Amazon (and iTunes!!!) samples are up

[buddhahat]

(Please direct patronage over to the RR -- it is, as frequently stated here, excellent.

I dunno about that. The music discussion is passionate, but there's a lot of bitching about this board. I Spaceman/Ian Wagner just recently referred to posters in the TWGMTR artwork thread as 'clueless morons' because of the fan edits of the new cover art. Each to their own but wtf's he doing over here on a recruitment drive? Just seems a bit perverse to me.

[FatherOfTheMan Sr101]

Meh Songs:
-Daybreak Over The Ocean
-Beaches in Mind

Good Songs:
-Bill And Sue
-Shelter
-Strange World
-Spring Vacation

Very Good Songs:
-That's Why God Made The Radio
-Isn't It Time

INCREDIBLE Songs:
-Think About The Days
-My Life Suite (Best in 30 Years?)
-Summers Gone (Almost Pet Sounds)

[Amy B.]

My take, based on the Amazon samples (and I really don't think it's fair to form opinions based on samples, but I'll do it anyway):

Think About the Days: Beautiful. Is that Brian doing the falsetto for a few notes there?

TWGMTR: I continue to love this song, remix and original.

Isn't It Time: Cute, but nothing special. Sounds like an old band indulging in nostalgia.

Spring Vacation: Ugh, the production sounds warmed over and MOR. The lyrics are awful. Maybe it will have some redeeming parts.

The Private Life of Bill and Sue: This sounds like it came from Imagination, so it's strange that it's new. I guess I'm not a big fan of the tropical sound, but I don't hate it.

Shelter: Again, the production sounds bland to me.

Daybreak Over the Ocean: Nice melody. Again, not a fan of the production on these middle songs. But the song itself sounds okay.

Beaches in Mind: Could be good. Can't tell.

Strange World: Percussion sounds like someone set out to remind us that this is the guy that did Pet Sounds. But that's the only similarity and it's way down the rung in quality. Still, it's okay.

From There to Back Again: I'm glad Al got a lead. This sounds very pretty to me.

Pacific Coast Highway: The beginning of the clip reminded me of Dennis. The second half is also very pretty. I'm interested to hear the whole thing--sounds like it could be a gem.

Summer's Gone: Really, really gorgeous. This is my favorite clip.

[buddhahat]

My take, based on the Amazon samples (and I really don't think it's fair to form opinions based on samples, but I'll do it anyway):

Think About the Days: Beautiful. Is that Brian doing the falsetto for a few notes there?

TWGMTR: I continue to love this song, remix and original.

Isn't It Time: Cute, but nothing special. Sounds like an old band indulging in nostalgia.

Spring Vacation: Ugh, the production sounds warmed over and MOR. The lyrics are awful. Maybe it will have some redeeming parts.

The Private Life of Bill and Sue: This sounds like it came from Imagination, so it's strange that it's new. I guess I'm not a big fan of the tropical sound, but I don't hate it.

Shelter: Again, the production sounds bland to me.

Daybreak Over the Ocean: Nice melody. Again, not a fan of the production on these middle songs. But the song itself sounds okay.

Beaches in Mind: Could be good. Can't tell.

Strange World: Percussion sounds like someone set out to remind us that this is the guy that did Pet Sounds. But that's the only similarity and it's way down the rung in quality. Still, it's okay.

From There to Back Again: I'm glad Al got a lead. This sounds very pretty to me.

Pacific Coast Highway: The beginning of the clip reminded me of Dennis. The second half is also very pretty. I'm interested to hear the whole thing--sounds like it could be a gem.

Summer's Gone: Really, really gorgeous. This is my favorite clip.

Amy, check out the Itunes samples. You get a bit longer on each song. I agree with a lot of your opinions re the production, but if I put my guilty pleasure ears on, I find a lot to enjoy in the album, although 4 or 5 songs do nothing for me.

I think you should give Isn't It Time another chance though - autotune aside that's a gem in my book!

[Amy B.]

Amy, check out the Itunes samples. You get a bit longer on each song. I agree with a lot of your opinions re the production, but if I put my guilty pleasure ears on, I find a lot to enjoy in the album, although 4 or 5 songs do nothing for me.

I think you should give Isn't It Time another chance though - autotune aside that's a gem in my book!

Ah, you're right. The samples are actually a lot longer on iTunes, and I do like Isn't It Time a bit better. All the songs sound a bit better, although the Autotune is much more glaring. Especially on Shelter. Woah.  But I still like the samples overall-- they're a lot better than I expected. I'm very excited about those last two songs.

[EgoHanger1966]

I actually found the opposite, the autotune (while technically clearer) sounded a lot less shocking on the iTunes samples.
Can't wait for this album (and my first time seeing Brian or any of the BBs is tomorrow!)

[Rocker]

I don't have iTunes. Is tehre any other way to hear the longer previews?



BTW who is singing harmony with Brian on "Strange world" ? It doesn't sound like any Beach Boy to me and not like Jeffrey either.

[Jim V.]

(Please direct patronage over to the RR -- it is, as frequently stated here, excellent.

I dunno about that. The music discussion is passionate, but there's a lot of bitching about this board. I Spaceman/Ian Wagner just recently referred to posters in the TWGMTR artwork thread as 'clueless morons' because of the fan edits of the new cover art. Each to their own but wtf's he doing over here on a recruitment drive? Just seems a bit perverse to me.

Yeah. I thought that. A select few over there smacked of elitism. But if they don't like what many of us here have to offer, then their loss. But I'm hoping everybody can get over that and get along. There are good people on both boards and many have great insights into the band.

[Runaways]

(Please direct patronage over to the RR -- it is, as frequently stated here, excellent.

