'Fess up - who here likes Sweet Insanity?

[leggo of my ego]

I like how Smart Girls alludes to the different BB legacy songs /sounds. The chorus is my least favorite section
but the whole thing is pretty humorous. You have to admit its a unique piece in Brian's reperitore

[Lonely Summer]

Compared to Smart Girls, Wipe Out with the Fat Boys is a masterpiece.

[KittyKat]

I can imagine the Sire execs who heard the SI tapes thought it was "gentlemen, we've been screwed" Part II. Especially after spending a lot of money on the Brian Wilson self-titled album which wound up with the shipments they sent out of that LP wind up returned and as 99 cent cut-outs later on (I remember seeing a lot of BW cutout LPs, CD's, and cassettes in record stores as late as the mid-'90s). And that album got good reviews. I can just imagine what reviewers would have said about SI. Nope, not a fan of it myself.

Dumb question:  Why do they "cut out" CDs/LPs in the bargain bins?  

The record companies put a notch through the cover or UPC price marker on the cardboard of a vinyl LP or the plastic case of CD's and tapes,  to indicate it's a discounted item that the record store can no longer return to the label, but can try to retail them at a discount. The artist also gets a lower fee for a cut-out rather than a full-priced LP according to Wikipedia, which makes sense.  I read somewhere that Sire shipped out a lot of "Brian Wilson" LP's and put a lot of promotion behind it, but it didn't sell too well, so they wound up with record stores returning the albums. They then tried to get rid of the returns by shipping them to stores as cut-outs and having stores sell them as marked-down records. I'm not sure if stores can get partial refunds on unsold cut-outs, but it would seem fair. I was at a Sam Goody in a mall in the mid-90s that had a lot of BW cut-out for 99 cents.  I already had a copy or I would have bought one.

[leggo of my ego]

Ah the cut-out bins.

Target, Kmart -- Peaches and Sound Warehouse.

I wonder how many records I flipped through in those bins.

Surely thousands, maybe tens of thousands.

[Lonely Summer]

I miss the cutout bins. Got some good stuff in them.

[MBE]

Man until 1990 or so you could get some great stuff sealed in the cut out bin. Love You was in there even in the late eighties as was the Celebration and Looking Back With Love LP's. You would see the Goin Public LP a lot. I remember I got at Target for 99 cents in 1989. It to this day is the only album I sold because I thought it was terrible. I never have gotten a new one, and for an obsessive vinyl collector like me that says a lot.

[leggo of my ego]

Listening to Sweet Insanity for the first time with phones. 

There are a lot of neat cues to other songs scattered all through this album.

Heard a brief sax line from "Tequlia" at the end of one track.

My copy is the Japanese release and the sonic quality is even pretty decent.

You have to let this album grow on you. Yeah its 90's-era over-indulgent production but
check out the melodies. They are really good and Wilson's vocals are strong and confident
if not technically accurate.

You can feel that he really was into this music. Okay. Im done trying to convince ya.

[Lonely Summer]

I really do like the melody of Thank You (Brian), I might even be able to tolerate the lyrics if I didn't know who wrote them. I Do (Do You Have Any Regrets) is also a nice tune. I probably don't mind the 80's/90's production as much as most here do, there's some good music hidden under all that gloss.

[MBE]

I get what people are saying positive, it isn't to my taste but I can kind of feel what they are trying to convey. Me? I feel I know too much about that period to see it as anything other than a Landy fraud. I don't like the music in any case, nor the songs or vocals. The pitch he generally used from 1983-91 is just really off to me. 1988 LP again being half an exception, but otherwise he was never this whiney.

I don't know it was like he was being told to dress too young (remember the leather pants), to make his voice sound younger than he was comfortable with, to sing styles he wasn't into. I remember hearing Rainbow Eyes back on the Diane Sawyer interview in 1991. I think then what I thought now. He sounds pitchy, strangely detached, and he didn't have anything musically or lyrically to sink his teeth into. I suppose there are little moments of Brian in the proposed album, but far too few. If he was singing better and the production was better, maybe the base melodies could have made the grade. As far as the feel and sound as it is, to me it's his SIP. Of course he can't be blamed in the same way The Beach Boys could. By 1984 Landy was already in the way musically and personally, by 1990 it was a nightmare.

[joshferrell]

for some reason I can't hear the song "Hotter" without hearing the word "Harder"...."You're making me harder"..it kind of sounds like he's actually saying that!!

[leggo of my ego]

for some reason I can't hear the song "Hotter" without hearing the word "Harder"...."You're making me harder"..it kind of sounds like he's actually saying that!!

And there is a difference

[joshferrell]

for some reason I can't hear the song "Hotter" without hearing the word "Harder"...."You're making me harder"..it kind of sounds like he's actually saying that!!

And there is a difference

not really, it's just funnier...

