gfxgfx
 
Welcome, Guest. Please login or register.

Login with username, password and session length
logo
 
gfx gfx
gfx
680597 Posts in 27600 Topics by 4068 Members - Latest Member: Dae Lims March 28, 2024, 02:44:02 PM
*
gfx*HomeHelpSearchCalendarLoginRegistergfx
  Show Posts
Pages: 1 2 3 [4] 5 6 7 8 9
76  Smiley Smile Stuff / General On Topic Discussions / Re: Most cringeworthy screenshot from any BBs music video? on: January 10, 2018, 10:19:12 AM
Virtually every frame the group appears on "Summer of love"

By the way, last night I dreamt I was at Stamos' place and I asked him for an explation for the autotune on Do it Again and other productions crimes on Unleash The Love.

Might bring it to therapy this afternoon, I think.
77  Smiley Smile Stuff / General On Topic Discussions / Re: The very last time certain instruments were played on BB tracks? on: January 10, 2018, 09:44:36 AM
Virtually every frame the group appears on "Summer of love"

By the way, last night I dreamt I was at Stamos' place and I asked him for an explation for the autotune on Do it Again and other productions crimes on Unleash The Love.

Might bring it to therapy this afternoon, I think.

(Edit: Oops, posted at the wrong thread!)
78  Smiley Smile Stuff / General On Topic Discussions / Re: Listen to \ on: January 09, 2018, 09:22:39 AM
I feel like I'm posting to the Steve Hoffman forum but... has anybody noticed that there's something very odd in the mastering of this song? Never noticed on the bootleg versions (of course,  not always on the best fidelity) On Playback it has too much high end, you can notice it in the trebely percussion. Can't believe that the percussion was badly miked on the tracking session or anything like that, but can't believe how they could issue this mastering work either.
79  Smiley Smile Stuff / General On Topic Discussions / Re: Sweet Insanity - prospects on: January 09, 2018, 09:15:51 AM
Sweet Insanity from 1991 is Brian's second SMiLE, all those versions floating around.

Is there even a remote possibility that Warner will eventually release the album in some form, perhaps a 2 CD deluxe?



I don't think Warner owns the master tapes. Besides Brian beign released from his contract with Sire, it's possible that the sessions were paid by Brain & Genius (maybe using an advance in royalites from Sire. If that was the case, they probably gave back the money to Sire. kinf of Reprise claiming back the dollars advanced for the release of Smile in the early 70s). B&G didn't exist as such way back in '88, thats one of the legal differences between the two albums.

If Brian had the sole rights to the Sweet Insanity recordings AND the interest in releasing them, he would have picked at least one song for inclusion on the Playback anthology, a la "Some sweet day" from the Paley sessions.
80  Smiley Smile Stuff / General On Topic Discussions / Re: Love you instruments? on: January 05, 2018, 06:21:27 AM
Piano, tack piano, organ, harpsichord, Moog bass, ARP String Ensemble, Mellotron - all played by Brian. Drums - sometimes played by Brian, sometimes played by Dennis. Electric guitar - played mostly by Carl, but also likely Ed Carter and Billy Hinsche. Horns and flutes - played by Steve Douglas and Jay Migliori. That's mostly it - along with a few miscellaneous items like chimes and accordion. That's for the new tracks - "Good Time" and "Ding Dang" were cut years earlier with more people.

EDIT - I added "organ" above, 'cause I'd forgotten to originally. Smiley

Is there a Mellotron? Or it is a Chamberlin? In any case, where? The accordion-like sound on I wanna pick you up?
81  Smiley Smile Stuff / General On Topic Discussions / Re: GIOMH redux on: December 30, 2017, 01:19:51 PM
I found online an excerpt of a Scott Bennett interview done by AGD for Stomp re: TLOS. Pretty explanatory, I wonder if some fanzine did an interview with some of the band members about GIOMH...
82  Smiley Smile Stuff / General On Topic Discussions / Re: GIOMH redux on: December 26, 2017, 06:24:50 PM
Yes, that's why DD has Foskett, Darian, Scott et al on backgrounds (I added this to my original post). And they also played it live even before (I think?) 2002. Of course, there's an instrumental take on the Paley tapes.
83  Smiley Smile Stuff / General On Topic Discussions / GIOMH redux on: December 26, 2017, 05:47:35 PM
I've been thinking about bringing back this album as a topic for the last couple of months. Since another thread is covering Brian's work on L.A and other 70s stuff., I can't help but keep thinking how little we know about the sessions for this album.

