In The Key Of Disney

[TV Forces]

It's amazing how good Brian's voice sounds on this CD. 

7 years after BWPS and he sounds BETTER.

[Wirestone]

Yeah. It's kind of a mystery, actually! I was listening to Imagination (for curiousity's sake) yesterday and realized that the Disney leads sound better than that -- and Imagination was 14 years ago!

My guess, for what it's worth, is that he has simply learned to physically sing differently. He's not pushing his voice on ballads, and it makes an astonishing amount of difference. There are some Youtube videos of him doing an extra-soft version of "God Only Knows" recently that shows off the approach. It's remarkable.

But why wouldn't he have figured this out 10 or 15 years ago? Odd.

[pixletwin]

I just assumed he has a new vocal coach.

[18thofMay]

I witnessed the "soft" approach in Sydney last year. He sounded great! Colours of the wind, baby mine are great

[Ron]

I'm sure he's working with a vocal coach who's helping him.  The biggest difference I can notice is that he's not oversinging, or forcing his vocals as much as he used to.  If you listen to "Colors of the Wind"... it's almost his speaking voice, which is really naturally beautiful anyways.  He'll be able to sing, in that fashion, until he leaves us. 

That's really always been the best part of his singing, it reminds me of all the beautiful falsetto stuff he did like "Don't Worry Baby"... the falsetto is long gone, but the beautiful tone he has is still there.  I would much, much, much rather hear him do songs where he sings this soft "Colors of the Wind" style then him trying to be what he once was. 

He's been doing this a LONG time, though, if you listen to "Don't Worry Baby" on the Roxy CD, it has the same quality.  It's very soft and delicate, and in a lower key than the original, it's really similar to the "Colors of the Wind" style of singing. 

The cynical side of me wonders if it has anything to do with his medication.  Maybe one day he's jacked up the other he's really mellow. 

[SMiLE Brian]

Recent JT sighting:

http://www.avclub.com/chicago/articles/soundstage,25355/

He has done well for himself ...

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm... anyone else thinking what I'm thinking ?

"Imagination Volume Two?! Ahhhhh....can't take it....it must be stopped!!!!"

Time for smiley smilers road trip to chicago to stop this album from being made.

[37!ws]

Really lovin' "Baby Mine." And yeah, I couldn't help but notice how much Brian's voice has been improving. Thought so with BWRG, thought so again with ITKOD.

As for Amazon condoning piracy, well...not really, at least with me...I bought the CD through Amazon, and the order qualified me for a free MP3 download.

[Ron]

I listened to it again on the way to work.  "Baby Mine" is straight up classic Wilson vocals, so beautiful.  I mean giving me chill bumps, "don't think about it too much or you'll cry"... good.  Very well written song, too, that line in there

"From Your Head, Down To Your Toes......
You're Not Much, Goodness Knows....
but You're So Precious To Me
Sweet As can Be Baby Of Mine"

So pretty.  Brian really kills the lead on this one, too.  It has some really sweet notes thrown in from place to place too.  That line about "What They'd Give, Just For the RIGHT TO HOLD YOUUUUU" is too good, he shouldn't be able to sing like that.  There must be an imposter involved here. 

[shelter]

What are they about?

Well, some of them are about shelter

 

 

[rab2591]

Just got this in the mail and WOW.

At one point I actually said "Holy sh*t, Brian!" - this album is strictly beautiful/fun/incredible.

The intro to 'Kiss the Girl' is a seemingly beautiful homage to Henry Mancini's 'The Versatile Henry Mancini' album....and those chorus'!!! This whole album will be on constant repeat for a while! 'Baby Mine' is just stunning. 'Colors of the Wind' is yet another beautiful track....love the organ. 'Can You Feel The Tonight' - Brian's vocals are a jaw-dropper. I was really surprised by 'Can't Wait To Be King'. Everything about 'Stay awake' is incredible - the harpsichord, the bass, the xylophone, and yet again, his voice is beautiful! 'Heigh Ho' is fun yet beautiful - this one truly reminds me of Disney. The harmonies in 'When You Wish Upon A Star' are top-notch - I've never heard Brian's band sing so well together.

The intrumentals sound SO good! - there is a more present bass on this album than his previous solo albums - and I think that's what I've been missing from his albums.

Brian has made these tracks his own...I was so skeptical of this album, but this has to be my favorite solo album from him! I really hope Brian is proud of what he has recorded here!

[hypehat]

Oh yeah, this is out too.

[Ron]

Just got this in the mail and WOW.

At one point I actually said "Holy sh*t, Brian!" - this album is strictly beautiful/fun/incredible.

The intro to 'Kiss the Girl' is a seemingly beautiful homage to Henry Mancini's 'The Versatile Henry Mancini' album....and those chorus'!!! This whole album will be on constant repeat for a while! 'Baby Mine' is just stunning. 'Colors of the Wind' is yet another beautiful track....love the organ. 'Can You Feel The Tonight' - Brian's vocals are a jaw-dropper. I was really surprised by 'Can't Wait To Be King'. Everything about 'Stay awake' is incredible - the harpsichord, the bass, the xylophone, and yet again, his voice is beautiful! 'Heigh Ho' is fun yet beautiful - this one truly reminds me of Disney. The harmonies in 'When You Wish Upon A Star' are top-notch - I've never heard Brian's band sing so well together.

The intrumentals sound SO good! - there is a more present bass on this album than his previous solo albums - and I think that's what I've been missing from his albums.

Brian has made these tracks his own...I was so skeptical of this album, but this has to be my favorite solo album from him! I really hope Brian is proud of what he has recorded here!

