I remember when Danny Hutton invited Brian to see a late-70's/early 80's punk band he was managing.  We got there and Brian's comment when he was introduced to the band was, "Is it going to be really loud?"  One of the musicians said, "We're going to try to crack the fooking foundation!"  Clearly, this was not an answer that pleased Brian.  We left after the set with Brian saying, "I have a headache," a friend said, "I have an ear ache," and I said, "I have a stomach ache."

Brian knows as much what punk is as anyone else, given how hard it is to define a specific musical genre and when it supposedly evolves into something else.  Does he love it?  I suspect not in a fair number of cases.

That was a great story, thank's Debbie!

But it's really interesting how you can spot these little musical elements in punk that can be traced straight to early Beach Boys music. It's kinda cool actually.

Holiday ?  I took positive action. Cancelled the Amazon £18.99  and walked in TODAY , bought in a real, live record shop for £12.99. De luxe.   If crtic had read my item , it referred to previous purchases, just as late.

Yeah, same here.  Walked into Fopp, paid £13 for the deluxe.  I see Amazon have now lowered it to £12.99, though it's temporarily out of stock.

By the way, NPP is number 14 on amazon and rising! Maybe it'll be number one this week?

[We can cut and paste things and go in and pitch correct something with the computer if the note is flat. I wish we had that in the 60s! It was awesome.]

Kacey's comment:  "He would not accept mediocre as an answer — not that I feel I'm a mediocre singer. But today there are a lot of producers and other people who will say 'That's fine — we can tune it later if it's not perfect.' Not Brian — he wanted it perfect."

Kacey's likely not a SS Board member, granted - but she certainly "reviews" Brian and herself and addresses the auto-tunafish issue.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/04/04/brian-wilson-on-the-beach-boys-rivalry-with-the-beatles-and-flying-solo.html

"Wilson explains of the production methods used in the making of No Pier Pressure. “We can cut and paste things and go in and pitch correct something with the computer if the note is flat. I wish we had that in the 60s! It was awesome.” "

There we have it! It was Brian all along, not Joe!

"Don't worry Al, I'll autotune it later!"

Holland and Pacific Ocean Blue. Though "I'm on my way to sunny Californ-i-a, I'm on my way to spend another sunny day" got to be the best moment of Holland.

Couple more notions from me.

Sail Away is an ultimate Beach Boys song, in many ways it's what TWGMTR should've been. Plus it has some heavy fat drums, which are cool.

One Kind of Love is one of my favorites. It would fit perfectly into TLOS. Brian sounds fantastic! One of the best vocals from him like ever.

Don't Worry is actually also one of my favorites, it's catchy as hell and has that 80's feel all over it, which is a good thing. You hear this song once and you remember it the rest of your life, especially the chorus. Great up-beat tune.


But Joes Thomas' previous comments about this stuff sounding like Carl and The Passions and Wild Honey makes me wonder, what kind of acid trip has he been on?

What happened to the summer means new love rewrite btw? Is that on the deluxe one?

it's the bonus track called Somewhere Quiet.

I hope my review doesn't seem overly negative. I find there's a huge gulf between the songs I like and those I dislike. I love about half of this album, and combined with the best from TWGMTR, it is an absolute gift to this BW fan.

I think that was a reasonable and good review. I understand what you're saying about the songs, even though I personally disagree with some statements. I still get the kind of feeling from your post, that you're propably going to dig it more eventually. There's a lot going on on these songs on many levels. And I know that I'm certainly going to appreciate it even more when some time goes by. Even though the production of the album is a bit too steril for my liking, the songs themselves are just so damn good that it doesn't really matter to me.

(Half Moon Bay is a stellar! Could be named Let's Go Away For A While part 2, and I mean it in the good way.)

I have to get in on this.

Brian rocking the bass on Roller Skating Child

Then I can die in peace

Exactly!

It would be a phenomena! They should do the whole damn thing, at least once, record and shoot it. Full band treatment, add even some more edge to the rocking ones and wow! Blondie could fill some of the Carl and Dennis' parts. It would be so cool.

Performing "The Last Song" in this setting was a mistake plain and simple.  I don't understand why they didn't pick one of the more up tempo new songs to feature. 

Blame that on me, I went and wished it at facebook in that post asking what songs you'd like to hear some hours before the show 

They should get Nate to sing Saturday Night on Conan.

If I recall, I believe I saw BW + his band play The Night Was So Young at a Carl Wilson Foundation show way back in 2002 or 2003.

And it was rad.

More Love You material, please.

Pretty please!

With sugar on top!

We need Love You! Do it Brian! I'll Bet His Nice, The Night Was So Young and even Solar System! How cool would that be?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Rrm94Xqt_c

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pzXzVvQ0XME

Here's the links. I don't really get the negative comments, I think he sounds pretty great and  looks happy too. Much better than on the Fallon (?) show last time, when he just sat there pretty much silent during Our Prayer and Danny Boy.

Can anyone close to Brian's camp give some insight into why "ITBOMM" was chosen as a bonus track? Don't get me wrong, I've been dying to hear this recording for YEARS, but it just seems like an odd selection to throw onto the album. At least "Love and Mercy" makes sense given it's the title of the upcoming movie.

