Brian's songwriting from 1988-today.

[Mr. Cohen]

Curious to hear what people think about Brian's more modern songwriting efforts. Forget about the production. Let's focus on the melodies, chords, and lyrics. I remember reading an interview from the '80s/'90s, and when Brian is asked about his growth as a songwriter, he says something like (this isn't verbatim) : "I think I've gotten better every year. Ha! Go ahead and print that!"

And it is an interesting topic. The guy lives with the blessing and curse of having his most critically acclaimed works dating back to his 20s. Imagine that. It's not like Brian has been sitting on his hand this whole time. The guy has seemingly obsessed over music his entire life. He's never quit, even if he got lazy as a producer at times.

Besides a dicey period after he left Landy's so-called "care", I think Brian's material has increasingly sounded more professional than ever before. Something like "Lay Down Burden" is just good old-fashioned songcraft.  It doesn't have that same quality of manic inspiration you hear in Pet Sounds - it's simply a really nice song. In fact, it's impossible for me to imagine Brian writing and singing something like that in his 20s.

In his 20s, Brian knew how to use the Wrecking Crew to produce amazing Spector-style tracks with Burt Bacharach chords, Four Freshman harmonies, and Chuck Berry/Chubby Checker rhythms.  Which is a TREMENDOUS accomplishment. But I sense there were gaps in his overall understanding of music that he's filled in since.

What to do you guys think?

[CenturyDeprived]

Curious to hear what people think about Brian's more modern songwriting efforts. Forget about the production. Let's focus on the melodies, chords, and lyrics. I remember reading an interview from the '80s/'90s, and when Brian is asked about his growth as a songwriter, he says something like (this isn't verbatim) : "I think I've gotten better every year. Ha! Go ahead and print that!"

And it is an interesting topic. The guy lives with the blessing and curse of having his most critically acclaimed works dating back to his 20s. Imagine that. It's not like Brian has been sitting on his hand this whole time. The guy has seemingly obsessed over music his entire life. He's never quit, even if he got lazy as a producer at times.

Besides a dicey period after he left Landy's so-called "care", I think Brian's material has increasingly sounded more professional than ever before. Something like "Lay Down Burden" is just good old-fashioned songcraft.  It doesn't have that same quality of manic inspiration you hear in Pet Sounds - it's simply a really nice song. In fact, it's impossible for me to imagine Brian writing and singing something like that in his 20s.

In his 20s, Brian knew how to use the Wrecking Crew to produce amazing Spector-style tracks with Burt Bacharach chords, Four Freshman harmonies, and Chuck Berry/Chubby Checker rhythms.  Which is a TREMENDOUS accomplishment. But I sense there were gaps in his overall understanding of music that he's filled in since.

What to do you guys think?

I think Brian just makes music to please himself these days, which he is sometimes motivated to do, and less so other times. The main difference, IMO, from 1988 to today, is that for the most part I think the fire of competition that he used to have (and an unhealthy fear of failure, both of letting down the band, as well as failing in the eyes of his father) have long since evaporated. Sometimes unhealthy fears of failure and intense feelings of competitiveness, while personally destructive in some ways, can lead to a truer, deeper artistic result in the end, but I think that spark is still in Brian, without a doubt. Personally, I generally truly enjoy (ranging from mostly like to occasional love) Brian's latter day output.  I agree that there's a maturity about some of it, like Lay Down Burden, which probably just comes more naturally with life experience, and having listened to/soaked up more collective music. IMO there's less "modern" innovation, but more reflection and a settled-in vibe I get.

[NickandthePassions]

Lucky Old Sun and the Life Suite is a testament to your beliefs.

[Cyncie]

I think Brian's still making some really good music. He's not stopped being creative, but, as CenturyDeprived said, he's probably not as driven as he once was. At this stage of the game I don't expect him to be pushing the musical envelope; but I think he still has a lot of good music to share, even if he needs a bit of outside motivation to get him going these days.  I can say that I've been genuinely emotionally moved by "Midnight's Another Day," and the Life Suite. And that's what music is about, anyway.

[18thofMay]

Lucky Old Sun and the Life Suite is a testament to your beliefs.

And the new album will enforce it even further.