What we know about GIOMH:

-Album released as part of the BWPS deal with Warner (BWPS to Nonesuch, GIOMH to Rhino)

-part of the title song backing track dates from the post-Imagination sessions with Joe Thomas (the same sessions, now I presume, were the songwriting genesis for some of the songs on TWGMTR and maybe NPP. How could we still be dancing definitely dates from that era)

-Most of the backing tracks for Soul Searchin' and Saturday Morning in the city come from the Paley sessions.

-The only new tune (as far as we know) is A friend like you.

-According to a Mark Linnett interview for Ear Candy, there were several more songs which eventually ended as outtakes.

-Desert Drive was recorded before the rest of the main album sessions, that's why Brian's band handle the background vocals.

What we assume (from the aural evidence):

at least at different moments, Brian was uninterested,  according to his vocals on You touched me (intro) or the slurring "Ever afterrrrrr" on Fairy Tale.


I still like the album, mind you, but I can't believe how little we know about it. I mean, everybody assumes that Brian didn't pick up the tracks (at least the ones who made the album), and some people have mentioned that his band built the backing tracks from Brian's piano demos.

Since all the press Brian did that year was directed to BWPS, there's almost no mention of the making of the album in print (even Peter Amis Carlin deals with it in one or two sentences).

I'm not writing this to start a reappraisal/discussion for the album, but to try to gather some hard facts about it.

Anybody got some extra info to share? Thanks

84  Smiley Smile Stuff / General On Topic Discussions / Re: Have you ever heard a Beach Boys song in a different language? on: December 06, 2017, 10:56:58 AM
'Til I Die in Spanish

(live at the Pink House, Argentina's White House)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ltctJ8QLgeI
85  Smiley Smile Stuff / General On Topic Discussions / Re: Mike Love - Unleash the Love - Due November 17 - w/ 2nd Disc of BB Remakes on: December 01, 2017, 11:43:06 AM
Some stray notes from myself. I was listening to some Van Morrison when I decided to finally hear the whole 2 discs, starting with the 2nd disc: must be a masochist. I never write a professional review before at least three plays; this will not be the case since I don't see any reason to listen to that 2nd disc again, except in a forensic way.

Haven't listened to the bootleged Unleash The Love / Mike Love not War in 10000 years (pun intended). This version: nothing too embarassing and some really nice moments (Ram Raj, really, in spite of the silly "curry" tag), despite some poor judgement choices during mixing.

But the second record, oh, man...It's not only the ridiculous autotune (more subtle on disc 1), it's also that damn overcompression so pervasive in today's music (and, worringly, on today's remasters of classic records): EVERYTHING IS LOUDER THAN EVERYTHING ELSE.


If you bear in mind that one of the keys of Cal Girls beign a perfect production is Brian making Mike triplicate his voice, it's terribly cheap what Mike and his producer made on this remake. It's not even good old ADT, more like an obnoxious autotune trying to make you not notice the decay on Mike's voice. Even the background vocals at the coda have the autotune shrill. Do they really think that this  is gonna make them sell more records / get more airplay?

The RoboLove/RoboMcGrath/RoboStamos on DIA is a bloody disgrace. More than think he Mike is shooting his own foot, I find this an insult to Brian's work. (something that he's been doing at least since he remade Surfin for SIP)

IGA: Did someone -by someone I mean a professional musician/record maker with a sense of dignity, now I'm reading that Lloyd has a Grammy???- really OK'ed that lead vocal track?

Brian's back: despite the not-so-autentic feelings, this song always had for me some kind of charm. Of course, the best part always was was Carl's. But the lowered Cal Girls quote on the intro, just four tracks after starting the disc with that song? Gee, what a sense of pacing. Over gated/reverbered snare on the Spector-like drum beat, another production crime.

Darlín: K-Tel for the 21st century.

