Revisiting GIOMH

[Wylson]

I happened to stumble on GIOMH, hearing for the first time in at least a couple of years. This was an album I really disliked when it came out, but now it sounds so fresh. There are still some throwaways offerings, out of tune backing vocals. But the production is so clearly Brian, and on a number of occasions blows me away. The tag at the end of You've Touched Me sounds incredible, with Brian's falsetto sounding almost the same as the 60s.

I suppose my question is - do you think that the commercial failure of GIOMH has stopped any chance of 'organic' BW records in the future? Ever since then the production, whilst still having BW elements, has become overblown almost musical theatre productions - presumably influence of 'arranger' Paul Mertens. And the b vox are no longer Brian (though I gather some are on the new album?).

Worst of all they now process and autotune Brian's voice, making him sound very strange. I know people say that it doesn't happen, but one listen to 'The Like In I Love You', and it's so obvious. I also believe that a lot of the songs are now written by Scott, which is fine, but I don't think Scott is a great composer, or even half as interesting as BW on GIOMH.

Interested to hear anyones thoughts.

[Wirestone]

Metens arranged orchestral parts on Gettin' In Over My Head, too.

Bennett writes lyrics for BW. He suggested turning MAD into a ballad rather than an up tempo tune, but I doubt he's doing any "ghost composing." No one in that band can keep a secret, and we'd have heard suggestions if that was the case. We do know that Scott and Darian sequenced the project.

As for an "organic" project, try the TLOS demos. But yeah, I don't think there's a lot of eagerness for a home-grown BW project these days. I don't think it's because of commercial success or failure, either. I think it's because most people feel like the album was an artistic failure.

Personally, I have always felt like there was much to commend GIOMH. But fan response here is quite negative, and I understand the way folks feel about it. It's the Moxie soda of BW albums -- only a few people can drink it without making a face, and those who like it admit that it has a peculiar flavor.

From what I've pieced together, Brian wasn't an exactly an enthusiastic participant in making the record, and the band didn't feel like they did their best on it. Darian only plays on one song. I knew Jeff expected that more vocal tweaking would be done. And no one in the group will talk about the album these days. So there you go.

[Rocky]

ya know its funny i was driving this morning listening to this album and had it in my mind to pose roughly the same question to the board. I've never been one to be down on GIOMH. It's classic Brian. Probably the last time we will hear backing vocals like that from him. I know a major complaint is that it is comprised of rehased stuff from the 80s and 90s but hey Brian took old stuff that was laying around and revamped it into something representative of where he was at in 2004. It most cases i feel the songs improved by shedding the crappy 80s prodution style and gaining a very "classic" Brian style. Many people also compain about the guests just being there to boost sales but honestly i enjoy elton and claption's contributions. Pauls I could do without. Anyways i have several thoughts on this albums after a car trip from knoxville to nashville with it. Anyone care to expand?

[Bubba Ho-Tep]

I don't hate the album, but the arrangements on certain songs ("Don't Let Her Know She's An Angel" springs to mind) are a bit overlush for my liking. I've always really liked "The Waltz". "Fairy Tale" is corny but Brian sings it so darn well.  I don't think the Sweet Insanity songs really work in a modernized setting. They should simply release an archival set with original recordings of such old songs on it rather than attempt to re-record them (although word on the street is "Sweet Insanity" masters are bye bye). For instance, look how the life was SUCKED right out of "Spirit of Rock N Roll" on the Hallmark CD. That was one of Brian's best songs of his later years, I felt and was a real foot stomper of a good time. The new version is sluggish like a wet sponge. I wouldn't mind a new BW album sans orchestral overdubs. Something stripped down a loose. I preferred LOS demos to finished product, but certainly love finished product just fine, I just turn a blind ear to things when I detect an intrusive rush of flute and trombone sneaking up on me. Me thinks Gershwin project going to be mighty frilly. Will hope for the best.

[Shane]

I actually do like this album.  I do wonder if the fans wouldn't be so harsh towards it if they hadn't previously heard most of the music via ahem...unauthorized means.  Imagine hearing the album for the first time, and having no previous versions of the songs for which to compare.

[Ron]

ditto on that tag on the end of Touched me.  It's great.  Everytime I listen to that album, I make sure to check that out, it's just a hell of a recording.  Even the orchestration and things is awesome on that.  So cool to hear Brian just swinging through that, it's got so much going on and just sounds so effortless and genius. 

My take on the whole thing (and I don't know a damn thing, it's just my opinion) is that Brian is probably happy to lean a little more on the band than he did in the past.  I mean, sure, he could sing EVERYTHING... and he has... but hell he might as well have the band sing it, they all sound great and i'm sure he comes up with most of the harmonies.  That's his thing anyways, right?  Take a bunch of singers and make them sound cool.  No reason he should sing everything himself.  Scotty's a great writer, if he's got a good song, he's a good guy, if they record it, Scotty makes more money... hell why not let him write some of the songs? 

