LOS: The Last Great Brian Wilson Record

[buddhahat]

The narratives have grown a lot for me, and VDP's lyrics are as sharp as ever. The weakest point of the album are Scott's lyrics and I always try to ignore them and concentrate on the good production and the great melodies instead. But in some cases (Forever She'll Be My Surfer Girl, that Mexican song) it doesn't work and I'll skip those.

At one point I should write a review only about the narratives. They are musically very interesting and more subtle than almost everything else on the album. I love Midnight's Another Day, Morning Beat, Oxygen To The Brain, Going Home and Southern California minus the lyrics. Overall it rivals BWPS and BW'88 as his best effort since Love You.

My ranking of BW solo albums:
1. BWPS
2. BW'88
3. TLOS
[huge gap]
4. Sweet Insanity
5. Wilson-Paley recordings
[gap]
6. BWRG
7. GIOMH
8. WIRWFC
9. IJWMFTT
[gap]
10. Imagination

You're on the money with your favourites from the album as they're the exact same ones that stand out for me too. I'd add the bonus cuts Message Man and Just Like Me & You too. Such a shame some of the weaker cuts weren't ditched in favour of those two. They feel much more quirky Brian to me and would've made for a far stronger album.

[Andrew G. Doe]

I like the narratives - somehow, no matter how many times you play then, it still sounds like Brian saw them about five minutes before Take 1.

As for my ranking of the solo albums, two qualifications: 1, no unreleased stuff... and two BWPS doesn't count.

So...

1 - TLOS
2 - BW88
3 - BWRG
4 - OCA
5 - Imagination
6 - IJWMFTT
7 - WIRWFC



























8 - GIOMH

[Chris Brown]

Just to jump in on the list-making fun:

1) BW88 - despite the dated production, it's got the best writing of any Brian solo album, and great vocals too
2) TLOS - for reasons stated above
3) Imagination - the vocals almost make up for awful production, much like BW88
4) OCA - this one has grown on me over the years
5) WIRWFC - I like this one more than a lot of others here, great arrangements and, at that point, some of Brian's best solo vocals
6) BWRG - liked it a lot at first, now a bit "meh" but the originals are great
7) IJWMFTT - Brian sounds weird and the choice of backing vocalists is...odd
GIOMH - what else can be said?

[ghost]

Last great record Brian Wilson made was his last use of David Mark's. What's with all this Pet Sounds sh*t? Where's the surf guitar?

[aerolls]

Can we all agree that Brian's new music is more substantial than Paul Mccartney's? [...] is this correct?

No not at all. I quote the great Bob Dylan: "I'm in awe of McCartney. He can do it all and he's never let up. He's got the gift for melody, he's got the rhythm. He can play any instrument. "And he can sing the ballad as good as anybody. I mean, I just wish he'd quit!"

Wilson maybe our reigning king but to me McCartney, all his canon even modern era Macca, will always be royalty!

Thanks again for recommendation,

Today I'm a LOS

Adrian

[37!ws]

It's definitely worth owning, a very good album. But there are a few  things that limit my enjoyment
- Scott B's clunky lyrics. "if there's a roll in your heart and a rock in your soul...". Come back mike love all is forgiven. Good kind of love is fantastic for the bw lyrics

"A little bit o' lovin' and a kissin' and a huggin', that's why they fell in love." Yup....I guess that's from the "Well, oh my, oh gosh, oh gee" school of songwriting.

I don't have a problem with Scott's lyrics, although a lot of them do sound as if he had just taken a songwriting class and was trying to use what he learned from it. Thing is, he's not by any means inexperienced creating his own material....I'm guessing it's that he was a noob serving as Brian's lyrical secretary...

- the theme, although in some ways holds it together, I think distorts some of the songs. Did oxygen to the brain have to be about being 'ready set in california'? Feels a bit forced

Totally agreed on the "forced" part. Judging by the lyrics and structure of the song, I'm willing to bet that this song dates back to the '80s during the second Landy period. Lyrically it goes along with a lot of Sweet Insanity and the Usher sessions, like "Just Say No." Add some lyrical modifications that basically say, "Oh yeah, let's not forget this is about California."

