New album info (as it rolls out...)

[runnersdialzero]

Think about it: most of the album is out--5 tracks today, 2 on Dutch Radio, plus Do It Again (though not on the album), plus a bunch of scraps.

What's out? The single, "Spring Vacation", the opening track - what else?

[Sea Devil]

Are Klaatu really the Beach Boys?

 

[Summertime Blooz]

Think about it: most of the album is out--5 tracks today, 2 on Dutch Radio, plus Do It Again (though not on the album), plus a bunch of scraps.

What's out? The single, "Spring Vacation", the opening track - what else?

5 complete tracks can now be heard here (poor sound quality though):
http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2012/may/30/album-stream-beach-boys-god-radio?CMP=twt_gu

Private Life Of Bill & Sue, From There To back Again, Shelter, Isn't It Time, plus Spring Vacation (already heard, of course)

[runnersdialzero]

Think about it: most of the album is out--5 tracks today, 2 on Dutch Radio, plus Do It Again (though not on the album), plus a bunch of scraps.

What's out? The single, "Spring Vacation", the opening track - what else?

5 complete tracks can now be heard here (poor sound quality though):
http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2012/may/30/album-stream-beach-boys-god-radio?CMP=twt_gu

Private Life Of Bill & Sue, From There To back Again, Shelter, Isn't It Time, plus Spring Vacation (already heard, of course)

Thanks! Somehow missed that.

[Sea Devil]

I swear to christ i'm going to have a brain haemorrhage if I read another article in the media that puns 'Good Vibrations', 'Do It Again' 'Wouldn't It Be Nice' etc.

[Generation42]

Well, I’ve listened through the album twice now, and thought I might pass along some impressions.

Those who have heralded “Think About The Days,” “From There To Back Again,” “Pacific Coast Highway” and “Summer’s Gone” are right on the money.  These four tracks found me thoroughly swept up in their drama, and form the cornerstone of an enjoyable, by turns frustrating and startling journey.

“Strange World” (one of four offerings taken from a planned eleven-song suite) offers a charming glimpse into a world of oddities that would be made all the more queer “if you were not here with me.”

You already know of Al’s great performance on “From There To Back Again.”  It’s the last try at a dying love.  “Why don’t you run away and spend some time with me / why don’t we feel the way we used to anymore?”

“Pacific Coast Highway” is breathtaking in its dark beauty – “my life, I’m better off alone / my life, I’m better on my own.”  The resignation drips with each sorrowful note.  

As lovely as “Pacific Coast Highway” is, nothing tops the grand “Summer’s Gone.”  More than any other, this is the piece that strikes right to the heart, and demonstrates just what a talented artist can bring to the table.  When Brian sings about ‘another summer gone,’ one understands immediately, innately, that we’re not talking about the end of fun in the sun, the ocean and the beach.  Like the best of Brian’s work, the nature imagery is used here to greater effect as Brian solemnly mourns the encroaching end of an old man’s life - his very own. “It’s finally sinking in,” he sings, “one day begins, another ends.”  It won’t matter how many albums the group may produce from here on out, “Summer’s Gone” truly is the final song on the final Beach Boys record, just as Brian first envisioned.

There is more to the album than the suite numbers, to be sure.  I’ve been spinning the title track for weeks now, with its enchanting harmonies (although there are the BIIIG, dramatic floor tom and the lyric about ‘a whole new generation,’ both of which just grate on me).  “Bill and Sue,” in a not unconvincing manner, expounds the tale of reality show stars (!), seemingly lost at sea.  “Shelter” is a pleasant enough look at love, with a hook I know we’ve all heard before.
“Daybreak Over The Ocean” is a song that most of you will already have heard, but I have to say that it proves that the addition of those voices can complement an arrangement in such a manner that it lifts it from pleasant to, well, a thing of beauty.

It’s when we get to the tracks everyone was worried about that, frankly, you will probably find yourself proven right.  I have to say that as one of the two numbers I allowed myself to preview beforehand (the other being the album’s opener), “Spring Vacation” has had the time to grow on me and against all odds, it has taken full advantage of the opportunity.  If I could just get past the off-key caterwauling I glimpsed in that in-studio video sneak-peek.  I guess some things you just can’t unsee.

Sadly, “Isn’t It Time” holds very little appeal for me.  This is surprising as I quite enjoyed the live version posted the other day, and was looking forward to the album’s treatment.  But my God, “isn’t it time we danced the night away” just sounds sooo very… d-u-l-l.

