Gershwin Album

[Jim Curtis]

I enjoy the first and last song on this album.  The Like in Loving You and Nothing but Love.  My understanding was that they were just snippets from Gershwin and Brian and Scott Bennett finished them.  Can anyone shed any light on how much Brian was involved in the lyrical content or music content?  They are two really great songs.  Is it true that the Gershwin fam8ly trust wanted Brian to finish them?  Is most of the finishing from Scott Bennett?

[Cristian Kiper]

This is what they had to work with:

https://youtu.be/gnecxn5N5sc

https://youtu.be/GVkyjBIoH84

I'm not sure why they didn't use any of the original lyrics, although in this video Brian says he only received piano versions of the songs: https://youtu.be/o-u5UqsHsMo

In this article (https://www.playbill.com/article/brian-wilson-crafts-new-gershwin-songs-and-interprets-old-favorites-on-reimagines-gershwin-cd-com-169700) it says:

Did Wilson write new lyrics? A spokesperson told Playbill.com, "Brian worked/collaborated with two of his longtime band members on lyrics (Scott Bennett) and the orchestral arrangements (Paul Von Mertens)."

[phirnis]

Fascinating stuff, I'd never heard the original music that they developed these songs from. I'm a big fan of Nothing But Love, it has a nice 15 Big Ones feeling about it. The Like in I Love You, in my opinion, is good but suffers from "clever lyric syndrome"; "Now we can duplicate the universe"? Doesn't really work for me. But BWRG in full is an amazing album.

[WillJC]

My understanding through what Paul Mertens has said about it is that they took the Gershwin progressions, arranged and recorded tracks, and then Brian would improvise a melody line into the mic to which Bennett wrote lyrics. The Like in I Love You's intro came from something Brian noodled on piano which Mertens happened to be recording.

Nothing But Love was originally recorded as a waltz, in a different key with different lyrics. Brian decided he didn't like it, Mertens wrote a chart in 4, Brian and the band worked out a new arrangement.

[Awesoman]

I never for the life of me ever really could get into this one.  There are some nice moments here and there such as "The Like in I Love You" and the bossa nova tinged "S'Wonderful", but overall I found the album to be a tad boring.  "I Loves You, Porgy" is just cringeworthy to listen to and "I Got Rhythm" with its clunky, bland, and workmanlike arrangement was a big disappointment.  Seek out and listen to the Happenings' 1967 endlessly superior version instead. 

Despite this I still preferred this to the forgettable Disney album though.