So is it as good as TLOS then?

[Mark H]

Was it Domenic Priore who said that going with J.Thomas was in large part due to Melinda Wilson?

Either way an album out on V2 with Wilson/Paley tunes, all the Beach Boys and Sean O Hagan guiding it would have been immense.

As said elsewhere, primarily by Bruce, one of the biggest mistakes made by the band/Brian/Melinda or whoever messed it up!

[adamghost]

From what I've heard so far, the production on the new album is going to be a problem for my enjoyment of it.  There's just a lot more life and air to TLOS than on what I've heard on the (admittedly compressed) new one.  Which bums me out, because I quite like the songs themselves...even the goofy ones have that BBs-Brian thing going on that we love, they sound very right..  I'm glad to see the production issue doesn't seem to be marring things as much for others, though...it's easy for all of us to forget that the people who make decisions have to think about pleasing a whole lot more people (including industry types) than just us.

[Chocolate Shake Man]

Exactly :/ but in my heart TLOS will always stay as the last true Beach Boys album.

As I said last week, the only reason TLOS exist is because it's not a Beach Boys album. In other words, The Beach Boys as they have been for the last thirty years would have not considered TLOS to be an acceptable Beach Boys product. And that, in itself, speaks volumes. From what I've heard the new album does have some great moments, and the mere fact that they are back together putting out something that is good is a remarkable achievement that is hard to not appreciate. But it doesn't seem to be in the same league as TLOS.

True, true! but you know, after all these years not making any albums you'd thought they learned their lesson, right ? and move on to something more artistic to get back some eral hardcore fanbase and all..

I feel your pain, man.

I mean, there are all sorts of reasons why they end up going the route they do, I guess. It's just a bit inexplicable why no one with any power in the organization asks, "Why do we have to aim for the middle if we were not always an FM-lite band." I think that's how the 80s had a negative effect on great 60s artists, as the radio stations that played both new music and 60s music tended to be these Lite-music stations and so these 60s artists then started to aim for the sound of the new acts that were featured on those stations.

[Wirestone]

Either way an album out on V2 with Wilson/Paley tunes, all the Beach Boys and Sean O Hagan guiding it would have been immense.

Or an unqualified disaster, as Brian was pressured into yet another project he didn't want to do.

[Summertime Blooz]

The new album is much more consistent than TLOS. That album was ruined by the spoken word stuff, and only had a few good songs.
BW's vocals sound much better on this album.

[rogerlancelot]

I think that the Beach Boys should record a remake of Dark Side Of The Moon. It would have to sell, right? It did wonders for Pink Floyd. Plus I bet it would be a good album. That song "Money" sure is a catchy number.....

[buddhahat]

I prefer this one as an album. I think both have an equal number of weak tracks, and I don't think either are great by any stretch, but the highpoints on this have more going for them - there are more good songs -  and after all, this is a Beach Boys album! That seals it for me by a mile.

The concept of TLOS also always felt a little forced, like they all got really hung up on the Smile longform, link track thing. I much prefer the personality of TWGMTR - it's a fun album, not overburdened with its own reputation.

[Mark H]

Either way an album out on V2 with Wilson/Paley tunes, all the Beach Boys and Sean O Hagan guiding it would have been immense.

Or an unqualified disaster, as Brian was pressured into yet another project he didn't want to do.

IMO at the very least it would have sounded better than Imagination.  I won't get into the 'is Brian 'forced' into most things?' argument.

Bruce Johnston put it best I think, also Brian loved Hawaii didn't he?

But even GIOMH wasn't an 'unqualified disaster', it's a massive stretch to think that a well produced Beach Boys album (with good Paley/Wilson songs etc) would have been that bad.

[Wirestone]

On the topic -- TLOS is special because it was basically a full batch of freshly composed BW songs, to which he not only wrote music but quite a few lyrics. He also did a lion's share of the arranging, with Scott's help. That batch of songs was really his baby, and you can see he's still proud of them. And even though most of the songs refer back to an earlier style or type of song (not necessarily Beach Boys ones), that jibes with the overall feel of the material.

The issue with TLOS is that it was then strung together into the "concept" by Scott and Darian, and Van Dyke added the narratives. I'm pretty neutral on these additions (and actually think the material falls pretty naturally into a "day in the life of LA" concept). But the songs stand on their own. What's more, some of the best material -- Message Man and Just Like Me and You (Oh Mi Amor is decent too) -- was relegated to B-sides.

This new record has less of a fresh creative contribution from Brian -- only five of the songs are new, and two of those involve Brian working on top of someone else's chord progression or riff. There's less creative transparency about how the songs were created, too -- even though it seems like the impetus for the project came from BW, which counts for a lot.