“Beaches In Mind.” No.

In the end, it's more than I thought we’d ever get – more than we’d any right to expect.  It’s a fine album in places, with a few clunkers and its fair share of brilliance.  The numbers that originate from the suite constitute some of the strongest musical offerings from Brain in years, with mature lyrics appropriate to the theme of ‘looking at life as an older adult.’  Folks, I know the other six pieces of the suite is said to be unfinished at this time, but we need to hear the rest of this suite.  There’s been talk of another Beach Boys LP, with most (Wilson included) speculating on Brian’s long-desired Rock ‘n’ Roll album, but one member here offered a suggestion, probably more in jest than anything, that I think holds tremendous musical appeal and commercial potential – a double album.  Picture, if you will, The Beach Boys Rock ‘n’ Roll, backed with ‘My Life’s Suite’.  Food for thought.

[EgoHanger1966]

Wouldn't It Be Nice if the Beach Boys could Do It Again and spread their Good Vibrations across the USA in their Little Deuce Coupe?

[18thofMay]

Wouldn't It Be Nice if the Beach Boys could Do It Again and spread their Good Vibrations across the USA in their Little Deuce Coupe?

Hang on to your ego

[Runaways]

thanks for the review Generation42.  I have a feeling our "beaches in mind" reviews will be similar

[Ziggy Stardust]

Who cares about Beaches In Mind ?

[runnersdialzero]

Who cares about Beaches In Mind ?

People who listen to the new album?

[Ziggy Stardust]

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOH SNAAAAP SON! MAN I REALLY DON'T KNOW WHAT TO SAY NOW! OUTCH

[Jonathan Blum]

I don't really want to get into this, but these 'facts' are merely anecdotes. I don't think BW produced this any more than he produced MIU Album.

Your feelings and your emotions apparently trump anecdotes from people who were there during the recording process.

Let's talk about Carol Kaye.

Carol Kaye may be dubious, but she's still less dubious than someone completely making stuff up based on "feelings".

Cheers,
Jon Blum

[Runaways]

i think Ziggy is 

[runnersdialzero]

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOH SNAAAAP SON! MAN I REALLY DON'T KNOW WHAT TO SAY NOW! OUTCH

okay.

[Autotune]

This is a forum for opinion, of course. And I respect them all. Even if I don't quite get the "oh no" trend that's been going for some time:

Oh no! They're recording a video clip. Maybe as bad as Summer of Love

Oh no! The artwork is out.

Oh no! No Blondie.

Oh no! Surfboards.

Oh no! Summer lyrics.

Etc.


Those 5 full songs moved me in a way I could not imagine. I'm so happy they pulled this off. So happy for Brian for his music. And so happy to hear those voices together. I find it hard to throw smart-ass remarks and punctilious asserts about these guys's work.

[DonnyL]

Not to stir the pot too much, but I just found a new BW interview which calls into question Joe Thomas' version of recent events:

Q: Whose idea was it to get back together after all this time?

BW: Well, Mike Love.

Q: How did it happen? Tell me the story.

BW: He called me and asked if I'd like to do a 50th anniversary tour with him and I said yeah.

haha! so far we have Al claiming it was his idea, Joe Thomas saying it was Brian's, and Brian claiming it was Mike's.  Of course, he may have been talking about just the tour, but still ... sort of like anything in Beach Boys-land.

http://jam.canoe.ca/Music/Artists/B/Beach_Boys/2012/05/30/19817736.html

[Ziggy Stardust]

i think Ziggy is  

Thanks! i think you're pimp too bro 

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOH SNAAAAP SON! MAN I REALLY DON'T KNOW WHAT TO SAY NOW! OUTCH

okay.

okay.

[EgoHanger1966]

Not to stir the pot too much, but I just found a new BW interview which calls into question Joe Thomas' version of recent events:

Q: Whose idea was it to get back together after all this time?

BW: Well, Mike Love.

Q: How did it happen? Tell me the story.

BW: He called me and asked if I'd like to do a 50th anniversary tour with him and I said yeah.

haha! so far we have Al claiming it was his idea, Joe Thomas saying it was Brian's, and Brian claiming it was Mike's.  Of course, he may have been talking about just the tour, but still ... sort of like anything in Beach Boys-land.

http://jam.canoe.ca/Music/Artists/B/Beach_Boys/2012/05/30/19817736.html

Here's a "Brianism" from that article:

Interviewer:Is it different writing for The Beach Boys instead of yourself?

