The Smiley Smile Message Board

Brian just said on Facebook he is in the studio.  Disney album?

He was in the studio about a month ago as well. Yes, Disney album.

:)

Hope it's coming along well!

yeah let's get this sucker outta the way

I should have commented that he re-record "The Monkey's Uncle" with Annette!

Sadly, I think Annette is in far from good health... but I wish he would rerecord all these disney songs with outside vocalists.  Not that his Gershwin vocals weren't wonderful, but listening to the old phil spector record with Darlene Love singing Zip a dee  doo da the other day made me think how great it would sound to have Brian Wilson produce a record of Disney songs sung by people like Darlene Love, Ronnie Spector, and LaLa Brooks.  I feel like it might energize Brian too, to be producing other artists.  And I always think of that amazing youtube clip of Brian listening to Ronnie Spectors version of Don't Worry Baby and looking like he's just gone to heaven. 

I wonder how it would go if Brian were to produce a Wilson-Phillips album?

Is Brian really doing much producing these days?  I know that the albums say produced by Brian Wilson, I guess I have my doubts as to how much he is really doing.

Well, from the footage I have seen of his more recent studio efforts (I just watched the TLOS documentary) he seems to be in control (telling musicians what to play, when to play, etc). But who the hell knows what goes on when the camera is off. Personally, I'd love to see Brian have free reign to do what he wants - if he wants to sit around watching Full House all day, so be it....or if he actually wants to produce some records, he should do it - to me, it seems like he is pushed to make these records - but this is because I have absolutely no idea what goes on in Brian's mind/camp

From the 2000 Tour Video? The one where she's sitting next to him and starts singing, and he gets up quickly and starts going downstairs? If anything, it looked like he was annoyed!

I think there' s a different clip though where someone plays it for him...that might be what you're referring to.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9JMdw__a77A

Also, I was under the impression that the Gershwin album was more or less a Brian Wilson production.  And (imho) a brilliant one at that! 

"Another week in the studio for the Disney album. Finished up all my lead vocals. Great to be in a place where I can pick and choose. Wanted to do something special for my kids that they'd be into."

- Brian

From Brian's facebook page posted about 30 minutes ago. Nice to hear things are going smoothly!

not too high hopes here.  not sure what to expect. 

My hopes aren't high - but if they are more obscure Disney songs I'll be looking forward to hearing them. I'd also love to hear some tunes from 'Peter Pan'...

I hope he picked some songs from Disneyland attractions.  I know he's a fan of the park and visits often.

It's a small world after all, it's a small world after all....  ;D

I've never wanted an amusement park ride to end as badly as the times I've ridden that one. I'd love to hear him do the Pirates Of The Caribbean and make a music video for that song though.

Heck, I'd like to hear him tackle the Mickey Mouse Club theme/refrain

Back when I was a kid Pirates of the Caribbean was a flipping great ride - now it's full of that Johnny Depp nonsense. I don't get why Disney has to f*** up stuff like that....that was a classic ride not to be tainted by hollywood's bullshit....sigh...

The only good thing that came out of the 'It's a Small World' ride was seeing someone throw an ice-cream cone from their boat, hitting one of the animatronic characters LOL. I still remember laughing for the majority of the ride due to that. Good timin'...

I was thinking more along the lines of Yo-Ho! (Pirates of Caribbean) and The Tiki Room song.  I think both would work great with his style.

Yo-Ho in particular has always stuck me as being very similar to "Heroes and Villains" in the way it deals with historical characters.  The main difference is that Disney actually had a format in which a 10-15 minute composition filled with variations on a single theme could actually work and be accessible to a wide audience.

Above all, I'm hoping it's full of songs that he likes and not any of the 90's pop/broadway stuff.

I was sort of hoping for a Brian reimagines Faust but I think when he heard Krautrock, it scared him off...

I remember starting a thread a while back asking people what Brian's influences were for SMiLE - I remember hearing that Ennio Morricone soundtracks as well as Disney soundtracks could have been influences.

I think if he picks classic and overlooked songs he'll really knock one out of the park for his fanbase.

Brian's production work waxes and wanes, but he's been reasonably involved in most of his solo projects.

He was quite hands' on with BWRG, in both sequencing (pre-production) and actual in-studio work. Paul Mertens did the orchestral stuff, and the band contributed (as they always do).

In TLOS, he was very involved with all the demo tracks cut in the summer of 06 (several of those came out as bonus tracks). Scotty and Darian sequenced it up as a suite, and Scott had a hand (and a co-production credit) in the final studio version.

Smile and GIOMH get fuzzier, because in each the band was essentially re-creating earlier, already produced tracks.

I think he was least involved, from a production standpoint, in the IJWMFTT album. Despite his credit, I'm reasonably sure the only thing he did was lay down vocals to Don Was's pre-recorded tracks.

Yeah, that was the other clip. The one I was referring to was hilarious, in that she was sitting right next to him when she started singing a capella, and he got out of there in a hurry :lol

4th classic in a row

watch that clip again. its actually a really touching scene with Brian and Ronnie.

it's edited down to about a minute, but no way was Brian annoyed or trying to get away from her.

i like how they both drop the f-bomb too. Ronnie says 'Don't Worry Baby' is "such a great blankety-blank song!" then she sings it to Brian and he goes "your voice is so blankety-blank special!"  blankety-blank classic!!!

