Brian's current albums - What's more important?

[mikeyj]

I just was thinking. How did Landy get the best out of Brian for his first solo album. I mean maby not the BEST he's ever done but thats a very fine album and perhaps the best Brian was capable of at that particular time. Whereas now his albums are just not up to that some quality imo. Ive read AGD's and other's utter dislike of albums such as GIOMH (and rightly so).

My question is this. How did Landy get the best out of him? I mean he was a control freak and Brian under Landy in my opinion wasn't in control of his life and wasn't truly happy. (NOTE: I'm no Beach Boys expert especially on Brian's Landy years, in which I know very little about what went on). So even though he wasn't truly happy he produced pretty impressive results. So another question, mainly for AGD and other's who are unhappy with Brian's albums in recent years (by that I mean 'new' albums and not SMiLE). How come Brian is not producing quality material anymore? Maby its because he produces his best results under stress and hard times or perhaps its because he doesn't have the worth ethic that Landy forced him to undergo through his intense and unique therapy. But he now seems to be really happy in life. So I was thinking wouldn't it be better for Brian to be happy in life (after all the happiness he's given us and countless others) and produce absolute crap, rather than be producing brilliant pieces of artworks but feeling miserable as that seems to be when he can produce some really brilliant masterpieces? I'm just saying this because I think Brian has been through enough crap in his life as it is and now he really seems to have found a life where he seems to enjoy himself and be content in life.

Please Note: Im not having a go at anyone, especially not you AGD, I just know that you in particular really dislike GIOMH and I agree with you. But I just think its more important for Brian to be happy and content in life.

[matt-zeus]

I think AGD is going to have to go and shout at Brian a bit, and bribe him with hamburgers and ice cream.....

[LostArt]

How come Brian is not producing quality material anymore?

Have you listened to "What Love Can Do"?  That'a as good as anything he's done since "Love You".  It may not be your cup of meat, but I think it's definitely quality material.  Brian had a lot of help with his first solo effort.  Have you listened to the Rhino reissue with the bonus tracks?  Some of those demos are pretty rough.  And while "Melt Away" is one of my favorite Brian tunes of all time, the album is spotty just as his subsequent albums are, although to a lesser degree.  There are a few good songs on Imagination, and I even like a couple of the songs on GIOMH.  The two new originals on the Christmas album are good, too.  I'm looking forward to the next album (if it gets released), and there will undoubtedly be clunkers on that one, too.  It's nearly impossible for anyone to maintain a consistent output for over 40 years, let alone a guy with the history that Brian has had.  I think Brian still might have a few good songs left in him, but he's not getting any younger.  I am anxious to hear what this new composition (That Lucky Old Sun) is all about.       

[mikeyj]

Have you listened to "What Love Can Do"?  That'a as good as anything he's done since "Love You".  It may not be your cup of meat, but I think it's definitely quality material.  Brian had a lot of help with his first solo effort.  Have you listened to the Rhino reissue with the bonus tracks?  Some of those demos are pretty rough.  And while "Melt Away" is one of my favorite Brian tunes of all time, the album is spotty just as his subsequent albums are, although to a lesser degree.  There are a few good songs on Imagination, and I even like a couple of the songs on GIOMH.  The two new originals on the Christmas album are good, too.  I'm looking forward to the next album (if it gets released), and there will undoubtedly be clunkers on that one, too.  It's nearly impossible for anyone to maintain a consistent output for over 40 years, let alone a guy with the history that Brian has had.  I think Brian still might have a few good songs left in him, but he's not getting any younger.  I am anxious to hear what this new composition (That Lucky Old Sun) is all about.       

No I haven't heard What Love Can Do. Since Im in Australia its probably a bit harder for me to obtain. But if I can I will definately get a copy of it.

In regards to his first solo album, even though Brian might have had help in production, arranging etc.. (Like I said I dont know the full story) the songs were largely written by him and the quality on the whole was better than anything hes written for subesquent albums in my opinion. I agree with you that it is hard to maintain a consisten output over 40 odd years. But Im not saying that. Im just saying I dont think you can expect too much from a guy like Brian who has been through so much (more than pretty much all of us can imagine) and that I think its more important for him to be happy rather than busting his gut to put out some quality material for us fans and then feeling really stressed and sad. As you say he's not getting any younger and I just think its a bit much for us to expect to much from him at his age, with what hes been through. Like when you think about it, when he was in the process of creating Pet Sounds and SMiLE he quite obviously hadn't been through anything like he has now (obviously) and even at that age with his skills he still cracked under pressure. So for him to produce material in the quality range of anything from his 60's heights is pretty unfair and even to expect 1/10 of that is putting too much pressure and expectation on him in my opinion.

