Who wrote the Lucky Old Sun vocal intro?

[KDS]

I think the OP's "fear" that Scott Bennett wrote the intro to TLOS has more to do with recent events with Scott Bennett than any kind of hero worship of Brian Wilson.  At least, that was my interpretation.

nothing to do with the crime. I fear because that section is to me the main proof in recent years that Brian "still has it". Without that my case turns pretty bad though.
"Forever She'll Be My Surfer Girl" is revolting.

I'm actually a fan of Forever She'll Be My Surfer Girl.

And if Brian no longer "has it" at the advanced stage in his career, and needs help from outside collaborators, I don't have a problem with that.  Heck, even at it's peak, BW's solo career doesn't come close to his Beach Boys peak anyway IMHO.  But, it's better to enjoy it for what it is than lament what it isn't. 

[Lonely Summer]

I think the OP's "fear" that Scott Bennett wrote the intro to TLOS has more to do with recent events with Scott Bennett than any kind of hero worship of Brian Wilson.  At least, that was my interpretation.

nothing to do with the crime. I fear because that section is to me the main proof in recent years that Brian "still has it". Without that my case turns pretty bad though.
"Forever She'll Be My Surfer Girl" is revolting.

I'm actually a fan of Forever She'll Be My Surfer Girl.

And if Brian no longer "has it" at the advanced stage in his career, and needs help from outside collaborators, I don't have a problem with that.  Heck, even at it's peak, BW's solo career doesn't come close to his Beach Boys peak anyway IMHO.  But, it's better to enjoy it for what it is than lament what it isn't. 

Exactly.

[kreen]

I think the OP's "fear" that Scott Bennett wrote the intro to TLOS has more to do with recent events with Scott Bennett than any kind of hero worship of Brian Wilson.  At least, that was my interpretation.

nothing to do with the crime. I fear because that section is to me the main proof in recent years that Brian "still has it". Without that my case turns pretty bad though.
"Forever She'll Be My Surfer Girl" is revolting.

I'm actually a fan of Forever She'll Be My Surfer Girl.

And if Brian no longer "has it" at the advanced stage in his career, and needs help from outside collaborators, I don't have a problem with that.  Heck, even at it's peak, BW's solo career doesn't come close to his Beach Boys peak anyway IMHO.  But, it's better to enjoy it for what it is than lament what it isn't. 

I agree with this: music is music, so better to have a BW album with outside songwriting than no album at all. But I also care about historical truth and truth in advertising.

Paul McCartney is as old as BW, and I don't think he has his producer play chords so he can write melodies on top. I think this business of Joe Thomas playing chords is PR for: "BW can't write songs anymore, so I play songs for him in the studio, and whatever he contributes, no matter how small, is considered a co-write".

I mean, if Brian Wilson is still able to write quality material like TLOS on his keyboard and bring his demos to his team, then why would he need Joe Thomas to play chords for him? He can play the chords himself, which must be 100 times more effective than this tag team business. And if Joe Thomas can come up with chord sequences that bring out all of those songs, surely he can write songs himself, which he would then bring to BW mostly complete.

Add to that that a lot of BW songs on his solo records don't sound like anything he's ever written before, that there's a lot of remakes, cover versions and rewritten outtakes from previois decades, and that it is known he was struggling to write as far back as the 1988 solo record, and TLOS sounds all the more like a Scott Bennett record with BW vocals. Otherwise it's a true miracle.

[kreen]

From the just-released RS interview :

"I haven't written a song in five years," Wilson says, then lets out two Donald Duck–like quacks. "All outta tunes. But I think I'm getting ready to write."

So who wrote the songs on NPP?

[guitarfool2002]

From the just-released RS interview :

"I haven't written a song in five years," Wilson says, then lets out two Donald Duck–like quacks. "All outta tunes. But I think I'm getting ready to write."

So who wrote the songs on NPP?

You should go back and read up on the history of those songs on NPP, there have been discussions and interviews about where they came from and how they were written posted here.

