Thanks for a really informative post, Jon.

You're right that Dennis' music in a movie would seem a really big help--or even a commercial! For one thing, it is often so dramatic, cinematic in scope, it would be perfect. (In fact, I actually get tired of it because of that very fact! To me, it is over-dramatic.) And the reason I say "a commercial," remember what the song "Pink Moon" in a car commercial did for Nick Drake a few years back--his entire catalogue seemingly reappeared immediately, compilations came out soon after and every Gen-Xer suddenly was a fan.

The other thing is, I'd think a Dennis documentary might be really good. There is plenty there to make a great story. (Good-looking, which never hurts) Member of a famous band is the group's true inspiration (in terms of subject matter), yet is considered the untalented one at first. As time goes on, he obviously blossoms, records and releases exciting, music, more relevant and timely (one could say) than that of his superstar band. As they become a travelling jukebox, he's making interesting but largely ignored music. There are pressures about using material for the group, maybe (or maybe not...I don't know all there is to know about their stance on his solo stuff) even as he deteriorates physically. And he dies an untimely death. It really is the kind of thing people would see. And his music has been so critically acclaimed, I could imagine a well-made documentary doing very well on the indie movie scene.

(I wouldn't want it to be David Leaf's PR-style stuff, though.)

I tell you what, I've convinced me. I'm on the job!

I really can't believe that, on a purely musical level, anyone with a good ear would believe the travelling Beach Boys band is remotely close to as good as Brian Wilson's band. I'm not saying that to take away from the travelling Beach Boys, either. They are professional musicians who make a (very good) living touring and playing that material, so they aren't worthless, musically speaking. But Wilson's band is simply ridiculous. The only criticism I can recall ever hearing is that they sound too note-perfect, as if they're recreating recordings. ("Lacking the soul of the originals," is what I've heard, although I think that is a bullshit criticism, especially in that case.)

The travelling Beach Boys band, on the other hand, really is just a different experience. It's fine for people who are into what they do, and I am sure there are different reasons for seeing them. Some people are hardcore fans who will attend any Beach Boys-related show; some are interested in the fun 'n' sun show; some honestly couldn't tell the difference between the original Beach Boys, the current ones and me playing a toy piano belting out the tunes, so it doesn't matter anyway.

There are obviously markets for both bands (and more besides), so I don't think it is too big a deal. The only problems, I think, are those that people have regarding what they consider the bands' legacies, shady business or whatever else. As for me, I'm not interested. I'll see any Brian show that comes my way because of his band (much more than because of him, actually, as he's easily the worst member of his band). I won't ever see the touring Beach Boys.

Mike finally agrees to the project when he is allowed to write a 300-word introduction to the liner notes. Those notes reveal that Mike himself thought of the name Pacific Ocean Blue (and possibly the Pacific Ocean itself). It seems Love also wrote 50% of the lyrics on the album, and that he worked intimately with Dennis in the studio to put down the instrumental tracks. Turns out Mike had been the only Beach Boy to TRULY recognize Dennis' talent.

I don't blame him, or anyone else. I forget the words to my own songs all the time. And the chords, for that matter. I'm a goshdarn idiot.

If they've all been good since Oh Mercy, then none have been comebacks except the one immediately thereafter.

I just got around to buying and watching the '90s VU reunion DVD. I've had the CDs for years, and admit to barely listening to them.

What are people's thoughts about it? Is it nice to watch legendary bands reunite, or pathetic? Worthwhile artistically, or only nostalgically? Is nostalgically even a fucking word?

Bob is back

He wasn't gone.

I love it too. I really like most of the songs on the album, so I wasn't getting into them much one at a time. But the high (for him) note at the end of the first line in the verse is great, and I love his voice when he hits it.

I just put in, for the first time in possibly years, Led Zeppelin IV. And when track four came about, I found I was holding my guitar and playing along. That's right, I played along with Stairway to Heaven for the first time in what has to have been eight or ten years. sh*t, that was fun! I don't care that Zeppelin doesn't get much respect these days...I love that band, album, song, etc. I felt abouit 16 again.

I recall from a course on India in college that either some Hindus or some Jainists believed that. I think they called it tapas (not to be confused with Spanish appetizers), which, when saved up instead of being wasted, brought power to a person.

I don't mind being powerless, personally.

I know. But your precision is certainly appreciated. Really. It is.

And I'm sure its lyrics, too, were written by Gene Landy. 

