*Merged* Brian Wilson current album thread

[Cyncie]

"'For a while, Wilson let the music go: "I was writing for the Boys, so I thought, 'What am I gonna do without them?'"

But last year he got the idea to bring in guest singers to finish the songs."

Sad.   Much as I look forward to this album, I'll probably listen to every note wishing it was a Beach Boys album.

Yeah, that's what got to me, too. That, and a song called "Last Song" that might be the actual last song.   

[shelter]

Frank Ocean rapped on "Special Love," though the track remains unfinished and may not make the album.

Read more: http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/brian-wilsons-girl-powered-lp-in-the-studio-with-the-beach-boy-20140718#ixzz37pXBzi7m
Follow us: @rollingstone on Twitter | RollingStone on Facebook

Thank goodness for that.

Indeed. I don't like to criticize anything before I've actually heard it, and there are actually quite some rappers that I really like, but seriously... If you're making music that has nothing to do with hip hop, please don't ever bring in a "guest rapper". Please.

[Cyncie]

Frank Ocean rapped on "Special Love," though the track remains unfinished and may not make the album.

Read more: http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/brian-wilsons-girl-powered-lp-in-the-studio-with-the-beach-boy-20140718#ixzz37pXBzi7m
Follow us: @rollingstone on Twitter | RollingStone on Facebook

Thank goodness for that.

Indeed. I don't like to criticize anything before I've actually heard it, and there are actually quite some rappers that I really like, but seriously... If you're making music that has nothing to do with hip hop, please don't ever bring in a "guest rapper". Please.

I don't know. The idea of a rapper doing one of Van Dyke Park's spoken word interludes has a weird kind of appeal. 

[Loves The Sunflower]

...If you're making music that has nothing to do with hip hop, please don't ever bring in a "guest rapper". Please.

+1,000,000.

That aside, I'm looking forward to Brian's new album. I'm still not keen on all the guest appearances (excluding Al and Blondie) but... it's Brian Wilson. Enough said. 

[Smilin Ed H]

Let's hope it's not.

[Rocker]

It makes me wonder, and in all seriousness too, why hasn't Mike Love done anything where he'd take his lyric writing into other projects with outside artists and writers, and not even designing the songs so he or any notion of the Beach Boys would be singing them? Just get into writing and collaborating on a pure songwriting level with some different artists in different styles, and not think about covering the classics as was done on the Stars And Stripes project or anything of the sort, or not even be boxed into an expectation of what his fans or Beach Boys fans would expect him to write.

It could be interesting if not liberating.

I don't think that fits Mike's personality. Let's be honest, if there ever was a person that thinks strictly in boxes,  it is Mike Love after he started believing the myths that were told about the Beach Boys.
That said he mentioned in an interview during the Beach Boys tour (or shortly before the actual tour) that he was trying to work some things up with David for the album. But as we've seen there was nothing to be found on TWGMTR.


Of course Brian's statement in the new article can't be read as "I was surprised Mike and Bruce had booked new shows with their band" as that was clear quite early, but it only shows the disappointment that it didn't go further and couldn't be worked out. It's obvious that - as someone stated back in 2012 - Brian wanted to be a Beach Boy again and be creative. It's really sad and only fitting that "The Beach Boys" had to end on such a bad note. Endless harmony my a$$.
I was one of the people who said "no more albums" after TWGMTR and that they should go out on a high note. I said they only should do another album if they could do one that woud be at least as good as TWGMTR. And knowing the Beach Boys, I'd had expected an album of re-recordings etc. You know, take the cash and be as uncreative as you can.
But since 2012 when someone on this board mentioned Brian was working on new Beach Boys material and it was really good and then reading all the positive feedback to this project....yes, I admit: I would've loved if this was a new Beach Boys album.

But honestly: does anyone really believe Mike would want to do something like "Last song" when he made clear he had problems with "Summer's gone"? To paraphrase someone from this board (I forgot who, sorry) "For someone who always talks about what relates to the people, he has no idea what the people want". And there's the box again. He was told for decades that the Beach Boys are this-and-that and that they stand for whatever. At one point he just started to believe this. I don't blame him for that because I probably wouldn't have been strong enough either.

[pixletwin]

It seems Brian has lost interest in it too. So maybe it just really wasn't very good at all.

[puni puni]

Are there any videos of Brian where he refers to the group as "the Boys"?

[JohnMill]

From where I stand this article can only have negative ramifications among certain pockets of the fanbase if the new BW album does not meet expectations.  It's now going to be compared to a lost opportunity to have The Beach Boys work with, shape and mold this same material that has now been placed in the hands of other collaborators.  I'm guessing people will either:

A) laud the songwriting but lament the missed opportunity to have the performances of the material carried out by The Beach Boys.
B) criticize the songwriting and lament the fact that The Beach Boys could've made lemonade out of lemons with this material.

[EgoHanger1966]

Of course, it's no use to complain before we've heard anything....but...is it too much to ask for a Brian Wilson album of Brian Wilson originals with no outside-guest helping hands? We haven't gotten that since That Lucky Old Sun. It'll have been six years by the time this album comes out.