Jeff is the one leading Brian down the stairs, and Brian says he just experienced "the biggest thrill of my life!"

so we don't have any kind of a tracklist yet for this Disney album?

nada???

I would love to know at least some of the songs, no one has any clue?

I would imagine "When You Wish Upon A Star" is a given.  Personally speaking, I may very well expire from sheer joy if they attempt, and make a good fist of, "Little April Showers".

i'd kinda like him to keep the arrangement for when you wish upon a star sparse.  that song is always hooked up to bells and whistles

You and me both, Mr. Doe.  :)

"Baby Mine" from Dumbo would be nice. Maybe even "Color Of The Wind"?

Here's hoping they tackle "A Dream's A Wish Your Heart Makes"...

I'm keeping my fingers crossed for "Zip-a-Dee-Freekin'-Doo-Dah."

It's kind of ironic how Van Dyke Parks got one of his first big-time music credits working on Disney's "The Jungle Book", now Brian is cutting a Disney record. I wonder if the irony was noticed by anyone, and whether Van Dyke was asked to contribute something to Brian's Disney record?

I'll take both of those, I have a feeling 'Zip a dee doo dah' might be there too. I can almost imagine the arrangement for it too. ;D

He's gotta do "The Bare Necessities" (Bear Necessities?).
With the Gershwin album there was a lot of advance buzz. I remember AGD hinting at good things. No hints this time?

Circle of Life could prove interesting in terms of arrangement and certainly voices for the intro.

Am I the only one who couldn't care less about the Disney album?

I'm looking forward to it, personally. i would rather BW did a regular old album of mostly originals, but I'm curious about the disney thing.

Anyone know how soon this could be out? He just finished the lead vocals - so.......

I'd much rather hear Hakuna Matata.

I talked to a member of the band a few days later in Boston, and he told me that Ronnie kept singing the song over and over again, and that it got pretty weird.  Brian got freaked out and left.  She wouldn't stop singing it.

The album might be surprising.  Didn't someone once say that Brian sounded like Mickey Mouse with a cold?  ;D

While I am not that excited about the Disney album (unlike BWRG, because I am a Gershwin fan), I hope he does at least one song with toy instruments, as he talked about several years ago.

I would LOVE for Brian to cover "The Bare Necessities"!! That would be awesome if Van Dyke had a roll in this
next project

Even a cameo appearance on one tune, like that tune for what it meant to Van Dyke, would tie it all together, bringing it full circle! I guess we're the only ones to see the irony and the possibilities of VDP and BW possibly doing this on the Disney album. I'd buy it just for that song, like I bought Orange Crate Art originally for the song Brian and Van Dyke did in the Don Was film.

I certainly wish it's going to be more adventurous than BWRG. Smooth and safe did fit the Gershwin material quite well and at least there were a couple of nice surprises that went a little bit further than that. For a "BW Reimagines Disney" record to be interesting, however, I think it needs to be weird and quirky instead of mostly just pleasant.

When did Brian say this?

I think it was after "BWPS" was released, though it possibly could have been before.  As I recall, he said he'd like to make a children's album using toy instruments.   I only remember seeing it mentioned once (unlike the rock and roll album).

Yep...the Little Prince, or something like that.

You're right. I totally forgot about that. I think the Disney-album could really be fitting for that kind of approach, but I don't think it'll be that way

I'd love to hear a 2011 Brian Wilson toy instruments arrangement, this could be truly amazing I think.

I don't know, I think he's really limited to what his management says he can do - at least in terms of releasable material....I think this because I have no idea what truly goes on in that camp.

I say give him a drumset, moog synth, a bag of tricks, an electric guitar, a sound engineer, and some free time - I'd love to hear another Love You type album come from his brain alone. Shoot, he could release it for free on his website as a present to his fans.

Who wouldn't love to hear a recording of Brian truly being creative and whimsical in his own unique way?

I'm excited about this album.  Some of my favorite Brian songs are some of the craziest, so I think it'll be cool to see him do children's songs.  I hope he just does some really over the top strange ones like "Zip a dee doo dah" and such, in a "Saturday Morning in the City" vibe.  I'm sure he'll do nice versions of Wish Upon A Star etc. as well.  Really everything that's been mentioned on this thread would be interesting, even "Colors of the Wind" and things like that would be great... "Prince Ali" from Aladdin would be awesome, even "It's a Small World" could be legendary, lol.

I'm just hyped. I hope I can refrain from hearing any snippets or anything until the album comes out, so it'll be crazier when I finally hear it. 

I agree. I'm excited about something without "high art" expectations. Just a record.

It would be interesting to hear Brian sing Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious from "Mary Poppins"...  ;D

MD...

I'm hoping for quirky.

What were the reviews like for Beach Boys Love You (an example of a quirky album)? I suppose that if the management let Brian get really quirky, the critics would hate it. Then again, maybe that's not such a big deal.

