Falling Apart featuring Andrew Wyatt and Brian Wilson

[GhostyTMRS]

About 4 years ago I turned my back on Indie Rock. I find most of it worthless derivative garbage trumpeted by scrawny 20-somethings with twee Grizzly Adams beards who worship the opinions of Pitchfork like boomers worshipped Rolling Stone in its hey day....

However.... I actually kind of like this song. The "chunka chunka" rhythm is a bit overused these days. but it works here.
I agree that Brian's "wall of Brians" (which I could listen to 24 hours a day) is too low in the mix.  If you've got Brian Wilson on a record, put him up front!

[RangeRoverA1]

Not a good song; too dreamy for my taste. Still, I like that Brian collaborates with the artists of different genre than his. I don't know if he does it to gain hip cred, & frankly, don't care, but he sounds very cool in those wall-of-Brians. His flag is up!

[Outtasight!]

Cant believe there is not a lot more appreciation for this song. Shades of Deserters Songs era Mercury Rev and BW guesting. A big winner in my opinion. Ah well.

[The Shift]

Anyone know if there's a legitimate download of this available in Europe/UK? Thanks in advance…

[Turtle_13]

Yep, try a French site called Qubuz "www.qubuz.com". I mistakenly downloaded both the Peter Hollens track and Emile Haynie from Itunes before i came across this one. The quality is way better.

Really enjoy both tracks, great to see Brian making these guest appearances.

Thomas

[The Shift]

Many thanks for that! Never heard of the site before but am about to become acquainted…!

[The Shift]

Almost - it's www.qobuz.com - but not finding Falling Apart anywhere on the site. Any chance you could provide a direct link to a page featuring the track please? Thanks again in advance…

[Ron]

I don't like how militant the rhythm is. 

Other than that, I'll just say I wish Brian would have started doing music like this 20 years ago. 

Not to bring up Michael Jackson again, but i'm going to bring up Michael Jackson again.  Michael (and Brian) should have done more guest vocal spots over the years.  Brian sounds great on this, and it's just enough that it lends his natural talent to the song in a natural way.

Let's face it, Brian's songwriting has been a little sub-par for quite awhile, and he himself has often commented on how he has writers block. 

Take a guy like this gentleman, who has a good idea for a song, wrote the lyrics, already has some of the music worked out, has the melody he stole from Pachelbel, and has the passion and desire to want to be everything Brian Wilson has became in his career. 

That THAT guy, and have Brian come in for a few hours and work on the song with him.  Put some of those beautiful Wilson vocals on that beautiful melody, have Brian come up with a few harmony lines, and you end up with a pretty damn good song.

The guy gets the thrill of a lifetime working with Brian, and Brian gets to

1. pass on some of his musical knowledge
2. make some fresh music he'll enjoy
3. do something current and relevant
4. keep his name popping up out there among the hipster crowd

This is a great move in the right direction for Brian and he fits on the song very well.  Sounds in fine form vocally too.  He has a little bit of that sweetness we first heard in... oh... "The Lonely Sea". 

[Turtle_13]

Type in "Emile Haynie" in the search box. Falling Apart should show up as the first result.

Apologies, yes, it should be "www.qobuz.com".

[rab2591]

Let's face it, Brian's songwriting has been a little sub-par for quite awhile, and he himself has often commented on how he has writers block. 

I wouldn't consider songs like "From There To Back Again", "Isn't It Time", and "Shelter" to be examples of sub-par songwriting.

[RangeRoverA1]

Type in "Emile Haynie" in the search box. Falling Apart should show up as the first result.

Apologies, yes, it should be "www.qobuz.com".

Thanks for the info & further clarification! Not for this song, as I have it, I'll be checking the site around as best as I can understand French.

[Amy B.]

I'm not sure the SONG under all the production is anything great, but I kind of like the overall sound. I can't tell if Brian is one of the people doing the "oohs" during the song. He definitely comes in and doubles the lead at about 3:57 and then does some harmonies during the fadeout. He sounds great.