Frank Ocean rapping on a Brian Wilson track? No thanks.
Summer Means New Love remake? If it has vocals, it might be interesting.
Danny Boy kiiiind of worked live. Even then, i thought it was uninspired.
Female guest vocals on new compositions? I'm buying a Brian Wilson album. I'd like to hear Brian sing them. If there is a way we can get both versions of "Last Song", cool. But please release one with just Brian's (and band etc) vocals.

[the captain]

I have almost entirely contradictory opinions.

Frank Ocean is a really good musician, interesting producer, good singer. I admit I have no idea whether or how it would work for him to rap on a BW track, but if they were into it, I'm curious about it. And I'd rather see an ambitious failure than a tepid retread.

Summer Means New Love... Here's where I actually agree, more or less. See tepid retread.

Danny Boy. More interested than with SMNL, but honestly not by a lot.

Female guest vocalists. YES YES YES. I'm hugely interested. Brian isn't that good a singer, especially as compared to his former self. I'd by far rather hear him in there with his share of leads and parts, but not all of them. And that's regardless of whether there are guest stars or just his own band. I'd love Darian leads on record, Scott leads on record, etc.

Worse, when he's not engaged, his work is sloppy or boring. If bringing in other singers (who happen to make the visual surroundings in the studio a bit more enticing) helped him get into the project, then I love it. If that isn't the case, if it's just a record company ploy, I take it all back. But if it's what he wants to do, it's great. He has almost always written and arranged for other people--that's what the Beach Boys was, not to mention his other productions.

I'm more excited about this than anything he's done since TLOS.

[Shady]

Nice to know the guy from she and him was involved, he's a big fan too.

[Nothgual]

Agree wholeheartedly with the captain's post. As long as the songwriting is good, the outside vocalists/guests thing sounds like it could be really cool.

[Lowbacca]

Nice to know the guy from she and him was involved, he's a big fan too.

M. Ward's got talent. Check out his Wasteland Companion.

[guitarfool2002]

Curious about a few points in the RS article. If we read into it, it's spelled out how Brian was writing songs which were intended for the possible "new" Beach Boys album which was being mentioned in various interviews back in 2012, the follow-up to "Radio" that never materialized. So it would make sense that these songs at various times may have been intended for various band members to sing rather than Brian, and when Mike and Bruce singing on a new BB's album wasn't going to happen, who was left as a vocalist for these new songs if they were to be worked up? Al and Brian, obviously...and they were both in the studio over the past year or so working on these songs, as was shown in multiple photos! It adds up. And take the songs which may have been intended for other group members or even with a Beach Boys vocal performance in general, couldn't some of those be the songs which the guest artists are going to be featured on as reported? If there was a song which Brian wrote, which he did not see himself actually singing as the only voice or even the lead voice, there is the opportunity to consider other vocalists to come into the project.

So it might just be a more simple case of how and where some of these songs came to be, along with the notion of someone other than Brian singing on these songs that goes back to when ideas for the BB's follow-up to TWGMTR were still being developed. I think this article may in some way help clarify some of the questions that were raised about the songs on this board.

What also caught my eye was the mention of Frank Ocean adding a rap, on a track which according to the article may or may not ever materialize.

I found that curious because, first and foremost, Frank Ocean is better known as a singer and a songwriter. Sure, he raps, but it's not like Jay Z or Lil Wayne where rap is the main style he's known for. Ocean has an R&B/soul vocal style where he can hit that falsetto range pretty darn well...so if Ocean was brought in and did not sing for whatever reasons but only rapped instead, I'd be surprised.

Again, I'm not an expert though I have listened to his music and seen him perform, but I do know he's known more as a singer and songwriter than a rapper. And tying into another point I raised on the other BW album discussion, he got his start writing songs for other artists, and eventually started putting his own vocals on demos and mix tapes which got him a performance/recording deal too. But he's a legit writer and producer in the hip-hop community, besides being a singer. The fact that he raps is only part of his resume, and having that mentioned in the article again surprises me because Ocean could sing the hell out of a lead vocal without even rapping.

I guess what I'm trying to suggest is that calling him a "rapper" isn't accurate for what he does musically.

And a curious side note to add: Even before this current news, Ocean had mentioned The Beach Boys as an influence on his music and writing, so he's not a complete stranger to the sounds and styles of Brian and the BB's from the past.

[Mikie]

The more I read that article, the more I became frustrated that this isn't a Beach Boys album. What a travesty. I share Brian's sadness. He already had most, if not all, the songs written. All he needed was Mike's, Al's, Dave's, Bruce's, and Jeff's vocals and the album was in the can.

[guitarfool2002]

One positive to consider with that is how the songs which were written were not completely discarded or may never have been recorded or heard at all because the Beach Boys follow-up album project never happened. If they're good songs, we'll be able to hear them. And if they were written for other voices to sing, it won't be the Beach Boys as heard on TWGMTR, but again we'll still be able to hear the songs themselves.

