How you mean? Because I don't like the album? I can't stand it.

Gonna ban me for that? From what I have read, I like TLOS much more than you. Should you be banned for that? I don't think so, but maybe you don't want Brian Wilson fans with a different opinion than yours on here. Such a shame. This is a Beach Boys/Brian Wilson board. -- not a heartical "don" board.  The BB's are my favorite band. Brian is my musical idol. If you think that means I don't deserve to tip a glass with you, then do what you will with me.

I have been disrespectful of nobody, and Brian himself has spoken badly against that album.

In the end I guess, is this a private clubhouse, or is it a place for true fans? Guess I will soon find out.

At day's end, the Daily Double put Brian at a very respectable #22. You can bet that Billboard will fall somewhere in there - although I don't know if the on-line sales are figured into that.

I literally hate the album. Complete garbage to me. Maybe it is for what might have been.....but I really think it is because the other members won out and Brian lost (by his own means), and that was the beginning of the end, no matter how much us lifers think of some of the music that came later.

Guess that I'll just have to take your word for it, since I don't know firsthand.

sh*t happens.

I figure Brian didn't like the guy or was in one of his moods.

You guys scare waaayyyyyy too easily. I am thinking of nightlights and nannies....or maybe a sex change.

It is the norm...everyone does it. He is criticized when he looks aimless and he is criticized when he looks the part.

Look in the mirror fellow posters. Ain't nobody asking for your autographs.

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.

Okay.....going with your flow.

Why not Capitol? Makes sense to me. The promotion has been great. At least in my mind, it seems like they need him just as much as he needs them.

Dire straits in the biz these days. Makes perfect sense to hang with the horse that brung you -- especially when it seems all is for naught these days.

I think Capitol will give it their all for this release. If it doesn't pay off, they are likely to shoot for another target.

Desperate times in the biz.

The way it is. Period.

Why do we complain? I don't have a single doubt in my mind that 99.9% of the members of this board used to drop $$ at the record store on every Tuesday back in the old days. You know...back when they actually made "that type" of music?

So, here one comes along (in a year that has been strangely rich in great releases I believe---including POB), and we gripe.

I am thankful that we get it at all. Like a blast from the past, That Lucky Old Sun is. Yet, it is also Back To The Future.

Enjoy it while you can.

Absolutely correct jeffcdo. I am happy with what I got, although I would have preferred all 5 of the bonus tracks instead. Nevertheless (and four TLOS purchases later), I now have them all. It was a small price to pay and I ain't complaining.

Hits Daily Double. Don't know if many of you have checked this out before, but it compiles sales on Monday and Tuesday of each week from record chains, and then releases a chart on Wednesday. Right now, it shows Lucky Old Sun to be at #32 in the US, although this changes every 5 minutes as updates arrive.

FWIW, their week-ending charts on Wednesday typically mimic Billboards fairly accurately.

Here is the link: http://www.hitsdailydouble.com/sales/salescht.cgi

Hits Daily Double. Don't know if many of you have checked this out before, but it compiles sales on Monday and Tuesday of each week from record chains, and then releases a chart on Wednesday. Right now, it shows Lucky Old Sun to be at #32 in the US, although this changes every 5 minutes as updates arrive.

FWIW, their week-ending charts on Wednesday typically mimic Billboards fairly accurately.

Here is the link: http://www.hitsdailydouble.com/sales/salescht.cgi

Loved the review claymcc! WELL DONE!

Will post mine soon (sure to make some people sick).

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/music/la-et-wilson30-2008aug30,0,116368,full.story

Former Beach Boy Brian Wilson delivers 'That Lucky Old Sun'
The album reflects his 66 years.
By Randy Lewis, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
August 30, 2008

COULD there be a more intimidating musical task than the one Brian Wilson took on five years ago when he decided to resurrect his storied masterwork “Smile,” the long-abandoned Beach Boys project that had plunged him into an abyss of psychological torment?

Well, how about completing "Smile" to widespread acclaim, only to find himself face to face with perhaps an even more daunting challenge: "What next?"

