New Brian album announced

[JRauch]

Delirious Love (live):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5V-P5udAAh8


Grief Never Grows Old:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oX-l9XEHNm8

[MBE]

Brian's vocal on Neil's song is also on the vinyl LP as a bonus cut.

[JRauch]

After watching DL a couple of times I can say that it seriously KICKS ASS. It's one of these songs that will stick in your for days and in this case, it's a GREAT thing. Brian really seems to enjoy this performance. His "I can feel it!" at the beginning of the bridge is fantastic.

[Ron]

Man, Brian sounds incredible on that live version.  I'll bet he was having daydreams of when he wasn't the whole show and could sit back and sing harmony on things like "Little Deuce Coupe".  Wow, this is a good song. 

I love his background parts on "Grief Never Grows Old", I assume that's him.  Nobody else quite "oooooooooooooooooohhhh" 's like that. 

[Andrew G. Doe]

I love his background parts on "Grief Never Grows Old", I assume that's him.  Nobody else quite "oooooooooooooooooohhhh" 's like that. 

Think there's a goodly chunk of Foskett and a few others in there too. I've never heard it stated he did anything other than his lead. 'Course, that doesn't mean he didn't.

[the captain]

The background sounds more like Jeff than Brian to me. At least more like Jeff than modern-day Brian.

By the way, I hadn't heard that song before--Grief Never... I must say, I think it's atrocious. I know it's for a good cause, but that song is awful. Brian's singing is fine, but it was wasted on that song.

[Rocker]

The background sounds more like Jeff than Brian to me. At least more like Jeff than modern-day Brian.

By the way, I hadn't heard that song before--Grief Never... I must say, I think it's atrocious. I know it's for a good cause, but that song is awful. Brian's singing is fine, but it was wasted on that song.

Well, that's one of the reasons Bruce gave for not singing on it. I kinda like it, but to each his own..

[Jonas]

Any mention of his collaboration with the Lovester on the new album?

[Ron]

Yeah, I don't really think it's a good song either.  I definately hear Jeff in there but it sounds like the Jeff/Brian combo to me, I could be wrong though.  Brian's bit is o.k. but I can't imagine ever listening to that song again.

Delirious love, though, wow!

[Old Rake]

Lookit how much Brian is enjoying singing background on "Delerious Love!" He nails it -- and he's totally effortless. Plus: Jeff looks SO SLIM its frightening. I was like: who's that slim drink of water next to Brian? sh*t -- ITS JEFF!!

[JRauch]

"Grief Never Grows Old" is a typical charity-song. I mean, how can it not suck, if like 47 singer have to sing a 3 or 4-minute song? Everyone gets three words to sing, then passes over to the next. It HAS to suck.

[Ron]

I liked "We are the world", though.  This one is just palid compared to that.  Is palid a word? 

[Roger Ryan]

I liked "We are the world", though.  This one is just palid compared to that.  Is palid a word? 

I think you mean "pallid". I hated "We Are The World"; the only one that's true quality is the "original" charity song "Bangladesh" by George Harrison. Apart from that one, "Do They Know It's Christmas?" slightly redeems itself for its use of irony and uncomfortable honesty ("Thank God tonight it's them instead of you"). "Grief Never Grows Old" isn't too horrendous...until that guitar solo, that is!

[SMiLEY]

I'm pretty excited by this news! I'm one of the few that loves GIØMH unreservedly. I am willing to admit that it is the lowest-energy album Brian has done, but I see it as a sort-of solo Smiley Smile. An aquired taste, but more fulfilling with each listen. Yes there are some bum notes on it, but as a warts-n-all production it's one of the best, IMO.

This one may have a lot in common with that one -- a mixture of old and new compostitions, mostly Bri on vocals, etc. What will set this one apart, I'll predict, is the energy level. Post-BWPS Brian is rocking on everything he has come into contact with since those halycon days of 2004.

I DO wish Brian would make better use of his band. But, we'll get to hear them on the live versions!!!

(One note about Autotune and it's useage by Brian -- I'm not hearing the massive use of it that others are claiming to hear. My feeling is that it might be used on a note or two here and there, but it doesn't have to automatically process an entire track. That function can be disabled, allowing the user to just go for single notes. As we know from GIOMH, Brian isnt off all over the place, just flatting occasionally. Processing a whole track just to fix a couple of wonky notes would be overkill, and unneccessary.)