GV: I get embarassed with the popping and hissing in some of my bedroom recordings. But hey, they are not recorded/mixed on a professional enviroment. What's Lloyd's excuse for this excruciating intro?


Oh, by the way: Why no friggin Kokomo? Does he feel that he can improve over Brian's originals but the Melcher production of Kokomo is perfect as it is? (in a certain way he'd be right: Carl was by a mile the saving grace of that song)

Let's face it: The Beach Boys may be the band where the lead singer (ie: the one who doens't play any instrument) is the least atractive voice of the bunch (exception made of his baritone/bass parts on the harmony stack). Really, for the last 40 he has done very, very, few lead singing of value (All I wanna do might be his all-time peak) but he has a bunch of fine leads on disc one (Pisces brothers - but what about all that digital reverb on the backgrounds?). Sometimes he still pulls off a powerful bass (Daybreak over the ocean, but of course that wasn't a recent performance).  But one thing is  having to deal with than unpleasent, nasal voice, and other thing is the rest of production crimes perpetrated on this record. Add to this  the moral questions raised (that sticker, the malpractise he acussed Brimel of doing with the Mail on  Sunday cd, the atrocious autotune since badmouthing Brian for using it on NPP), and I can't help but remember Dennis' opinion of the MIU Album.

86  Smiley Smile Stuff / General On Topic Discussions / Re: Mike Love - Unleash the Love - Due November 17 - w/ 2nd Disc of BB Remakes on: December 01, 2017, 11:31:19 AM

Congartulations Mike, you've forced the Uncut magazine staff to explore the seldom-visited lower grades of their grading system:

Mike Love
Unleash The Love
BMG
3/10

Pickin’ up bad vibrations

Mike Love has been perhaps unfairly cast as a villain in The Beach Boys’ story, but lately he seems to be embracing that role. First was the preening memoir that gave him too much credit for the band’s accomplishments, and now comes an unctuous solo album mixing flaccid new songs with slick retreads of classics. The harmonies can still be moving, as on “Getcha Back”, but Love’s vocals are so heavily Auto-Tuned that he often sounds like a cyborg rusting in the surf. Worst is “Ram Raj”, a vaguely Eastern number that ends with an offensive stereotype inviting us all out for curry. STEPHEN DEUSNER
87  Smiley Smile Stuff / General On Topic Discussions / Re: Al being fired on: November 25, 2017, 01:17:40 PM
Yes, that's the thing with beign "friends" and not "family". But, hey, at least he's got a vote. He could have done worse (i.e. Bruce)
88  Smiley Smile Stuff / General On Topic Discussions / Re: Paley Sessions Discussion Thread on: November 25, 2017, 01:15:18 PM
Looking for recent inteviews with Sean O'Hagan, I found this from last year.

https://claythescribe.com/2016/03/04/interview-with-sean-ohagan-of-the-high-llamas/

Something -to me, at least- new to the High Llamas/Beach Boys saga. I 'm not sure, however, if they were really serious about using those songs on a BB album:

2. Does he know if the songs he started to write with Brian Wilson in the 90s will ever see the light of day in any way?

S: You know nothing  was started, but   a few  songs  that ended up on Cold And Bouncy were played to the Beach Boys one day back stage (Bruce, Al  and I think Carl was there), and they really liked them and talked about them being new BB songs. So that’s as close as I got.
89  Smiley Smile Stuff / General On Topic Discussions / Re: Al being fired on: November 25, 2017, 12:29:52 PM
Don't forget that in the late 70s Al and Mike were the TM wing of the group and always voted togheter when it came to board meetings.

In retrospect, that seems to have been more about the behavior of the Wilsons than Mike and Al necessarily having huge affinities.

