia on a Saturday morning video show called "rage". It originates from 1988!

Great to finally have it in pristine quality though!

Thanks again.

PS. I'm now hoping (wishing, praying - it might come true!) for a "playback" video release, perhaps not all 18 tracks ("Rio Grande" might be a stretch), maybe even some tracks not on the CD. Obviously not going to happen, but how good would it be to have 10-12 video clips compiled - there's already ample live material released. How many "video clips" has Brian had over the years (for studio singles) anyway?

Rhino also posted this low budget stop motion video for "Heroes and Villains" from around the time of the 2004 Smile release.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0uRy-mUIyMc

Not that great, I think it was one of those fan competition videos. 
The animated one for the Beach Boys Smile Sessions version was better (but also fanmade and low budget).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ptxwWt2JeGQ

Wanderlust is a nice song that could of been added.

It's a good cover, but it's still readily available on the "Art of McCartney" set, and I don't think it's among Brian's absolute best work. It also would probably cost more to license the recording for the set, and would also be less songwriting royalties for Brian.

I wish MAD had a proper lead vocal, it sounds like a demo at best. I cannot play what is a really good song to casual listeners due to the poor 'who allowed thar' vocal. Imagine if it had the lead vocal of COTW ! ? I wish Brian could re-cut it.

Looks like Rhino has put out a little "EPK" style video for "Playback", specifically focusing on the BW '88 album. Looks like new interviews with Brian and Andy Paley. Would love a full-length doc with this sort of focus, or at least something longer.

Brian comments on several songs, mentioning that Jeff Lynne wrote the words for "Let It Shine" while he (Brian) wrote the melody.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FqdThRj7SQk

I actually agree. I have to admit, I'm not really a fan of the vocals on That Lucky Old Sun. I think that much his work since has been a lot better, especially stuff like "Colors of the Wind", "Summer's Gone", "Whatever Happened" and others.

If I’m not mistaken, I’m pretty sure that Brian’s lead vocal on MAD was from the demo version...the demo version, while not polished, has background vocals all or mostly by Brian and it is infinitely better than the album version for that reason.

What the hell? That vocal is stunning. One of Brian’s best since the 60s.

The "Midnight's Another Day" vocal is what Brian sounds like. It's honest. (I think, while autotune is not applied to the entire song, I suspect it may have been implemented on a few key long, high, held notes).

There *is* something more poignant about the early version where Brian does most of the backing vocals himself.

But either version, that's Brian. That's what he sounds like. That's him.

I personally actually in many ways preferred the circa 1995 "IJWMFTT/Orange Crate Art/Original Paley Sessions" Brian voice. While it was kind of whiney and gruff, it always sounded more on key and had more gusto behind it compared to the much smoother 1998-present voice that sometimes sounds great, and other times kind of sounds sleepy and, at various times in concerts, sometimes pretty shaky and wonky.

I wish OCA had a better mix. I feel like the instrumentals are buried and Brian’s vocals are too loud and all over the mix. I really love this album so I hope it gets a nice anniversary remix sometime.

I like the mix, and like *most* of Brian's vocals...but not so much the songs; the rest after San Francisco IMHO is unlistenable. Hold Back Time may just be the worst song Brian's ever been involved with on some level.

The song is fine, but Brian's and Danny Hutton's vocals seem somewhat out of sync with each other. If there is a weak song on that album, it's My Jeanine. But I don't hate it. OCA is my favorite Brian "solo" album (yeah, I know it's not really solo, but it's not Beach Boys, so I put it in the solo category).

If you listen to the lyrics of MJ, apparently her name is Jeanine Apples.  WTF

I read somewhere a ways back that there was some sort of rumor that they "accidentally" used a guide vocal/rough take of "Hold Back Time."

How they would accidentally mix and master an earlier version of the song and it would make it to release is something I can't explain.

It could very well be a weird little-cited urban legend based on Brian's vocal syncing on that song being weirdly off.

But it's interesting to think of the possibility that a more polished version of the song is laying around somewhere in the vaults.

When OCA first came out, I wasn't that into it. The title track was nice, but the whole thing was so weird and non-Brian-like, I never initially gave it a *ton* of listens. Then as time went on, I grew to really like it. I have mixed feelings about VDP's drenched-in-nostalgia lyrics. Very literate (obviously), and as Elvis Costello has alluded to, VDP's lyrics almost always *sound* good when sung, in terms of meter, etc.

But it's Brian's vocal stacks that I love most on the album. Even with some harmonizer/synthesizer sort of aid, his (and/or VDP's, I guess it's not entire clear) vocal arrangements and performances are stunning.

I also think it's really interesting to hear Brian sing an entire album of *new* music, but written by someone else. Even with his sort of whiney, crazed-sounding voice, his vocals on OCA are at times full of energy and enthusiasm if nothing else.

I count OCA as a Brian solo album. Other than the instrumental, it's all Brian singing the leads.

Perhaps the closest analog to the album in the BB solo album catalog might just be "Looking Back With Love", as that's a Mike album with weirdly almost no Mike songwriting input. Granted, several songs are covers, but it's a bit similar to OCA in the most basic sense that it's a solo BB singing songs written by others.

Did Playback chart?

No.

I love the production but it's a rare case for me where the lyrics are so hideously cutesy and self important that it does unnatural things to my mood . The vocal arrangements though are brilliant.

I do wish the released version of the title track had been more like the won-won-wonderful version on the Don was documentary,  because this one Imho is ter-ter-terrible.

Good interviews about Playback. Brian's very animated.

http://www.brianwilson.com/#overview

It's heartwarming to see Brian so outgoing and enthusiastic. Thanks, Amy.

:lol :lol :lol