[Gerry]

Couple of things; I don't think that Brian needs to "establish his hip-cred". I think these people are extremely lucky to have Brian involved. By the way, is "his flag is up" a sexual reference ?

[donald]

OK, granted my current hearing problems aren't exactly helping the cause but... seriously, I don't hear Brian at all.

I too have hearing problems Andrew.   I strained to hear BW.    Maybe for a bar or two.........

[Jim V.]

Let's face it, Brian's songwriting has been a little sub-par for quite awhile, and he himself has often commented on how he has writers block. 

I have to say that I cannot stand it that you just state things like the above as though it's a fact. And rab2591 made the great point about how a bunch of the material on TWGMTR is primo Brian material. If you had said this in the GIOMH era then maybe we'd admit you were onto something.

So yeah, if you don't mind stop saying things for all of us, cuz most likely we don't agree with you.

[donald]

Yep, try a French site called Qubuz "www.qubuz.com". I mistakenly downloaded both the Peter Hollens track and Emile Haynie from Itunes before i came across this one. The quality is way better.

Really enjoy both tracks, great to see Brian making these guest appearances.

Thomas

Guest appearances?   so this isn't on the new BW cd?    That is a relief........Really.

[Wirestone]

Yep, try a French site called Qubuz "www.qubuz.com". I mistakenly downloaded both the Peter Hollens track and Emile Haynie from Itunes before i came across this one. The quality is way better.

Really enjoy both tracks, great to see Brian making these guest appearances.

Thomas

Guest appearances?   so this isn't on the new BW cd?    That is a relief........Really.

The "Falling Apart" track isn't written or produced by Brian, so it seems unlikely to appear on the new record.

But "Our Special Love" is written and produced by Brian and Joe Thomas, and is mixed by Bob Clearmountain, who's also mixing NPP. So I don't know why anyone would assume it's not going to be on Brian's album.

[The Shift]

Type in "Emile Haynie" in the search box. Falling Apart should show up as the first result.

Apologies, yes, it should be "www.qobuz.com".

Thanks for the info & further clarification! Not for this song, as I have it, I'll be checking the site around as best as I can understand French.

I suspect that this is not available in certain "territories"… no finding it on iTunes or Amazon or qobuz. "Country" auto-defaults to UK and cannot be changed. But thank you anyway for the info…

[Amy B.]

I wonder what the process was here--maybe the minimal use of Brian was Brian's choice.
 Brian has contributed to a few recordings over the years, including those by Neil Diamond and Richard Ashcroft. In those cases, if I recall correctly, the producer/artist sent Brian a tape and told Brian to add what he saw fit. Brian then added 4-5 part harmonies on some parts of the songs. Perhaps that was the process here-- Brian just added a couple of sung lines and a few "woah-oh-ohs" and called it a day?

[Debbie Keil-Leavitt]

Let's face it, Brian's songwriting has been a little sub-par for quite awhile, and he himself has often commented on how he has writers block. 

I have to say that I cannot stand it that you just state things like the above as though it's a fact. And rab2591 made the great point about how a bunch of the material on TWGMTR is primo Brian material. If you had said this in the GIOMH era then maybe we'd admit you were onto something.

So yeah, if you don't mind stop saying things for all of us, cuz most likely we don't agree with you.

Seriously?  Who doesn't have writer's block sometimes?  Well, probably people who set themselves up as critics and never write anything of value themselves.  Even in the case of GIOMH, there were some really solid compositions.  I wish much of it could be re-thought and re-mixed at some point.  Brian has clearly never lost his talent as a composer.  There is just too much evidence of truly great stuff, so where do these "sub-par" comments come from?  Also, when people comment about a certain work that was started 10 years ago as evidence that the talent is somehow lost, it's also important to remember that Brian's style has often been described as modular - different bits come together to form something great over time.  His work is notably complex. That process isn't at all unusual for a great artist in any genre.  What is this desperate need to trash Brian's talents on a Board full of people who supposedly love the music?  I'm sorry, but there's something very weird about it - even if you only go to Love's shows.  Take out the BW compositions, and that would be one very short show...