Yeah, it's pretty good, eh?  This album is going to be so under rated considering when it came out, nobody's going to have it and it's truly beautiful in parts.  Maybe time will be kind to it and people will pick it up down the road and listen to it with fresh ears. 

[rab2591]

I really hope you're right. Disney really should have given this album at least a one-month release buffer before or after SMiLE's release. It's too good to be buried underneath the contents of the boxset.

To all you SMiLE fanatics that haven't bought this yet: get it ASAP!

[SMiLE]

Just got it, sounds really good though I think he should have stuck closer to the original vocal arrangements of "Kiss the Girl" and "Can you feel the love tonight?"   Found it interesting that only Darian, Scott, Nick and Jeff are doing Backing Vocals considering that he usually uses most if not all of the band. Gary Griffin plays on almost every track and Taylor does not appear at all? Is she officially out of the band?

[Ron]

I doubt she is, probably just a scheduling conflict OR Brian just wanted to do it stripped down (and cheaply).  Most of the stuff does sound really undercooked, though which is a bit refreshing.  I was pretty surprised at how stark "Can You Feel The Love Tonight" is.  I mean there's just not much going on at all except Brian's lead. 

[Ron]

Well.  Hell.  Maybe she is gone.  I just watched some recent LIVE videos on Youtube, and she's not on stage.  That's a shame. 

[Heysaboda]

ah sweet jesus, this is a beautiful album.......

Even when I'm not listening to it, those Brain Wilson vocal harmonies and circling through my head........

[SMiLE]

Well.  Hell.  Maybe she is gone.  I just watched some recent LIVE videos on Youtube, and she's not on stage.  That's a shame. 

I thought I read somewhere that she was on hiatus or something. If she is indeed gone, what happened exactly, did she have a fallout with Melinda like Lizik and Hines supposedly did?

[Ron]

ah sweet jesus, this is a beautiful album.......

Even when I'm not listening to it, those Brain Wilson vocal harmonies and circling through my head........

Yeah.  Some of them are so easy, you'd think "oh hell that's just Brian Wilson by the numbers" but then it repeats back and you go "Whoa, that's actually pretty good".  Like for instance the end of "Baby Mine".  

I'll have to agree with somebody else though that they shouldn't have done the 'response' vocals behind "Colors of the Wind".  They got it right in Can You Feel The Love Tonight, but it sounds out of place on Colors of the Wind.  Those two songs are so similar on this album, I like both of them.

[Ron]

Well.  Hell.  Maybe she is gone.  I just watched some recent LIVE videos on Youtube, and she's not on stage.  That's a shame. 

I thought I read somewhere that she was on hiatus or something. If she is indeed gone, what happened exactly, did she have a fallout with Melinda like Lizik and Hines supposedly did?

I have no idea, all I know is she isn't on this album and she wasn't on stage in August or September, there's  videos of a very ugly group of gentlemen singing behind Brian.  LOL. 

[Myk Luhv]

Brian doing Randy Newman covers for an entire album would be awful. I'm sorry, but Mr. BW doesn't have the appropriate sense of irony or viciousness to pull of a song like "Have You Seen My Baby?", "Rednecks", or even something like "Marie". They're all just a little too off-kilter for someone like Brian, I reckon. Although... I think it'd be incredibly bizarre and hella intriguing to hear Brian bang out "Rednecks" on the piano, haha.

[Ron]

Brian doing Randy Newman covers for an entire album would be awful. I'm sorry, but Mr. BW doesn't have the appropriate sense of irony or viciousness to pull of a song like "Have You Seen My Baby?", "Rednecks", or even something like "Marie". They're all just a little too off-kilter for someone like Brian, I reckon. Although... I think it'd be incredibly bizarre and hella intriguing to hear Brian bang out "Rednecks" on the piano, haha.

Admittedly i'm not a huge Randy Newman fan, but I understand that he's great, lol.  The two Brian does on the album aren't very good IMHO.  I agree with you, Randy writes a certain way and it's not Brian's style, he can't pull it off like Randy does. 

[rab2591]

I really love the inclusion of the organ on many of these songs....it adds such a great element. And I gotta give props to Jeff, Darian, Mr. Walusko, and Probyn Gregory for the stunning backing vocals - I still can't get over the beauty of this album.

I thought BWRG was good, and I listen to it a lot, but it's been a while since I've smiled through an entire album on first listen - let alone second

[SMiLE]

Brian doing Randy Newman covers for an entire album would be awful. I'm sorry, but Mr. BW doesn't have the appropriate sense of irony or viciousness to pull of a song like "Have You Seen My Baby?", "Rednecks", or even something like "Marie". They're all just a little too off-kilter for someone like Brian, I reckon. Although... I think it'd be incredibly bizarre and hella intriguing to hear Brian bang out "Rednecks" on the piano, haha.

Brian singing "Rednecks"?  That would be interesting but probably would destroy his career.

[Wirestone]

Re: The backing vocals.

It's my understanding that Brian's band is basically set up so that you have two voices for each part of a four- or five part harmony.

In other words, Jeff and Probyn are on top
Taylor I think is a level below
Darian and Scott toward the middle
Nick and Brian at the bottom

No idea where Mickey or Brett would fall.

The point is, everyone doubles.

In the studio setting, Brian originally would just double track the boys -- for 8-10 voices total -- or stack himself multiple times. So for Disney, it looks like there's a single five-person stack (if you include Brian), that's likely doubled. Does it save money? Probably. But it's also his original method -- the sheer number of voices in the band is meant for live performance.

Also of note -- Darian and Nick mixed this record. So for those folks who say it sounds like a little Imagination-ish -- the Wondermints meant it to sound that way, apparently.