Wanderlust Macca Tribute Preview on YouTube

[GhostyTMRS]

Something of a mea culpa here from Harry Connick Jr. who once famously called The Beatles "music for 5 year olds".

[DC310]

Who is singing the falsetto here?  Doesn't sound like Jeff to me, but I could be wrong.

[Emdeeh]

Matt Jardine?

[Wirestone]

Matt Jardine?

Doubt it.

[Pretty Funky]

No idea either but maybe someone from McCartneys band?


In most cases, Sall personally matched the song with the artist he wanted to cover it, and McCartney's backing band – whom McCartney loaned Sall for the project – provided the backing.


http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/the-art-of-paul-mccartney-inside-tribute-album-20141113

[bgas]

No idea either but maybe someone from McCartneys band?


In most cases, Sall personally matched the song with the artist he wanted to cover it, and McCartney's backing band – whom McCartney loaned Sall for the project – provided the backing.


http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/the-art-of-paul-mccartney-inside-tribute-album-20141113

While you're on the page, scroll down and read about Carol Kaye playing on every record known to man: 

   http://www.cracked.com/article_21660_5-unknown-people-who-secretly-made-all-your-favorite-music.html

[Pretty Funky]

 

[rab2591]

Here it is: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0B2nhYffSo8#t=1434

Sounds so damn good, great production and Brian's vocals are fantastic as always

[Mendota Heights]

Pleasantly surprised by the high pitch. Great cover by Brian.

[bgas]

Who is singing the falsetto here?  Doesn't sound like Jeff to me, but I could be wrong.

I think all the vocals were done by Brian

[Wirestone]

I've had a peek at the credits. All of BW's band is on this -- but the version that had Jim Hines and Taylor. So the track was recorded before 2008, at the latest.

[pixletwin]

Just heard the entire thing. Very nice arrangement. A bit too close to Paul's original version, but with just enough Brian to make that forgivable.

[HeyJude]

I got the “Amazon exclusive” 2 CD/1 DVD set. For those wondering, Brian is not mentioned or shown in the nearly 90-minute long documentary on the DVD. Kind of weird. Clearly, they weren’t trying to feature every artist on the DVD. But neither his nor Jeff Lynne’s contribution (the two I was most interested in) are even mentioned.

As for the track, the track credits do indeed indicate this track is at least 6-7 years old. Which doesn’t bother me at all. The vocals sound relatively Brian-ish, this isn’t wall-of-Fosketts or anything. Brian’s lead sounds pretty good overall. It’s also interesting that McCartney’s tour band played the bulk of the backing tracks for the artists on this album (Sall oddly feels this gives it a “McCartney vibe” even though most of the band joined in 2001/2002), but in Brian’s case he used his own band.

I read a comment online from someone who said Ralph Sall mentioned in an interview that Brian was the first to accept the offer to record for the album, so Brian's track could actually be as old as 2003/2004.

It appears the album’s producer Ralph Sall “co-produced” or “produced” most of the individual tracks (the former in the case of Brian), and I can’t say from the evidence at hand that he’s sonically a very interesting producer. A lot of the tracks sound muted, almost muddy. I know in a lot of cases these are older artists, so perhaps Sall is trying to not make all the vocals bone-dry and up front. But a lot of the tracks lack any sort of bunch. In the case of something like Kiss on “Venus and Mars/Rock Show”, the Wings track from 1975 is literally punchier.

Brian’s track isn’t too bad in this regard. He tends to make very wet, reverb-laden mixes often anyway. Brian’s track still sounds a bit sleepy, but I can say as objectively as possible that Brian’s “Wanderlust” is one of the best tracks on the album. He at least did a few interesting things with the vocal arrangements, and his pick was at least a bit “outside the box.”

Also, listening more to Sall talk about the album on the DVD, the vintage of Brian’s track makes even more sense. It appears this album hasn’t just been in the “planning stages” since 2003. I wouldn’t be surprised if some of the tracks on the album were recorded all the way back in, say, 2004. It also appears that in most cases Sall gave the artists one or two songs to pick from, rather than having them choose their own. Sall does indeed seem to be a McCartney uber-nerd and actually knows his back catalog (he apparently even knows of McCartney bootlegs, having suggested “A Love For You” back in 2003, and suggesting stuff like “So Bad” for Smokey Robinson), so I wouldn’t be surprised if he suggested “Wanderlust” to Brian.