[LostArt]

I agree with pretty much everything you said.

[Mahalo]

Mikeyj, go to:
http://music.download.com/newmusicfromanoldfriendsingersongwriterlegends/3600-8742_32-101016775.html?tag=MDL_list

you can listen to the new song there...

[Roger Ryan]

Part of the reason is that Brian had a larger stockpile of songs available to select from when recording the first solo album. This would have been partly due to Landy enforcing a songwriting regimen as well as the fact that Brian was now a physically healthy, still-creative 40-something performer. I agree that BW '88 is a consistently good album, but apart from "Love & Mercy", "Melt Away" & "Rio Grande", I think that much of the material Brian completed after leaving Landy is better than the material on that album. While arguably still drawing on his past, I would say that many of the Paley session songs, plus songs like "This Isn't Love", "Imagination", "Lay Down Burden", "Cry", the two new Christmas songs and "What Love Can Do" are as good if not better than tracks like "Walkin' The Line", "Nighttime", "Let It Shine", "Little Children", etc. As a performer, I much prefer Brian's vocals on the "Orange Crate Art" album and on every subsequent album (save some of GIOMH!) to the way he sounds on BW '88. As a producer, I think the backing tracks to most of GIOMH and all of the Christmas album blow away the sound of BW '88. So I guess I don't see a huge drop-off in quality overall although I do appreciate the consistency of that first solo album.

[MBE]

As somebody who agree's about the great production on Brian's last three albums, I would love to hear the 88 songs redone now. As far as how good Brian Wilson '88 is as released, most of those songs were writen over a five year period and were the best of dozens of mostly horrible songs. I like Let It Shine, Love and Mercy, Melt Away, Rio Grande, and Baby Let Your Hair Grow Long, the rest pretty average. The vocals on 88 were pretty bad in places kind of whiney. As average as half of GIOMH is I don't have a problem with his voice on it. Now as to why there are moments better then any other "New" Brian album is down to how well I think he worked with Andy Paley. That's why the Paley demos are so highly praised. It was he who brought out the best in Brian.

[southbay]

While '88 is clearly Brian's best solo work (save the vocals) please rememeber it was NOT Landy that got this work out of Brian.   Some very talented people (Lenny Waronker, Russ Titelman, Andy Paley, Seymour Stein) got this work out of Brian and almost killed Landy in the process. Gary Usher had the same experiece on the demos leading up to that album. You want to hear what Landy got out of Brian?  Listen to those Sweet Insanity boots.  Nothing good from '88 came from Landy's involvement.  It was completely in spite of him.

[Artie]

You want to hear what Landy got out of Brian?  Listen to those Sweet Insanity boots.  Nothing good from '88 came from Landy's involvement.  It was completely in spite of him.

The second cut of Sweet Insanity is a better overall album than anything he has released since. When he re-did some of the tunes for GIOMH, they became sterile. "Don't Let Her Know" (with its sweet, luscious backing vocals), "Water Builds Up", "Someone To Love", and "Rainbow Eyes" are among Brian's best solo songs, including the Paley stuff. "Country Feelin" and "Make A Wish" are pretty good too.

Whether or not Landy gets any of the credit, in hindsight, Sweet Insanity should have been tweaked and then released (the reason it wasn't was Landy's insistence that "Smart Girls", a total piece of crap, stay on the album).

[Roger Ryan]

Well, I think it was more just having to deal with Landy in general that kept "Sweet Insanity" from being released. That hideous "Brian/Thank You" song didn't help either.

The best thing about "Sweet Insanity" is the energy level Brian brought to his vocals which I think sounded great. But apart from the misstep that was the remake of "Make A Wish", I think Brian improved on all of the "Sweet Insanity"- era tracks on GIOMH. If the vocals weren't all they needed to be, certainly his production and arrangements of the backing tracks far outshown the tacky, processed feel of the "Sweet Insanity" versions.