Consider too that 5 years = 2012 = C50. It's well known that Brian was working on original songs for the Beach Boys to sing and play on what was hoped to be a follow up album to TWGMTR with the same original C50 and TWGMTR lineup, but Mike put the kibosh on all that and bailed. So some of the songs slated for the Beach Boys became Brian solo songs instead.

[Hickory Violet Part IV]

From people I've spoken to who know Brian, an overriding fact emerges. It's not really hidden, it's there for all to see.

Brian will take the path of least resistance if left to his own devices. If left alone he is lazy, and why not? He's more than earned that right. Brian is not controlled by anyone, but sometimes he needs nudging into action by people who know it's good for his mental state to be productive.

I beleive that Brian is still more than capable of writing music. If he is writing songs with someone who writes the chords for him, then he is taking the path of least resistance, and that person is enabling him to be lazy. If that person is cherry picking ideas from hours of Brian noodling on the piano, then we  are getting that persons vision of Brian Wilson.

For me, the chord sequences and arrangements are what defines a great piece by Wilson. Nothing on the Joe Thomas trilogy jumps out and screams Brian Wilson to me.  Even the remakes and rehashes on Imagination are let down by the horrible Thomas arrangements and insipid production. Didn't Brian himself say in his book he didn't like Imagination and it didn't represent him musically, or words along those lines?

So why the hell did he start working with him again? (Rhetorical question, I know the c50 story)
 
I have strong feelings about his work with Joe Thomas, as you can probably see

[KDS]

I think the OP's "fear" that Scott Bennett wrote the intro to TLOS has more to do with recent events with Scott Bennett than any kind of hero worship of Brian Wilson.  At least, that was my interpretation.

nothing to do with the crime. I fear because that section is to me the main proof in recent years that Brian "still has it". Without that my case turns pretty bad though.
"Forever She'll Be My Surfer Girl" is revolting.

I'm actually a fan of Forever She'll Be My Surfer Girl.

And if Brian no longer "has it" at the advanced stage in his career, and needs help from outside collaborators, I don't have a problem with that.  Heck, even at it's peak, BW's solo career doesn't come close to his Beach Boys peak anyway IMHO.  But, it's better to enjoy it for what it is than lament what it isn't. 

I agree with this: music is music, so better to have a BW album with outside songwriting than no album at all. But I also care about historical truth and truth in advertising.

Paul McCartney is as old as BW, and I don't think he has his producer play chords so he can write melodies on top. I think this business of Joe Thomas playing chords is PR for: "BW can't write songs anymore, so I play songs for him in the studio, and whatever he contributes, no matter how small, is considered a co-write".

I mean, if Brian Wilson is still able to write quality material like TLOS on his keyboard and bring his demos to his team, then why would he need Joe Thomas to play chords for him? He can play the chords himself, which must be 100 times more effective than this tag team business. And if Joe Thomas can come up with chord sequences that bring out all of those songs, surely he can write songs himself, which he would then bring to BW mostly complete.

Add to that that a lot of BW songs on his solo records don't sound like anything he's ever written before, that there's a lot of remakes, cover versions and rewritten outtakes from previois decades, and that it is known he was struggling to write as far back as the 1988 solo record, and TLOS sounds all the more like a Scott Bennett record with BW vocals. Otherwise it's a true miracle.

Frankly, I think Paul could use a good collaborator. 

[Hickory Violet Part IV]

He had one back in the 60's didn't he? That whatzisname.......

[KDS]

He had one back in the 60's didn't he? That whatzisname.......

Exactly, and that material is why Paul is still playing big time venues in 2017. 

Paul's got a great touring band.  I would think that Brian, Rusty, Abe, or Wix could help knock out a few solid tracks.

[HeyJude]

He had one back in the 60's didn't he? That whatzisname.......

Exactly, and that material is why Paul is still playing big time venues in 2017. 

Paul's got a great touring band.  I would think that Brian, Rusty, Abe, or Wix could help knock out a few solid tracks.