Sall doesn’t do the album any favors by having Billy Joel (who I do like) open *both* discs on the album with rather bland, rote, key-lowered versions of overplayed McCartney songs. By its very nature, I’d say this album is a better-than-average tribute album. But unfortunately for Sall, it appears he put about a million times more effort into it (over a decade?), and it’s only maybe 50% better than a typical tribute album.

[bonnevillemariner]

Of course Wanderlust is 'album only' on iTunes and Amazon.  I don't care for McCartney, so I'm sure as hell not paying $17.99 for an album of subpar covers just to get it. 

I hate the music industry.

[bgas]

Of course Wanderlust is 'album only' on iTunes and Amazon.  I don't care for McCartney, so I'm sure as hell not paying $17.99 for an album of subpar covers just to get it. 

I hate the music industry.

Just record it from youtube, then.

[HeyJude]

Of course Wanderlust is 'album only' on iTunes and Amazon.  I don't care for McCartney, so I'm sure as hell not paying $17.99 for an album of subpar covers just to get it. 

I hate the music industry.

Isn't this the one area where the music industry has, for whatever reason, been more consumer-friendly? (Though arguably injuring the artistic integrity of the idea of "albums").  In the pre-download days, how would you ever buy individual tracks other than singles?

The reason they often make tracks "album only" on tribute albums is for this very reason; a bunch of people will buy the one track they want. This would never have been possible on a tribute album released in 1995 on CD or something.

If you actually dig the *song* "Wanderlust", then you'd have to be really close-minded musically to not dig at least some of McCartney's output. I've never grasped, outside of the obvious idea that everybody has their own opinion, that there are Brian/BB fans who literally have no interest in anything to do with Beatles or solo work, or that there are Beatles fans who have zero interest in the BB's. It's not like we're talking about Pat Boone versus Megadeath or something.

If you like the song "Wanderlust", then you like McCartney. He wrote it (and Brian's arrangement is not terribly dissimilar). If you don't like the song, then I wouldn't burn any effort trying to track down a Brian recording of a song you don't like.

[bonnevillemariner]

Just record it from youtube, then.

Not a bad idea, temporarily, if I could get any of the full song YouTube vids posted above to work.  Spotify premium actually has a YouTube import feature that takes any YouTube URL and allows you to add the track to a playlist.  Audio quality is often poor, but generally listenable.  Eventually I'll play into the industry's hand, get sick of the poor audio quality of the YouTube vid and fork out $17.99 for 36 tracks-- only one of which I'll ever listen to.

Did I mention I hate the industry?

[bonnevillemariner]

If you actually dig the *song* "Wanderlust", then you'd have to be really close-minded musically to not dig at least some of McCartney's output.

Let's get this straight-- I dig Brian.  I dig his vocals.  I dig his production.  Not once while listening to the sample did I think, wow, those are great lyrics and music.  Bono could have written this song and I wouldn't have known or cared.

I've never grasped, outside of the obvious idea that everybody has their own opinion, that there are Brian/BB fans who literally have no interest in anything to do with Beatles or solo work, or that there are Beatles fans who have zero interest in the BB's. It's not like we're talking about Pat Boone versus Megadeath or something.

I don't grasp it either, honestly.  I've given the Beatles and some of their solo stuff a few honest tries over the years.  They're fine, just not to my taste.  Or more accurately, not to my taste enough to seek out or buy their material.

If you like the song "Wanderlust", then you like McCartney. He wrote it (and Brian's arrangement is not terribly dissimilar). If you don't like the song, then I wouldn't burn any effort trying to track down a Brian recording of a song you don't like.

I like the song, but only because that's Brian's voice and arrangement.  I don't care for Buddy Holly but I bought Brian's cover of "Listen to Me."  It is possible to enjoy (even greatly) a version of a song while not knowing, or caring about, or even being interested in the original artist.