[the captain]

By the way, on Chuck Kelly's luxuriamusic show yesterday, Nelson was a guest. He said something to the effect that "Brian is just doing demos on his own and along with Scott. I don't know of any actual recording going on for an album with the band soon." I thought that was interesting. Now, maybe Nelson just doesn't know about it, but I wonder if all this talk of a new "album" is really just demos...

[PeteS]

By the way, I hadn't heard that song before--Grief Never...

Last time I send you any of my project's Luther :-) ;-) ;-)

I agree, it's a rubbish song

[the captain]

Want to know the funny part? I liked that disc because it had some songs I hadn't heard before (like the Ronstadt song)! Apparently, I had either blocked it from my mind completely or, more likely, saw it in the running order and skipped it, going with my impeccable instincts...

[♩♬🐸 Billy C ♯♫♩🐇]

I wonder if there are any updates...

[Daniel S.]

I heard its a sequel of sorts to 'Love You' with a tentative title 'Brian Still Loves You'.

[brother john]

I'm almost positive that I heard Brian say in an interview that he uses Autotune and that it's amazing it gets the vocals just right. 

Now with that said, I think he should use it to his hearts content... it's really a rediculous discussion.  Nothing done in the studio is honest.  It hardly ever has been since they started multitracking in the early 60's.  When Brian sings harmony with himself he's faking it with studio trickery.  You cannot sing in two voices at the same time, even if you are the god-like Brian Wilson.  When he adds reverb to his voice to make it have more resonance he's again cheating.  I love it.  Cheat on good Doctor. 

If you want to hear somebody do it in the studio the way they do it on stage, go get a Hank Williams CD.  If it's anything much newer than that, it was sweetened up in the studio and I say thank god!  Brian's whole genius is doing cool merda in the studio!  If you get some time, go get this song he did, "Good Vibrations" with the Beach Boys.  If you listen really carefully, you can tell that they're not even in the same room!  It's not even the same take!  He's singing in different voices! you get the picture, i'm just trying to make a point by stating the obvious. 

I do remember there being a bit of embarrassment coming out of the Wilson camp (i.e. Melinda) at the time after Brian accidentally let-slip that his vox had been autotuned for Smile04. He thought it was great that you could do that!

The thing is, Brian just can't hit the notes like he used to. GIOMH had so many bum notes on it that it was embarrassing, but it was a case, I guess, of people saying 'well, lets just let him do his own thing, and maybe we'll get a Love You or something...' Autotune (and its not the only plug-in that can do pitch-correction, but has become the industry standard) can sound virtually transparent if used correctly. If someone is just a few cents off the correction is barely noticeable.

On Smile04 I’d say it was pretty obvious that Autotune was used just by listening to Brian's voice (you can hear various artefacts, and the life is squeezed out of it hear and there). There were loads of FX applied on mixing (compression, autotune etc.) to get his voice up to scratch, and that's OK, 'cos it wasn't going to cut it on its own.

WIRWFC had his vocals sounding great, but I’d bet my entire home studio on the likelihood of him being autotuned by whoever did the mix.

We shouldn't begrudge Brian the facilities available that allow him to deliver a more musical product. Integrity doesn't have much to do with it, as the end product really should sound the best it can, and Brian, bless him, doesn’t have the ability to knock out the performances of yesteryear.

Let me first say that I'm impressed by how someone managed to seek out an old post of mine on the subject of Autotune from way back when, and post it here (page 10), with my avatar and username, as if it was a new one! Nothing to do with me, I promise...!

Not quite sure whether to feel violated because someone has adopted my Smileysmile.net identity or flattered because they thought I was worth repeating...

I'd be intereted to hear what you Mods have to say...

But back to the actual subject at hand, I'm thrilled that Brian is working again and will of course be there at the counter with my sweaty cash the moment the thing is released (if indeed it is...).

I do hope that there isn't too much overdubbing of his voice, as it just isn't what it was and a big blanket of Brian is just too much sometimes. If he can get it together to record another album it may well end up being his last, so lets hope its a good one!