The songs do stand on their own, which is nice. They have the Beach Boys' voices, which is nice. The material is less consistent than TLOS -- the lows are lower -- but the highs seem higher. That ending suite is as good as anything Brian has done in his solo career.

Ultimately, they are very different products. One is a batch of homegrown BW tunes, pushed into a concept for public presentation, but still retaining the handmade feel. The other is a more varied batch of material, with gorgeous vocal presentation and some simply stunning moments, meant for 50th anniversary consumption. In each case, there are some compromising elements. But there are clear positive points to each, too.

Personally, I think I prefer TLOS. I find it more consistent, and I like Brian leading the way on all the songwriting. But TWGMTR outclasses it in a couple of important ways, and is a fitting capstone to the band's legacy.

Basically, don't make me choose!

[Mark H]

TLOS coming out of the Southbank Centre/Royal Festival Hall's commission for 'an original piece of work' is the main reason it's a 'concept' record right?

I've not heard Message Man and Just Like Me and You, what releases are these B Sides on?

[Wirestone]

Yep. It was just an album with Scotty for a year or so (they started it -- and did a large part of the work -- in the summer of 06). Then they had the commission. Brian's original submission -- which was super short and (I think) based on the Little Prince -- didn't pass anyone's test. So he brought in the material he'd been working on with Scott. They wrote some new, more downbeat material (including MAD, I believe), and then while Brian was out of the country, Darian and Scott spent a week or two sequencing it.

There are actually five bonus tracks.

I'm Into Something Good (Cover version with Carole King, originally released on Best Buy's version of the record)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Bspy0vlTqQ

Good Kind of Love (with Carole King -- this is just the album version with CK on backing vox, not very different -- also on the Best Buy version)

Just Like Me and You (Original song by BW, on the Best Buy version)
(This is unavailable to listen to anywhere online)
http://tny.gs/KrcHi9

Message Man (with Danny Hutton on backing vocals, from the iTunes release)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d6rFh8OyHfg

Oh Mi Amor (also on the iTunes release)
(http://www.albumlinernotes.com/That_Lucky_Old_Sun.html)

[Autotune]

Either way an album out on V2 with Wilson/Paley tunes, all the Beach Boys and Sean O Hagan guiding it would have been immense.

Or an unqualified disaster, as Brian was pressured into yet another project he didn't want to do.

IMO at the very least it would have sounded better than Imagination.  I won't get into the 'is Brian 'forced' into most things?' argument.

Bruce Johnston put it best I think, also Brian loved Hawaii didn't he?

But even GIOMH wasn't an 'unqualified disaster', it's a massive stretch to think that a well produced Beach Boys album (with good Paley/Wilson songs etc) would have been that bad.

Brian dissed O'Hagan big time.

O'Hagan did not hit it off with anyone except Bruce. Carl was nice to him, as per O'Hagan himself and that was it.

O'Hagan is Loveaphobic.

There's no way this would have happened.

[keysarsoze001]

Just Like Me and You (Original song by BW, on the Best Buy version)
(This is unavailable to listen to anywhere online)

Grooveshark is your friend.

Personally, I've played the new record a few times now, and the suite is indeed better than anything Brian or the Boys have done in 30 years or more. Easily, in my opinion. That said, TLOS is still my preferred album. Yeah, the narrative is goofy and some of the lyrics don't quite scan properly, but my expectations weren't high going into it based on Brian's earlier solo albums (other than SMiLE), and I couldn't believe how strong it was. There isn't a single clunker on that album for me, yes, including "Mexican Girl". I love that album dearly. The new record is much better than it had any right to be, and I suspect that if the suite had indeed been the majority of the album it would've trumped TLOS for me, but as it stands, I think TLOS>TWGMTR

By the way, I find sequencing "Think About the Days" to come just before "From There to Back Again" works pretty well.

[Quzi]

I agree with the shouts of TLOS > TWGMTR but the suite (especially From There to Back Again) really does decimate the high points of TLOS.

[SurfRiderHawaii]

lol Let's not get into ridiculous discussions now, even tho TWGMTR has some solid moments (Life Suite mostly) nothing is near as good and well made as the songs on TLOS ! i mean, just listen to this :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g0zrvCWJZQ0
just listen man.

I hate this song!

[Runaways]

lol Let's not get into ridiculous discussions now, even tho TWGMTR has some solid moments (Life Suite mostly) nothing is near as good and well made as the songs on TLOS ! i mean, just listen to this :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g0zrvCWJZQ0
just listen man.

I hate this song!

yeah i don't care for that song either.  it's not just MOR, it's old fashioned 1951 mor!