Wilson's answer arrives Tuesday with “That Lucky Old Sun,” the next step in the unlikely return of the musician whose life virtually created the blueprint for the rock 'n' roll prodigy cum flameout.

The new album is another song cycle, a loosely thematic work that examines and revels in life in Southern California. It celebrates a culture that Wilson helped define in the 1960s with his ebullient songs of surfer girls, sandy beaches and endless good vibrations.

"Smile" was perhaps the most ardently debated "lost" album in pop music history before Wilson revived it; by comparison, "That Lucky Old Sun" arrives with no history and infinitely fewer expectations. That made it more fun to create for the 66-year-old sole surviving Wilson brother -- Dennis, the band's true beach boy, drowned in 1983. Sweet-voiced Carl died in 1998 of cancer.

"This is more of a pop album than 'Smile' was," says Wilson, striding the perimeter of a neighborhood park in L.A. He launches an impromptu a cappella rendering of the album's "Morning Beat":

The sun burns a hole through the 6 a.m. haze

Turns up the volume and shows off its rays

Another Dodger blue sky is crowning L.A.

The City of Angels is blessed every day

"That's a good rock 'n' roll song!" he proclaims. "I don't know how well it will sell, but I hope people will like it."

After completing three miles around the park -- he'd already logged two that morning -- he steps back into his sporty 2006 Mercedes coupe and tools up the steeply winding roads leading to his favorite deli, not far from the hilltop home where he and his wife, Melinda, have lived for 13 years.

He snaps on the car radio periodically, usually for just a second or two, long enough for him to identify whatever song is playing. It's tuned to oldies station KRTH-FM (101.1), and when Stevie Wonder's "If You Really Love Me" bursts from the speakers, he keeps it on. Then, serendipitously, comes the first song Brian Wilson ever wrote, "Surfer Girl." He listens but doesn't utter a word.

Does he know how much his music has meant to so many people over the years?

"Not really," he says matter-of-factly. "I'm not sure what it means. I would imagine they think some of it's pretty good."

Pulling up in front of the deli, he parks and greets the store's manager. It's obvious he's a regular. He snags a table, exchanges a handshake and a quick hello with a famous neighbor in the next booth. A few minutes later, the celebrity heads to the door. Wilson shouts, "Hi, handsome!" as the man smiles politely and exits.

A couple of beats after the door swings closed, Wilson asks: "What was the name of that guy, that actor?"

Warren Beatty.

"He's a good-looking fellow," Wilson says.

You never know what clicks with Wilson. It might take him a minute to place the face of one of the world's most recognizable movie stars, but anything musical is always at his fingertips. And when it comes to music, his brain is tuned to its own frequency.

"Did you know that songs go to sleep at night?" Wilson asks out of the blue. "And they wake up in the morning with you. They have a life of their own. In a way, they get nourished by orchestration, and the instruments."

Given that his connection with his musical muse has yielded such heart-stoppingly beautiful songs as "God Only Knows," "Caroline, No" and "Don't Worry Baby," who's to argue with him?

Over the deli's oldies-heavy song selection comes one of his own tunes, the Beach Boys' 1968 hit "Do It Again."

"That song really rocks," he says. "I remember writing that one with Mike. He was living up on Coldwater Canyon. I came over to his house and we sat down and wrote that in about 10 minutes. . . . It was like God wanted us to write that song."

Lunch is a gastronomic sprint. It's impressive to see how efficiently he puts away his favorite steak -- cooked medium rare, slathered with A1 sauce, a bowl of sauteed mushrooms on the side. Now he's got his taste buds set on a health drink he can get down the Valley side of the hill.

He's done enough driving, so he hands off the key to his $90,000 Mercedes. "Here," he tells his visitor without hesitating. "You can drive now."

At the bottom of the hill, he orders a double shot of wheat grass juice and the veggie combo -- a blend of pulverized carrot, kale, collard, celery and assorted greens. "It doesn't taste very good," he tells the puzzled cashier. "But it's good for me."

Nutrition and fitness, issues that loom prominently in his life these days, figure into a couple of the songs on "That Lucky Old Sun," including "Morning Beat" and the rock march "Oxygen to the Brain."

