New Brian album announced

[Ron]

Well, my initial thoughts I think tip my hand as to what kind of fan I am.

When I clicked on the board, I saw from the main page something about 'new brian albu..." or something, and about broke my finger trying to get to this post. 

It sounds incredibly exciting, i'll definately be buying a copy the day it comes out, and I really don't care what he does, I'm probably going to enjoy it.  The stuff like him singing in spanish, and him and Scotty Bennett recording the album alone is fabulous news, GO BRIAN!!!!

So, next Year means January 1st, right?

[andy]

What's wrong with Brian doing all the vocals himself?

I assume you've heard GIOMH? We all love him, but his voice has really, really deteriorated, and unless he's really into it (and possibly has someone driving him to do a great job), Brian-only vox are terrifying.

It has more to do with how many times they were tracked on GIOMH than it did the quality of his voice. Heck, even Carl's voice sounds kinda bad on the unreleased (GV box set) quadruple-tracked GOK...and that's just a lead vocal.

[♩♬🐸 Billy C ♯♫♩🐇]

It has more to do with how many times they were tracked on GIOMH than it did the quality of his voice.

Most definitely. Also, it sounded like many of the leads were half-assed (Brian not even trying, mistakes left in). He sounded much better on the Christmas album.

Besides, even if Brian is doing all the backups (doubt it, with Scott there), there probably won't be as many of them.

edit

wait...he said the vocals/instruments would be played by himself AND Scott. Instruments AND VOCALS.

God,I wonder what this will SOUND like.  I guess this must be the so-called "rock and roll" album...maybe the music itself may not rock hard (or it might), but the DIY attitude is very punk.

[Glenn Greenberg]

the DIY attitude is very punk.

And very McCartney!

[XY]

And very McCartney!

McCartney - That's what I thought when I first read the news. Chaos & Creation from Brian's Backyard.
Yes, yes, yes, the vocals on GIOMH weren't exquisite, but the man did some touching lead vocals since then and also highly praised bv for Neil Diamond. He can do it, he's Brian Wilson. And even if the performances are bad, what I don't think will be the case, there are always great songs on BW releases.
The Paley stuff is great and I too hope "Some Sweet Day" will see the light of the day sometime, also "It's Not Easy Being Me", great great songs. I'm excited and even a bit surprised. I prefer Brian doing as much as possible alone, because he's the songs.

[petsite]

If Brian gives us anything, we are truly lucky. I know some of the younger members of the board might not want to hear this again (quit living in the past, gramps) but we are so lucky to still have Brian. EVERY offering he has given us has moments and tunes that just add to our enjoyment of life.

Brian Wilson:
Love And Mercy (one of Brian's best tunes ever!)
NightTime
Melt Away
Rio Grande (worth the whole LP)

I Just wasn't Made For These Times:
ALL OF IT.

Imagination:
Your Imagination
She Said That She Needs Me
South American (single mix!!!)
Lay Down Burden
Happy Days

Live @ The Roxy, PS Live, BWPS:
We never thought we'd have any of these! All wonderful!

Getting In Over My Head:
Soul Searching
Getting In Over My Head
City Blues
Desert Drive
Saturday Morning In The City

Christmas:
Little Saint Nick


And all the single tracks (This Song Wants To Sleep With You, Everything I Need, This Isn't Love & Orange crate Art).

We've had more than we ever thought. So if this new CD has 4-5 great tunes, we are blessed again!

Bob F.

[MBE]

I hope it's more like Wild Honey than The Beach Boys Love You.

Me too

[Aegir]

New Brian album? Yeah, and this is an accurate depiction of Mike Love:

[wolkensohn]

I´m very excited about it, I´m sure it gonna be a great Album!
First of all I thought, that Brian is goin to do the whole Album with David Pack and Burt Bacharach but now it seem that he only wrote 1 Song with Burt.
So he´s working on 7 Songs, hope that he will wrote a few new songs...

[Wirestone]

Luther: Have you heard the XMas album? Brian does a magnificent job there (and that's only him and Foskett doing vox on "O Holy Night"). If he lets Scott bennett sing along, I think all will be well.

[Rocker]

I think a problem on GIOMH was that some of the overproduced background vocals were mixed to loud, so they overblended even the lead-voice.
I really hope this will be a very Brian album like Love You and WH. From what is said in the announcement, it sounds very promising

[RickD]

If Brian gives us anything, we are truly lucky. I know some of the younger members of the board might not want to hear this again (quit living in the past, gramps) but we are so lucky to still have Brian. EVERY offering he has given us has moments and tunes that just add to our enjoyment of life.

Brian Wilson:
Love And Mercy (one of Brian's best tunes ever!)
NightTime
Melt Away
Rio Grande (worth the whole LP)

I Just wasn't Made For These Times:
ALL OF IT.

Imagination:
Your Imagination
She Said That She Needs Me
South American (single mix!!!)
Lay Down Burden
Happy Days

Live @ The Roxy, PS Live, BWPS:
We never thought we'd have any of these! All wonderful!