[Micha]

I think that TLOS, which I think was his up to now last solo album with new material, was his best. Nearly all of his tunes on TWGMTR are better than what he came up with on BB85 and Still Cruisin', so I'd say he definitely has improved. (Even though TWGMTR contains his IMHO worst song ever. )

[phirnis]

I think he actually made music to please himself mainly throughout the late 60s and pretty much all of the 70s. For my very personal taste it seems BW88 was his last officially released effort where he didn't shy away from being eccentric. For example, the introspective stuff on that album comes across as perfectly genuine, not least because some of the lyrics are full of Brianisms. Later on I think the overuse of Summer Days/Pet Sounds instrumentation (this is about production, I know, sorry for that!) became somewhat formulaic, as did the introspective lyrics and the 'BW love song' stuff (some of which is still really good, mind you). In general I find some of his solo material a bit hard to swallow when compared with what the group put out up until and including BB85. In principle his songwriting abilities may be as good as ever but I just think BW and his collaborators have been trying way too hard to do it right and the suite-like character of some recent material is the giveaway. I still enjoy pretty much everything he does but given the choice I'll always prefer Let's Put Our Hearts Together and My Diane over ANY of the love songs on Imagination or Lucky Old Sun.

[Jukka]

I do like his later songs, too. Each album since -88 has had at least one or two songs that I really, really dig. But I have to admit, the amount of fillers is sometimes a tad too high. Those lower midtempo ballads, with stock descending chord progressions...

Also, while his songs nowadays are often catchy, beautiful and carefully crafted, they often lack the surprise element. The bits that make you go "how did he think of that? Oh yeah, right, he's a genius, that's why". But luckily, we still do get those moments (e.g. ending of From There To Back Again), just not as often as before.

[job]

I want to love it...and I do love a few songs, but those are usually the heavy collaborations.  The 88-Present stuff is just a shadow of the old stuff in terms of quality and accessibility...as much as I wish it weren't true, I just can't deny it.

I guess when it comes down to it, most of the stuff sounds like forced, lazy run-throughs.  I suspect, as do many, that he really wouldn't have done anything after Love You without the insistence of Landy and others since.

But I still buy the stuff and listen to it from time to time.

[Mr. Cohen]

I guess when it comes down to it, most of the stuff sounds like forced, lazy run-throughs.  I suspect, as do many, that he really wouldn't have done anything after Love You without the insistence of Landy and others since.

There were some songs on BW88 that definitely sounded inspired, like songs he really wanted to do.

Other than that, most of Imagination, TLOS, the two Gershwin "collabs",  and parts of TWGMTR strike me as the only times Brian has really gone all out.

He was obviously inspired during the Imagination era, even laying the groundwork for tracks that'd appear on TWGMTR, and he seemed really keen on positioning himself as an AC artist. TLOS speaks for itself.  The two Gerswhin songs come off well, and I remember Brian talking about how hard he was working on "The Like In..." in interviews. With TWGMTR, he seemed to not really know what to write, but then suddenly he popped up with the "Life Suite".  Which, again, speaks for itself.

[Smilin Ed H]

I think Brian has written (and/or co-written) some really good songs since 88; however, I don't think they've always worked out well on the albums, nor do I think there's much in the way of consistency. There are times when it seems he's struggling to find a melody, but other times, of course, when it's worked out really well. I think - in terms of music - his most effective writing has been for TWGMTR. I like a lot of TLOS, but I struggle with some tracks, including Goin' Home, which seems to be popular here. I like most, if not all, of 88, but the production and overall sound is a pain. If I make a BW comp, stuff from here sticks out like a sore thumb and not for the reasons it should. Same with Imagination, but I find at least half the songs fairly turgid or ephemeral. The arrangement and production pretty much kill the good songs on GIOMH - and there are some. Like the Paley stuff and Sweet Insanity, the majority of his released work has a curate's egg feel to it. I wish they'd been released officially, though listening to his shouty voice and the awful arrangements and production on SI, I'm not sure how it worked out with people here - and the goodwill he got with the release of 88 may well have dissipated when the public heard Smart Girls!  I love the music for WIRWFC (the track, that is) but I think it's wasted on that album. I also enjoy his 'addition' to the Gershwin.

[Mr. Cohen]

I will say that I'm not a big fan of a lot of the lyrics on Brian's solo material. This part of "Shelter" really bugs me, for example:

Now it's two o'clock
Lines around the block
Waiting for the parade
When the dark of night
Or the bright sunlight
Has you runnin' for shade

Half of it doesn't even really make sense. The first three lines sound like pure filler, and the last three lines don't work together. The "Or" part doesn't fit. The dark of night will never have you runnin' for shade. I get what he's actually trying to say, but it's awful lyrics.