"You could do a Brian Wilson compilation of exercise songs," says Scott Bennett, the multi-instrumentalist who wrote most of the lyrics for Wilson's newest songs.

Although Bennett has been part of the Brian Wilson band since he put it together in 1999 to make his return to the concert stage, it was only last year that he and Wilson started writing songs together.

Wilson came to Bennett's home studio with a new song he wanted some help on, liked what Bennett came up with and just kept coming back with more songs.

"He was in an intensely creative place," Bennett says. "In my nine years with him, I hadn't ever seen him this on fire."

Initially, Wilson just wanted to make a new album of upbeat rock numbers. Then he got a call from officials at the Royal Festival Hall in London, which had hosted the world premiere of "Smile" in 2004. They asked him to create a work and premiere it there, requesting that it follow the "Smile" blueprint.

Wilson turned to his "Smile" lyricist, Van Dyke Parks, for a string of narrated vignettes about life in Southern California. Wilson and Bennett then set about adapting some of the songs they'd already been working on.

Bennett figured he had an opportunity to delve into the wider range of thoughts and emotions he'd experienced working alongside Wilson for the better part of a decade.

"Some of the first lyrics he brought me were, 'I'm embarrassed to tell you that I never got out of bed.' When I heard that, I knew he'd be willing to be a bit confessional, that he might be willing to address the dark chapters. Because this was turning into a semiautobiographical piece, we couldn't ignore the fact that he checked out for a while."

That resulted in "Goin' Home," in which Wilson sings:

At 25 I turned out the light

'Cause I couldn't handle the glare in my tired eyes

But now I'm back

Drawing shades of kind blue skies

"Forever You'll Be My Surfer Girl" is a touching reflection on that first song Wilson composed. He also sings of the band he formed so long ago with Carl and Dennis, cousin Mike Love and their Hawthorne neighborhood pal Al Jardine in the bittersweet ballad "Southern California," which opens, "I had this dream / Singing with my brothers / In harmony / Supporting each other."

The album's emotional centerpiece is "Midnight's Another Day," a solo piano-driven ballad that opens with a disarmingly honest self-assessment:

Lost my way

The sun grew dim

Stepped over grace

And stood in sin

Took the dive, but couldn't swim

A flag without the wind

"That Lucky Old Sun" is punchier and lyrically more straightforward than "Smile" but less deeply resonant. It's the difference between the work of a 24-year-old wunderkind and a 66-year-old battle-scarred survivor.

Over the course of a 2 1/2 -hour interview, he doesn't turn philosophical often. But looking at life after two-thirds of a century, he says, "As you get older, you appreciate the little things more: a walk in the park, a sip of Champagne, a kiss on the cheek . . . those things you might not have noticed when you were younger."

Wilson says he still doesn't like performing, although he'll be returning Sept. 12 to 14 for another round of shows at the Hollywood Bowl, which will feature excerpts from "That Lucky Old Sun." He'll do the full album Sept. 10 in Santa Barbara.

Still, he's far more relaxed in the public spotlight now, even appearing to enjoy himself -- especially when Melinda is in the audience.

Most of those near Wilson credit her steadying influence for his return to music making. He doesn't mention her, but it may well be that she's on his mind as he pilots the Mercedes back home and poses another seemingly random question.

"Do you believe in guardian angels? I do. I believe they're around us all the time," he says, "watching over us and protecting us."

randy.lewis@latimes.com

I am not a zombie. I still vote and count in elections. Don't write for an English newspaper though...thank God. Look what they did to Elton John.

I have around 6,000 albums and 3,000 compact discs. I love music. I damn sure know how to separate the wheat from the chafe. This is a great work for this point in his life. Would have been a great work even 35 years ago considering everything.

It moves me and it is beautiful. I don't feel nearly so old when I listen to it, and that is a beautiful thing these days for me.

This reviewer is a nobody hanging on to the current american (or British) teen idol trend, while Brian is a certified musical genuis, hanging on to the very flower of his former life.

I can hear it and I love it. Seemed impossible not so very long ago. Enjoy it while you can. Nothing lasts forever.