Regards Autotune (and I agree with everything I said above - thanks again to the strange quirk that posted my old post!), it is a particular plugin produced by a company called Antares, and not a generic process.

BWPS has Autotune/pitch correction all over it, and GIOMH quite clearly doesn't, to its own detriment. WIRWFC is, in my opinion, also pitch corrected, but that is a good thing, as the software was obviously used by someone who knew how to use it relatively subtly. Brian just can't hit the notes, for whatever reason, like he used to, so if he and Scotty have any sense they use it on the new one.

Autotune isn't evil, and it isn't 'faking it', its just a device to help out. Check it out here: http://www.antarestech.com/products/auto-tune5.shtml

That's it!

BJ

[♩♬🐸 Billy C ♯♫♩🐇]

Let me first say that I'm impressed by how someone managed to seek out an old post of mine on the subject of Autotune from way back when, and post it here (page 10), with my avatar and username, as if it was a new one! Nothing to do with me, I promise...!

Not quite sure whether to feel violated because someone has adopted my Smileysmile.net identity or flattered because they thought I was worth repeating...

I'd be intereted to hear what you Mods have to say...

WTF?! I'll look into it, but it happened so long ago.

I'll do my best.

BWPS has Autotune/pitch correction all over it, and GIOMH quite clearly doesn't, to its own detriment. WIRWFC is, in my opinion, also pitch corrected, but that is a good thing, as the software was obviously used by someone who knew how to use it relatively subtly. Brian just can't hit the notes, for whatever reason, like he used to, so if he and Scotty have any sense they use it on the new one.

I think WIRWFC does have autotune, but I don't think it was as necessary as before. I think he actually did a better job of singing than on Imagination, GIOMH, or indeed BWPS.

[brother john]

Let me first say that I'm impressed by how someone managed to seek out an old post of mine on the subject of Autotune from way back when, and post it here (page 10), with my avatar and username, as if it was a new one! Nothing to do with me, I promise...!

Not quite sure whether to feel violated because someone has adopted my Smileysmile.net identity or flattered because they thought I was worth repeating...

I'd be intereted to hear what you Mods have to say...

WTF?! I'll look into it, but it happened so long ago.

I'll do my best.

BWPS has Autotune/pitch correction all over it, and GIOMH quite clearly doesn't, to its own detriment. WIRWFC is, in my opinion, also pitch corrected, but that is a good thing, as the software was obviously used by someone who knew how to use it relatively subtly. Brian just can't hit the notes, for whatever reason, like he used to, so if he and Scotty have any sense they use it on the new one.

I think WIRWFC does have autotune, but I don't think it was as necessary as before. I think he actually did a better job of singing than on Imagination, GIOMH, or indeed BWPS.

Thanks!

I also think you're right about the singing on WIRWFC, but, its weird how he sometimes manages to bring off something reasonable and sometimes not. I agree with AGD about his performance of the Grief Never Grows Old charity single, which was a touching performance and a touching production (listen to how there's a very subtle sleigh bell that comes in when he starts to sing, almost as if it were a compliment to BW from the producers...). Maybe its a matter of him singing the right material, which may or may not auger well for the new album...

[Aegir]

What ever happened to this? Did it become TLOS or is this a different project?

[Ron]

I'm pretty sure most of it became TLOS... but none of this stuff is ever concrete, an album is simply a collection of songs and Brian likely has hundreds of unreleased songs.... so I suppose he could release another album soon if he wanted to.  When they were talking about this "rock and roll" album, they soon after mentioned that Brian was recording demos for it with Scott... so those demos probably became TLOS, and Brian also mentioned a few songs that were going to be on it, namely Proud Mary and "I'm afraid of the Beatleman" or something to that effect about Paul McCartney! So those two weren't on TLOS of course although I thing "Going Home" has elements of Brian's Proud Mary (as do many other songs he's released). 

[the captain]

Some of the songs named in this report are TLOS: Oxygen to the Brain, Goin Home and I believe that one of the others became Good Kind of Love, according to ... someone. AGD? I forget. (Sorry.) But of course there are still plenty of songs, so maybe the TLOS album will include bonus tracks or an EP or something.

(A guy can hope.)