- it's so over produced. Th schmaltzy orchestral overdubs, feels at times as if you're listening to the soundtrack of the Muppet Christmas Carol

Heh...I never thought of it as being overproduced, but I know what you mean. I have a friend who bought the album and first listened to it with a coworker (just put it on where he works, didn't say who or what the album was), whose musical taste he trusts. He said his coworker's response after hearing TLOS was that she thought it was a cast recording from a musical. I can totally see that...

[ghost]

Can we all agree that Brian's new music is more substantial than Paul Mccartney's? [...] is this correct?

No not at all. I quote the great Bob Dylan: "I'm in awe of McCartney. He can do it all and he's never let up. He's got the gift for melody, he's got the rhythm. He can play any instrument. "And he can sing the ballad as good as anybody. I mean, I just wish he'd quit!"

Wilson maybe our reigning king but to me McCartney, all his canon even modern era Macca, will always be royalty!

Thanks again for recommendation,

Today I'm a LOS

Adrian

Paul is a pretender. I don't trust Paul McCartney, if that is his real name.

[aerolls]

I can definitely say I wouldn't have been introduced to Brian Wilson if it wasn't for Paul McCartney and his unbridled enthusiastic  love of BW.

Thank You, Macca!

Adrian

[Magic Transistor Radio]

Paul died in a car accident in Nov of 1966. The guy you all are talking about is Billy Shears.

[Amy B.]

Heh...I never thought of it as being overproduced, but I know what you mean. I have a friend who bought the album and first listened to it with a coworker (just put it on where he works, didn't say who or what the album was), whose musical taste he trusts. He said his coworker's response after hearing TLOS was that she thought it was a cast recording from a musical. I can totally see that...

Paul Mertens' orchestrations sound very "schooled"--from the brain instead of from the heart--and Brian's best stuff has Brian's arrangements, which are the opposite-- done by instinct. I remember the interview with Scott where he said that the best chord in Midnight's Another Day came from Brian, who just tossed it off--and no one else had thought of that chord because it was so off the wall. That's greatness. Scott's songwriting is more formulaic, and so is Paul's orchestration. But I still love TLOS.

[ghost]

Paul died in a car accident in Nov of 1966. The guy you all are talking about is Billy Shears.

I guess I just hear Brian as being on another musical plane than Paul. He's cool I guess in what he does and has done, I like a lot of it and who he seems to be or presents himself as to the world's beloved........ but Brian is like Bach to me, even in what appear to be his most childishlike savant moments. Paul is no Mozart just a good tunesmith. Even Paul would admit this in private that Brian is in a league of his own beyond the rest. Take Paul's first solo album for example. Play it back to back with Wild Honey.

As for Sgt. Pepper / Smile, the former came out so everyone knows it and with its crisp sound it wowed a lot of people. I just don't think the songs hold up at all. It's a novelty record. It's not substantial. It's like an advertisement for George Martin's dick. Here it is, come and suck it. This is how good I will make you sound - just listen to these Liverpool nobodies. Smile is different. It's not a novelty record at all even though it is acidly enlightend self-aware and views life as novel. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UUE910mUmhc&feature=related Here is all the proof we need. It's instrumental and it's already beat Pepper to a pulp. There are substantial Ideas at work here, at play in the sound pictures forming. Brian was a painter and the Wrecking Crew et al were his colors.

Brian Wilson was George Martin & Paul McCartney, and better than both, alone. He had a lot of helpers - musicians and engineers etc but none of them were directing the sound, were they? Brian was conducting his orchestra, expertly crafting his painting like a god setting in motion each musician. And Brian said, Let there be two accordians! And lo, there was two accordians playing in psychedelic harmony.

[Smilin Ed H]

I'll go for BW88 first.

[ghost]

Why wasn't "Just Like Me And You" on this album? It's better than the songs on that album. Who's gonna tell me the details on this track? I find it very interesting. There's something very, very Brian about it. It's the chord changes - they're so spacey.

[Iron Horse-Apples]

The narratives have grown a lot for me, and VDP's lyrics are as sharp as ever. The weakest point of the album are Scott's lyrics and I always try to ignore them and concentrate on the good production and the great melodies instead. But in some cases (Forever She'll Be My Surfer Girl, that Mexican song) it doesn't work and I'll skip those.