Getting In Over My Head:
Soul Searching
Getting In Over My Head
City Blues
Desert Drive
Saturday Morning In The City

Christmas:
Little Saint Nick


And all the single tracks (This Song Wants To Sleep With You, Everything I Need, This Isn't Love & Orange crate Art).

We've had more than we ever thought. So if this new CD has 4-5 great tunes, we are blessed again!

Bob F.

I was going to selectively quote a couple of bits but its well worth reading the whole lot again!! Spot on. Throw in some of the best concerts anyone will ever see (February 20th, 2004, anyone?).

and there's not much wrong with Brian's vocals on BWPS or the Christmas album, so I don't know why GIOMH is suddenly the benchmark.

As "petsite" said

                                 "If Brian gives us anything, we are truly lucky".

[Rerun]

Am I really the only one that cringes at the idea of Brian singing in Spanish with that slurred voice of his?  It just sounds like an awful idea.

[XY]

Am I really the only one that cringes at the idea of Brian singing in Spanish with that slurred voice of his?

Yes. I think his voice was OK on SMILE, the Christmas Album, Love And Mercy (Tsunami), The Path Of Life and Delirious Love.

[Rocker]

I think that when he sang "Margueritas" it sounded very good...

[c-man]

And I thought his vocals on "The Spirit Of Rock 'n' Roll" were fine too.

[Dancing Bear]

I think we shoul be used by now to the fact that what Brian says while recording and promoting a new CD is usually different than what he says one year after its release.

[Roger Ryan]

Regarding Brian's vocals: I think it's important to point out that BWPS and the Xmas album featured a bit more digital trickery (i.e. autotune) than GIOMH. In fact, I tend to think GIOMH had no autotuning used at all (with the possible exception of the title track backing vocals - recorded during the Joe Thomas era?) and I think most of it still sounds pretty good. Of course, Brian has also improved as a singer since the GIOMH sessions and with a little digital assistance, his vocals have sounded great on all the recent releases. How is it, by the way, that Brian can sound so horrible on "Love You", but that album is still revered? While there's been ups-and-downs, I think all of Brian's released vocals over the last 30 years have been better than that mid-70s nadir.

[Jim McShane]

Regarding Brian's vocals: I think it's important to point out that BWPS and the Xmas album featured a bit more digital trickery (i.e. autotune) than GIOMH.

This ALWAYS comes up - I want to know how you KNOW FOR SURE that autotune was used? The source of your information please?

[Roger Ryan]

You're right Jim and please understand I didn't mean this as an attack. There is no evidence beyond what my ears tell me (although I vaguely remember Brian saying in an interview recently that he has no problem using digital technology to make vocals sound better). Brian's vocals on BWPS, and to a greater extent on the Xmas album, have that slightly processed sound that comes with autotuning. Mind you I think Brian requires less digital manipulation than a lot of top ten performers out there these days (check out Panic! At The Disco or almost any other big selling "alternative" rock band for extreme use of autotune). Actually, I don't know that Brian "requires" digital manipulation; I've thought his live vocals have sounded fantastic over the last couple of years. But my ears tell me that his vocals have been sweetened somewhat on BWPS and the Xmas album, a sense that I don't get from the GIOMH album. Personally, I don't think there's anything wrong with that. I do a lot of voice-over narration in my job and I'm constantly "comping" takes together and manipulating my voice to sound better. I still sound pretty good when I'm speaking in public, but I want my recorded voice to sound a little better. It's possible Brian feels the same way.

[Jim McShane]

You're right Jim and please understand I didn't mean this as an attack. There is no evidence beyond what my ears tell me (although I vaguely remember Brian saying in an interview recently that he has no problem using digital technology to make vocals sound better). Brian's vocals on BWPS, and to a greater extent on the Xmas album, have that slightly processed sound that comes with autotuning. Mind you I think Brian requires less digital manipulation than a lot of top ten performers out there these days (check out Panic! At The Disco or almost any other big selling "alternative" rock band for extreme use of autotune). Actually, I don't know that Brian "requires" digital manipulation; I've thought his live vocals have sounded fantastic over the last couple of years. But my ears tell me that his vocals have been sweetened somewhat on BWPS and the Xmas album, a sense that I don't get from the GIOMH album. Personally, I don't think there's anything wrong with that. I do a lot of voice-over narration in my job and I'm constantly "comping" takes together and manipulating my voice to sound better. I still sound pretty good when I'm speaking in public, but I want my recorded voice to sound a little better. It's possible Brian feels the same way.

First, my apologies for the tone of my post - it was too harsh sounding for sure.

I too think Brian made the statement about making the vocals sound better, but that doesn't mean autotune. It may mean it's easier to get just the mix/levels/timing he wants, it's easier to review what's already recorded, etc. Remeber, there's a lot to ProTools besides autotune/pitch correction.

After watching BWPS a number of times, the "sweetening" appears to me to be a lot of doubling/tripling. I see Darian, Jeff, and Scott almost always contributing to Brian's leads. Not all 3 all the time, but it seemed that Brian rarely if ever sang/sings solo leads. In the Pet Sounds Live In London DVD I even saw Mike D'Amico doubling Brian (that's not a slam against Mike, he has a terrific voice, it was just surprising to see). This jives with what I've seen in the live shows I've attended too. Brian gets LOTS of help from his bandmates with leads.

