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Not letting the grass grow! :o


http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,24299918-2902,00.html


Beach Boy's rebirthArticle from: Sunday Herald Sun  September 07, 2008 12:00am
YOU CAN cross the Beach Boys off the list of veteran musical giants likely to reform for a reunion tour.

While the Stones never went away, The Who continue to tour with half the original members and even the mighty Led Zeppelin got back together for one night only this year, the chances of the remaining Beach Boys appearing on the same stage seem marginally less remote than all four Beatles recording a new album of death metal covers.


Although the three surviving founding members of the Californian surf band -- Brian Wilson, his cousin Mike Love and old school friend Al Jardine -- supposedly settled their differences over who had the right to use the Beach Boys name this year, there clearly are still other issues to be resolved.

It has led to the bizarre situation in which Love toured Australia last year as the Beach Boys, cranking out the old hits, followed weeks later by the outfit's undisputed genius Wilson, who was reviving the 1966 masterpiece album Pet Sounds as well as previewing his long awaited concept album That Lucky Old Sun.

"There isn't anybody I know -- my publicist, my wife, my managers, myself, my current group -- I don't think any of us think there is any hope for a Beach Boys reunion," Wilson says vehemently over the phone from his home in Los Angeles where his neighbours include Robbie Williams, Paul Stanley and Avril Lavigne.

Given the troubled years of band life that ultimately would claim the lives of his younger brothers Dennis and Carl (see story at right), Wilson can be forgiven for not wanting to re-hash history.

But he is indulging in his own personal nostalgia. That Lucky Old Sun, released yesterday, is described as "a musical love letter from Southern California" and an "autobiographical travelogue".

Inspired by Louis Armstrong's version of the classic 1949 song, Wilson looks back at his life and LA upbringing and its joy, horror and hope, sometimes with startling honesty. Wilson's songwriting is as exquisite as ever and by reteaming with his long-time collaborator, producer and arranger, Van Dyke Parks, the concept album shines and shimmers with the lavish production and sweet harmonies that made songs such as Good Vibrations and God Only Knows among the finest pop songs ever written.

"It is an introspective album -- some of it is, but not all -- it's a very expressive album," says Wilson.

"It's a concept album involving five series of 35-second narrations about poetic images of LA and California which we call the heartbeat of LA, it has That Lucky Old Sun theme and 10 original songs. How can you go wrong with something like that?"

The album represents something of a late-career renaissance for Wilson, 66, following the belated release of his SMiLE album in 2004, 37 years after it was first conceived. After the promise, invention and ambition of the early Beach Boys music -- Pet Sounds famously inspired the Beatles to write Sgt Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band -- Wilson's career was derailed by decades of drug abuse, binge eating and mental illness.

H E addresses the missing years on the song Midnight's Another Day, singing:

"Swept away in a brainstorm -- chapters missing, pages torn, waited too long to feel the warm, I had to chase the sun."

Still scarred by the dark times, but determined to make up for them, Wilson recognises the influence drugs such as LSD had on his music -- and not always for the worse.

"Of course many people besides myself took a lot of drugs in the 1960s and '70s," he says candidly, if a little irritably.

"A lot of people took them and a lot of people suffered the side effects. But the creative aspect of drugs is a good thing. The side effects are a bad thing. Drugs do inspire music -- there is a correlation between drugs and the inspiration to write music, but it is not a wise thing to do."

So knowing what he knows now and the price he paid, would he do it all over again?

"No, I wouldn't have. I would have done it without drugs," he says.

Ultimately it was music that was Wilson's redemption and a recognition that his talent was too rare to squander.

The line "I heard my sound and found my smile" from the new song Going Home recognises the ecstatic reaction that the SMiLE album and tour earned.

He says he feels both surprised and blessed to still be writing music at his age and is still as hard on himself in the studio as he ever was.

He is physically fit thanks to a daily 8km walk and brimming with ideas (he says another concept album, Pleasure Island, a rock fantasy, is in its very early stages).  
"I think that you have a choice," he says. "You either throw something away or you go for it. I choose to go for something. If you throw something away, that's like finding money and throwing it away. If you found $100,000 cash on the street, would you throw it away? No, you would keep that money. It's like I would not throw away a new song."

That Lucky Old Sun is out now.



edit....Oops!   Just noticed TonyW from Australia has posted this under the Australia Reviews link.

I have to believe this is a joke from Brian.

It has to be ...

... right?

