It's Brian and Al with Kanye West during the recording of the "We Are the World" remake. They also managed to catch Tony Bennett in the middle of a reverie.

This one springs to mind. It might be the weirdest.

Looks like a reissue of Surfer Girl with the tracklist out of order. That cover is just weird.

Some of the others (below left on that page) are even stranger!

oh my god

Looks like a reissue of Surfer Girl with the tracklist out of order. That cover is just weird.

Part 3.5: The End


Half Moon Bay begins.

Judd:   this one's quite nice, isn't it. for some reason the woodblocks irritate me on Whatever Happened but they're quite nice here. quite nice

Bubs:   this song is nicely done. might have been better to stick it after "This Beautiful Day"

Judd:   it gets a bit smooth elevator jazz around the middle, but whatever. wait no, the woodblocks are irritating here too

Bubs:   I'm just noticing there's a lot of exotica touches on this album

Judd:   it's tailor-made for a cruise liner of old people

Bubs:   the beginning is really interesting

Judd:   that's one of the loveliest bits of the album. doesn't sound far off the Gershwin album, this one. yes, I don't really have any qualms with this one other than the woodblocks, which I only dislike because some negative review pointed them out and I can't avoid them now because I'm a twat. what are your thoughts

Bubs:   I'm just doing some listening to it - I'm pretty sure I just heard the sound of running water, like a faucet. that's weird

Judd:   rly? that'd be cool

Bubs:   I'll tell you exactly when

Judd:   why isn't there more of that sort of thing on this album

Bubs:   starts right at 2:22, right channel

Judd:   weird, I don't hear it. oh well

Bubs:   I think it probably goes on too long

Judd:   maybe

Bubs:   you can get the entire idea of the song by about 2 minutes in

Judd:   that's not nearly enough time for the Kenny G sax solo

Bubs:   I think this is definitely one of the better songs on the album

Judd:   absolutely

Bubs:   yeah, I was gonna say some of the moments in the solo are a bit cheesy, and nothing interesting happens with the strings

Judd:   no

Bubs:   they just play basically what you think they would

Judd:   at least it's all easy on the ears in a good way. it's calming

Bubs:   I can see mixing up a mojito and then slipping this song on, and just getting lost for a few minutes. but we have to move on at some point

Judd:   oh yes. OUR SPECIAL LOVE

Bubs:   yeah

Hey, are we gonna do the extra songs?

You bet.

Exhibit D: Turks in Space


On the Island begins.

Judd:   there doesn't seem to be any pitch correction on Zooey; that's nice

Bubs:   I'm still upset there's no Zooey and Brian "Let's Put Our Hearts Together"

Judd:   ikr

Bubs:   there's something seductive about her vocals on this song

Judd:   too bad she's singing lyrics for a cruise liner ad

Bubs:   why would you need a bucket of sand IF YOU'RE ON A FUCKING BEACH. I saw the music video: that whole island is just sand

Judd:   nono, they get it FROM the beach. music video is pretty good actually. I'm sure this would be nicer with better lyrics, but I just think about Busy Doin' Nothing. That's such a lovely song and this is just bland

Bubs:   wait a second--Zooey sings "no food."what?

Judd:   they live off seasalt

Bubs:   wha-... bu-... they’re gonna die

Judd:   oh come on Bubs; isn't your idea of paradise dehydration and famine

Bubs:   this is a song about people who booked a vacation, their boat crashed, and now they're trapped on an island. there's no food, there's nothing to do, and they're beginning to hallucinate tables and television

Judd:   oh yeah, wow. that never really clicked with me. this song is genius

Bubs:   A lot of this is making sense now

Judd:   I can certainly enjoy it a lot more now. good job, On the Island

Bubs:   well, I guess that's it for this song then

Judd:   I like that it just ends bleakly on "there's really no place to go;” they're never getting out

Bubs:   See? It really starts to make sense

Judd:   wow. best song on the album.

Part 3: The Escape Clause


Whatever Happened begins.

Bubs:    very inoffensive beginning; and middle; and the end, too

Judd:    and everything. the problem with the ballads on this album is that they do absolutely nothing to move me

Bubs:    ooh, the steely edge of pitch correction in that chorus

Judd:   at least this one is a great deal more sufferable than The Last Song. this one's not awful-- just incredibly safe.

Bubs:    no, I mean, the big harmonies are sorta cool

Judd:    it just sounds so sterile; it doesn't come to life. They add a little bit just when you think it's gonna end. I like that bit.

Bubs:   someone goes for it on the cymbals

Judd:    indeed

Bubs:    the arrangement is cool in places: I like hearing the occasional low piano notes. Isn't that bass line a rip off from something 65 or 66? the little descending one

Judd:    not sure. probably--it's got that echoey effect on it. I don't like how it's just old tricks put into bland new songs. my biggest problem with this one in particular is how it seems to be kind of a rehash of Southern California and From There to Back Again

Bubs:   I'm gonna pull up the lyrics for this one. “As the time goes by/And I wonder why/When I know the day is through.” I legitimately do not think those lines make sense. he's wondering why he knows when  the day is through...?