Oh, I don't doubt that at all. But at least they weren't about people saying "hey brian, you're looking cool" and whatever other trash is on S.I.

i think is a pretty darn good album. great for an old fart like dylan   but my problem lies in that its too similar production-wise to love and theft.  too predicatble.  i don't undersatnd how people can knock on time out of mind for it's production..... are you kidding?  it sounds like the basement tapes part 2.... incredible.  the production makes that album - well, so does that fact that it has excellent if not perfect dylan songwriting.  unrelated opinions aside, i can recommend Modern Times to any one.  great record in fact.  probbaly a better experience live, where the band really matters.  i'm not that impressed that somebody can accurately capture a great band on record if the band isnt doing anything that special.  i guess i want something more interesting in a studio product.

Sounding like L&T again is the best production decision made on a Dylan album in 30 years.

Re Basement Tapes v 2, I don't think the production of TooM is anything like Basement Tapes. My opinion, but what those guys did in that house in NY, and what Lanois did in Louisiana (or wherever they recorded that one) don't sound a thing alike. The former was mostly dry room sounds. The latter is drowned in typical Lanois fog.

And as for bands sounding good on a record being no small feat, well, you may be right, but I sure wish more people would try it, and especially Dylan. Nothing immediately dates an album quite like trying to do something contemporary with production. After having a decade or two of shitty sounding productions, you'd think more people would like the return to simple, true recording.

But in closing, hey--to each his own.

I sur eas hell hope not, unless Carl and Dennis somehow make it.

I don't care what anyone says. I love it. I think it's hilarious--one of my favorite moments on an otherwise awful Sweet Insanity album. At least it lacks those god-awful therapy lyrics.

It was, and you can hear background noise. Big deal...didn't bother me at all.

This is an original that is not remotely BW/BB sounding (just to make sure the totally uninterested don't waste their time). I thought of this after a friend said we ought to write protest songs and I thought about how I had nothing to say. I waited almost a year, and then this popped out. I rewrote it today, and did all arrangement and recording just now, within the past hour or two.

http://www.yousendit.com/transfer.php?action=download&ufid=C3F041F85C7C54A1

HOw's THIS trifecta? I just heard the following songs in succession at my local grocery store while muying some soup fixin's (I'm home sick today.): Be My Baby, She Says That She Loves Me, I Can Hear Music (BBs version).

I don't know who does the programming for Lund's groceries' music service, but nice work today. I feel better already...

I like it more than Time Out of Mind (production of which I don't care for--Lanois belongs in hell), but probably not quite as much as L&T, which is really among my very favorite Dylan albums.

I became deliciously drunk yesterday and watched this again, with director's commentary. It was a pleasure.

I think ther all-encompassing movie idea is out of the question: too much, impossible to please all the BW/BB geeks out there (er, in here!) with the details while retaining some popular appeal. My best ideas would be either the one mentioned earlier, that maybe would focus on a small period of BW's life (I like the post above this, with maybe a snippet of Brian's life in the 70s) or even a film about someone else--someone totally irrelevant--being inspired by the music. I think you could do something there, including that character learning about BW/BB while going through [X plot].

I don't know sh*t about making movies. I don't even watch many. So the smarter among you can go ahead with a good conversation now!

Modern Times came out today, in the States (and I assume yesterday in the UK). Several of you must have bought it, and I left work this morning to head down to the Electric Fetus (a local indie record store just south of downtown Mpls) to pick it up.

So, what are your thoughts? I am not going to jump out and make any purportedly definitive judgments. But I will say my first impressions are very good: I love the sound of the band he's got, sounding like it did on L&T. I think Dylan deciding to produce his own records has been the best thing that could've happened to his albums. No more drum machines and synths, no more Lanois-fog, just a kickass rock-country-jazz band backing the man. And I must say, I love his voice these past albums more than any other he's sung with since the mid-60s albums. The croak suits him well.

.but some of the medication that Brian has been on through the years to treat his social anxiety and manic depression seem to have taken his edge away. ... One could say that most great works of artists are accomplished before they turn 30, and that the creative fire lessens with age. Is it possible for a man in his 60's to get back in the mind set of his 20's?  If Brian had been left free to pursue his creative muse, where would he have progressed after Smile? What if............

I think getting older took his edge away more than anything else. I mean, look at all those radical, creative rockers in their late 50s and early 60s: Wilson, McCartney, Mick Jagger, Eric Clapton, Paul Simon, zzzzzzzzzzzzz. They get old. You're more correct in the latter part of your post, which I also quoted above: much (most?) really innovative, creative art seems to come from younger people, and that has certainly been true of rock, which is primarily an art of the young.

Dylan's new Modern Times.

foda, yes! MS Paint is the greatest form of art on earth. Check my band's myspace...

www.myspace.com/thebeaumondes

GReat stuff, Luther - the songs, not the Paint...  My band and i both want to be your friends!

What's wrong with the MS Paint art?!

(The songs are all just tossed together demos, Susan. If you like them, I think you'll like the real thing...once we record them.)