If you haven't already, check out Howie Edelson's "Fabcast", and in particular their episode with Mark Lewisohn. Rather than squeezing Lewisohn for the same old 60s Beatles trivia, Lewisohn participates in a discussion focusing on McCartney's work in the 80s and in particular his work with Elvis Costello circa 1987.

In the back and forth, they delve into some excellent stuff as far as explaining why, whether we like it or not, McCartney for the most part *can't* bring himself to have an equal 50/50 (in terms of control/gravitas, etc.) collaboration with another writer whose name isn't John Lennon.

The McCartney/Costello stuff is amazing; mind-blowing stuff. But even in that case it was stunted because McCartney for a variety of reasons couldn't make it a true equal-footing collaboration. Other than essentially (arguably) selling out and doing something like the Kanye collaboration stuff like "FourFiveSeconds" where he cedes a ton of control in exchange for "cred" with the young folks, I don't think McCartney has been able to have a true "equal" collaboration on a long-term basis over the course of an album.

You'd think even with his own (relative) contemporaries he'd try something out. Think about how mind-blowing it would have been (or maybes still could be) to have Paul actually *write* stuff with, say, Jeff Lynne.

As for Brian, I think Jeff Lynne would be a great choice to co-produce (and maybe even do some co-writing). Other than something like that, I think the best course for a new Brian album is for someone to take old (and new) Brian tracks, have Brian pound them out solo on piano and do some solid takes, structure the sessions, and just record Brian doing an album of "Message Man" type stuff and put that out. In other words, the exact opposite production-wise of something like "A Friend Like You" (which is a good song, even with sappy lyrics, bogged down by an over-produced track).

[KDS]

He had one back in the 60's didn't he? That whatzisname.......

Exactly, and that material is why Paul is still playing big time venues in 2017. 

Paul's got a great touring band.  I would think that Brian, Rusty, Abe, or Wix could help knock out a few solid tracks.

If you haven't already, check out Howie Edelson's "Fabcast", and in particular their episode with Mark Lewisohn. Rather than squeezing Lewisohn for the same old 60s Beatles trivia, Lewisohn participates in a discussion focusing on McCartney's work in the 80s and in particular his work with Elvis Costello circa 1987.

In the back and forth, they delve into some excellent stuff as far as explaining why, whether we like it or not, McCartney for the most part *can't* bring himself to have an equal 50/50 (in terms of control/gravitas, etc.) collaboration with another writer whose name isn't John Lennon.

The McCartney/Costello stuff is amazing; mind-blowing stuff. But even in that case it was stunted because McCartney for a variety of reasons couldn't make it a true equal-footing collaboration. Other than essentially (arguably) selling out and doing something like the Kanye collaboration stuff like "FourFiveSeconds" where he cedes a ton of control in exchange for "cred" with the young folks, I don't think McCartney has been able to have a true "equal" collaboration on a long-term basis over the course of an album.

You'd think even with his own (relative) contemporaries he'd try something out. Think about how mind-blowing it would have been (or maybes still could be) to have Paul actually *write* stuff with, say, Jeff Lynne.

As for Brian, I think Jeff Lynne would be a great choice to co-produce (and maybe even do some co-writing). Other than something like that, I think the best course for a new Brian album is for someone to take old (and new) Brian tracks, have Brian pound them out solo on piano and do some solid takes, structure the sessions, and just record Brian doing an album of "Message Man" type stuff and put that out. In other words, the exact opposite production-wise of something like "A Friend Like You" (which is a good song, even with sappy lyrics, bogged down by an over-produced track).

I'd love to hear a Brian Wilson  / Jeff Lynne project. 

Speaking of Lynne, I wonder if Jeff co(ghost) wrote any of Paul's Flaming Pie album (which is IMO one of Paul's best solo albums). 

Even if Paul doesn't write with anyone else, I'd at least like to hear him use his band more in the studio, rather than have Paul keep trying to recapture the feel of McCartney I by playing everything himself. 