Love this thing....all of it. The criticisms I have heard so far are asinine. Brian sounds reborn.

Like he says, the best part of this trip just might be the ride. He still has fourth gear.

I consider myself lucky.

What great reads both of those posts were! Does anyone -- beside me, wonder if Brian ever felt he was creating something special here? He certainly seems committed to it in a way I haven't heard in a while. And I agree -- Scott's lyrics are excellent and they seem to make a nice team.

Can't argue with the results.

By the way, has anyone else noticed how prominent Taylor's voice is on the album? I love it, especially her singing on Forever She'll Be My Surfer Girl. Man, she sounds like an angel on there!

Thanks for reposting your comments claymcc. I found them interesting and very much like my own feelings for this disc. I will be writing a full review for my website (it is a university sports site, but I occasionally write music reviews for it), and once it is written I will post a link in case anyone is interested.

Honestly, I love this album. Can't get enough of it.

Agreed. I am more than happy. Going Home and Morning Beat Both kick tail. The album is solid, and much more than anyone could reasonably expect at this point. Listened to it front-to-back from 10 am this morning until 10 pm tonight. Never got tired of it.

This works. Some of his vocals are his best in years and he definitely sounds inspired. Nobody can take this away from him.

Just a few comments in case anyone gives a damn. I am blown away completely. His best --most consistent work BY FAR since the sixties. Getting this album though, reminds me why I hated them to begin with. My copy is slightly warped and VERY noisy. I bought the Mudcrutch album last week (for the expanded fidelity CD inside), and the sound of that one kicks this ones' butt badly.

That said, the artwork is incredible (though the cover itself feels like cheap paper). There is a silhouette of Brian on the back that is way cool. I will be getting this one framed.

Call me a fanboy or whatever you want to. I don't care. This one is a total triumph. My favorite song so far is Going Home....it kicks ass.

By the way, Brian is the only credited writer on "Good Kind of Love."

Glad that I took the day off from work now. If I got it here in New Mexico this early, all of you folks should be getting yours soon.

Gotta go listen now!

Brian Wilson and Capitol/EMI Partner With Gannett for First of Its Kind Album Premiere Promotion for Wilson's That Lucky Old Sun 
Posted : Tue, 19 Aug 2008 13:31:29 GMT
Author : Capitol/EMI 
 
 Wilson's New Album Exclusively Available for Pre-Release Audio Streaming at More Than 50 Gannett Newspaper and TV Sites, Including USATODAY.com HOLLYWOOD, Calif., Aug. 19

HOLLYWOOD, Calif., Aug. 19 /PRNewswire/ -- Music legend Brian Wilson and
Capitol Records / EMI are partnering with Gannett for an exclusive premiere of
Wilson's new album, That Lucky Old Sun.  From August 22 to September 1, more
than 50 Gannett newspaper and TV station websites, including USATODAY.com,
will exclusively offer full streaming audio of Wilson's new album before its
September 2 release. The innovative promotion is the first of its kind for
Gannett, which has never before partnered with an artist to offer an album
premiere across its media Websites.

(Logo:  http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20080819/LATU026)

Visitors to select Gannett sites, including USATODAY.com, 32 local Gannett
newspaper websites and 19 local Gannett TV websites, will be able to listen to
the full 38-minute album in sequence or skip ahead or back to individual
tracks. The album will not be available for download from Gannett's sites, but
the streaming audio player will link directly to Amazon.com to pre-order the
CD, limited edition CD/DVD and digital album.

While it is fairly common practice for artists to offer promotional
pre-release web streaming of new music, it is a unique arrangement to stream
an album on newspaper and TV websites. For Gannett, this is an opportunity to
deliver new music from a respected artist familiar to its core news audience.
Top Gannett markets were chosen for the web streams, some because of the size
of the market, others because of a large Brian Wilson fan base.

"Streaming a full album is a first for Gannett, so we are thrilled to be
working with Capitol Records and a musician of Brian Wilson's stature to
deliver music in a new way to our online audiences. This positions us well to
expand our digital platforms while demonstrating the power of Gannett to
deliver quality content across a network of websites," said Jim Lenahan,
strategic development manager for Gannett's U.S. Community Publishing
division.

