Happy Birthday No Pier Pressure

[KDS]

Where were you one year ago today?

I hurried from work to Target, where my fiance (now wife) had called and had them reserve a copy of the brand new Deluxe Target Exclusive Edition of Brian Wilson's No Pier Pressure. 

It's very rare that I go and buy a new album on the street date anymore. 

After dinner that night, I sat and played the CD, satisfied with the majority of it. 

A few days later, my fiance and I listened to it on the way to the beach for a long weekend, and we played it a lot through spring and summer.

After a year, the album as a whole still sounds really good IMO.

[MarcellaHasDirtyFeet]

While it isn't a masterpiece, I find the entire album perfectly listenable from start to finish. I have loved Runaway Dancer since the start, so that doesn't ruin the album for me, and I was underwhelmed by Right Time since the start, so that kind of drags for me. I enjoy all of the guests artists, and I think the entire album does quite well in establishing a mood that carries through to the end.

[SMiLE Brian]

Great album that captures a 21st century BW well.

[JK]

I bought the deluxe edition. It took me a while to get into it, until it struck me that it was the last official album track and the two extra ones that bugged me. Now I listen as far as "Saturday Night" and no further----end of problem. :=)   

[Emily]

Well that year went by quickly.

[The Cincinnati Kid]

I skipped my last class to go to Target and buy the deluxe edition.  I still enjoy it very much.  No songs that I truly dislike, though I will skip Our Special Love and The Last Song on occasion (and the two bonus tracks).  Whatever Happened is still my favorite track.  It's closest you'll get to the Beach Boys without it actually being them.  I like to play it and From There to Back Again back to back.  I didn't like Don't Worry at first, but now it's one of my favorites.  I think I'd give the album a 7.5/10. 

[Micha]

Is it one year already? I listened to it again the other day, and to me it's really Brian's "Summer In Paradise". Aside from "Runaway Dancer" there are absolutely no interesting sounds or arrangements on it. In "The Last Song" that song of the Smurfs part still rolls my toenails up. The vinyl track order works better for me, as the especially tedious tracks come later there. "Guess You Had To Be There", "Sad", "Saturday Night", and "Don't Worry" are decent tunes at least which would have made a nice EP.

I remember how puzzled and disappointed I was that I had to put it back on the shelf after the first two listens. Hail "That Lucky Old Sun", that one was great!

[KDS]

Pardon me if you've read my opinion on the BW Forum....

But, for me, I'd rank NPP as my favorite Brian solo album if not for Runaway Dancer and Guess You Had to Be There. 

Runaway Dancer starts out OK, but completely loses me when the EDM beat kicks in.  I tried to like the song better once I heard the live version, but when I go back and listen to the album as a whole, I still cringe when that beat starts. 

Guess You Had to Be There has become a fan favorite, but I don't like the country / pop vocals. 

Other than those two gripes, there's 14 tracks that I really like (I don't include the bonus Target tracks as part of the album).  This Beautiful Day, Whatever Happened, Half Moon Day, This Special Love, One Kind of Love, Saturday Night, Tell Me Why, The Right Time, and favorite, Sail Away are all still getting a lot of listens. 

I think the inclusion of Al Jardine's vocals really take the album to another level.  While I think Brian sings very well on the album, I think it's great to have Al on there to help with the heavy lifting. 

[Dudd]

Agreed with Micha on this one. I've tried again and again with this album, and I enjoy it on some days, but on the whole it just wasn't for me. I think my main problem with it is the production. It all sounds a bit too loud (the drums especially are really cranked on most of these songs), which hurts a few cuts, especially "One Kind of Love" which can't decide whether it wants to be an 80s power ballad or "God Only Knows". To me there's something really by-the-numbers about songs like "Whatever Happened" and especially "The Last Song", which I feel bad writing considering they both address a very serious subject, but "From There to Back Again" hit that mark more or less perfectly a few years ago whereas these two just don't do anything for me.

Not that it's all bad. Even if I don't like the sound of "One Kind of Love" it's still the album's definitive piece of proof that Brian can still write a hell of a song. I enjoy the majority of the collaborations even if there's nothing conventionally 'Brian Wilson' about them - "Runaway Dancer", "Saturday Night", "Guess You Had to Be There"... all perfectly fine bubblegum (still not fond of "Our Special Love" though). "Half Moon Bay" is a fairly nice instrumental and I continue to love the hell out of "Don't Worry" (and to a lesser extent "I'm Feeling Sad").

So although I have no doubt Brian had total creative control, the music here just doesn't remind me of why I love the man and his music so much. But at least it's not another GIOMH as some had feared.

[Douchepool]

A year on and it still hovers above the realm of being almost completely uninteresting. Al, David, and Blondie are the saving graces.