On the Christmas album it seemed the leads Brian sang were well within his best range, and to me they sounded very natural and un-doctored. The band sounded magnificent, I still get chills when I hear the opening notes of WIRWFC! Then Brian's lead begins, and it's right in his "wheelhouse" vocally, so he can drive it out of the park as they say in baseball.

I also go back to the interview on Chicago's WXRT radio station where Jim and Bob both laughed when that idiot from the Chicago Sun-Times DeRogatis mentioned Brian said all the vocals were "tweaked" (which that fat a** DeRogatis assumed meant autotuned). Bob Lizik replied "Brian said that??" in a disbelieving laughing tone, and both he and Jim Hines started laughing. They said Darian would know for sure, but they weren't aware of any autotune use in BWPS.

My opinion - no autotune. Just a lot of help form the band's voices. They help Brian sound a lot better to my ears than Brian sounds when he doubles/triples himself. Shoot, I'd sound great with Jeff, Darian, and Scott helping me out!

So we'll see what the new CD brings. I honestly was hoping for a CD from BW and his great band, but it appears that's not the case.

Anyway Roger, I again apologize for the way I phrased my prior post.

[Roger Ryan]

No problem, Jim. I shouldn't have used the term "autotune" to cover everything ProTools does; in fact, I probably should have avoided the whole subject (although I figured someone would bring it up sooner or later). For me, I've heard Brian sing wonderfully in concert (although he can be inconsistent even within a single performance). On record, I want to hear the sound that Brian wants on there. If that requires some manipulation, so be it. It's really a non-issue and I dislike how that sort of thing is brought up to somehow prove that Brian is now incompetent as a performer.

As for the new album, it looks like Brian wants to continue in the stripped-down mode of his last few recordings. That's really the opposite of what the music business "machinery" would want from a Brian Wilson album and suggests that Brian may have chosen this direction for himself as opposed to being pushed into it. I'm excited.

[Bubba Ho-Tep]

Well, any new BW album is good news. This in particular sounds intriguing because he’s very hands on. I enjoy GIOMH, but it doesn’t feel like an album. It sounds like a bunch of outtakes that he was forced to record. His heart doesn’t sound in it.

Brian sang well on the Christmas album…or at least appears to. I’m not sure what trickery they use, if any. I mean, watch all those behind the scenes clips of the making of BWPS and you never see the man laying down a lead vocal. But I don’t care what they have to do, as long as it sounds good and professional. Bad mouth Joe Thomas all you want, but who doesn’t love that soaring vocal on “She Says That She Needs Me” and “Cry”?

During the 2005 Smile shows he seemed really in good form. He sang freely, even throwing in some free-stylin’ scat and was on key, at least when I saw him. He has missed keys though….his attempt at reaching high notes in “When I Grow Up” were painful to hear. But that’s live. He can have more control in the studio.

Synths? Sure! I don’t care. Whatever tools he needs to get the message across, fine. Love You was a masterpiece. I just hope Scott Bennett knows his role and let’s Brian do his thing.

We’re due for a good album. See, I think Brian is a one record per decade kind of guy. Love You, BW87, Paley/Imagination. The results were mixed on GIOMH, but maybe that’s because he wasn’t ready. It has to be when he feels the itch to scratch. Thus, it sounds like he’s coasting through GIOMH. I’ll bet he wasn’t even present when Darian led the band through the old Sweet Insanity tracks.

Spirit of Rock and Roll is one of his best songs. Unfortunately, it seems the magic can’t be recaptured. The Hallmark attempt was fine, but lost the momentum of the earlier attempts. Too sluggish. And I didn’t like Path of Life on the released version. It had more soul live, what with the sax and all. And it worked better at 70 seconds. But what do I know? I’m just the listener. I kind of hope he recuts it and does it more like he did live, but I guess it’s a done deal now. Just have to listen to the live version, I guess. “The First Time” hasn’t made it to the studio, has it? That’s a real gem. And his voice is great on it on the Roxy CD.

So I’m excited. The idea of him being more instrumental instrumentally (!) is a very promising thing.  But, you know, Brian Wilson projects do have a way of never appearing. You know how he is. Don’t be surprised if we have to find alternate routes to hear these songs 10 years from now.

[andy]

Regarding Brian's vocals: I think it's important to point out that BWPS and the Xmas album featured a bit more digital trickery (i.e. autotune) than GIOMH.

This ALWAYS comes up - I want to know how you KNOW FOR SURE that autotune was used? The source of your information please?

They do on BWPS but it doesn't matter. Seriously, most of the difference in quality has to do with quantity. Little is changed by pitch-shifting or correcting. You know why Brian's vocal sounds so sweet on Windchimes? Because it's single-tracked. Same thing with the x-mas album...the single-tracked vocals sound a lot sweeter than multi-tracked leads.

[Jason]

This ALWAYS comes up - I want to know how you KNOW FOR SURE that autotune was used? The source of your information please?

I guess you're not ill after all.