*Merged* Brian Wilson current album thread

[phirnis]

I like Frank Ocean and Lana Del Rey but the guest list does seem a bit forced to me. Fleet Foxes could've been great, I don't know... or what about no guests at all? Or maybe do a disco remake of the disco remake of Here Comes the Night with Daft Punk.

[the captain]

although who on earth is Frank Ocean

A Grammy- (and other award-)winning R&B singer and songwriter.

[Autotune]

Now, assuming the compositions on the new album date from the very late 90s (which we don't know-- apparently Brian keeps on writing new songs and reportedly had a creative burst during the C50)... What would be so sinful about it? It would still be an original album, no matter how old the compositions are.

Bruce Springsteen's latest album was all recycled material, he even re-recorded two already very well known songs of his (Ghost of Tom Joad and American Skin), he did nothing to hide this fact.  And I thought it was great.  And Bruce is still considered a rock god.  When Radiohead came out with In Rainbows, they included a song called Nude that was nearly a decade old at the time.  There was no criticism towards them.  Now, I'm not comparing Brian Wilson to Bruce Springsteen or Radiohead.  The three couldn't be more different from one another.  But I think because of Brian's mental condition, people tend to fixate on how he chooses to record older songs or recycle his unreleased material when some of the most popular artists do the same thing and get away with it.

I think the problem with the compositions not being new (and that's something we don't know yet) is some sort of fear that undergrounds our fandom: perhaps this is all fake; perhaps Brian can't come up with a new song anymore; maybe he contributes the smallest part of his collaborations; he lost his range, voice, producing skills. That's the fear that underlies beneath this issue

[donald]

I have nothing much to add to this speculation except that duets with a host of talented female artists was once very good for John Prine's career.

[joshferrell]

space age bossa nova sounds cool, can anyone say "Busy Doing Nothing part 2"? 

[Sheriff John Stone]

I'd never heard of this Lana Del Ray so I youtubed  a few of her songs and found that she's actually quite good. Being someone who hates modern music this was rather a suprise.

She also sang at Kim Kardashian's wedding. The third one.

[Awesoman]

although who on earth is Frank Ocean

A Grammy- (and other award-)winning R&B singer and songwriter.

Sadly not related to Billy Ocean.

[ToneBender631]

It's possible that there are multiple albums lined up with Capitol requiring a duets album as part of the deal. Kind of like how he did the Disney remakes to get the Gershwin album...

[EgoHanger1966]

It's possible that there are multiple albums lined up with Capitol requiring a duets album as part of the deal. Kind of like how he did the Disney remakes to get the Gershwin album...

That would be cool. I'd like to see a solo album with no guest artists (besides Al, Blondie etc)....and a separate Duets EP.

[the captain]

I like Frank Ocean and Lana Del Rey but the guest list does seem a bit forced to me. Fleet Foxes could've been great, I don't know... or what about no guests at all? Or maybe do a disco remake of the disco remake of Here Comes the Night with Daft Punk.

I think Fleet Foxes would have been every bit as forced as the likes of Ocean or Del Rey, and more forced than Deschanel (who, while in my opinion more charming and likeable than talented, is at least a more "pure classic pop" artist). Fleet Foxes sang harmony a lot, yes, but it's a style that doesn't have much to do with Brian. Really they're more akin to the early 70s Beach Boys rural vibe that mostly didn't include Brian. If anything, they should work with Al.

As for a Daft Punk Here Comes the Night, I think that would be great.

Honestly I don't see any collaborations as exciting (Musgraves the most interesting of the bunch, especially if she's co-writing lyrics--she's easily one of my favorite lyricists right now), though I'm hoping to be pleasantly surprised. But whatever they want to do is fine. The guy has the right to do whatever he wants. And everyone else has the right to endlessly criticize it before hearing it, then praising it upon release for a while before contrarily deeming it among his best work (until that approach is overplayed and then hating it again). Don't f*** with the formula.

[joshferrell]

I would like to see Trent Reznor do something with Brian, he has that "dark" style that Brian uses from time to time..aka:Happy Days

[Dudd]

A Daft Punk collaboration would be amazing, and both sides seem open to the idea. YET THEY'RE NOT ON THE LIST
I don't mind all these proposed duets, there's no indication the final product will be a disaster. But it does say something about Brian's producers. Maybe they're blowing all their money after getting overexcited about that #3 chart spot but I'm speculating brah

[Ron]

Didn't Brian "congratulate" Pharrell Williams for winning the grammy and then "like" his page on facebook? I wonder if that was a grab for another potential modern collab... holy sh*t, this may be Brian's Raditude.