[Smilin Ed H]

I struggle with this one. Like a lot of Brian's later stuff (88 aside), I just don't here the melodies that attract me. I do like That Beautiful Day, Tell Me Why, Half Moon  Bay and Sail Away. I don't think there's anything on here as strong as the best 4 or 5 tracks from TWGMTR - though there's nothing as bad as Beaches in Mind - ot TLOS or even the best 3 or 4 off Imagination, even though I really don't like most of that album. Of course. this has Blondie and Al and Brian sounds a hell of a lot better than he does on most of his previous albums.

[CenturyDeprived]

In "The Last Song" that song of the Smurfs part still rolls my toenails up.

What section/part of "The Last Song" sounds like The Smurfs? I'm feeling blue just thinking about it...

[CenturyDeprived]

I think the album absolutely has its moments, like One Kind of Love, This Beautiful Day, Runaway Dancer (I dig it), Whatever Happened, and On the Island. I mostly like the songs without the guest stars, though Zoe sounds rad on her song.

The production isn’t my cup of tea, and I wish that The Mulleted One was not at the helm as producer, and that we instead had another album with production like That Lucky Old Sun or In the Key of Gershwin, but that said, there are still some gems to be found on this album.

I still can’t help but to think that Brian was still deeply bummed about how Mike abruptly quashed plans for a BB followup to TWGMTR, and that this could in part be to blame for some of the lack of inspiration that IMO affects parts of the album. Brian had plans for a BB album that he was enthusiastic about, he was working on a project, and it got screwed up again. A guy can only take that happening a certain amount of times before it can affect their output and ability to create. Brian deserved better.

Not only would it have been more beneficial and awesome to have Mike and Bruce contributing their voices, but I think that if Mike had been genuinely supportive of Brian (and this being a BB album), and not making demand after demand, that this album could have turned out better and closer to its original intention by Brian.  Plus, I'm sure that Mike could have contributed a few genuinely good ideas of his own, but again, not if they came attached with an "or else" implementation order.

But I’ll still enjoy the rad parts of the album, of which there are quite a few.

[KDS]

I'll agree with you on one aspect, CD, I could've done with less guest stars. 

Halfway through my first listen, I felt like Brian was a guest on his own album. 

Although, the ones with Zoey D., Nate Ruess, and Peter Hollen have grown on me.  Not so much Sebu and Kacey.  I'm still thankful a year later that Frank Ocean didn't appear on NPP. 

[Andrew G. Doe]

Solid summer album. My preference is for the basic 13 track version minus the song with a bored guest vocal. But best solo album ? Nope.

[HeyJude]

Brian had some great stuff on all of his solo albums. But I don't know if he's strung together one front-to-back killer album, with the probable exception of "Smile" if we're counting that.

I think "That Lucky Old Sun" and "Orange Crate Art" have a good unifying concept and the overall quality level stays high enough across the entire albums to call those excellent albums. But even on "TLOS", there's some stuff I sometimes skip.

I kinda don't count the covers or re-recordings albums (though I dig big hunks of those). That gets us back to just a few albums, and they're all of a similar hit-and-miss quality. BW'88 has a number of great songs, and some great Brian vocal stacks. It also has "Little Children" on it.

I'm not *quite* as down on GIOMH as some folks, but it's all over the place at best.

"Imagination", apart from a few key tracks, remains elusively kind of unmemorable to me; I should probably give it a listen again.

"No Pier Pressure" kinda falls smack dab in the middle of Brian's solo stuff for me. I think "Sail Away" is great. I think having Al singing on the album is amazing. A subset of the compositions on the album are strong, most are at least okay. The only track I usually have to skip is "Our Special Love", and Brian's (and Joe's) composition is equally to blame as Hollens's recording/performance on that one.

[kwebb]

It's not nearly as bad as Summer In Paradise. It's more like Brian's "L.A. Album" to me, because of the soft-rock adult contemporary sound it often has. Whenever I listen to this album I have it on a playlist minus the bonus tracks and minus "Don't Worry."

[Paul J B]

I love NPP. It's my favorite Brian record. The guest vocalists are FANTASTIC and probably why I love it. Brian never sang lead on all of the tracks of any Beach Boys album. Breaking it up with the guest vocalists gave this the "feel" of a Beach Boys album more so than any of Brian's other solo works. That was a good thing as opposed to Brian all by himself trying to sound like a Beach Boys album (minus the Boys) which has been the case for most of his solo output. It also made me realize Taylor Mills should have been given some leads or at least partial leads on Brian's solo efforts. It turned me into a fan of Kacey Musgraves and I don't care for much country at all. That gal is unique and her songs are very catchy and witty. It turned me into a fan of She and Him. I had heard of Zooey, but had no idea she was part of a cool band that make songs I actually want to hear. Bringing in talented people to work with Brian who's best days were not behind them was a great idea.

[JK]

In "The Last Song" that song of the Smurfs part still rolls my toenails up.

What section/part of "The Last Song" sounds like The Smurfs? I'm feeling blue just thinking about it...