Brian:No, not at all. I gotta go. I gotta get on an airplane.

  Gotta love him.

[18thofMay]

Not to stir the pot too much, but I just found a new BW interview which calls into question Joe Thomas' version of recent events:

Q: Whose idea was it to get back together after all this time?

BW: Well, Mike Love.

Q: How did it happen? Tell me the story.

BW: He called me and asked if I'd like to do a 50th anniversary tour with him and I said yeah.

haha! so far we have Al claiming it was his idea, Joe Thomas saying it was Brian's, and Brian claiming it was Mike's.  Of course, he may have been talking about just the tour, but still ... sort of like anything in Beach Boys-land.

http://jam.canoe.ca/Music/Artists/B/Beach_Boys/2012/05/30/19817736.html

Pot stirred..
"Unfortunately, when the call came, it was an hour late, Love was MIA, and instead of an in-depth interview, I ended up getting four minutes with a harried Wilson, who had just cleared security at New York's JFK airport and was about to board a plane."

[Runaways]

haha yeah I saw that interview earlier and the moment i read the conditions of the interview, i quickly glanced it and knew it wasn't worth anything.

That huffington post cocktail blogger tweeted me back after i replied to him saying the best beach boys stuff is weird.  I admitted Love You was a lil too weird but still interesting.  He also just tweeted
Tony Sachs ‏@RetroManNYC
Not ready to say I like the new Beach Boys album, but the last few tracks really pack an emotional wallop. Gotta listen a few more times.

[the professor]

couple of quick notes:

love that Dave's guitar is everywhere but wish he was credited with singing; were the videos on TWGMTR a sham, or did his track not make the mix. . . . .(??)

Love Bruce everywhere I hear him.

 I do wish the BB were playing more instruments here, but I'll take it, like PS, as a singing, harmonizing album.  The full BB sings only half the cuts on PS: 2 instrumentals, and Brian sings 2 songs alone, right (?)

Not worried about Joe Thomas.

Many albums, including Pet Sounds have great, good,and OK songs, so I can live with that hierarchy here.

Anywhere where I perceiving myself hearing "The Beach Boys" on this record, I am happy.

PLOBAS reminds me of O bla di o bla da for some reason, though it's tunefully superior. The themes, as it were, have not yet reached me intellectually. Did reality tv need a critique?

Shelter sounds like Brian Eno's "Here he comes."  really wish Bruce was singing the chorus.  Mike's part in second half of chorus is great.

Are these Guardian versions poor quality?

FTTBA is epic.

This is a great album.

[runnersdialzero]

Why didn't Brian just make it easy on us and call his songs "PLOBAS" and "FTTBA"?

[Dave Modny]

Why didn't Brian just make it easy on us and call his songs "PLOBAS" and "FTTBA"?

Because he was afraid that we might get them confused with ADITLOAT, LUGOTW and WIBNTLA.

Okay...he didn't really write WIBNTLA.

[DonnyL]

I don't really want to get into this, but these 'facts' are merely anecdotes. I don't think BW produced this any more than he produced MIU Album.

Your feelings and your emotions apparently trump anecdotes from people who were there during the recording process.

Let's talk about Carol Kaye.

Carol Kaye may be dubious, but she's still less dubious than someone completely making stuff up based on "feelings".

Cheers,
Jon Blum

It seems we're speaking a different language.

Other than stating my (humble) opinion, I'm not involved in this in any way. What I'm getting at is we can't necessarily collect anecdotes and call them 'facts'.

Quite frankly, it seems fairly obvious to me that Joe Thomas' sonic signature is all over these tracks.  This is not some cryptic 'feeling' I have; there is audible evidence.  I find it surprising that others do not notice it.

And yet Joe Thomas is not credited as a producer.  Not sure what his credit is, if any.  So, I suppose most people here are content to accept 'good old Joe just helping a friend complete the new Beach Boys album'?

He co-wrote most of the songs. Some of the other co-writers are people associated with him that are not typically associated with BW or the Beach Boys.  It seems there is at least a little evidence that point to him being heavily involved with this record.  The music itself sounds as though he was more involved than Brian Wilson or the Beach Boys in my opinion.

Joe Thomas is a producer.  What is his role in this album if not production?