[Chocolate Shake Man]

Paul's a micromanager. It's just not in his nature to collaborate like that.

[KDS]

Paul's a micromanager. It's just not in his nature to collaborate like that.

And his solo albums are poorer for that IMO. 

[HeyJude]

I'd love to hear a Brian Wilson  / Jeff Lynne project. 

Speaking of Lynne, I wonder if Jeff co(ghost) wrote any of Paul's Flaming Pie album (which is IMO one of Paul's best solo albums). 

Even if Paul doesn't write with anyone else, I'd at least like to hear him use his band more in the studio, rather than have Paul keep trying to recapture the feel of McCartney I by playing everything himself. 

I don't think Lynne had any significant hand in writing anything with McCartney (though he probably should have been given songwriting credit on the "jam" track "Really Love You" recorded by Paul, Ringo, and Jeff, where Paul gave Ringo a co-writing credit for simply being on the jam).

I think McCartney brought that stuff in pretty fully-formed and was looking for Lynne to be very much in the "producer" role as he had been on the "Threetles" tracks.

That McCartney worked with Lynne at all was pretty surprising and mind-blowing at that time; Lynne had been very much a "George" guy (and by association Ringo as well), doing "Cloud Nine" and the Wilburys stuff, etc. Indeed, McCartney would go on to describe that he was apprehensive about working with Lynne on the reunion tracks, telling Lynne "you've got a sound." I'm sure, much like the BBs with C50, the "Threetles" sessions were about political concessions. Paul was able to bring in Geoff Emerick (who I don't think Harrison was a huge fan of) to engineer, and Harrison brought in Jeff Lynne to produce and to be the "modern" guy with George Martin bowing out (whether by choice or not).

It's a testament to how much these guys like what Lynne brought to the table that McCartney went from "meh, I dunno, Jeff Lynne is a "Harrison" guy" to having Lynne work on his own solo stuff on "Flaming Pie" (I always wondered what Harrison thought about Paul utilizing Jeff Lynne for his solo stuff). But even then on the 8 (9 including a b-side) tracks Lynne did with Paul for "Flaming Pie", there was a control/politics aspect to it. Lynne is barely seen in the accompanying "In the World Tonight" documentary on the album and is never mentioned or named. Also, some tracks have the production credits as "Paul/Jeff" while others are "Jeff/Paul", meaning Paul actually parsed which songs had more or less of Lynne's production contributions.

Now, one *very* sketchy fan theory/rumor that would involve a McCartney/Lynne collaboration is that the rumored-but-may-have-never-existed aborted McCartney/Harrison collaboration from the mid 90s titled "All for Love" was "given" to Jeff Lynne with Lynne re-working it as "Just for Love" on his 2001 ELO "Zoom" album. Quite far fetched in my opinion that McCartney would take something as precious as that sort of track, even if aborted, and just give it to someone else.

Back again to Brian, I think Lynne would be a sympathetic producer and collaborator and would be something *just different enough* to have something both fresh and new but also familiar from Brian. I like that Howie Edelson mentioned to Brian in a recent interview from the last year or so that he thought Brian should work with Lynne again.

Also noteworthy that Brian has an affinity for "Let It Shine" to the point of putting it on his upcoming solo anthology; this in contrast to what I heard from one "researcher" who claimed Brian *hated* the song back when it was put out in 1988.

[HeyJude]

Paul's a micromanager. It's just not in his nature to collaborate like that.

And his solo albums are poorer for that IMO. 

I think McCartney is willing to cede plenty of control *sometimes* at least when it comes to production; witness how he has had co-producers if not full outside production on most of his output post-1980. He of course had Nigel Godrich on board who infamously was not afraid to tell Paul some songs sucked.

It's probably more in that sense, in an organizational and sort of "A&R" mode that Brian could use a similar sort of partner. Someone who *isn't* involved in the writing but still gives advice on what sucks and what's good. Someone who, for instance, would have told him some of the stuff on "Gettin' in Over My Head" was sub-par.