The la-la-la's, I should imagine:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RqbpzEHuO2g

[petsoundsnola]

Happy Birthday, NPP.  It's a solid B- for me.  At first, I thought I would not enjoy the guests vocalists, but to my surprise, I Guess You Had to Be There and Saturday Night are among my favorite tracks.

My ideal track listing would have been:

This Beautiful Day
What Ever Happened
Half Moon Bay
Our Special Love
The Right Time
Guess You Had to Be There
Somewhere Quiet
One Kind of Love
Saturday Night
The Last Song

[You Kane, You Commanded, You Conquered]

A year already!

[The Shift]

Happy Birthday, NPP.  It's a solid B- for me.  At first, I thought I would not enjoy the guests vocalists, but to my surprise, I Guess You Had to Be There and Saturday Night are among my favorite tracks.

My ideal track listing would have been:

This Beautiful Day
What Ever Happened
Half Moon Bay
Our Special Love
The Right Time
Guess You Had to Be There
Somewhere Quiet
One Kind of Love
Saturday Night
The Last Song

That's the ideal listing for me too.

NPP was more of a collection of overlapping EPs to my ears. The guest numbers, the suite-like numbers, the pop numbers, the slice of life numbers…

Having heard Brian's backing vocals on a couple of indie tracks - Emile H's Falling Apart and Mini Mansion's Any Emotion - I was kind of expecting something else completely of NPP. I built up an expectation that Brian was listening to and being inspired by a new generation of creative indie artists, and had every faith in his ability to, for his own album, take them on at their own game and surpass them. I had (and retain) faith in his ability and potential to do that.

What we got instead was another album belonging faithfully to the pop genre. Outstandingly good in many places, packed with brilliant ear worms, utterly thrilling even at times… but yet another pop album.

Were my expectations too high? No way. This is the guy who's shed genres like snake skins in the past, going from surf and sun to Pet Sounds and Smile in the near-wink of an eye, before morphing into something else again completely.

BW88, Imagination, GIOMH, BWPS, TLOS, WIRWFC, the Disney album and now NPP… all great to differing degrees (IMHO), but still all pop albums at heart. OCA and BWPG were something else again, as we might have expected in OCA's case, given the brilliant VDP's steering hand.

But while I really enjoy NPP, recognise if as being music Brian wanted to make at that time, and still play it (well, most of it!) pretty regularly, I wonder (and hope for) what Brian might pull out of another sleeve one day. Hopefully soon.

I do think several of the tracks could have made the basis for an outstanding Beach Boys album but hope Brian's kept a few tunes back in case that comes about!

I didn't post in the album review thread because the flak that most reviewers here came in for deteriorated at times into one of the worse examples of Brianista/Camp Love grudge matches I'd seen (at the time) and didn't want the unpleasantness. But my view's not changed over the last twelve months, and this seems to be a more honest, calmer thread.

Upshot: NPP, great in places.

[Jukka]

I was in a restaurant few weeks ago, and all of sudden I noticed this easy-listening song playing in the background... And it was On the Island! It had been a while since I'd last heard it, and the song really made my gloomy, rainy March Sunday a little bit brighter. Such a genius little song. It inspired me to dig out NPP, and I have to say, I really like this album. It's no masterpiece, and maybe half of the songs are pretty run-of-the-mill, but no matter. Listening to NPP makes me feel good. Has a nice sunset feel to it. Lazy, warm, mellow. It doesn't tear my heart out, inspire me to scale any heights, remind me of the endless wonder of life and art... It's just alright, and sometimes that's all you need.

I have to say, though, that Sail Away and The Last Song kind of suck. Not bad songs per se, but after all the hype they really let me down. Uninspired. Latter day Brian is at his best when he doesn't try too hard (see On the Island)?

[Lonely Summer]

I have to wonder how much Brian is really into these latter day albums. I mean, they spend some time writing and recording them, hype them all to heck when they are released...and then a short time later, it's like they are forgotten. I mean, how many NPP songs is Brian doing on his tour this year? When was the last time he played anything off TLOS or the Gershwin record? His solo career has been spotty; for me, BW88, OCA and TLOS are the keepers. And maybe IJWMFTT. The rest I could take 'em or leave 'em.

[18thofMay]

I have to wonder how much Brian is really into these latter day albums. I mean, they spend some time writing and recording them, hype them all to heck when they are released...and then a short time later, it's like they are forgotten. I mean, how many NPP songs is Brian doing on his tour this year? When was the last time he played anything off TLOS or the Gershwin record? His solo career has been spotty; for me, BW88, OCA and TLOS are the keepers. And maybe IJWMFTT. The rest I could take 'em or leave 'em.

+

I'm not expecting anything great from Brian's book. I hope he is more involved in it than he was the first one, but won't be surprised if he's not. In fact, I won't be surprised if this book comes off like WIBN take 2, with Melinda as the savior instead of Landy.

= What?