[Lonely Summer]

If the best tracks from SI and SIP were combined, could it be a half decent album? Sweet Insanity in Paradise?

[seltaeb1012002]

Some scattered thoughts...

Just listened again after a few years. For some reason I remembered it as having better vocals than BW '88, but after re-listening I think I formed that opinion based off the 2 tracks where his vocals actually do sound better than the stuff on '88. And those tracks are...

"Rainbow Eyes"
"Don't Let Her Know She's An Angel"

I can hear now how the rest of the tracks are pretty shouty, and a little cheap sounding on the production / mix side compared to '88.

I have a hard time getting into "Someone To Love", "Water Builds Up" + "Love Ya".

I do really like the full version of "Concert Tonight".

Shame about the lyrics on "Thank You". That's gotta be one of THE very best latter day BW melodies / chord progressions, along with "From There To Back Again" + "What Love Can Do", imo. I was a kid when I first heard it, and didn't really understand what the lyrics meant at the time. David Leaf was bummed out when I told him I liked the song. I only listened to stuff for melodies and chords, and that was the standout track to me. I'd say it's worth listening to just for the "Thank You, Thank You" part. Especially when it modulates. That kills me every time. The alternate mix is better though. A little less processed.

[MBE]

If the best tracks from SI and SIP were combined, could it be a half decent album? Sweet Insanity in Paradise?

Could you imagine that!

[Mr. Cohen]

"Thank You" are probably some of Brian's most honest lyrics. Which of those lyrics do you think are a complete lie? You really think it was all Landy's doing that Brian didn't see his family as much?

[Mike's Beard]

"Thank You" are probably some of Brian's most honest lyrics. Which of those lyrics do you think are a complete lie? You really think it was all Landy's doing that Brian didn't see his family as much?

Part of the lyrics touch on how Landy had brainwashed Brian into thinking that Carl was insanely jealous of him and resented his newfound 'independence', if you don't find that total bullshit then I don't know what to say to you.

[Mr. Cohen]

Was it brainwashing, or did Brian's own band come to resent him in many ways? What do you think?

[runnersdialzero]

why is there that stupid laughter at the beginning of "smart girls"

seriously

did they finish it and landy was like "NEEDS SOME DUMBASS LAUGHTER OVER THE BEGINNING BRYUN" and then someone went "hee hee hee. HEEE HEE HEE HEE HEHEHEHE."

and then this happened: http://www.fileden.com/files/2007/2/20/800088/truck.mp3

[joshferrell]

why is there that stupid laughter at the beginning of "smart girls"

seriously

did they finish it and landy was like "NEEDS SOME DUMBASS LAUGHTER OVER THE BEGINNING BRYUN" and then someone went "hee hee hee. HEEE HEE HEE HEE HEHEHEHE."

and then this happened: http://www.fileden.com/files/2007/2/20/800088/truck.mp3

lol.

[Mike's Beard]

Was it brainwashing, or did Brian's own band come to resent him in many ways? What do you think?

They may have resented that after spending x ammont of money to treat Brian, he then cut them out of his life.

[Lonely Summer]

Was it brainwashing, or did Brian's own band come to resent him in many ways? What do you think?

They may have resented that after spending x ammont of money to treat Brian, he then cut them out of his life.

But was it Brian who wanted the Beach Boys out of his life, or Landy? I think the latter. Of course Brian may have been so brainwashed by that point that he really did think Carl meant to harm him but trying to get Landy out of his life.

[punkinhead]

To be completely honest, it's hard for me not to like anything beach boys or related.…and sweet insanity is no exception. I loved Don't Let Her Know She's an Angel, Someone to Love, Concert Tonight, Spirit of Rock and Roll, and even a special place for Smart Girls. I can always pick out the best things from each song even if they're a stinker of a song…Smart Girls- I love the chorus, Lets Stick Together-I love Weird Al's accordion and the vocals, and I love the energy put into concert tonight, someone to love, hotter, water builds up, and country feeling (if included).

[hypehat]

"Thank You" are probably some of Brian's most honest lyrics. Which of those lyrics do you think are a complete lie? You really think it was all Landy's doing that Brian didn't see his family as much?

Er, yes. You really think Brian didn't want to see his own children?

[leggo of my ego]

To be completely honest, it's hard for me not to like anything beach boys or related.…and sweet insanity is no exception. I loved Don't Let Her Know She's an Angel, Someone to Love, Concert Tonight, Spirit of Rock and Roll, and even a special place for Smart Girls. I can always pick out the best things from each song even if they're a stinker of a song…Smart Girls- I love the chorus, Lets Stick Together-I love Weird Al's accordion and the vocals, and I love the energy put into concert tonight, someone to love, hotter, water builds up, and country feeling (if included).

Are there more than one version of Concert Tonight?

What I have lasts about 25-30 secs.