I'm certainly not close to Brian's camp, but at least in my opinion it fits quite well there in the middle between Last Song and Love & Mercy. It doesn't stick out there at all actually, as you'd expect some bonus track to do. Overall it fits with the mood of the album.

Just listened the 18-track version. I need to digest it for some time and listen it couple times more, but man I got to tell there's not a single track I'd skip on repeated listens. It's at least as good as TLOS, better than TWGMTR, even though I still think the last 3 tracks on the latter are better than propably anything on this one. In the Back of My Mind is really great, better than I'd ever expected. Sounds kinda jazzy. It has a good sound quality, better than Still I Dream of It on IJWMFTT. Love & Mercy is propably the best version there is, does anyone know when it was recorded? Sounds like 21st century to me.

I think this may be the first time I don't bother buying the new Brian Wilson album. Everything I've heard so far from NPP is cheesy, corny, clichéd, predictable and has very little to do with the work of the great Brian Wilson. Sorry, but that's it. There were some great moments on TWGMTR, but the well has finally run dry.

It's a bummer that you can't enjoy great music. Guess it's not to everyone's taste.

I can - that's why I love the Beach Boys. But this isn't great.

Why is this a problem for people? It's a strange thing with Beach Boys/Brian Wilson fans, as though many of us need to constantly reaffirm the fact that we enjoy Brian's music. Very odd.

Opinions being what they are, how about we relax and accept the fact that not everybody's going to like the album - even die-hard fans? Hell, up until I heard "Sail Away," I was not a big fan of what I'd heard from NPP thus far.

The problem with this kind of sh*t - sniping back and forth over perceived slights to Brian/Mike/etc - is that it ruins discussion of the music. It's even worse when the sniping is about issues SmileySmile posters have with each other.

I'm excited for the release of NPP, so I come to Smileysmile.net, only to see nearly every thread devolve, at some point, into these types of shenanigans. It's a waste of everybody's time, and it makes it a lot less fun to read the board. As much as I love some of the posters here, I don't want to read about their personal issues with each other. Life is too damned short (and no one is likely to 'pier pressure' others into sharing their opinions. It's a fools errand).

I humbly submit that we get back to analysis and discussion of Brian and the Beach Boys, secure in the knowledge that one person disliking the album - or another person being a cheerleader for the album - does not need to affect one's own, individual enjoyment of the music.

I think it's funny that you write a long post about your opinions, or whatever, saying that others shouldn't do the same, because it distracts. I don't have an issue (personal or universal) with anything. Isn't this supposed to be a discussion forum? I'm perfectly okay, if somebody hates new Brian Wilson music. But I still think it's a shame, especially in this case. And I believe I have the right to express that, if I want.

On the Island is thus far the weakest track for me. It just doesn't really wake anything special in me. Maybe it's the lyrics, which are kinda dull. Zooey sounds nice, but when the lyrics are what they are, and the genre in itself is kinda dull, what can you do. I'm Feeling Sad sounds fantastic though, it's just the kinda classic BW tune which you'd hope to last longer. I'm eagerly waiting how all these songs fit together and what kind of picture thay make as a whole. What I've heard yet is the best Beach Boys/Brian Wilson music since 1977. And that's a lot to say!

I think this may be the first time I don't bother buying the new Brian Wilson album. Everything I've heard so far from NPP is cheesy, corny, clichéd, predictable and has very little to do with the work of the great Brian Wilson. Sorry, but that's it. There were some great moments on TWGMTR, but the well has finally run dry.

It's a bummer that you can't enjoy great music. Guess it's not to everyone's taste.

Brian's really trolling this time! Funny stuff  

Who is making you do this?
-@jakefogelnest my product manager @peterbfletcher at #Capitol.

-Did you really bang my mom?
I don't know, send me a picture and I'll tell you.

Last Song: What a beautiful song. Who else wants an album full of songs in style with the Life-suite and this?

On the Island: Like I predicted, nice little song- nothing special.

Oh, and unless I'm being dimmer than usual, can't find where the studio version of "Saturday Night..." has been previewed. Anyone care to point an old codger in that general direction ?

http://smileysmile.net/board/index.php/topic,20185.0.html

There's a link to a radio program, where the song was previewed.

1. Saturday Night
Pure awesomeness.

2. Runaway Dancer
It has lost some of that magic it had on first listens, but is a great track nonetheless.

3. Sail Away
Somehow dissappointing, but catchy and very Beach Boyesque, even more so than anything on TWGMTR.

4. Guess You Had To Be There
Repetitive and kinda simple, but I think it'll get better on time/in the album context.

5. Our Special Love
Great song.

6. The Right Time
Good, but kinda predictable and mediocre at some levels.

Tried 3 times to buy tickets to the O2 concert. Ticketmaster passes out every time during the verifying. What a drag 

Doesn't allow mw to listen Guess You Had to Be there, but god is that Saturday Night great song. Blows my mind. 

London calling baby! Finally  

This is a great year to be a Beach Boys fan.

To me, On the Island seems to be TPLOBS of NPP. It doesn't move me bit and seems to be the most boring track of them all. But I might be wrong, who konws. At least it's a short track.

Live version didn't impress me. Looks like they missed all the great things from the studio version. It also seemed to be a little bit slowed down? And the audience, god are they dead?

Wow. Mind blowing tune. I REALLY dig it! Get's better every time. If you don't like it immediately, you will. SO COOL!