[Chocolate Shake Man]

Paul's a micromanager. It's just not in his nature to collaborate like that.

And his solo albums are poorer for that IMO. 

The grass is always greener. For a long time people were saying that Brian would make better albums if he was just allowed to do his own thing without others meddling. With Paul, they say that he would be better if he had more people meddling. Who knows?

They've been saying that about Paul incidentally since the time of McCartney and Ram. Both George and Ringo criticized those albums and laid the fault mostly on the fact that he refused to have a sounding board. Now, in retrospect, those albums are regarded as small triumphs. Would those albums be better had he collaborated? Maybe -- but they also wouldn't be McCartney and Ram as we know them.

I'm not comparing McCartney's recent efforts to those albums, by the way, but I also don't think McCartney's solo career has been any worse than most of his contemporaries. His flaw, I think, has been less about being a micromanager and more about wanting to make relevant music in a world that he doesn't fully understand anymore. The peers of his that have done better, like Neil Young and Bob Dylan, have been a bit more self-indulgent and that has served them better in the long run.

[KDS]

Paul's a micromanager. It's just not in his nature to collaborate like that.

And his solo albums are poorer for that IMO. 

The grass is always greener. For a long time people were saying that Brian would make better albums if he was just allowed to do his own thing without others meddling. With Paul, they say that he would be better if he had more people meddling. Who knows?

They've been saying that about Paul incidentally since the time of McCartney and Ram. Both George and Ringo criticized those albums and laid the fault mostly on the fact that he refused to have a sounding board. Now, in retrospect, those albums are regarded as small triumphs. Would those albums be better had he collaborated? Maybe -- but they also wouldn't be McCartney and Ram as we know them.

I'm not comparing McCartney's recent efforts to those albums, by the way, but I also don't think McCartney's solo career has been any worse than most of his contemporaries. His flaw, I think, has been less about being a micromanager and more about wanting to make relevant music in a world that he doesn't fully understand anymore. The peers of his that have done better, like Neil Young and Bob Dylan, have been a bit more self-indulgent and that has served them better in the long run.

Taken as a whole, I think Paul's solo career is pretty good. 

But, if you take the last 25-30 years or so, there's been a drop off in quality IMO.  Whereas, Brian's solo releases, particularly in the last ten years, have been pretty solid. 

[Chocolate Shake Man]

I think McCartney is willing to cede plenty of control *sometimes* at least when it comes to production; witness how he has had co-producers if not full outside production on most of his output post-1980. He of course had Nigel Godrich on board who infamously was not afraid to tell Paul some songs sucked.

He is, yes. As Mark Lewisohn says in that podcast you referenced, though, nothing really goes out there with Paul's name on it that he doesn't want going out, which I agree is something quite different but nevertheless speaks to his desire to control everything. I do still think that Paul wants to have the final word and that doesn't quite work in a true collaborative relationship. But this is pretty much what you already know.

[guitarfool2002]

Brian doesn't need Jeff Lynne to produce a record. Lynne is a master producer, of course, and I dearly love and have been influenced by the music he made, but his production mindset isn't the same as Brian's. That's about all I can say unless anyone wants to discuss more details on that.

The trap that seems to exist in any legacy artist especially those from the 60's is that many have a fantasy of them cutting records "like they did in the old days", like a vintage time warp back to 1966. many have tried, and tried very hard to get every detail right down to using vintage guitar cables and patch cords for fucks sake, but does it ever work? Is there ever anything close to the records being copied?

My dream Brian Wilson project is to let Brian do what he wants to do, cut some tracks, and I'll listen.

[Chocolate Shake Man]

Paul's a micromanager. It's just not in his nature to collaborate like that.

And his solo albums are poorer for that IMO. 

The grass is always greener. For a long time people were saying that Brian would make better albums if he was just allowed to do his own thing without others meddling. With Paul, they say that he would be better if he had more people meddling. Who knows?