[Artie]

Well, I think it was more just having to deal with Landy in general that kept "Sweet Insanity" from being released. That hideous "Brian/Thank You" song didn't help either.

The best thing about "Sweet Insanity" is the energy level Brian brought to his vocals which I think sounded great. But apart from the misstep that was the remake of "Make A Wish", I think Brian improved on all of the "Sweet Insanity"- era tracks on GIOMH. If the vocals weren't all they needed to be, certainly his production and arrangements of the backing tracks far outshown the tacky, processed feel of the "Sweet Insanity" versions.

I respectfully disagree, Roger...I think Don't Let Her Know is 20 times better on Sweet Insanity. Notwithstanding the vocals, which are undoubtedly better on SI, the GIOMH instrumental track is blah and unfeeling. The real trumpet solo instead of the flute, the strings pulling you in from the start...I really wish he had left Sweet Insanity alone. As a whole, it ranks right up there with BW '88 for me.

[southbay]

Here's the point--Some stuff on SI absolutely stunk. "Brian", Smart Girls", Concert Tonight". Those are complete 100% Landy. The stuff that had some potential, i.e. "Angel" was completely lost on Landy.  Imagine what Brian could have done with that song had he been with Waronker & Titelman or any other real musician.

[matt-zeus]

I think a lot of the stuff on SI and the outtakes (from that and BW88) is really good -
Concert tonight (full version)
Someone to love
Water builds up
Brian (I like this!)
Do you have any regrets
Don't let her know shes an angel
Rainbow Eyes
Love ya
Spirit of RnR

Good outtakes from Usher sessions (?), BW 88 and SI;

Lets do it again (I love this!!! what a great 80s pop song!)
Daddys little girl
Heavenly Bodies (Brians most laid back vocal of this era, nice)
Heavenly lovers
I sleep alone
Turning point (I like this a lot and the remake - You've touched me)

If those had been on an album, it would be a classic!

[mikeyj]

Brian (I like this!)

I also like this song. I agree with you that if the best outakes of all those years came out including songs like I Sleep Alone (which I dont think has ever been recorded has it?) then that would be a pretty good album.

[matt-zeus]

'I sleep alone' was recorded, the main difference between this and the live version is that Brian sings all of the chorus in falsetto rather than just the last line, though personally I like it better on the live version. The lyrics are a bit strange but the demo was written for Sarah Brightman to sing originally!?

[Chris Brown]

'I sleep alone' was recorded, the main difference between this and the live version is that Brian sings all of the chorus in falsetto rather than just the last line, though personally I like it better on the live version. The lyrics are a bit strange but the demo was written for Sarah Brightman to sing originally!?

The lyrics really threw me off at first before I discovered that it was written for a woman to sing.  I really like the recording.  Even though Brian kinda slurs some of the falsetto lines, he still sounds really good.  Catchy little tune.

[MBE]

 I do like the finished 1988 album but most of the demos and songs from 83-91 leave me cold. Brian's voice was at it's least appealing, kind of whiney, and the words to most of these cuts were bad. Especally SI and his stuff for BB 85 and Still Cruisin. Something like Daddy's Little Girl is very hard to sit through. Male Ego is half decent

[endofposts]

I believe that Landy wrote "I Sleep Alone," including a lot of the music.  Just that quote from "The Wedding March" alone to me gives it away as not-Brian.  That song almost sounds like Murry could have written it, but I think even Murry had more talent than that.  Plus, why would Brian write a song for Sarah Brightman, anyways? 

'I sleep alone' was recorded, the main difference between this and the live version is that Brian sings all of the chorus in falsetto rather than just the last line, though personally I like it better on the live version. The lyrics are a bit strange but the demo was written for Sarah Brightman to sing originally!?

The lyrics really threw me off at first before I discovered that it was written for a woman to sing.  I really like the recording.  Even though Brian kinda slurs some of the falsetto lines, he still sounds really good.  Catchy little tune.

[Ron]

I always liked Water Builds Up, and I prefer the original "Spirit of Rock and Roll", although I can't stand Bob Dylan on it.

Why is it, that much of Brian's music ends up being cut and paste with me?  I like this part, don't like that part on this version, etc. ... Must be the gv thing. 

Actually, I think he's probably still about how he always was, except in 66 he recorded 40 versions of Good Vibrations in 6 weeks, now it takes him 30 years to record his 40 versions of each song.