Actually, I was going to put that but then I deleted it. Yes, that's also true. But Mike and Al's affinities during that era included TM, ecology (remember plans for a concept album about that issue) and, when it came to live shows, a preference for the "Endless Summer" approach (ie hits and early material). The gap between both camps (after the infamous aeroplane argument chronicled in Rolling Stone) gave Al the chance to call the shots on MIU.
90  Smiley Smile Stuff / General On Topic Discussions / Re: Al being fired on: November 25, 2017, 11:22:41 AM
Don't forget that in the late 70s Al and Mike were the TM wing of the group and always voted togheter when it came to board meetings.
91  Smiley Smile Stuff / General On Topic Discussions / Re: Paley Sessions Discussion Thread on: November 25, 2017, 11:19:28 AM
I was about to relisten to High Llamas' Hawaii but instead I'm listening for the first time Unleash the love. I feel guilty. So, anyway, here's Matthew Sweet performing SoS with Brian: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=llMapwjxK4g
92  Smiley Smile Stuff / General On Topic Discussions / Re: VDP on Twitter on: November 18, 2017, 10:38:51 AM
Not my cup of tea, but Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story will be shown on the AXS network tonight at 8:00 pm (Central Time)
VDP had some involvement in this movie.

Terrific movie. VDP wrote a Smile pastiche: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bF3HPqfW5ZU
93  Smiley Smile Stuff / General On Topic Discussions / Re: VDP on Twitter on: November 09, 2017, 12:32:41 PM
I can't find the quote now, but I remember a interview where Van Dyke expressed dissapointment over Brian's return to the Beach Boys for the 50th anniversary. I follow him on Twitter and he replied to me a few times, even RTed me. Yet I find some of his comments about Brian puzzling. I''ve been thinking about asking him directly about this issue. Which, of course, does not guarantee a non-oblique answer...

BTW, I think that he's a genius too (VDP, not Murry Wilson), and even without Smile he'd still be a cult artist. Of course, you have to wonder if he would have had the chance to land a record contract without the Smile prestige.

Your question in bold answered by Van Dyke himself in bold:

For the record. And proceed accordingly. Van Dyke in his own words. Relevant quote in bold.

Source:
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/23/arts/music/smile-and-other-difficulties.html

Quote:
Q. At the time you made “Song Cycle,” were you already working at Warner Brothers as a producer?

A. Well, Warner hired me because they thought I was a “solution,” in a bifurcated way — first of all, as a musician who had enormous studio experience. When I went into the music business, in 1963, my first union job was as an arranger on “The Bare Necessities,” for Disney. I soon became adjunctive to other people’s search for fame and fortune. Also, by 1967 I had been through eight months of Beach Boys experience — or Brian Wilson, really, with one short conversation with one or two of the other Beach Boys. I left that job in the shambles that became so famous. It became a pioneering event for interactive record design.

Q. Are you referring to the fact that fans, using bootlegged outtakes, have been assembling their own reconstructions of “Smile” for the last few decades?

A. Yes, bootleggery. My opportunity at Warner Brothers came specifically from the fact that I had worked with Brian Wilson, and carried what they might have thought was a Rosetta stone to Brian’s thinking. I don’t think it’s sinister to suspect that they wanted to learn what Brian Wilson knew, because he was the most powerful commercial success as a singer and songwriter in the industry then.

Q. What was the label’s reaction when you brought them “Song Cycle?”

A. When I played the album for Joe Smith, the president of the label, there was a stunned silence. Joe looked up and said, “Song Cycle”? I said, “Yes,” and he said, “So, where are the songs?” And I knew that was the beginning of the end. Warner held the album for a year. Then I met Jac Holzman [who ran Elektra Records], and after he listened to it, he went to Warner Brothers and said, “If you folks aren’t going to release this album, I will — how much do you want for it?” So they decided to put it out, grudgingly.


Yes, I'm familiar with that interview. Of course VDP got the Song Cycle contract because of Smile. But I was wondering if, in a Smile-less scenario, he would have been able to get a chance at an album, sooner or later. Lots of people inside the LA/San Francisco scene landed record contracts, perhaps VDP would have been signed by another label in 69, who knows? Anyway, I think VDP payed his dues with Brian through the years: his role in Reprise, then SOS, OCA...
94  Smiley Smile Stuff / General On Topic Discussions / Re: VDP on Twitter on: November 09, 2017, 11:32:31 AM
I can't find the quote now, but I remember a interview where Van Dyke expressed dissapointment over Brian's return to the Beach Boys for the 50th anniversary. I follow him on Twitter and he replied to me a few times, even RTed me. Yet I find some of his comments about Brian puzzling. I''ve been thinking about asking him directly about this issue. Which, of course, does not guarantee a non-oblique answer...

