Amazon (and iTunes!!!) samples are up

[I. Spaceman]

That doesn't seem like too much of a compressed schedule to me

Yes, but for The Beach Boys, and most artists/groups these days, particularly those that haven't recorded together in decades, it is a very short schedule. Especially if the album was all new. One can use BWPS as an example, but the band was merely duplicating what they did on stage every night. Yes, maybe 90% of this album was wholly rerecorded. But it is probably likely to be similar to the BWPS scenario for many of the tracks, near-exact duplication of an existing template.
I mean, I doubt that we'll hear that the new Black Sabbath album is finished tomorrow, and that has been in the works for a long time.
I understand that the album may have been worked on as the next BW album. But gathering together the group and then hastily turning it into a Beach Boys project over a few month's schedule of scattered sessions, that isn't exactly how the thing was sold initially, or what was hoped for, it is yet another Beach Boys bait-and-switch routine.
Of course, if the album is great, none of this matters, except to the historian.

[Wirestone]

But gathering together the group and then hastily turning it into a Beach Boys project over a few month's schedule of scattered sessions, that isn't exactly how the thing was sold initially, or what was hoped for, it is yet another Beach Boys bait-and-switch routine.

This seems weird to me. You're arguing, as I take it, that the band didn't spend enough time recording the album to make it a "real" Beach Boys album? That some three or four months worth of vocal sessions weren't sufficient? I believe the group spent a couple of months on Pet Sounds, for example.

And why wasn't that what was hoped for? I, for one, am thrilled to be getting an album that is 90 percent new-to-us Brian Wilson songs. I mean, the exact scenario I'm outlining was how a lot of the group's classic records were created. It's not a Sunfower, but I'm sure the group would like to avoid such a protracted and difficult creative process.

[Ron]

Showed my mom the clips, she says she loves the "sound" which may be the production, and I agree for the most part, so kill us haha

Nothing to apologize about, I think the sound of the clips is great too.  I don't hear any that I don't like the production on, although there's a few that sound kind of boring... for the twenty seconds we get to hear. 

[Ron]

But gathering together the group and then hastily turning it into a Beach Boys project over a few month's schedule of scattered sessions, that isn't exactly how the thing was sold initially, or what was hoped for, it is yet another Beach Boys bait-and-switch routine.

This seems weird to me. You're arguing, as I take it, that the band didn't spend enough time recording the album to make it a "real" Beach Boys album? That some three or four months worth of vocal sessions weren't sufficient? I believe the group spent a couple of months on Pet Sounds, for example.

And why wasn't that what was hoped for? I, for one, am thrilled to be getting an album that is 90 percent new-to-us Brian Wilson songs. I mean, the exact scenario I'm outlining was how a lot of the group's classic records were created. It's not a Sunfower, but I'm sure the group would like to avoid such a protracted and difficult creative process.

Hear Hear!  Right On. 

[I. Spaceman]

But gathering together the group and then hastily turning it into a Beach Boys project over a few month's schedule of scattered sessions, that isn't exactly how the thing was sold initially, or what was hoped for, it is yet another Beach Boys bait-and-switch routine.

This seems weird to me. You're arguing, as I take it, that the band didn't spend enough time recording the album to make it a "real" Beach Boys album? That some three or four months worth of vocal sessions weren't sufficient? I believe the group spent a couple of months on Pet Sounds, for example.

And why wasn't that what was hoped for? I, for one, am thrilled to be getting an album that is 90 percent new-to-us Brian Wilson songs. I mean, the exact scenario I'm outlining was how a lot of the group's classic records were created. It's not a Sunfower, but I'm sure the group would like to avoid such a protracted and difficult creative process.

Pet Sounds wasn't conceived of as a Brian Wilson solo album, and did not consist of mainly songs written for another solo project 14 years earlier. What I am saying isn't weird and I am not arguing. The band could make a great album in two days if they wanted to, it is just that generally, THESE DAYS, albums take much longer to create if they are newly generated. Unless you're The White Stripes. Comparing it to the recording history of albums that were recorded in the 60's, with most of the backing tracks recorded live in studio on 4 track doesn't really work. In fact, when one considers that most albums of that era were recorded in mere days, the Pet Sounds sessions were marathon.  Adjusting for inflation, one would think an entirely new BB album would take a much longer time to generate, as say, a new Eagles album would.
I really don't think this type of scenario reflects the recording process of any of The Beach Boys' previous works, by its very nature.
But again, this is just for dialogue's sake. If it is good, I don't care if it was written in 5 minutes while Brian was on the toilet in 1982. I have taken great pains to get this across, and I don't get why that isn't coming through.

[FatherOfTheMan Sr101]

FTTBA on iTunes made me cry, no joke, SMiLE worthy...
Same with The next two songs...
All these, with maybe 2 exceptions, are good songs, but those three...
Classics... No joke.

[Ron]

Again I've only heard the small clips, but yeah I thought those three sounded really classic too.  Really what more could you ask out of these guys at 70 years old?  I think this is going to be really, really good. 