They've been saying that about Paul incidentally since the time of McCartney and Ram. Both George and Ringo criticized those albums and laid the fault mostly on the fact that he refused to have a sounding board. Now, in retrospect, those albums are regarded as small triumphs. Would those albums be better had he collaborated? Maybe -- but they also wouldn't be McCartney and Ram as we know them.

I'm not comparing McCartney's recent efforts to those albums, by the way, but I also don't think McCartney's solo career has been any worse than most of his contemporaries. His flaw, I think, has been less about being a micromanager and more about wanting to make relevant music in a world that he doesn't fully understand anymore. The peers of his that have done better, like Neil Young and Bob Dylan, have been a bit more self-indulgent and that has served them better in the long run.

Taken as a whole, I think Paul's solo career is pretty good. 

But, if you take the last 25-30 years or so, there's been a drop off in quality IMO.  Whereas, Brian's solo releases, particularly in the last ten years, have been pretty solid. 

Hmmm...I don't know. Yes, I agree McCartney's quality over the last 30 years is not what it was before that but I would say that is true of most artists from his generation.

And in my view, Brian's triumph in the last 20 years has been his touring rather than his recording output (much like Paul), with perhaps BWPS (and the subsequent recording) as the ultimate culmination of that. As far as original material being recorded, I do think that Brian has one great album which is That Lucky Old Sun, which is a very good album but in my view doesn't reach the level of Brian's 60s output, which is absolutely fine because, as with McCartney, he set the bar really high that no one else could really live up to. As far as more recent work from his contemporaries, I do think that say Love & Theft and Greendale are stronger as artistic statements but TLOS is still a very good accomplishment. But I don't think I would necessarily position Brian's solo work from 1988 to present as necessarily superior to McCartney's work from the same time frame.

[KDS]

Paul's a micromanager. It's just not in his nature to collaborate like that.

And his solo albums are poorer for that IMO. 

The grass is always greener. For a long time people were saying that Brian would make better albums if he was just allowed to do his own thing without others meddling. With Paul, they say that he would be better if he had more people meddling. Who knows?

They've been saying that about Paul incidentally since the time of McCartney and Ram. Both George and Ringo criticized those albums and laid the fault mostly on the fact that he refused to have a sounding board. Now, in retrospect, those albums are regarded as small triumphs. Would those albums be better had he collaborated? Maybe -- but they also wouldn't be McCartney and Ram as we know them.

I'm not comparing McCartney's recent efforts to those albums, by the way, but I also don't think McCartney's solo career has been any worse than most of his contemporaries. His flaw, I think, has been less about being a micromanager and more about wanting to make relevant music in a world that he doesn't fully understand anymore. The peers of his that have done better, like Neil Young and Bob Dylan, have been a bit more self-indulgent and that has served them better in the long run.

Taken as a whole, I think Paul's solo career is pretty good. 

But, if you take the last 25-30 years or so, there's been a drop off in quality IMO.  Whereas, Brian's solo releases, particularly in the last ten years, have been pretty solid. 

Hmmm...I don't know. Yes, I agree McCartney's quality over the last 30 years is not what it was before that but I would say that is true of most artists from his generation.

And in my view, Brian's triumph in the last 20 years has been his touring rather than his recording output (much like Paul), with perhaps BWPS (and the subsequent recording) as the ultimate culmination of that. As far as original material being recorded, I do think that Brian has one great album which is That Lucky Old Sun, which is a very good album but in my view doesn't reach the level of Brian's 60s output, which is absolutely fine because, as with McCartney, he set the bar really high that no one else could really live up to. As far as more recent work from his contemporaries, I do think that say Love & Theft and Greendale are stronger as artistic statements but TLOS is still a very good accomplishment. But I don't think I would necessarily position Brian's solo work from 1988 to present as necessarily superior to McCartney's work from the same time frame.

I would really have to think about the last 30 years of BW v Macca.  BW has some long gaps in there that doesn't help. 