At one point I should write a review only about the narratives. They are musically very interesting and more subtle than almost everything else on the album. I love Midnight's Another Day, Morning Beat, Oxygen To The Brain, Going Home and Southern California minus the lyrics. Overall it rivals BWPS and BW'88 as his best effort since Love You.

My ranking of BW solo albums:
1. BWPS
2. BW'88
3. TLOS
[huge gap]
4. Sweet Insanity
5. Wilson-Paley recordings
[gap]
6. BWRG
7. GIOMH
8. WIRWFC
9. IJWMFTT
[gap]
10. Imagination

Yes, I too was very disappointed by Imagination, after a 10 year wait for new material.

[Alex]

I prefer the TLOS demos to the finished album...Love You-esque (minus the Moogs) in some places.

[Dead Parrot]

Paul is a pretender. I don't trust Paul McCartney, if that is his real name.

Well, technically his real name is James McCartney.  

But on the subject if TLOS, I love the songs, but am not a great fan of the production of that album, with the possible exception of "Midnight's Another Day".

[joe_blow]

Just to add my 2 cents:


1)  TLOS
2)  BW88
3)  Imagination
4)  BWRG
5)  WIRWFC
6)  IJWMFTT
7)  OCA
  GIOMH

[Jay]

Paul is a pretender. I don't trust Paul McCartney, if that is his real name.

Well, technically his real name is James McCartney.  

But on the subject if TLOS, I love the songs, but am not a great fan of the production of that album, with the possible exception of "Midnight's Another Day".

TLOS is by far the most poorly recorded and mastered album I have in my collection. It's a shame that Brian's best work since the 1960's was so badly mastered.

[buddhahat]

Why wasn't "Just Like Me And You" on this album? It's better than the songs on that album. Who's gonna tell me the details on this track? I find it very interesting. There's something very, very Brian about it. It's the chord changes - they're so spacey.

Yeah it's greater than about 50% of TLOS - great shame it wasn't on there. You should check out Message Man if you haven't heard it. It's incredible!

[MBE]

As far as being all time favorite albums there is nothing Brian has done since Holland that would be on my list. That said TLOS is my clear favorite Brian solo LP and that includes BWPS. As for mixing problems buy the vinyl it's clear as a bell. My list not counting unreleased from best to worst
TLOS 4/5
BWPS 4/5
BW 3/5
WIRWFC 3/5
BWRG 3/5
Roxy 3/5
GIOMH 2 1/2/5
I Just Wasn't Made 2 1/2/5
PSL 2 1/2/5
Imagination 2/5
OCA 0/5

[MBE]

Just for the hell of it here are my favorite all time releases not counting boots or comps.
Surfin USA
Shut Down 2
All Summer Long
Today
Summer Days
Pet Sounds
Wild Honey
Friends
20/20
Sunflower
Surf's Up
So Tough
Holland
Spring
POB
With records like these Brian's and the band's (bar Dennis) post 1974 work must take a real back seat.

[absinthe_boy]

In my opinion, Brian Wilson should be remembered for three major works. Pet Sounds, SMiLE, and That Lucky Old Sun.

Yep I am in agreement (though he should be remembered for more).

I see Pet Sounds, SMiLE and TLOS as a trilogy. They are all albums about feelings, atmospheres, emotions...at different points in a man's life. There are common threads throughout them.

The only thing spoiling TLOS is the godawful mastering which I am 100% certain Brian had nothing to do with. That has been discussed on this board as nauseum.

[ghost]

Ain't no way in hell TLOS is in the top three of Brian Wilson works.

[Compost]

I'm not a huge TLOS fan.  It has some very pleasant moments but these are offset by some serious contrivances that make it hard to listen to all the way through.  I listen to it in secret...and that's a shame.

And now an off-topic delight from ghost regarding 'Sgt. Pepper':  "It's like an advertisement for George Martin's dick. Here it is, come and suck it."

Perfect.

[Magic Transistor Radio]

To me the Beatle that competed with Brian the most was John. Especially on The Plastic Ono band.