Imagination - why wasn't it a hit?

[Heysaboda]

Imagination changed me from knowing nothing about the Beach Boys and Brian, into being a BB and Brian Superfan!

To me, it's a wonderful album.

[runnersdialzero]

Because it was 1998 and didn't sound like Korn's Follow The Leader album.

[Lonely Summer]

I thought with the mob involved, anything could be turned into a hit?

[SMiLE Brian]

I thought with the mob involved, anything could be turned into a hit?

I wonder what vintagemusic thinks about the new single now that we have heard parts of it.

[Jim V.]

Somebody should press the "button" that lets him back on the board.

I love how he thought that was a button to click. Funny.

[Wirestone]

I think Imagination had a lot going for it -- in many ways, it is still the most commercial-sounding solo project Brian has put out. Nice variety of songs, and it manages to have its cake while eating it in terms of embracing a beachy feel while still being ever-so-mildly progressive.

The problems, though, were numerous. And if none of them were huge, they combined to create bigger obstacles.

1.) Little promotion. AGD mentioned this.

2.) Little public understanding of who BW was or why he would be releasing a solo record.

3.) No touring until a year after it came out -- way too late to be effective.

4.) Poor video for the title track.

5.) Brian's lead vocals on the record were variable. They weren't bad, but they certainly weren't as good as the leads he managed on TLOS and the Disney records. What's more, the lead to the most commercial track on the record -- South American -- was his worst.

6.) Joe Thomas managed an approximation of a current AC sound, but it was still a little low-rent in some places. In listening to some of the number 1 AC hits I pointed to earlier, you can hear most of the Imagination sonic signatures, but all of the other tunes sound warmer and more natural. There's a brittleness to the final mix of Imagination that is singularly unappealing. I've long thought the album could be remixed to great effect.

7.) Brian was somewhat ambivalent about it. Whatever his level of involvement in his follow-up records, he always sounds proud of them. With Imagination, he was a little dubious of Joe's aesthetic, and suggested as much in interviews. He wanted a hit, yes, and he liked his vocal arrangements and the songs, but the tracks ... hm.

Funny, though. If it had been a hit, I think Brian might not have plunged into touring the way he did. There would have been more demand for a follow up. An interesting alternate history.

[Heysaboda]

Somebody should press the "button" that lets him back on the board.

I love how he thought that was a button to click. Funny.

hardee hardee har har har!

 

[cablegeddon]

Great topic. But some misunderstandings here.

The production was hopelessly unhip. I can't imagine what kind of radio format that would've played Your imagination or Lay down burden in 1998 (or in 1988 or 2008). It's really odd how it's produced.

It was aimed squarely at adult contemporary radio. Not all AC records sounded like that in 1998, but some certainly did.
Take a look at the number 1 AC hits from 1996 through 1998 --

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_number-one_adult_contemporary_singles_of_1996_%28U.S.%29
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_number-one_adult_contemporary_singles_of_1997_%28U.S.%29
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_number-one_adult_contemporary_singles_of_1998_%28U.S.%29

Many of these are not hip artists. And many have production touches that are recognizably of the type Joe Thomas (and Brian) were working for on Imagination.

And Your Imagination was played quite a bit on AC radio. It had an 11-week run on the charts and peaked at 20. So it did hit the spot with the format.

Actually I think that proves my point. Listen back to back Unbreak my heat, Truly madly deeply and Your imagination. IMO there wasn't one radio programmer in the world that was going to say Imagination fit right in that mix. The programmers are very sensitive to this kind of thing.

The production of Your imagination sounds like something from 1990 like this Cheap trick song that reached #12 on hot 100.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1lyIivJoETk

[Mr. Cohen]

Well, that marimba setting (or whatever it is) on that midi keyboard didn't exactly help "Your Imagination". It amazes me that they haven't done more organic productions that involve the piano more - tons of artists have had success throughout the '90s and '00s with piano driven songs. And wouldn't you know it... it's the instrument Brian actually plays! It doesn't need to be Summer Days! all the time.

I think Brian feels more pressure to deliver Wrecking Crew style tracks rather than inspiration to do so. It's become clear to me that while the chords and melodies to Brian's songs are (usually) his, the arrangements aren't at all. Brian oversees it and throws out suggestions, I'm sure, but you'd have to be crazy if you think most of the arranging on Reimagines Gershwin or Key of Disney is his. This is a modern Brian production: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g0zrvCWJZQ0&feature=related. Sounds like a demo for Adult Child, doesn't it? Hell, it could be a Love You track if you replaced the normal bass with something more farty, and maybe added one more instrumental part somewhere.

I wish we had more of that, and less of Brian deferring to Paul Mertens. I hear "Forget You" by Cee Lo Green, and I think about how it's a long lost Wild Honey song. Brian did tons of valid stuff after Smile, but it seems like his management and band look at those efforts more like indulgences than legitimate directions. It's not like Brian was about to get another #1, so they might as well have let it be real.

Sadly, there was a review of Key of Disney that I think came to close to the truth for comfort at the end:

Granted, no one wants a retread of the Beach Boys' hits either—and we have Mike Love to provide that unnecessary service anyway. Wilson, however, is stuck in a womb-like time capsule no less superficial or petulant. His music sparkles like an aluminum cup full of vanilla shake remainder; his affection is starry-eyed and chastely preadolescent. The nostalgic cleanliness of his sound is still worth hearing, but it often seems like the awkward product of unspeakable control—emotional, corporeal, aesthetic. Like Fantasyland, it satisfies an intense craving for innocence, but in an environment that couldn't be faker or more heavily patrolled for fear of those who seek to break the spell. It's a sad, nervous sort of magic they peddle.

