Congratulations and thanks to Joe Thomas

[Danimalist]

Me three. Nice post.

[Chris Brown]

There are some good songs on BW88 but the production was awful and sounded dated the day it was released!  Brian/Landy and company tried to hard to make it sound contemporary and it came off extremely forced, especially compared to that of "Kokomo" which, love it or hate it, sounded like something you'd hear on the radio at the time.

Hate to say, but your ears appear to be slightly dysfunctional.  In ripping BW88, you just summed up exactly the problem with Imagination - namely, awful AC production, dated sounds, and trying too hard to be contemporary. 

When's the last time you listened to the original studio version of "Love And Mercy"?  Do you honestly think any nylon stringed guitar part on Imagination is as hokey and "trying too hard" as those ridiculous drums on L&M?  "Hey, it's the 80's!  I bet this tender, heart felt ballad would sound totally tubular if we put some of those completely futuristic electric drums all over it!"  You think maybe there's a reason Brian played it a lot more "adult contemporary" when he played it live, once Landy was gone.  On the other hand, I honestly don't know how the AC elements are any different than the vibes or strings on "Let's Go Away for A While", to use one example.  In both cases, those elements could come off a little too schmaltzy but in the contexts, Brian makes them sound classy not cheesey.

I don't disagree with you about BW88, just pointing out the fact that Imagination is guilty of the same things (granted, perhaps to a lesser extent).  Just because "Let's Go Away For Awhile" uses similar instrumentation doesn't mean it's AC - there was no such thing in 1966.  Brian was showing off his exotica influences on that track, but arranged it in his own style - very different than letting someone else homogenize your music using gently plucked nylon guitar strings and cheesy synths.

Either way, I think we all can agree that Joe Thomas did a much better job this time around.

[jet without wings]

Gotta add my voice to the chorus of Thank you Joe Thomas. Yesterday I purchased the CD, put it in my CD player in my car and enjoyed what I never thought could happen again. The joy of a new Beach Boys CD. Its not the classic Brian voice but he sounds very good. "Isn't it time" could be a hit.  The arrangements remind me of the "Imagaination" CD and that is not a bad thing.  Now I'm even more ready to see them later this month at Darien Lake here in NYS.

Jet Without Wings

[The Shift]

The interview with Joe Thomas that was recently posted in its entirety on the author's blog shed a whole new light on Brian's '88-onward story, and cast Thomas himself, for me, in an entirely new light.

Hats off to you sir, and many thanks for sharing such an insight into Brian Wilson's current working methods and the development of this new album, some of which ranks, for me, among the best work Brian and the Boys have done.

[Mark H]

I echo all the congrats to J Thomas for helping to make a fantastic new BB album a reality!

Regarding Imagination, Wirestone's thoughts perfectly sum up most of my opinion too;

The big minuses for me are the tracks where the AC arrangements go over the top -- Dream Angel is a particular offender -- and the song selection overall. What's with the two cover versions?

Finally, the sound of the record is terrible. It's incredibly trebley and tinny. There's too much spotlighting of the infamous nylon guitars and other "pretty" instrumental effects. This is one huge area where TWGMTR stands heads and shoulders above Imagination. It sounds like it was mixed by humans.

Dream Angel is a great song absolutely murdered by it's over production.

[Wirestone]

I have to say, it's hard for me to imagine Dream Angel without its production. It strikes me as a certain kind of collaboration that Brian did with Joe where he came up with a title or some lyrics, and then the song was largely put together by other hands (Joe and Jim P.). I don't necessarily object to this, but a lot then depends on those collaborators!

[Lonely Summer]

The production on BW88 didn't bother me at the time - everybody was using synths at the time, unless they were a roots/revival act, i.e. Los Lobos. Even rootsy popster Marshall Crenshaw ended up using them on some songs. Now, of course, it just dates those productions, but the songs on BW88 were strong, and Brian was singing better than he had in a long time. I suppose some could call the production on IJWMFTT AC leaning, kind of a preview of what was coming on Imagination, and that doesn't bother me, either, going back to the natural instruments. A friend of mine commented at the time that Brian had lost all his "edginess". My response was that I didn't expect an "edgy" Brian in 1998, he was married, happy, much of the chaos in his life was behind him.

[KittyKat]

How do people know Joe didn't write a lot of the lyrics on the new album?  I see some critics giving Brian a lot of credit for the suite but Joe may have written a lot of the lyrics.  He may have written a lot of the music, too.  I'm not saying they're bad.  They're good.  But we'll never know how much is Joe and how much is Brian.