[Wirestone]

I think it's hard to draw sweeping conclusions because so little of the material has been officially released. I mean, there are literally eight to 10 albums' worth of unreleased, original songs that BW has written in the last three decades. We know where he was at creatively in the 60s and some of the 70s because he wrote a ton of songs that were almost all instantly released.

But these days ... well, it's hard to tell. I mean, we're constantly revising what we think we know. When Imagination came out, a lot of people were grumpy about the remade songs on it, and how that showed that Brian was dried up. TWGMTR showed instead that Brian had actually written a bunch during that period and was only waiting for the right opportunity to revisit those tunes.

Likewise, GIOMH was supposed to show that Brian was spent, creatively. But contemporaneous accounts suggest that he'd written a bunch with Stevie Kalinich, and in fact demoe'd about a half-dozen such tunes for the record. They just didn't make the cut.

The final release of TLOS gussied up the songs as a suite -- but the bonus tracks show what was actually happening at the time, which was a Love You-style explosion of creativity from Brian. What's more, he and Scott kept on writing through the next few years. They had at least enough material for a follow up record (not counting Brian's concept of a "Pleasure Island" album). Again, though, it was never released.

There are many instances of this. The Tony Asher reunion songs. The Paley material. The Usher material. The post-BWPS compositions that were retrofitted for the Christmas album. (Walking Down the Path of Life came from this period too). The point is, Brian hasn't been as prolific as he was in the 60s, but he's been a consistently working songwriter, reports of block notwithstanding.

As for any notion that he's writing formulaic tunes -- that's more a function of what labels think is the most marketable material he writes. Not what he actually does.

[Mr. Cohen]

The Steve Kalinich material is pretty intriguing. "You've Touched Me" has a real Friends vibe.

[Micha]

I will say that I'm not a big fan of a lot of the lyrics on Brian's solo material. This part of "Shelter" really bugs me, for example:

Now it's two o'clock
Lines around the block
Waiting for the parade
When the dark of night
Or the bright sunlight
Has you runnin' for shade

Half of it doesn't even really make sense. The first three lines sound like pure filler, and the last three lines don't work together. The "Or" part doesn't fit. The dark of night will never have you runnin' for shade. I get what he's actually trying to say, but it's awful lyrics.

To me personally they don't seem any worse than "Waving from the ocean liner, beaded cheering indians behind them". What sense does that make?

Of course there's better things and worse things in a creative output. Admittedly you've stated one of the lesser things, but there's spectacular peaks like Midnight's Another Day, Summer's Gone or IMHO Isn't It Time.

[Wirestone]

I personally think that Shelter is a magnificent song. Such a uniquely Brian idea, and a track that goes all over the place. Fun stuff! The lyrics have some odd bits, but I think the stanza quoted is actually one of the better ones. I'm still trying to understand what "Did you ever listen with the music missin'" means!

[halblaineisgood]

.

[Micha]

I personally think that Shelter is a magnificent song. Such a uniquely Brian idea, and a track that goes all over the place. Fun stuff! The lyrics have some odd bits, but I think the stanza quoted is actually one of the better ones. I'm still trying to understand what "Did you ever listen with the music missin'" means!

Musically, BTW, I love the second half of the stanzas and the refrain, while the first half of the stanzas could have used some melodic rethinking IMHO.

[♩♬🐸 Billy C ♯♫♩🐇]

I personally think that Shelter is a magnificent song. Such a uniquely Brian idea, and a track that goes all over the place. Fun stuff! The lyrics have some odd bits, but I think the stanza quoted is actually one of the better ones. I'm still trying to understand what "Did you ever listen with the music missin'" means!

I think the line is referring to listening to a capella music...or the vocals only tracks with the instruments removed.  Sounds like an odd line until you.consider that Brian said several times back in the day that he wasn't too keen on Imagination,  aside from his on vocals

[phirnis]

Shelter is nice, I think it's one of the more creative songs on TWGMTR. I said it before, to me the album sounds like a cross between Today and Still Cruisin' and on Shelter that mix worked out really well. Isn't It Time is another one I like, it has a sweet 15 Big Ones vibe about it. There are other moments on the album (the rhyming in Spring Vacation; the title track's bridge; all of Beaches in Mind) that are pretty close to the many cringe-worthy moments on Summer in Paradise. I'd be very interested to know how much of Beaches in Mind was actually Brian's writing.