Maybe it's the long awaited "rock and roll album".















































:lol

More details in the latest Rolling Stone:

"I'm working on a new album now," he says later, as we get near his house. "It's called Pleasure Island: A Rock Fantasy. It's about some guys who took a hike, and they found a place called Pleasure Island. And they met all kinds of chicks, and they went on rides and — it's just a concept. I haven't developed it yet. I think people are going to love it — it could be the best thing I've ever done."

Ok lets go with it then!

During his time with the Beach Boys Brian would write a song and say 'that ones for Mike' or 'Carls voice would be perfect' on various songs.

He now has a band 'better than the Beach Boys'. His words, not mine!

Write the songs, allocate the leads to who he thinks would suit it best in his band, himself included.

Produce the album.

Title it Brian Wilson and That Lucky Old Band (band name from current release)

Sounds like he's inspired. We might be witnessing a late career renaissance.

And they met all kinds of chicks


...one could be 'Proud Mary'

que intro. ;D

Heh heh.


Yep. He's determined.

I can see it now. Palisades Park (A Rock Opera). Produced by Brian Wilson. Additional Production by Freddie "Boom Boom" Cannon. Forever she'll be my Tallahassie Lassie....

If nothing else, I love Brian's enthusiasm.  It seems like after Smile, Brian actually has a desire to create again that doesn't seem to be coming from external influences. 

It's really great to see Brian excited about creating music again...obviously very exciting for us too, given the quality of TLOS.

Pleasure Island: A Rock Fantasy . . .


Why not . . . Carnival of Sound . . . picking up where Jan Berry left off ?

M.

I suppose this is somewhat off topic but since Pleasure Island is being discussed, here is a song I wrote and recorded in the early 90's with the same title.  The descending chord sequence will be somewhat familiar. 
http://www.myspace.com/jezgraham

I think this has to be for real. It sounds like exactly the kind of kitschy concept Brian would come up with left to his own devices.

I really hope that Message Man and Just Like Me & You show up in some form in this new project. I love those songs, plus the production of I'm into Something Good is great. If these are any indication of where Brian is headed next then I'm very excited about it.

My absurdly premature prediction is that, if this happens, the idea will be so camp that it will get panned by the critics, but it'll be just the type of wacked out, idiosyncratic stuff that many of us fans will adore. I'm hoping for Love You mk 2! Of course "Pleasure Island" as a title, has the sort of whimsical air of something that may always remain out of reach, so I do hope this doesn't become another shelved BW project.

Let's hope it's better than this one:

http://www.pleasure-island.co.uk/home

The phrase 'I binned that recording' is redundant now. It just has to be replaced by: 'it went into the Obliterator'...

am I the only one who is not exactly waiting for that Pleasure Island concept album?

Isn't that a BW fan's wet dream?

No. One 'Mt. Vernon And Fairway' is enough.  :police:

I don't know about this guys. This is the same dude that has been saying he is going to put out a rock and roll album for the last 13 years and that he was going to do a children's album with VDP (and we got the Christmas album instead. Go figure.) A lot of times I think he just says things to get people excited and never actually does them (or they never get released.)

That's how I normally view things too. Key word is "normally". This time, though, he seems more focused and determined.

I think he was recording his rock n' roll album with Scott Bennett, and then he got the call from the Southbank Centre, so some of those songs ended up on TLOS instead.  Morning Beat and Going Home are certainly rockers, and we've heard that MAD was more up-tempo originally.  Add the Carole King song and Just Like Me And You, and you've got the start of a fine rock n' roll album.  I do see your point, though.  I'm just sayin'.

Listening to the quality of the bonus cuts on TLOS (Oh Mi Amore aside!) I get the impression he has more songs that we haven't heard from this latest writing spree and he just wants to make the most of them, i.e. get another album out of it. He has a great band, very sympathetic to the BW sound, he's had great reviews for TLOS so now is surely the best time for him to knock another album out. It's wishful thinking on my part, but I don't think it's totally unfeasible.

...and maybe Brians management negotiated with Capitol  for two albums! :thud

But if Brian were planning to suck another album out of this grouping of songs, do you really think he'd have released a bunch of bonus tracks?

I believe he has been saying they recorded 18 songs as a part of that spree.

There are more songs. It would not surprise me to see a couple of these bonus cuts on the next album, such is their quality. Message Man is awesome.

Let him run wild, he don't care.

Almost -  I reckon he just wants to make people happy and tells them what he thinks they want to hear. As to whether it'll happen or not is a different matter.