[Jim V.]

That doesn't seem like too much of a compressed schedule to me

Yes, but for The Beach Boys, and most artists/groups these days, particularly those that haven't recorded together in decades, it is a very short schedule. Especially if the album was all new. One can use BWPS as an example, but the band was merely duplicating what they did on stage every night. Yes, maybe 90% of this album was wholly rerecorded. But it is probably likely to be similar to the BWPS scenario for many of the tracks, near-exact duplication of an existing template.
I mean, I doubt that we'll hear that the new Black Sabbath album is finished tomorrow, and that has been in the works for a long time.
I understand that the album may have been worked on as the next BW album. But gathering together the group and then hastily turning it into a Beach Boys project over a few month's schedule of scattered sessions, that isn't exactly how the thing was sold initially, or what was hoped for, it is yet another Beach Boys bait-and-switch routine.
Of course, if the album is great, none of this matters, except to the historian.

As much as I've disagreed with you lately and how you act, I gotta say this is a great post. But at the same time, I gotta say I'm not surprised about the content of the album, at all. We figured that each member would probably bring in older material. And that the album's contents would be centered around Brian. Either Brian providing minimal effort and a few songs, or it would be a Brian controlled album. And we got a Brian controlled album. Which is what I personally would prefer, because any song written by Brian is worth hearing to me, even if its bad.

But I don't think this album started as a BW solo album and got turned into a BB album. I think it was probably a BB album the whole time, but they didn't wanna commit to it in the media until they knew for sure it was gonna work.

I don't know if they sold this as this huge studio project, they just sold it as a new studio album, and anybody that's on these type of forums figured it was probably not gonna be made up of all new material with the guys getting together to write new songs.

[Wirestone]

I don't know if they sold this as this huge studio project, they just sold it as a new studio album, and anybody that's on these type of forums figured it was probably not gonna be made up of all new material with the guys getting together to write new songs.

This is how I understood the reports of the album's creation as well.

[I. Spaceman]

 I gotta say I'm not surprised about the content of the album, at all.  

Oh, me either. Because of the history of the group. On most of the projects the band has undertaken since the Smile sessions collapsed, one has had to dig at the truth of the matter regarding what has been released and why, and all the varying negotiations thereof, beyond what is stated by the group initially. But that hasn't affected my love of what has been released, at all. It just interests me, it is like a mystery story.
And, of course, the album is mainly being "sold" to the mainstream public, not to those of us who have wider knowledge of the complicated history. I envy those people.

[Ron]

I will mention this:

When this all came together, there was still a lot of bad blood, and issues that were being either resolved or forgotten.  So the safe thing to do was have Brian and his guys do most of the work, and have the Beach Boys come in whenever everything was cool... and since everything was pretty cool, they ended up doing a lot of work on the album.


If there is an album in the future, it may be much more collaboratively written, as long as the issues don't return...

I just don't think Brian in particular was ready to give up some of his safety blankets, like his co-producer from years ago that also gets along with Mike, or that Brian wanted to give up the safety blanket of using old material so he didn't have to be pressured to write new music, etc.  

I imagine once they started getting the framework together he realized that he felt pretty comfortable around the guys.

[FatherOfTheMan Sr101]

Okay I'm allowed one negative post a day...

What "Content"? We have "Daybreak" which is not that bad,
Summer vacation that is really very catchy even in it's pool of piss lyrics and "Beaches in mind" which still has some nice harmonies.

Then we have a nice Brian solo EP and 6 VERY good tracks.

I mean, did you want SIP 2, or Pet Sounds 2 or maybe a tilted middle ground?

[♩♬🐸 Billy C ♯♫♩🐇]

Something to point out...pretty much every BB album from 20/20  onwards with a few exceptions contained a fair amount of 'vault' tracks.

[Don_Zabu]

Very strong harmonies and vocals throughout. I was worried from TWGMTR that the vocals on the album might not be distinct, but that's absolutely not the case here - it's Beach Boys from head to toe.

[FatherOfTheMan Sr101]

Something to point out...pretty much every BB album from 20/20  onwards with a few exceptions contained a fair amount of 'vault' tracks.

Little Douce Coupe had "Car Crazy Cutie."
A rewrite of "Pamala Jean", Brian's solo "Survivors" song.

[Wirestone]

Something to point out...pretty much every BB album from 20/20  onwards with a few exceptions contained a fair amount of 'vault' tracks.

Yep. As stated earlier, it looks like about a third of the album is new, a third is newly rewritten (i.e., Mike put new sets of lyrics on possibly older tunes), and a third unaccounted for, quite possibly from '98. Which is a better ratio than Gettin' In Over My Head ...

[runnersdialzero]

Something to point out...pretty much every BB album from 20/20  onwards with a few exceptions contained a fair amount of 'vault' tracks.

By no means was I criticizing this. If you have songs sitting around and you like them, no matter if it's two months or two decades old, these are your songs to finish and put out if you so desire.