Brian Wilson is one of popular music's most deeply revered figures, a
legendary writer, producer, arranger and performer of some of the most
cherished music in rock history. For the release of his new studio album, That
Lucky Old Sun, Wilson has returned to Capitol Records / EMI, his original
label home. The new album will be released on CD, limited edition CD/DVD, and
digitally on September 2 (September 1 internationally).  On August 19, the
album is released as a limited edition 180-gram vinyl LP.

"This music is really special to me and I hope that everyone will enjoy
it!," says Brian Wilson.

A musical love letter from Southern California, That Lucky Old Sun
shimmers with sun-dappled choruses and arrangements that swell and swirl as if
carried by the Pacific tides.  Rolling Stone magazine has deemed it "Brian's
strongest new work in years," and one of the album's songs, "Midnight's
Another Day," has been described by MOJO magazine as "glorious." The album is
narrated in transitional interludes spoken by Wilson as 'That Lucky Old Sun,'
the storyteller. The narratives, cameos on life and the heartbeat of Los
Angeles, propel the album's musical story.

Wilson describes That Lucky Old Sun as an "interwoven series of 'rounds'
with interspersed spoken word," and as an autobiographical travelogue of
sorts. The new studio album is produced by Wilson and was created with his
acclaimed band at Capitol Studios in Hollywood, where he first recorded in
1962.

The new release is the dawning of a new California morning for Brian
Wilson, continuing the awe-inspiring concept album journey that he first began
four decades ago. Wilson's songwriting, arranging and producing talents came
together in harmonious glory for The Beach Boys' 1966 classic, Pet Sounds, and
have continued to evolve during his solo career, highlighted by his 2004
critically acclaimed Brian Wilson Presents SMiLE. Lyrically and in Wilson's
incomparably lush, evocative arrangements, That Lucky Old Sun adds a new
chapter to Wilson's conceptual presentations, reaching ever higher with his
vibrant and moving autobiographical storytelling and intricate harmonies.

Following numerous nominations, Wilson won a well-deserved Grammy Award
for Best Rock Instrumental Performance (2004) for "Mrs. O'Leary's Cow" and he
was inducted into the UK Music Hall of Fame in 2006. Last December, he was
feted as a leading cultural icon by The Kennedy Center Honors alongside Diana
Ross, Martin Scorsese, Steve Martin and Leon Fleisher.

Brian Wilson will tour with his band this fall, performing songs from That
Lucky Old Sun and his classic hits.  For more information, please visit
http://www.brianwilson.com.


Gannett Co., Inc. is a leading international news and information company
that publishes 85 daily newspapers in the USA, including USA TODAY, the
nation's largest-selling daily newspaper. The company also owns nearly 900
non-daily publications in the USA and USA WEEKEND, a weekly newspaper
magazine. Gannett subsidiary Newsquest is the United Kingdom's second largest
regional newspaper company. Newsquest publishes 17 daily paid-for titles,
approximately 300 weekly newspapers, magazines and trade publications, and a
network of award-winning Web sites. Gannett also operates 23 television
stations in the United States and is an Internet leader with sites sponsored
by its TV stations and newspapers including USATODAY.com, one of the most
popular news sites on the Web.


EMI Music is the recorded music division of EMI Group Limited, one of the
world's leading music companies. EMI Music represents artists spanning all
musical tastes and genres. Its record labels include Angel, Astralwerks, Blue
Note, Capitol, Capitol Nashville, EMI Classics, EMI CMG, EMI Records, EMI
Televisa Music, Manhattan, Mute, Parlophone and Virgin. Artists on EMI labels
include Lily Allen, The Beatles, Coldplay, Corinne Bailey Rae, Gorillaz, Hot
Chip, Norah Jones, The Kooks, Korn, Kylie Minogue, Pink Floyd, Joss Stone,
30 Seconds To Mars, KT Tunstall, Keith Urban, Robbie Williams, and Brian
Wilson. More information is available at http://www.emigroup.com.