Judd:    what's the next part

Bubs:   “The summer wine/My favorite time/The night that I met you.” nothing

Judd:    nope

Bubs:    there's no reference; it’s just phrases put together. they seem like they go together, but they don't

Judd:    oh well. the chorus is the big emotional punch

Bubs:    "When I wake up in the morning/If I see that you're not there/If you're away I'll be OK/I know that you still care."this is basically a verse that cancels itself out. We're getting ready for the devastation: SHE'S GONE; HOW’S HE GONNA REACT. oh he's fine; okay; moving on, then

Judd:    How would you sum up that one?

Bubs:    music for a vacation spot commercial

Judd:    that's the next one

Bubs:    there are multiple vacation spots

Judd:    touché.  I'll just say that out of all the newer BB and BB-related songs, the ones about old age tend to be the best. it felt weirdly intimate and genuine on Midnight's Another Day and the last three songs on TWGMTR. but for some reason on this one it just doesn't. it feels like they've just made a formula out of it

Paging Judd/Mr. Waves/undercover - where is "Discover Weekly"? Itunes?

Spotify.

One More Reason by Marshall Crenshaw from the Field Day Album.  I love that album!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bR_9qzwzBcs

Hey, I was listening to that album just today! Haven't got to know it as well as the debut (which is great, needless to say), but Our Town is a fantastic song. Must check out some of his later stuff...

This year, man...

Everybody Wants to Live is fantastic. Surprised it hasn't had an official release.

All beautiful. 

I'm not expecting anything great from Brian's book. I hope he is more involved in it than he was the first one, but won't be surprised if he's not. In fact, I won't be surprised if this book comes off like WIBN take 2, with Melinda as the savior instead of Landy.

= What?

noooo not this please

Agreed with Micha on this one. I've tried again and again with this album, and I enjoy it on some days, but on the whole it just wasn't for me. I think my main problem with it is the production. It all sounds a bit too loud (the drums especially are really cranked on most of these songs), which hurts a few cuts, especially "One Kind of Love" which can't decide whether it wants to be an 80s power ballad or "God Only Knows". To me there's something really by-the-numbers about songs like "Whatever Happened" and especially "The Last Song", which I feel bad writing considering they both address a very serious subject, but "From There to Back Again" hit that mark more or less perfectly a few years ago whereas these two just don't do anything for me.

Not that it's all bad. Even if I don't like the sound of "One Kind of Love" it's still the album's definitive piece of proof that Brian can still write a hell of a song. I enjoy the majority of the collaborations even if there's nothing conventionally 'Brian Wilson' about them - "Runaway Dancer", "Saturday Night", "Guess You Had to Be There"... all perfectly fine bubblegum (still not fond of "Our Special Love" though). "Half Moon Bay" is a fairly nice instrumental and I continue to love the hell out of "Don't Worry" (and to a lesser extent "I'm Feeling Sad").

So although I have no doubt Brian had total creative control, the music here just doesn't remind me of why I love the man and his music so much. But at least it's not another GIOMH as some had feared.

I know everyone hates smart girls, but I thought it was very clever how they blended the BB samples with the song.
I like it just for that alone, and not sure which version now, but it was cool to hear Brian do some of those falsetto parts again.
I think there are more concert recordings over the years that are more embarrassing (late 70's - early 80's)

I also liked how they did the samples.  The original version I heard was the one with Brian doing the snippets, which was also cool 

There's a version with Brian doing the snippets? Haven't heard that. Maybe it's more tolerable.
I might be able to give in and enjoy the version with samples as a stupid piece of fluff (like I do with the rest of Sweet Insanity) if it weren't for what happens halfway through. The moment "Good Vibrations" starts fading in out of absolutely nowhere is one of the most fascinatingly awful moments in the entire Beach Boys canon.

Have a good one, Will.

“12 of their greatest hits at an incredible price!”

Not bloody lying there. Although for a tossed-off Surfin' Safari reissue the cover art is weirdly competent.

Er, as for the other one...

... more in line with the level of innovative craftsmanship I've come to expect.

Looks like we've got the rock 'n' roll album early. Haven't bought it yet (plan to), but the samples sound incredible! Oddly refreshing just to hear a no-bullshit vintage sound... this ought to be one for the summer.

Brian in space

Recording / rehearsing the vocals to "Spring Vacation"

Is this one one of them sizzle reels? Trying to find it...

A fair chunk of the Queen Mary show is painfully bad. Brian's in possibly the worst condition I've ever seen him on video. From memory the low point is the intro to School Days (which for some reason Al says they wrote):
https://youtu.be/8Rs_kaSkNmU?t=913

WRONG THREAD AHHH

Here 'tis.

Here what??

Apologies for not being clear - it was a hyperlink to this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Wjgu0DQ9Tk

Here 'tis.