[The Cincinnati Kid]

For me I like McCartney and the Beatles' stuff, but I still don't want to buy a whole album when I'm only interested in one song.  I have no interest in most of the other artists and I'd rather hear Paul singing those songs anyway.  Sure it wasn't even possible to pick and choose songs in 1995.... but it's 2014, not 1995!  Now with all of that said I'm sure I'll end up buying the album. 

[HeyJude]

I like the song, but only because that's Brian's voice and arrangement.  I don't care for Buddy Holly but I bought Brian's cover of "Listen to Me."  It is possible to enjoy (even greatly) a version of a song while not knowing, or caring about, or even being interested in the original artist.

Have you heard McCartney's original recording of the song? It's the same melody, and about 97% the same arrangement.

Of course it's possible to like a cover version without caring about the original. I'm suggesting simply being open to finding that you like the song, as in the *composition*, and that will perhaps lead you to other music you like.

I say this from experience. For many years (and still to a lesser degree these days), I was too close-minded musically. You can't force yourself to like something, but I have to detach from just liking an artist and everything they do, and instead like the *music*. It's just my opinion, and I'm not trying to attack anyone in saying that there is just no internal logic in *loving*, say, 1962-1967 Beach Boys and just having *no interest* in anything the Beatles did. People surely do really feel this way. I just wish I could help people bridge that tiny gap. Again, not talking about trying to get into White Zombie or something.

[bonnevillemariner]

HeyJude, I totally get what you're saying.  I do evolve, but not on everything and not immediately.  In musical discovery I tend to enjoy music-- at least initially-- completely divorced from its context.  I like a song, or part of a song, or a "feel" on its own merits musically and aesthetically.  I tend to buy based on that alone.  Then I evolve from there.  For example, with the BB, what initially drew me in was the combination of Brian's "whine" and the sibling harmony of a couple of their Christmas tunes.  I then discovered (or re-discovered) their early material, then began appreciating Pet Sounds, then falling head over heals in love with that and Smile.  I still have less interest in the post-Brian whine era of the BB, but I find myself listening more and more to later stuff.

Where I'm at now, specifically with this McCartney track, is finding and purchasing Brian-sung tracks-- regardless of who originally wrote them.  This is the discovery phase, where I hone in on something very specific (like Brian vocals), and move out from there.  And when I like what I hear but can't buy it without buying all the unwanted (for now) stuff that comes with it, well, I get grumpy.

Oh, and about 1995.  No, I couldn't buy individual tracks, so, due to my financial status at the time, I waited until I could find the cassette or CD at a used music store.  Back then the label would have made no money from me.  Today, because I can purchase a la carte, they at least get something.

[joshferrell]

I'm sorry but Billy Joel sounds Drunk on maybe I'm amazed and live and let die.. 

[GoodVibrations33]

Has anyone seen a legit purchase/download site where you can download Wanderlust individually and not "album only"?  I've tried all the major sites I know of and it's listed as "album only" on everyone.  Thanks for any help!

[bringahorseinhere?]

this set is 'terrible' sorry!!!! won't be buying........ so

 can anyone confirm when Brian did record this? is it in the credits?

while it sounds way cool, disappointing to know it was 'tracked' so long ago! 

wow, did any insider's know this info? 

to me, it's the best 'sounding' track on the album, which tends to tell me

it was probably all Brian's guys and none of the mccartney band...

thoughts???

OT: Willie does a great 'yesterday', but man, Billy Joel sounds 'unlistenable'.......

and I LOVE his 70's/80's period 

and Bobby boy, Mr Dylan should really not even open his mouth on a record anymore lol

RickB

[Ron]

I'm sorry but Billy Joel sounds Drunk on maybe I'm amazed and live and let die..  

It's kind of an acquired taste.  Things you have to know about Billy to understand why the f*** he would do that

1. He doesn't write anymore, so he only covers
2. He's pretty disenchanted with all of his big hits.  He likes to do weird album cuts in concert
3. He's very intelligent, and a very stylized singer, he tries to sing the songs the way he thinks he should sing them.  I.E., he won't do a cover and make it sound like the original, he wants to change it
4. He's making fun of Paul McCartney

check out his cover of "Hey Girl".  Same thing, he sings it his way, very punchy but look how he pulls it off.  He's capable of doing AMAZING covers.  Enunciation; phrasing; timing; power; passion. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tMfLKrGvCzI