It is indeed sad that the original project didn't happen, but I think it would have been beyond sad if we had a case of Brian getting inspired to write new music, maybe getting swept up in the spirit of writing new songs for the Beach Boys to sing, and the songs themselves got scrapped entirely, never to be heard.

I guess what I'm trying to say is even though the notion of getting new material from Brian performed on a new Beach Boys album by the Beach Boys' voices as a full group didn't materialize, the collapse of that Beach Boys project didn't take the songs down with it.

[EgoHanger1966]

Brian isn't that good a singer, especially as compared to his former self.

Listen to Baby Mine on ITKOD and then tell me that again. Brian can be a fantastic studio singer if he wants to be - and if he has the right producer/vocal coach/guy in the booth/whatever to help him and use the right tools. It's hard to imagine the same guy that sang the Disney album is the same one that's on the autotuned, slurry TWGMTR, but it is. It's all about how he's singing it and how the post-production is done.

[Gregg]

The more I read that article, the more I became frustrated that this isn't a Beach Boys album. What a travesty. I share Brian's sadness. He already had most, if not all, the songs written. All he needed was Mike's, Al's, Dave's, Bruce's, and Jeff's vocals and the album was in the can.

But really, who are the Beach Boys now, in 2014? Jeff's not a Beach Boy. Dave never added to the classic vocal blend, and Mike's current voice is nothing to get really excited about. Bruce adds some nice high parts, but they are not anything that several other singers can't do equally as well (Matt J). The huge missing element in the classic BB sound is Carl. Without Carl in the mix, I don't see this as a great loss that the current day "Beach Boys" are not singing on it. Al still has the vocal chops he had back in the day, so the fact that he is singing on it is a huge boost for BB authenticity. The other 2 guys..... they won't be missed.

Now for sentimental reasons, it would be nice for it to fall under the Beach Boys banner.

[Eric Aniversario]

I hope we still get to hear Al on the album somewhere.

[the captain]

Brian isn't that good a singer, especially as compared to his former self.

Listen to Baby Mine on ITKOD and then tell me that again. Brian can be a fantastic studio singer if he wants to be - and if he has the right producer/vocal coach/guy in the booth/whatever to help him and use the right tools. It's hard to imagine the same guy that sang the Disney album is the same one that's on the autotuned, slurry TWGMTR, but it is. It's all about how he's singing it and how the post-production is done.

I'll stand behind it 100%, because I dont mean that he can't sing at all. But he can't sing everything, and his music is at its best when it isn't hindered by the range of an aging man. I'm not knocking him, I'm just telling the truth. I want to hear him sing, absolutely. But he can't handle all of his own leads without support, or without rewriting melodies, or without studio assistance.

[guitarfool2002]

Brian isn't that good a singer, especially as compared to his former self.

Listen to Baby Mine on ITKOD and then tell me that again. Brian can be a fantastic studio singer if he wants to be - and if he has the right producer/vocal coach/guy in the booth/whatever to help him and use the right tools. It's hard to imagine the same guy that sang the Disney album is the same one that's on the autotuned, slurry TWGMTR, but it is. It's all about how he's singing it and how the post-production is done.

Consider this from the article:

Today, Wilson sits at the console at Ocean Way, recording Musgraves' vocals for "Guess You Had to Be There." He sips wheatgrass juice and munches on a chocolate doughnut. The song is lighthearted and fun, but the session didn't start that way. "Kacey said, 'Boy, he really tells you when he doesn't like your pitch,'" says Wilson's manager.

Wilson is often passive in social situations, but in the studio he barks instructions to musicians and creates complex vocal arrangements on the spot. "When it's good it's good, when it's not – do it again," he says. "But after three tries, Kacey nailed it. I like the way she just slides over the notes – she has a very cool sound."

I know what you're saying, but at the same time don't you think Brian is both his own critic and "vocal coach" as well as the guy who might record take after vocal take of his own vocal performances for possibly hours on end until he gets that one keeper of a take that's "just right" without someone having to tell him? Even if someone in the booth might say "that's the one", Brian might say "no, let's do another"?

In the studio, it's hard not to think it's similar to the Brian who was producing in 1966 who works until it's just right, according to what he hears and feels in the performance. And the article's comment seems to back that up for 2014.

[Bubba Ho-Tep]

Frank Ocean rapped on "Special Love," though the track remains unfinished and may not make the album

BURN THIS TAPE.

[HeyJude]

Frank Ocean rapped on "Special Love," though the track remains unfinished and may not make the album

BURN THIS TAPE.

Or in this case it may well be "delete these files!"

A rap interlude would indeed take the pandoring to modern music buyers to a new level.

[Please delete my account]

Frank Ocean rapped on "Special Love," though the track remains unfinished and may not make the album

BURN THIS TAPE.

Or in this case it may well be "delete these files!"

A rap interlude would indeed take the pandoring to modern music buyers to a new level.

Not a fan of "On a Holiday"?