I dunno about that. The music discussion is passionate, but there's a lot of bitching about this board. I Spaceman/Ian Wagner just recently referred to posters in the TWGMTR artwork thread as 'clueless morons' because of the fan edits of the new cover art. Each to their own but wtf's he doing over here on a recruitment drive? Just seems a bit perverse to me.

Yeah. I thought that. A select few over there smacked of elitism. But if they don't like what many of us here have to offer, then their loss. But I'm hoping everybody can get over that and get along. There are good people on both boards and many have great insights into the band.

i think it's natural for a small board like that to get rather clique-ish, and from what i've read, they're no exception; a wee bit of arrogance but whatever, they have some good info and seem like nice folks.  

[buddhahat]

(Please direct patronage over to the RR -- it is, as frequently stated here, excellent.

I dunno about that. The music discussion is passionate, but there's a lot of bitching about this board. I Spaceman/Ian Wagner just recently referred to posters in the TWGMTR artwork thread as 'clueless morons' because of the fan edits of the new cover art. Each to their own but wtf's he doing over here on a recruitment drive? Just seems a bit perverse to me.

Yeah. I thought that. A select few over there smacked of elitism. But if they don't like what many of us here have to offer, then their loss. But I'm hoping everybody can get over that and get along. There are good people on both boards and many have great insights into the band.

i think it's natural for a small board like that to get rather clique-ish, and from what i've read, they're no exception; a wee bit of arrogance but whatever, they have some good info and seem like nice folks.  

I don't have a problem with the bitching per se - there's a certain amount of history between the two boards so it's to be expected. The hypocrisy does bug me though, so I won't be posting there again.

[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.

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."

That isn't the interview I cited.

[I. Spaceman]

(Please direct patronage over to the RR -- it is, as frequently stated here, excellent.

I dunno about that. The music discussion is passionate, but there's a lot of bitching about this board. I Spaceman/Ian Wagner just recently referred to posters in the TWGMTR artwork thread as 'clueless morons' because of the fan edits of the new cover art. Each to their own but wtf's he doing over here on a recruitment drive? Just seems a bit perverse to me.

And you are an old member of The Record Room. So what are you doing bitching over here? Seems a bit hypocritical to me.

[buddhahat]

(Please direct patronage over to the RR -- it is, as frequently stated here, excellent.

I dunno about that. The music discussion is passionate, but there's a lot of bitching about this board. I Spaceman/Ian Wagner just recently referred to posters in the TWGMTR artwork thread as 'clueless morons' because of the fan edits of the new cover art. Each to their own but wtf's he doing over here on a recruitment drive? Just seems a bit perverse to me.

And you are an old member of The Record Room. So what are you doing bitching over here? Seems a bit hypocritical to me.

Not any more mate - that's the point. Good luck to you though.

[I. Spaceman]

(Please direct patronage over to the RR -- it is, as frequently stated here, excellent.

I dunno about that. The music discussion is passionate, but there's a lot of bitching about this board. I Spaceman/Ian Wagner just recently referred to posters in the TWGMTR artwork thread as 'clueless morons' because of the fan edits of the new cover art. Each to their own but wtf's he doing over here on a recruitment drive? Just seems a bit perverse to me.

And you are an old member of The Record Room. So what are you doing bitching over here? Seems a bit hypocritical to me.

Not any more mate - that's the point. Good luck to you though.

That's cool, I never liked you anyway.

[Runaways]

ok back to the clips.

The vocal effect stuff is peculiar.  I wonder if it just came down to brian really digging that sound?  I have my doubts that they did it so they could be modern, wanting to get a hit, because then it would be all over TWGMTR.  There is a little autotuning on TWGMTR, but it isn't used like a vocal effect.  Someone should ask him!

[Beach Boy]

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.

Gotta second that, "A Different Kind of Truth" easily is up there with their best and I even would rate it over their phenomenal debut. I can't think of any major artist who's being around since 30, 40 or in that case 50 years into the business and provides such a good album like that and therefore I am really thrilled by the Boys' new effort.

[Summertime Blooz]

(Please direct patronage over to the RR -- it is, as frequently stated here, excellent.

I dunno about that. The music discussion is passionate, but there's a lot of bitching about this board. I Spaceman/Ian Wagner just recently referred to posters in the TWGMTR artwork thread as 'clueless morons' because of the fan edits of the new cover art.

Hey! I'm not clueless.

[Amy B.]

(Please direct patronage over to the RR -- it is, as frequently stated here, excellent.

I dunno about that. The music discussion is passionate, but there's a lot of bitching about this board. I Spaceman/Ian Wagner just recently referred to posters in the TWGMTR artwork thread as 'clueless morons' because of the fan edits of the new cover art.

Hey! I'm not clueless.




Brian clearly likes his t-shirt.

[Sie W]

(Please direct patronage over to the RR -- it is, as frequently stated here, excellent.

I dunno about that. The music discussion is passionate, but there's a lot of bitching about this board. I Spaceman/Ian Wagner just recently referred to posters in the TWGMTR artwork thread as 'clueless morons' because of the fan edits of the new cover art.

Hey! I'm not clueless.




Brian clearly likes his t-shirt.

Made my day after long day at work thank you

[the professor]

I don't have iTunes. Is tehre any other way to hear the longer previews?



BTW who is singing harmony with Brian on "Strange world" ? It doesn't sound like any Beach Boy to me and not like Jeffrey either.

you can download itunes for free; I did, though it does not work reliably in windows.

[Wirestone]

BTW who is singing harmony with Brian on "Strange world" ? It doesn't sound like any Beach Boy to me and not like Jeffrey either.

I think it's Brian. There's a lot of him in that song.