I was talking more about BW's output over the last decade.  Just my opinion, but there's the stellar TLOS album.  The acclaimed Gershwin album.  TWGMTR, which is, IMO, the best BB album since Holland.  And the mostly very good NPP album. 

So, over the last decade, BW is trending up.  Meanwhile, Macca is IMO, going through the motions with lacklustre albums and baffling collaborations with Kanye West and Rihanna. 

[Chocolate Shake Man]

I would really have to think about the last 30 years of BW v Macca.  BW has some long gaps in there that doesn't help. 

I was talking more about BW's output over the last decade.  Just my opinion, but there's the stellar TLOS album.  The acclaimed Gershwin album.  TWGMTR, which is, IMO, the best BB album since Holland.  And the mostly very good NPP album. 

So, over the last decade, BW is trending up.  Meanwhile, Macca is IMO, going through the motions with lacklustre albums and baffling collaborations with Kanye West and Rihanna. 

I wasn't even thinking of TWGMTR which, I agree, was good. Was it significantly better than McCartney's New? I might say better but not significantly better.

Can't comment on NPP but the fact that I have never been able to get through the album suggests that I don't consider it with much fondness.

So again, I might suggest that in the last ten years of original material, Lucky Old Sun, TWGMTR, and NPP vs. Memory Almost Full and New. The quality of the former is better than the latter but I would say only slightly. But that's just my personal opinion.

[KDS]

I would really have to think about the last 30 years of BW v Macca.  BW has some long gaps in there that doesn't help. 

I was talking more about BW's output over the last decade.  Just my opinion, but there's the stellar TLOS album.  The acclaimed Gershwin album.  TWGMTR, which is, IMO, the best BB album since Holland.  And the mostly very good NPP album. 

So, over the last decade, BW is trending up.  Meanwhile, Macca is IMO, going through the motions with lacklustre albums and baffling collaborations with Kanye West and Rihanna. 

I wasn't even thinking of TWGMTR which, I agree, was good. Was it significantly better than McCartney's New? I might say better but not significantly better.

Can't comment on NPP but the fact that I have never been able to get through the album suggests that I don't consider it with much fondness.

So again, I might suggest that in the last ten years of original material, Lucky Old Sun, TWGMTR, and NPP vs. Memory Almost Full and New. The quality of the former is better than the latter but I would say only slightly. But that's just my personal opinion.

I don't think I ever listened to New from start to finish.  I kinda gave up on buying new McCartney albums after Memory Almost Full.  I think I listened to 5-6 songs from New online, but they didn't make me want to check out more.  Then, there's the Kanye West thing.  I'll listen to Runaway Dancer a dozen times before listening to that one once more. 

[Lonely Summer]

The sad truth is, Brian has been very dry as a writer since TLOS. And when was the last album of all new material before that? Imagination? I'm not a fan of Macca's recent works, but he never stops cranking them out. I think Brian is more like a guy like John Fogerty or John Sebastian. He had one period where the musical ideas were just flowing out of him. Then there came a time when it just stopped. Most of his solo career has been re-recordings of older songs, or special projects like the Gershwin album. Record labels keep signing him up, hoping for a return of the 63-67 Brian. Then the collaborators are brought in, believing they can bring back the magic.

[Hickory Violet Part IV]

My dream Brian Wilson project is to let Brian do what he wants to do, cut some tracks, and I'll listen.

Absolutely. And  Brian did that with the Paley sessions, nixed by Carl of all people. The unfortunate truth is, if Brian were to do that now, someone would decide it wasn't up to par, or this bit or that bit needed changing. Everyone, (myself included) has their own idea of what a Brian Wilson record ought to sound.

And he is at the moment working with people who think the perfect Brian Wilson project should be just that, perfect.

Whereas to me, I want the  Brian who knew the 'perfect take' could well be riddled with imperfections. I want the guy who goes on feel. On instinct.

I'm happy he's still putting stuff out, but I would be ecstatic to get an undoctored, warts n all recording actually arranged and produced by Brian. I'm not holding my breath.