"Forever She'll Be My Surfer Girl" -- Brian's new song

[STE]

Hi all,
the song mentioned on the TimesOnLine article is now available on bw.com

http://www.brianwilson.com/surfergirl/

Not clear if it's part of "That Lucky Old Sun" but I'd imagine so.


What do you think?
My opinion: passable


STE

[SloopJohnB]

Certainly not as great as "Midnight's Another Day", but enjoyable... Unlike MAD though, I'm not really "hooked" by the melody and nothing really makes me want to play it over and over again.

And it sounds demo-ish... Maybe a future studio release will be cooler! 

[Glenn Greenberg]

BW's voice sounds pretty darned good.

Any chance this recording is a recent one?

Or could it be "one from the vaults"?

[brother john]

To me it sounds like Brian Wilson by Numbers.

Its pretty, but not good. Brian's voice is, as usual, awful, but I guess we don't mind that.

Brian should so get an actual singer to help him out.

Mind you, I'll be there on Monday night!

[doc smiley]

 

sounds pretty good to me for a demo.... ( I read that all TLOS recorded material is demos)  and that Brian and the band will finish(redo) them if the material is deamed sucessful live this month... ala Smile.. live first , finished recording second...

Vocals bad?  he sounds pretty darn good here to me....  I'd rather have a full band singing backgrounds.. but again  this is just a demo so.... hey... it needs a little editing perhaps and maybe slightly fuller instrumentation.. but all in all  good Brian...   by the numbers... yeah maybe.. but it would have been a key track on GIOMH based on the effort shown here..
 

[pixletwin]

Its not bad. Kinda formulaic but other than that, I like it Ok.

[carl r]

I guess it's early days for this one.
 
As I understand it, there have been some good solo Brian Wilson songs over the years. On the whole the production has kinda wrecked them.

Too much syrup too many layers.

Can't help but be reminded of Stevie Wonder who came undone with his love of synthesizers. I think Brian uses keyboards to compose stuff. So this demo -it's early days.

Love and Mercy when performed by Brian's band on real instruments is great.  A piano, some strings and brass, acoustic guitar, some echo. Unplugged, in other words.

What this song in its current form says to me, is that If he can manage the same approach as MAD across the 10 new songs, it ain't gonna be half bad.

[Jonas]

Not feeling the production, but he does sound really good.

[pixletwin]

Not feeling the production, but he does sound really good.

It reminds me of Make It Big. 

[Roger Ryan]

Well, if you're going to do a throwback, nostalgia song, then this is the way to do it. If it is part of "Lucky Old Sun", then it fits in with the part of California history that Brian help create. I'm really curious now how all of TLOS is going to hang together!

[Chris Brown]

It's not bad.  Not as good as "Midnight's Another Day", but Brian sounds really good, especially during what I guess is the middle-eight (where he's doing the 3 part harmony with a nice high part).  It's a throwback without the cheese, which is never a bad thing.

[Dancing Bear]

Boring.

[SloopJohnB]

Changed my mind. Okay, so it's not "Midnight's Another Day", but this new song has just hooked me. And Brian sounds pretty darn good!

[Chris Brown]

Changed my mind. Okay, so it's not "Midnight's Another Day", but this new song has just hooked me. And Brian sounds pretty darn good!

Yea the more I listen to it, the more I like it.  Indeed Brian does sound good...first time in awhile I actually think stack-o-Brian harmonies sound great.

[matt-zeus]

I agree about the production, it almost sounds like an 80s demo, those string sounds suck and the midi-style piano does too, but underneath it is a nice song - of course it's a bit derivative but will potentially be a lot more enjoyable with the fuller production that it deserves.
Brians singing, though a bit shaky, is enthusiastic and I always like to hear him on the high notes, I don't care if he sounds strained - I still like it!

PS - Intro sounds a bit like 'San Francisco' off OCA

[Compost]

I bet he didn't write it.

[brother john]

I bet he didn't write it.

I bet he did!

[Compost]

I bet you I'm being a smartass!

[Sheriff John Stone]

For all of you Mike Love critics out there, what'd ya think of these lyrics?

I'm glad to see Brian would never stoop as low as Mike....

[Chris Brown]

For all of you Mike Love critics out there, what'd ya think of these lyrics?

I'm glad to see Brian would never stoop as low as Mike....

Acutally I didn't think the lyrics were too bad...like I said before, nostalgic without being overly cheesy.  Mike tends to be way more cheesy when he does a "nostaliga" tune (see: "Summer of Love").  I love the line at the end of the bridge, "sweet voices straight from heaven", even though I have no clue what he means by "radio seven".

[Mark H.]

Sounds like Brian meets the Four Seasons.  Indeed Brian needs a better lyricist.  To really make this song sound like a cliche', there should be a modulation toward the end.

[Wirestone]

It's good, not great. Sounds undeveloped, a bit. Hopefully it will work in a larger context. Brian has definitely written a subgroup of songs about his songs and the music scene in general -- several of them not officially released. Elbow 63, for instance.

[oldsurferdude]

For all of you Mike Love critics out there, what'd ya think of these lyrics?

I'm glad to see Brian would never stoop as low as Mike....

While we all know you're a Mike Love groupie, and you have zero respect for Brian Wilson, remember one thing-without his famous cousin, Mike Love would most likely be an assistant manager (at best) in some fast food chain.

[Bicyclerider]

The problem is that the song it references is so much better than the new song!  It really needs a complete new set of lyrics.

[pixletwin]

For all of you Mike Love critics out there, what'd ya think of these lyrics?

I'm glad to see Brian would never stoop as low as Mike....

While we all know you're a Mike Love groupie, and you have zero respect for Brian Wilson, remember one thing-without his famous cousin, Mike Love would most likely be an assistant manager (at best) in some fast food chain.

Who are you kidding? he would have been beaten up by a bunch of hippes and left for dead by 1968.