I'm sure I'm one of about two fans of theirs on here, but well over half of the new Van Halen album released a few months ago was written before their first album in 1978, with a few other songs dating from the early 80s. It wasn't a matter of "We're too lazy to write new material", but, "These songs are good, they haven't been released, let's add to them as we see fit, finish them up and put them out." And it worked really, really well.

[I. Spaceman]

Something to point out...pretty much every BB album from 20/20  onwards with a few exceptions contained a fair amount of 'vault' tracks.

By no means was I criticizing this. If you have songs sitting around and you like them, no matter if it's two months or two decades old, these are your songs to finish and put out if you so desire.

I'm sure I'm one of about two fans of theirs on here, but well over half of the new Van Halen album released a few months ago was written before their first album in 1978, with a few other songs dating from the early 80s. It wasn't a matter of "We're too lazy to write new material", but, "These songs are good, they haven't been released, let's add to them as we see fit, finish them up and put them out." And it worked really, really well.

That is a great analogy. The VH album was and is a stunner.

[I. Spaceman]

Something to point out...pretty much every BB album from 20/20  onwards with a few exceptions contained a fair amount of 'vault' tracks.

Yep. As stated earlier, it looks like about a third of the album is new, a third is newly rewritten (i.e., Mike put new sets of lyrics on possibly older tunes), and a third unaccounted for, quite possibly from '98. Which is a better ratio than Gettin' In Over My Head ...

And, Brian has said that most of it was at least written in 1998 by him and Joe Thomas, and not heard by the group until late last year. Maybe he is overestimating, but those are his own words, just for clarity.

[Jay]

You guys are making it very hard for me to wait until I have the actual cd to listen to. 

[Wirestone]

Something to point out...pretty much every BB album from 20/20  onwards with a few exceptions contained a fair amount of 'vault' tracks.

Yep. As stated earlier, it looks like about a third of the album is new, a third is newly rewritten (i.e., Mike put new sets of lyrics on possibly older tunes), and a third unaccounted for, quite possibly from '98. Which is a better ratio than Gettin' In Over My Head ...

And, Brian has said that most of it was at least written in 1998 by him and Joe Thomas, and not heard by the group until late last year. Maybe he is overestimating, but those are his own words, just for clarity.

I'm not disagreeing with you. Honestly. This is really just about the meaning of the word "most."

In the interview that appeared on the Record Room, Brian said that Shelter, Bill and Sue, and Think About the Days were written expressly for the new album.

Here is the relevant exchange:

Let’s talk about “That’s Why God Made the Radio”—the new single. How did that song come together?

Well, I wrote some of it in 1998 and we finished it about 4-5 months ago.

....

That was you. OK. Was that [Think About the Days] one you wrote for the album?

Yes.

....

Was there anything that you wrote specifically just for this album?

Yeah. A song called “Shelter” and a song called “The Private Life of Bill and Sue.”

Source: http://s3.excoboard.com/therecordroom/54492/907333/4

So that's four (or three, if you exclude TWGMTR) songs of 12, which is definitely not "most" of them.

Mike wrote lyrics for three Wilson-Thomas songs. He didn't write them in 1998, so that's why I call those songs "newly rewritten."

[EgoHanger1966]

Now that the iTunes samples are up, no one should listen to the Amazon ones. The extreme low-bit rate of the Amazon clips give a bad impression.

The sound quality of the iTunes samples is almost stunning, despite the autotune etc, this album sounds like it might be an audiophile experience, in the sense it is mixed well and very dynamic sounding.

The lo-fi-ness of the Amazon samples made the vocals sound more processed than they actually are.

Isn't It Time is really cool, I love the vibe. I'm sort of scratching my head at Bill and Sue, wtf is up with those lyrics? I likes me some quirky Brian, but....
Shelter is very good, sounds like classic BBs and I could see this as the next single if there is one.

Like i said way earlier, I love the 'Pet Sounds' approach to Strange World.
The harmonies in From There To Back Again are stunning. The wordless parts sound closer to the BBs in their 60s prime than anything else I've heard. Not sure how I feel about the actual song, Al is heavily autotuned. Maybe it's a grower in that sense.

I know Andrew hyped up From There....as stunning and everything, but for my money, the real HOLY sh*t! moment of this album is Summer's Gone. It is so beautiful, somber, in the sense that Caroline No was. The harmonies, once again, are stunning, and Brian sounds so good. He's singing so emotively.

I was telling a friend earlier today, (I'm 20), I missed out on so much being born 40+ years too late, but I'll be able to go to the store and buy the brand new Beach Boys album off the rack. It's a wonderful thing.

Thanks for the music, guys.

[Sie W]

"The Private Life of Bill and Sue" sounds very "South America", found myself singing the words of it as was listening to it.

[Pretty Funky]

We're talking about a good new Beach Boys album.

The year is 2012 right? Sorry...I just needed to check!

[roll plymouth rock]

I like all the clips! Way more than I was prepared to....good stuff