BTW, I think that he's a genius too (VDP, not Murry Wilson), and even without Smile he'd still be a cult artist. Of course, you have to wonder if he would have had the chance to land a record contract without the Smile prestige.
95  Smiley Smile Stuff / General On Topic Discussions / Re: Brian Wilson - 2017 Tour Thread (Pet Sounds - The Final Performances) on: September 30, 2017, 12:40:51 PM
I was at the show on Saturday at Radio City Music Hall.  I've seen several shows during this tour, the earliest being June 2016 and the most recent being end of April 2017.  I went into the Radio City show with high expectations, just because Brian mentions playing at the venue in the book and I think he sees it as an "important" venue.  I had the sense that he was actually nervous, and he seemed off to me (compared to the AMAZING April 2017 show in Newark, during which he was joking and the whole band seemed to be having a really good time).  The show started off with him shouting for his piano tech, so something wasn't right at the start, and maybe that threw him off?  He didn't do much talking and at one point started to say something, then said "never mind".  It wasn't a bad performance, but he seemed less relaxed than I've seen him on other shows on this tour.  As much as I'd happily pay to see this band every night for the rest of my life, I think Brian needs a break.  The tour has gone on for a long time with relatively short breaks.  It would be hard for anyone, and extra-hard for a 75-year old with physical issues.  I have seen Brian give excellent performances on this tour and I do think he still has it in him, I just hope he gets a good, long, refreshing break and can then go back on tour.

The first set was excellent, and pretty much everything I could ask for (okay, I'd add Do it Again, but that's just me being greedy).  They played Let the Wind Blow, I'd Love Just Once to See You, Aren't You Glad, Darlin, and Wild Honey.  Five Wild Honey songs!  Heaven.  Plus some relatively deeper cuts like Let Him Run Wild and Salt Lake City.  And of course Feel Flows (very nice of Blondie to point out that Carl wrote the song, I thought). 

Having said all that, the audience was relatively quiet.  I had really good seats at the front near the "VIP" section and a third of those people arrived late and wandered in and out with drinks and whatnot.  It was obvious they were not all hardcore fans but rather people for whom it's not a big deal shelling out 250 or 500 dollars for tickets.

Finally, I have to say (again) that Al is unbelievable.  His voice is so strong and good, and after playing for two and a half hours, he ran across the stage waving at the audience as though he was just out for a morning jog.  The word spry comes to mind.  He seemed to be having a lot of fun, and it's a joy to see him interact with Brian. 


Actually, Brian was equally off on the previous night at Boston (and yes, each show had its share of people walking in late, beers  in hand. Sorry, but for my very limited experience, that seems a very American way to behave during a show i.e. coming back late after intermission. Of course, but shows had its share or fans and respecteful people) I remember BW smiling a lot on videos (official or not). Don't how many of those smiles were rehearsed (or specially filmed as inserts for the pro videos), but I remember only half a smile in Boston.

Having said that, I expected Brian to be more tired at Radio City, having playing two nights in a row. But that was not the case. Anyway, the thing he shouted before the beginning that you mention was the same he shouted at Boston when he forgot the ILJOTSY lyrics. Obviously Brian, more than your typical performer, needs everything to be in order when it comes to performing live.

I also noticed the "nevermind" episode. Wish I could have understood what he was trying to say...

One thing I like to add: is very touching the affection band members have for him. Specially little details like Darian (who also manages to quote Rhapsody in Blue at the end of FFF) giving him a massage during one of the encores. I regret not buying Look Listen Vibrate Smile at a record shop I didn't had the chance to come back. I noticed Darian was one of the contributors, but now I read at other thread that Nicky and Probyn also contributed. I think it's hard to measure what dream of a lifetime must be for them to be such an essential part of Brian's music for the last two decades.
96  Smiley Smile Stuff / General On Topic Discussions / Re: Brian Wilson - 2017 Tour Thread (Pet Sounds - The Final Performances) on: September 25, 2017, 09:45:26 PM
Speaking of lists... has anybody ever compiled a list with all the musical cues used during the band introductions? I recognized quite a few but I didn't take notes.