[Jim V.]

Let's face it, Brian's songwriting has been a little sub-par for quite awhile, and he himself has often commented on how he has writers block. 

I have to say that I cannot stand it that you just state things like the above as though it's a fact. And rab2591 made the great point about how a bunch of the material on TWGMTR is primo Brian material. If you had said this in the GIOMH era then maybe we'd admit you were onto something.

So yeah, if you don't mind stop saying things for all of us, cuz most likely we don't agree with you.

Seriously?  Who doesn't have writer's block sometimes?  Well, probably people who set themselves up as critics and never write anything of value themselves.  Even in the case of GIOMH, there were some really solid compositions.  I wish much of it could be re-thought and re-mixed at some point.  Brian has clearly never lost his talent as a composer.  There is just too much evidence of truly great stuff, so where do these "sub-par" comments come from?  Also, when people comment about a certain work that was started 10 years ago as evidence that the talent is somehow lost, it's also important to remember that Brian's style has often been described as modular - different bits come together to form something great over time.  His work is notably complex. That process isn't at all unusual for a great artist in any genre.  What is this desperate need to trash Brian's talents on a Board full of people who supposedly love the music?  I'm sorry, but there's something very weird about it - even if you only go to Love's shows.  Take out the BW compositions, and that would be one very short show...

Spot on Debbie. But certain people on this board have certain narratives that they are trying to push and facts won't stop them. As I know you're into politics, I'm sure you can relate.

[rab2591]

What is this desperate need to trash Brian's talents on a Board full of people who supposedly love the music?

Ridiculous speculation and constant negativity - we'll be seeing more and more of it as we get closer to the release. Why is there a desperate need for this trashing? Because, as sweetdudejim says, there are certain narratives these people are trying to push. I'm all for people expressing their opinions; whether you disliked the latest songs of Brian, or dislike the new album artwork, this post isn't aimed at you. This post is aimed at the people who have held a constant hostility towards Brian's latest musical endeavor/solo career lately.

These people have specifically written that Brian doesn't have it in him to write a great song anymore. That he is selling out because of the duets with younger musicians. That he has no chance of getting on the radio anymore. (all of this is in the "current album thread" btw). And now, apparently his songwriting has been sub-par for quite a while (even though he wrote great new songs for an album that went to #3 on the charts just 2 years ago).

Again, I have nothing wrong with opinions, but to the people spewing this negativity: please stop making blanket statements and pointless trite conjectures.

[GhostyTMRS]

The nature of this board is to nitpick everything to death before it actually happens or anyone hears it. I read page after page of grousing over the Made In California box set before it was ever released. Brian's getting the lion's share of it lately because he's got a new album on the way.
I mentioned in another post that there was tremendous support and excitement when we were getting updates about Brian in the studio with Al, Blondie, Ricky, etc. Once the young guest stars were announced, the response to this album shifted dramatically and and practically overnight. Evidently a lot of people on here really... REALLY dislike some of the up and coming singers/musicians who are doing these duets, or they dislike them simply because they don't know who they are and they've written anybody new off in an "all music sucks today" vibe.
Hey, I don't like much new music myself, but I'll give these guys and gals a chance. I'm just hoping they're not singing a lot of leads because I'm buying the album to hear Brian sing,  not them.

[Turtle_13]

Just a shout out to John Manning iro his post above. I'm based in Ireland and didn't realise that the UK didn't have full access at the time to "www.qobuz.com".

I was browsing the Hoffman board this morning and saw it mentioned that this site is now available in the UK.

[Ron]

Let's face it, Brian's songwriting has been a little sub-par for quite awhile, and he himself has often commented on how he has writers block. 

I wouldn't consider songs like "From There To Back Again", "Isn't It Time", and "Shelter" to be examples of sub-par songwriting.

I like From there to back again and Shelter, but Isn't it Time is god-awful lyrically.  Possibly the worst-written song he's ever actually gotten released as a single. 

If it was all as lyrically strong as Shelter or From There to Back Again though you're right, we'd have some good stuff.