Well, to be honest, I would be totally fine with a Brian/Pharrell collab.
I think he did something similar with Bruno Mars and the Red Hot Chili Peppers too...  

To be honest... I think Pharrell would make sure it sounded good.  Not so sure I could count on Brian to do that in most cases!

My big pet peeve is just rerecording hits.  I don't really mind unreleased stuff, and I wouldn't even mind cover songs of other stuff he's never done... when you re-record your own songs with different people though the only possible reason to do that is for a money grab, and you virtually guarantee that the songs are going to be inferior to the original hits everybody loves.


I had no problems with the Christmas, Gershwin, or Disney albums.  Loved all 3 of them. 

[Ron]

However it does sound like another GIOMH may be on the cards.  Not in relation to the resulting quality perhaps but just the random collaborators vibe.

... except on GIOMH, Brian knew and admired all the collaborators!  They're literally having him record duets with people

HES NEVER HEARD OF.

[the captain]

... except on GIOMH, Brian knew and admired all the collaborators!  They're literally having him record duets with people

HES NEVER HEARD OF.

We know he's at least heard of Zooey! "You're a very pretty girl." Hell, maybe they're just bringing in talented female collaborators who also happen to be great looking to pique his interest. Deschanel, Musgraves? I mean... OK, I'm kidding. Kind of. Not really.

[Ron]

Now, if I knew for a fact that THAT was their strategy, I would whole-heartedly support it.  Nothing wrong with that.

I'm at least mildly encouraged that the song titles seem to be NEW song titles... which as stated I have no problem with.  We might have dodged a bullet on this one folks, just imagining Kacey Musgraves singing "I get around" was making me have nightmares.

[Dudd]

... except on GIOMH, Brian knew and admired all the collaborators!  They're literally having him record duets with people

HES NEVER HEARD OF.

We know he's at least heard of Zooey*! "You're a very pretty girl." Hell, maybe they're just bringing in talented female collaborators who also happen to be great looking to pique his interest. Deschanel, Musgraves? I mean... OK, I'm kidding. Kind of. Not really.

*Joey

[Mikie]

No one has any idea how the recordings with Zooey or Lana will be used, nor have they heard them and here we are multiple pages in with the word "mess" being thrown around. The only mess I see is the people on this thread! Maybe some of the material is being used for the film soundtrack as opposed to his solo record. Maybe it was just for backing harmony (a la Taylor Mills). Maybe it was great or maybe it was crap. Either way, calm down!

Well, after looking at the "studio notes" posted by Bgas, I guess the people on this thread aren't a "mess" after all, eh Tonebender? Seems like they have a clue what the eff they're talking about.

[KittyKat]

I'm guessing they're making it up as they go along and the album is very different than what they initially set out to do. Duets was not going to be the album approach at first, but it is now.

[Gohi]

Remember when the main selling point of this album was that Al Jardine and David Marks were gonna be on it?

[Dudd]

Yeah, it's bizarre. A collaboration with Daft Punk seemed like a dream at first, but what with Lana Del Rey and Zooey Deschanel popping up literally out of nowhere, it almost feels like a possibility now... 

[Mendota Heights]

Pharrell needs to produce this whole thing.

[Dudd]

Pharrell needs to produce this whole thing.

Seconded, although it's a bit late.

This is a surreal thread.

[Andrew G. Doe]

It's possible that there are multiple albums lined up with Capitol requiring a duets album as part of the deal. Kind of like how he did the Disney remakes to get the Gershwin album...

Difference is, we knew about the Disney/Gershwin deal from day one. The notion that Brian's singed to Capital for several albums and one HAS to be duets is solely an invention of yours. 

One thing is evident - when released it won't faintly resemble what was envisioned in February last year. As far as I can see, it started off as Thing A, mutated gently into Thing B, then took a sharp left turn into Thing C. Not exactly making it up on the fly, but the original blueprint seems to have been jettisoned  some way back along the track. Could be great, could be a catastrophe. Surely won't be insipid.

[♩♬🐸 Billy C ♯♫♩🐇]

I'd take really good/bad over dull and boring any day.