That Lucky Old Sun will be exclusively available for streaming between
August 22 and September 1 on these Gannett websites:



PropertyWebsite
USA TODAY   USATODAY.com

Gannett Local Newspaper Websites:
PropertyWebsite
Arizona Republic (Phoenix)  azcentral.com
Detroit Free Press  Freep.com
Indianapolis Star   Indystar.com
Nashville TennesseanTennessean.com
Cincinnati Enquirer Cincinnati.com
Honolulu Advertiser Honoluluadvertiser.com
Rochester Democrat & Chronicle  Democratandchronicle.com
Des Moines Register Desmoinesregister.com
Louisville Courier-Journal  Courier-journal.com
Fort Myers News-Press   News-press.com
Asbury Park Press   App.com
The Desert Sun (Palm Springs CA)Mydesert.com
Reno Gazette JournalRgj.com
Wilmington (Del.) News Journal  Delawareonline.com
Cherry Hill (N.J.) Courier-Post Courierpostonline.com
Greenville (S.C.) News  Greenvilleonline.com
Florida Today (Brevard County)  Floridatoday.com
Green Bay Press Gazette Greenbaypressgazette.com
The Journal News (Westchester
 County NY) Lohud.com
Springfield (Mo.) News-Leader   News-leader.com
Jackson (Miss.) Clarion Ledger  Clarionledger.com
Sioux Falls Argus LeaderArgusleader.com
Lafayette (La.) Daily AdvertiserTheadvertiser.com
Pensacola News Journal  Pnj.com
Salem (Ore.) Statesman Journal  Statesmanjournal.com
Appleton (Wis.) Post Crescent   Postcrescent.com
Burlington (Vt.) Free Press Burlingtonfreepress.com
Shreveport TimesShreveporttimes.com
St. Cloud (Minn.) Times Sctimes.com
Newark (Ohio) Advocate  Newarkadvocate.com
Lancaster (Ohio) Eagle-Gazette  Lancastereaglegazette.com
Battle Creek (Mich.) Enquirer   Battlecreekenquirer.com


Gannett Television Sites:
PropertyWebsite
WUSA (Washington DC)Wusa9.com
KARE (Minneapolis)  Kare11.com
WCSH (Portland ME)  Wcsh6.com
WLBZ (Bangor ME)Wlbz2.com
KTVD, KUSA (Denver) My20denver.com; 9news.com
WGRZ (Buffalo)  Wgrz.com
WZZM (Grand Rapids MI)  Wzzm13.com
WKYC (Cleveland)Wkyc.com
KXTV (Sacramento CA)News10.net
WATL, WXIA (Atlanta)Myatltv.com; 11alive.com
WLTX (Columbia SC)  Wltx.com
WFMY (Greensboro NC)Digtriad.com
WTLV, WJXX (Jacksonville FL)Firstcoastnews.com
WBIR (Knoxville TN) Wbir.com
KTHV (Little Rock)  Todaysthv.com
WMAZ (Macon GA) 13wmaz.com
KPNX (Phoenix)  Azcentral.com
KSDK (St. Louis)Ksdk.com
WTSP (Tampa-St. Pete)   Tampabays10.com


SOURCE  Capitol/EMI

No offense taken....and I truly meant none.

I just want this last hurrah for Brian so bad. Maybe it won't be the last, but at the very least, it might be the first for him in a long, long while. I was thankful for Smile in 2004, but that really wasn't the Smile that I know might have once been.

He deserves this and I want it for him so very much.  Happy endings and all.

For what he imagines to be true, Brian would have to be the most selfish person alive -- and NOBODY believes that. It would also mean that a very talented writer and musician like Scott is willing to give up the credit for things that come from his own sweat, blood and tears. I don't believe that one either.

My issue is with the people that have built Brian up all his life only to try and tear him down as an old man. He is what he is. If he does something good, those people refuse to believe it.

Believe this: NOBODY is going to put someone else's name on their art. It isn't like this is going to sell a million copies and make everyone rich. Those days are over.

The money is in the tour, and they tour because they love making music (the band, I mean).

Mu opinion of course.