I think the fact that Brian is doing LESS of 'everything' on the newer records and allowing it to be more of a collaboration shows that he's very comfortable working with these people, and is probably enjoying the process of writing/recording/singing/touring more than in the past. That's just the vibe I get from it.  Plus he's never really been one to hog the spotlight, in the BB's he let everybody do their thing usually, and didn't care which voice as long as it was the right voice.  Or at least that's how it seems.  So he uses more of his band's vocals on the newer albums, lets them arrange some of it, lets them write some of it, etc. it's all good. 

[hypehat]

They left the best Paley sessions off! I really don't care much for Soul Searchin', Carl or otherwise.I would have hoped Chain Reaction Of Love was a cert, or This Song Wants To Sleep With You Tonight - Instead we got the blander end of the stick.

This album isn't really offensive to these ears, it's just really dull - Uninspired arrangements (ooh look, a bass harmonica! So Brian!), sludgy backing vox and the leads are rather poor - i hate the strained notes in City Blues, to pick one example, and the tag on You've Touched Me is undercooked - with proper falsettos it would have been a little bit better. It's all somewhat half-arsed. The best song is Saturday Morning In The City, which also has the best singing on the entire thing.

And all this talk of Brian being uninvolved doesn't really surprise me - you finally get the man working on Smile only to turn around and say 'record some songs you didn't really give a toss about 10 or 20 years ago', how enthusiastic how do think he's going to be?

[Magic Transistor Radio]

On first listen, it was a vast improvement over Imaginations. But coming out around the same time of Smile was not good for it.

[Alex]

How Could We Still Be Dancin' is almost Love You-esque, minus the synths.

[Wirestone]

And all this talk of Brian being uninvolved doesn't really surprise me - you finally get the man working on Smile only to turn around and say 'record some songs you didn't really give a toss about 10 or 20 years ago', how enthusiastic how do think he's going to be?

I don't think the problem, such as it was, was that Brian was uninvolved. It was that he was pushed to be super-involved, and he didn't feel like it. So you get something that's (perhaps the best word) half-assed. But because of Smile -- which everyone knew was coming, and which there was no following up, at least not right away -- they couldn't delay GIOMH after a certain point. And there was a PR strategy to make Brian still look creative, etc. Which he was and is -- it's just that getting him to do it on schedule almost never works out.

Frankly, they would have been best off swallowing their pride and allowing Brian and the band to finish up Paley sessions tracks and release those as an album. Or heck, just toss caution to the wind and record all the new songs Brian had written with Kalinich (I'm sure they weren't that great, but Brian seems more into the Kalinich tracks than almost anything else on GIOMH). But Paley had been banished, and Kalinich is ... well, Kalinich.

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For me, personally, I love the homemade, half-assed quality (I think you hear it on a lot of BW's post-Smile work in the late 60s and mid 70s), and I think the looseness of some of the tracks show that his band's first takes are preferable, sometimes, to their freeze-dried later attempts. Brian's leads are generally fine, with a couple of exceptions (Make a Wish is pretty dreadful). The album could be dramatically improved by a week in the hands of a competent remix engineer (and Foskett dropping by to add a few high notes in the background). And a re-sequencing.

But perhaps I'm going down the rabbit hole of the second version of Summer in Paradise ...

[Andrew G. Doe]

I'll have to 'revist' GIOMH when I update the ComGuide for my website. That should take another ten years off my life. 

Regarding the mix on said album, don't blame the engineer. Or Brian.

[hypehat]

AGD, i find your vitriol for this somewhat overblown - It's not interesting enough to be that bad! Care to elaborate?

[Andrew G. Doe]

Sure. It's simply that Brian Wilson is capable of doing better albums than this in his sleep. The arrangements are woeful, Brian's vocal performance, both lead & bvs, deserves lasting censure and the mix, as most everyone agrees, is evidently the product of someone who didn't have the first idea what they were doing (note, not the engineer). I disliked it when I first heard it, and in the ensuing years, having learned more about the genesis of the album, have come to despise it. As someone pointed out, no-one talks about it in Brian's camp any more.

[Jim V.]

What about the genesis has bothered you AGD? I know I've heard bits here and there, such as Brian apparetly not wanting "Soul Searchin" on the album. But what else is there?

[Wylson]

Knowing that Brian wasn't really up for it does change my view somewhat...

[Wirestone]

AGD probably can't say, but my assumption, given the hints, is that Melinda tried her hand at being executive producer -- and perhaps more -- of the album, and it didn't work out so well.

Brian being forced / cajoled / convinced to do something is always odd, but he's also been forced in that way since the mid-70s, if not before. And I think if the finished album were somewhat more polished and presentable, it wouldn't be an issue. The problem is that -- in this one project, at least -- he was pushed and didn't gloriously rise to the occasion.

On the other hand, I suspect his folks have gotten the message, and I don't think you'll see something like GIOMH happen again. Every project since has had a more pleasant creation.

[Paulos]

I bought GIOMH about two years ago and must have listened to it 3 times since then, the most damning thing about the album is not that I hated any of the songs but simply that apart from Soul Searchin' I cannot remmeber what any of the songs sound like.

Also, did a picture of Melinda really need to be on the front cover?