[Chocolate Shake Man]

lol Let's not get into ridiculous discussions now, even tho TWGMTR has some solid moments (Life Suite mostly) nothing is near as good and well made as the songs on TLOS ! i mean, just listen to this :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g0zrvCWJZQ0
just listen man.

I hate this song!

yeah i don't care for that song either.  it's not just MOR, it's old fashioned 1951 mor!

I like it but it kind of sounds like Brian Wilson: The Musical.

[Wirestone]

He said it was his attempt to write a Carole King-style tune.

[runnersdialzero]

He said it was his attempt to write a Carole King-style tune.

What an asshole.

[keysarsoze001]

He said it was his attempt to write a Carole King-style tune.

I think he succeeded, personally. A lot of the songs on the first half of TLOS were derivative, sure, but I think they were intentionally so. It's not like he sat down and wrote "Good Kind of Love" thinking he was breaking new ground. He was deliberately evoking the kind of song coming out of Brill Building, because it was part of his frame of reference as a songwriter. Might not be everyone's cup of tea, but it's sort of equivalent to McCartney's "Martha My Dear" or "When I'm 64".

[Slow In Brain]

Lyrically TWGMTR is better than TLOS

[Ziggy Stardust]

lol Let's not get into ridiculous discussions now, even tho TWGMTR has some solid moments (Life Suite mostly) nothing is near as good and well made as the songs on TLOS ! i mean, just listen to this :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g0zrvCWJZQ0
just listen man.

I hate this song!

yeah i don't care for that song either.  it's not just MOR, it's old fashioned 1951 mor!

[Ziggy Stardust]

Lyrically TWGMTR is better than TLOS

Totally man, Spring Vacation! Good Vibrations!

[GhostyTMRS]

Apples and oranges....lyrically TWGMTR and TLOS both have cringe-worthy lyrics. Some of the lyrics on TWGMTR are of the "let's chuck in some old references to past songs" variety and some of the lyrics on TLOS read like really bad Rod McKuen poetry (and I mean the songs, not the VDP narration). Both suffer from a bit too much "adult contemporary radio" production.  If you can get past that, I'd say there's an equal amount of good tunes on both so they're about dead even for me.

[Jim V.]

I haven't heard all of That's Why God Made the Radio yet, but from what I've heard, its no comparison. This album is wayyyyyyyy better then That Lucky Old Sun.

In my opinion, Brian Wilson '88 and Imagination are much better than TLOS. While there is a lot that could be said about the production of Brian's solo debut, there were so many strong songs; "Love and Mercy", "Walkin' the Line", "Melt Away", "Meet Me In My Dreams Tonight", etc. I think "Let It Shine" is great too, with a great vocal, but I guess that's more of Jeff Lynne thing, so whatever. Overall though, a very strong album, and very Brian. Sure it was '80s, but to me it sounds like an '80s update on Love You, just a bit more streamlined. Then Imagination, yeah, it's super adult contemporary. And yeah, there seems to be a bit of filler ("South American", "Dream Angel", "Sunshine"). But tell me "Your Imagination" isn't one of the best feelgood BW or BB tunes since, what, "This Whole World"? "She Says That She Needs Me" is absolutely gorgeous, and "Cry" and "Lay Down Burden" are really emotional high points that it seems only BW can hit you with. And I feel like "Cry" and "Lay Down Burden" have much more sincere emotion to them than "Midnight's Another Day", which, as I've said many times before, just seems to be Scott Bennett changing an up-tempo BW song into a slow, mournful ballad with a "'Til I Die" type feel.

But my main problem from TLOS comes from the songs. And most just don't stack up. "California Role", "Forever She'll Be My Surfer Girl", "Mexican Girl", etc., they are just not that strong. "Morning Beat" and "Oxygen to the Brain" are cool, quirky little rockers, but after hearing quite a bit of TWGMTR, it's obvious that what was missing from those kinda songs is THE BEACH BOYS! They inject the songs with that extra bit of personality that Brian's band can'. If "Isn't It Time" or "Spring Vacation" were songs on a BW solo album, they might appear to be quite "meh", but having The Beach Boys vocals on them puts them in another stratosphere. Even stuff like "The Private Life of Bill and Sue" and "Shelter", which would probably fit in comfortably on TLOS, gain that extra bit of greatness from hearing The Beach Boys blend. And I think that's why TWGMTR outdoes TLOS. Also the fact that the tearjerkers on TWGMTR ("From There to Back Again", "Summer's Gone") seem a lot more believable, and therefore sad and poignant, than things like "Midnight's Another Day" and "Southern California".