Over here they were great - both Sounds and NME loved it, and this was before the former went down the HM route.

I think another Love You is out of the question, but I would love more songs in the Message Man, Nothing But Love vein. When he does upbeat these days, Brian can still nail it.

I would love a quirky, minimal, analogue synthy album of Brian letting loose on some weird Disney sh!t, maybe backed by a Van Dyke-esque orchestra on some tracks.

What we're likely to get: a mainstream, predictable, midtempo, cluttered production that gets minimal promotion and ignored by the label/Grammys/record-buying public.

yeah i'm expecting brian wilson by numbers here.  love to be wrong

Brian's "official" twitter account confirms the first song that everyone knew would be on the album:
"We're doin' "When You Wish Upon A Star" for the new album. It kinda inspired "Surfer Girl." - Brian"

ha wouldn't it be great if it's just surfer girl. 

Actually in all sincerity, maybe he should do the Surfer Girl intro to it?  That would work.

"OOOOhhhhhooooooooooohhh oooooooo.... oooooohhhhh oooohhhhhoooooooooohhh ooooh....."

Whhhhhhennn you Wish; uponnnn a STARRRRR.....

that could work out great.  At the end of the each line, he could have the band doing the Surfer girl hook, instead though they could go "on a star, on a star, on a starrrrr" or something.


Eh.  I'll leave it up to the pros.

Here's hoping for Heigh Ho. Done the Tom Waits way, as in that great Hal Willner Disney Tribute, 'Stay Awake', with Harry Nilsson and Van Dyke Parks collaborating. It would suit his rougher voice well, and a dark synth would just make it perfect.

I can't wait to hear someone in Brian's group decide to work in "Surfer Girl" into the beginning or ending of "When You Wish Upon a Star" (please note the sarcasm). I predict they'll either use some of combination of those two songs or "Heigh-Ho" to bookend the album. It seems so obvious given the way they sequence Brian's albums.

Dada you may unwittingly (?) be influencing the 'creative' process :o

Yeah. Now we can blame Dada if it turns out to be a total clunker.

Tweet from the BW site.


Brian Wilson
Just finished the Disney CD. My kids are lovin it. Now I know what it must have felt like when I played "Be My Baby" 24/7. It's all about my kids!

I doubt the kids come away with such a legendary story as Carnie Wilson did (everyday hearing the "ba-ba-ba-cha" of the percussion on Be my baby.

I think this is going to be a great, epic album. Disney songs are usually bombastic, pretty, childlike and weird. Should fit Brian like a glove.

Thanks for the update!

I can't wait to hear it!

put it out next week. 

So does he just mean he's done recording, or is it all mastered and such

Well a week or two ago he said all the lead vocals were done....I think. And since he is most likely the producer on this album it's probably fair to say that he meant that the mastering is complete and the CD is done. I mean, he is showing the album to his children so it must be in some completed form...unless he is bringing home acetates  :-D

That's my guess anyways.

Yeah I can't imagine he'd be playing rough mixes for them - if the leads were done a few weeks ago, and the backing vocals were already done before that, I would think the mixing stage would be completed right about now.

Hmm.  That's a really great quote from Brian.  We have, on record, Brian admitting something crazy he did... and tongue in cheek showing remorse for it!  My what a long way we've come, Mr. Wilson!

I agree.  Wholeheartedly.  I loved the Gershwin album too, though, but this seems like even a better fit. 

Geesh Chris, don't you listen to the Pet Sounds box set?  He doesn't have to master his songs, he has the guys stand CLOSER TO THE MICROPHONE.  Duh.  And the flutes too.  But just at the end.  Alright.  From the top!

Nope. Count me in too. Where's the rock and roll album?! We need Moogs, bathrobes, coke, songs about Roller Skating Children and Little Tomboys and cigs getting thrown into the toilet!

...from a guy nearing his 69th birthday?

Charlie Sheen is the new Brian Wilson! What a T-shirt. ;D

I don't mean to sound mean-spirited, and I know you were partially joking, but don't you think for a person's gone through everything Brian's gone through, doesn't it seem a bit off to playfully suggest that you'd prefer his music if he returned to coke and if it was coming from what was clearly an incredibly miserable and destructive place?  I love Adult Child for its honesty and humor, but it's also a really tragic record, and I hope Brian Wilson is never in a position to make another one like it.  Brian should make music for his grand kids, god knows he deserves to make whatever music he wants.

He's stopped doing that??  :o  :)

I think Brian means he's finished recording, not that the album's mixed, mastered and ready to roll.

Eh, I don't know how long it takes for them to master these things, but Brian said on February 9th that he was done recording the lead vocals. Assuming they were finished with the backing vocals and such by that point, I'd say that that they could have mixed and mastered by now. I suppose it doesn't matter anyways - if the release of this album is on schedule with their usual timing from end of recording to release we won't be seeing it for another 5-6 months.  :-\

Do we know for sure that the last thing Brian does is record leads?  I think he'd be more inclined to finish the backing harmonies last!

Four words: "Wouldn't It Be Nice".  ;D