He's JUST like our builder:

"Yeah, of course I'll be round tomorrow to fit the Velux. Why has it taken six weeks to do a four day job? Eh, well, erm, I'll be round tomorrow..."

Yep,
and it sounds like he's written more.

I'd like to see that direction. We've seen so much of the scarred/recovering/lay down burden Brian that we sometimes forget that Brian had a "fun" side, too. Let's take your car and mess around at the park all day!

And, yes, Carnival Of Sound.....I have to hear the original "Blowing My Mind" on CD. After "Easy As 1, 2, 3", it's my favorite Jan & Dean song. I would love to hear The Beach Boys or Brian cover that one - maybe with Glen Campbell as guest lead vocalist. :police:

Pleasure Island

AN ALBUM OFFERING BY BRIAN WILSON

Yes, he's BACK and BETTER THAN EVER! The legendary Brian Wilson, formerly of the fabulous Beach Boys, has released his follow-follow-up to the legendary SMiLE LP of 2004. The album will feature some covers of legendary songs rewritten in Brian's signature style, as well as some newbies but goodies, for those of you who believe Brian hasn't written a melody worth a damn since the Vietnam War.

Tracklist

Side A (THE REMAKES/REWRITES)

1. The Man With All The Toys
2. So Long
3. Rollin' Up To Heaven (Hot Tub, Big T*ts)
4. In My Room
5. Hey Little Tomboy
6. One For The Boys

Side B (THE NEW STUFF)

1. In The Palm Of My Hand
2. ¿Donde Está Mi Pechugas? (Mexican Girl Part II)
3. What's That Smell?
4. Rock Hard
5. Jungle Snake
6. Ready, Willing, and Able

With super-cosmically hidden bonus track:

Rockin' The Man In The Boat

Absolutely! Possibly my favourite from the whole of TLOS at the moment with the exception of maybe MAD.

One For the Boys with Brian's band would be kickin'.

HA! It's a HOAX! No "Proud Mary" in the tracklist!!!  ;D

Yeah, I think a good hard rockin' album is a great idea for Brian, I wouldn't mind "Proud Mary," but another cover would be great; as well as a good eight or ten new BW rockers. If "Goin' Home" is any indication, he can do those very well now.

One thing that I've been thinking of, though, it would be nice to have Brian do half of the lead vocals and half, Scott, Darian, Taylor and Jeff do one each, to add to the diversity. I think that would work out very well. Any thoughts?

Yeah no kidding. That's one of my favourites from BW88

Agreed. Said as such on another thread. BW songs sung by others still make a BW album to me. He allocated the leads to various BBs depending on the sound he wanted yet in his 60s he or his management think only his voice is capable. Brians first few solo albums were just his voice multi-tracked then later albums had his band doing the backing vocals. The next logical step would be some younger blood.

It would be a nice way for him to age. He could still be putting out albums into his 80s if he did that (hell, Bacharach was 78 and put out a solo album), without sacrificing soaring vocals.

Sigh.

Wouldn't it be nice?

Well, What ABOUT that new BW album that has been in the works?   Haven't heard much speculation lately.
Danny Boy?  what else?    I can't recall the origin of the "Pleasure Island " title.   the Rock and Roll album?

any new speculation about what the new cd will be like?     better than GIOMH or LOS?   

I seem to recall Beck saying, earlier this year, that the tunes were so good we'd be humming, or whistling or singing them for the rest of our lives.

I expect that we are gonna be hearing something very special from Mr. W and friends ere long.

The stars are aligned!!!

Holy sh*t...just realized that before this thread was bumped, I still had hair the last time it was posted in...

Where did your long hair go....

:lol

Ice Cream Daddy let your hair grow long.

The last sentence was unnecessary, as the previous phrase is already in quotation marks so it's obvious the words aren't yours.

Nothing left in the middle of my head....couldn't do it even if I tried :(

I love Danny Boy, I think the live performances I have seen of it so far are amazing.

Ahh, the board police rears it's ugly head once again

This thread got me a little too excited.

I thought this had been announced as Brian's new album  :-\

I expect it to be lousy, don't expect much from BW the solo artist.

At least you're keeping an open mind.

He's Goin Bald.  :'(

Mr Bgas – The apostrophe is grammatically incorrect. You're under arrest…

Just a ploy son, checking to make sure you're reading for grammar

It's too late mama

:lol

I don't think Pretty Funky found anything wrong about my post (that would be stupid) or he'd already reply to it. What I in fact did was a friendly correction of his 5-year-old post, that's all (yes, I dare consider everyone here to be my friend). There's no reason to defend him.