[Lonely Summer]

I hear more natural instruments on Imagination than on the 88 album; the production reminds me a lot of the Don Was produced IJWMFTT soundtrack.

[Wirestone]

Great topic. But some misunderstandings here.

The production was hopelessly unhip. I can't imagine what kind of radio format that would've played Your imagination or Lay down burden in 1998 (or in 1988 or 2008). It's really odd how it's produced.

It was aimed squarely at adult contemporary radio. Not all AC records sounded like that in 1998, but some certainly did.
Take a look at the number 1 AC hits from 1996 through 1998 --

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_number-one_adult_contemporary_singles_of_1996_%28U.S.%29
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_number-one_adult_contemporary_singles_of_1997_%28U.S.%29
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_number-one_adult_contemporary_singles_of_1998_%28U.S.%29

Many of these are not hip artists. And many have production touches that are recognizably of the type Joe Thomas (and Brian) were working for on Imagination.

And Your Imagination was played quite a bit on AC radio. It had an 11-week run on the charts and peaked at 20. So it did hit the spot with the format.

Actually I think that proves my point. Listen back to back Unbreak my heat, Truly madly deeply and Your imagination. IMO there wasn't one radio programmer in the world that was going to say Imagination fit right in that mix. The programmers are very sensitive to this kind of thing.

The production of Your imagination sounds like something from 1990 like this Cheap trick song that reached #12 on hot 100.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1lyIivJoETk

Except for the fact, as I said, that the song was an adult contemporary hit. For two and a half months. So clearly some of these programmers were playing it, and it fit in for them.

You seem to be arguing that history didn't actually happen.

You'd have to be crazy if you think most of the arranging on Reimagines Gershwin or Key of Disney is his. This is a modern Brian production: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g0zrvCWJZQ0&feature=related. Sounds like a demo for Adult Child, doesn't it? Hell, it could be a Love You track if you replaced the normal bass with something more farty, and maybe added one more instrumental part somewhere.

This kind of post bugs me. These things may be obvious to you, but they are most certainly not to everyone, and not to every fan. The track you link to is arranged by Brian with Paul Mertens. (Edit: In its final form, Mertens added a string arrangement. This is a demo with a string synth pad, so I am an idiot.) Just like the Gershwin and Disney albums.

The production of the Gershwin album was well documented, and covered in ESQ. Brian arranged and produced it, with Paul handling orchestral arrangements and digging up the sheet music. Brian picked out the songs and sequenced the album. He was more intimately involved with its production than any album he released since, perhaps, BW88 or Love You. It's tedious to suggest that Brian's music invariably sounds one way, and that if it sounds any other way he's once again being manipulated.

For that matter, I think Brian did have a hand in how Imagination sounded, and his contributions to the backing tracks are more extensive than generally believed. There are horn arrangements and other things in there that are very suggestive.

[Aegir]

Paul Mertens didn't have anything to do with the TLOS demos, I'm thought it was just Brian and Scott?

[Wirestone]

Paul Mertens didn't have anything to do with the TLOS demos, I'm thought it was just Brian and Scott?

The YouTube link was to the album version of the song, which features an extensive string arrangement by Paul.

Dur. Someone did not listen to the track closely enough.

[Aegir]

no.

[Wirestone]

You're right! And I'm wrong. Apologies.

[cablegeddon]

Great topic. But some misunderstandings here.

The production was hopelessly unhip. I can't imagine what kind of radio format that would've played Your imagination or Lay down burden in 1998 (or in 1988 or 2008). It's really odd how it's produced.

It was aimed squarely at adult contemporary radio. Not all AC records sounded like that in 1998, but some certainly did.
Take a look at the number 1 AC hits from 1996 through 1998 --

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_number-one_adult_contemporary_singles_of_1996_%28U.S.%29
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_number-one_adult_contemporary_singles_of_1997_%28U.S.%29
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_number-one_adult_contemporary_singles_of_1998_%28U.S.%29

Many of these are not hip artists. And many have production touches that are recognizably of the type Joe Thomas (and Brian) were working for on Imagination.

And Your Imagination was played quite a bit on AC radio. It had an 11-week run on the charts and peaked at 20. So it did hit the spot with the format.

Actually I think that proves my point. Listen back to back Unbreak my heat, Truly madly deeply and Your imagination. IMO there wasn't one radio programmer in the world that was going to say Imagination fit right in that mix. The programmers are very sensitive to this kind of thing.

The production of Your imagination sounds like something from 1990 like this Cheap trick song that reached #12 on hot 100.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1lyIivJoETk

Except for the fact, as I said, that the song was an adult contemporary hit. For two and a half months. So clearly some of these programmers were playing it, and it fit in for them.

You seem to be arguing that history didn't actually happen.

Still Cruisin reached #9 on the same chart and I don't consider that song a hit. If Your imagination cracked top 20 for one week that probably had more to do with name recognition or payola.

[rogerlancelot]

As much as I find it to be a pleasant enough album (actually only 3 or 4 songs really stick in my head) I just can't find a single track on there that is a potential radio hit especially in the late 90's. The title track is just a wee bit wimpy even for the AC crowd at that particular time.