Also, who made the orchestral versions of BB tunes used as pre-show and intermission music. The Hollyridge Strings? Because I know of a record of them  from 1964, but some of the songs arranged were originally recorded by the BB in 1966.
97  Smiley Smile Stuff / General On Topic Discussions / Re: Brian Wilson - 2017 Tour Thread (Pet Sounds - The Final Performances) on: September 24, 2017, 09:36:53 PM
Went to  the Boston and NYC shows, my first (and I guess last) BW gigs. Highly emotional for me, yet I can take some distance when it comes to evaluate each night. Boston's Orpheum teathre was pretty well sold, and I have to say that the acoustics worked better  there than on Radio City. On the latter, sometimes the drums sounded very bad, and you had latence at the last rows (fortunately, my seats for each night were very good -  thanks to the posters who adviced me on that matter). Ironically, you could catch Brian's vocals in the harmony stack more clearly on Radio City.

At Boston, Brian forgot the lyrics for most of ILJOTSY, and shouted something about cues o carriers (? sorry, couldn't discern). He made the same request before the beginning of the Radio City show.

Here I join everyone who says that Brian seems more engaged on the first set and the encores than during Pet Sounds. Haven't read the whole thread, but for me his speaking/singing vocals on that songs (thanks God he pulls off IWFTD) are
a) a Dylanesque approach to his back catalogue, mixed with some crooneresque stylings from the Adult/Child days; a way he finds to do something new with those songs since he can't sing them anymore like he used to do even 15 years ago.
b) his classic passive/aggresive way to do something he doesen't want to do. i.e. another Pet Sounds tour. Maybe the current modus operandi of him trading lines with Matt is for him a painful realization of how much he has lost. Actually, I found the current versions of those songs  (WIBN, YSBIM, DT) a very odd aesthetic experience. (and, btw, I prefer Foskett's falsetto. Matt is a fine performer anyway). And the Blondie (no wonder the guy is friends with Keith Richards - actually on his tours with the Stones his body language was more restrained) segment provides Brian with a way to switch off without having to leave the stage.

To me, the most striking feeling is thet air of finality, not just of Pet Sounds as a live experience, but of Brian as a touring artist. Might be unfair, but on the 21th I catched for the eight time a Paul McCartney gig and you can bet that, despite the damage in his vocals, Paul can keep performing for many more years, like Aznavour or Tony Bennett, (the same goes for Dylan). I think that Brian has a great band, his presence is almost totemic, he still can sing when he wants to (in Boston he broke into a falsetto at the end of one of Al's spots, can't remember which one), he's actually playing more piano nowadays (even if most of the times you can't catch him on the mix) than on his peaking days as a solo act, but is hard to imagine him doing this two years from now.
98  Smiley Smile Stuff / General On Topic Discussions / Re: Brian Wilson - 2017 Tour Thread (Pet Sounds - The Final Performances) on: July 19, 2017, 07:30:54 AM
It's not that cut and dry for Brian. I've waited a few minutes for him before. I guess most times are punctual...it's still a close call.

...and not everyone is right on time. I've seen Paul McCartney 13 times and have waited anywhere from 20 to 40 minutes for him to come on beyond the time on the ticket.

I've seen Paul 7 times (the 8th will be a day before Brian's Boston gig) and I think the more we waited for him were 10-15 minutes. Still, compared with the legendary delays of the Stones' gigs in the 70s it's a bargain.

Were the Beach Boys shows with Brian in the mid-late 70s punctual?
99  Smiley Smile Stuff / General On Topic Discussions / Re: Brian Wilson - 2017 Tour Thread (Pet Sounds - The Final Performances) on: July 18, 2017, 06:15:31 PM
Even Keith Richards starts on time these days...
100  Smiley Smile Stuff / General On Topic Discussions / Re: Brian Wilson - 2017 Tour Thread (Pet Sounds - The Final Performances) on: July 18, 2017, 07:33:14 AM
Ah, well, maybe it's wiser to wait for the next bus. Thanks.
Pages: 1 2 3 [4] 5 6 7 8 9
gfx
Powered by SMF 1.1.21 | SMF © 2015, Simple Machines Page created in 0.478 seconds with 21 queries.
Helios Multi design by Bloc
gfx
Powered by MySQL Powered by PHP Valid XHTML 1.0! Valid CSS!