If Noven is as talented as some are saying, why is he doing this kind of schmaltz for Mike Love? This is ham-fisted "nostalgia" that plays on a smoothed-out version of American history that wouldn't be out of place in a 7th grade history textbook. Reduce major events to a paragraph, if that, complete with a stock photograph.
But that's just the thing, I think...Mike Love has been writing lyrics that tap into this same cracked rear-view of history as nostalgia for decades, in fact I'd say the majority of his original output from the 1980's onward tries to recapture things that were relevant in 1963. I wish he'd expand more and look beyond the nostalgic bent of his lyrical focus, but for some reason that's all he seems able to consistently write about, or it's what he may think "fans" are expecting to hear.
It was like the "50 Years Of Good Vibrations" promotional schwag sold in 2016. It amped up the focus on psychedelia and imagery which was at that time directly influenced by and connected to psychedelic drugs, and the actual history was that Mike himself has been 100% against that scene and that image, yet used the same imagery from the same scene and activity he's railed against for decades to promote a tour. It's like history can be reduced to quick-cuts of imagery and iconography as long as we don't dig too deep into the actual people and events, and instead emblazon it on T-shirts, posters, and in this case a promo video to move product or promote something. I don't get it, but that's the state of affairs.
This video just plays into that good-old-days nostalgia bag even further than the song itself, which is forgettable if not totally anachronistic in the worst way. It sounds like an outtake from 1988. And it does sound like "Somebody's Baby", which in itself for everyone who has seen the film will recognize as a pretty devastating emotional trigger for the deeper messages which that film expressed when that song is matched with the scenes under which it plays...and that's when editing film to music is done on a truly artistic level that sticks with viewers for decades after the initial viewing.
So yes, it's another Mike Love promo. I wish Noven would branch out, and I wish Mike would write some new material that doesn't try to remind everyone of fun in the 1960's sun. That's been done.
Too bad Noven is completely locked down to Mike Love's side of things. He obviously has some great editing talent, but being hitched to Mike Love's wagon is kinda limiting given the solo output material.
Exactly my thoughts too, well, most of it.
