Announcement posted - TLOS by Sept. 2nd!

[Amy B.]

If Brian had been actively writing music in the 50s, he probably would have released old 50s compositions during his mid-60s heyday. He doesn't care. He just puts it out there, whenever. And I don't care. It's new to me, and I like it.

Is Midnight's Another Day new? That, I'd be curious to know.

[BJL]

Really looking forward to the record. I don't care if some of it was written years ago as That Lucky Old Sun as a whole seems like such a coherent and spirited piece of work to me. Dick Reising and the guys at Capitol seem to feel that way too.

Is this the Dick Reising of Bull Sessions fame?  I always thought that was a joke...
or are you joking yourself? 

[Wirestone]

Virtually all the BW songs in TLOS are new, as in written since the release of Smile in 04. As I understand it.

Breaks down like such:

That Lucky Old Sun (cover version, newly arranged by BW 06-07)
Morning Beat (new, although certainly based on the Shortnin' Bread riff. Includes the Hallalujah riff from the 70s).
Good Kind of Love (summer 06, I believe AGD mentioned this was worked on with Carole King)
Forever My Surfer Girl (new)
Live Let Live (new; has so far featured two distinct sets of lyrics -- I also recall hearing that this has been recorded as a duet with Carole King)
Mexican Girl (new)
California Role (written in the mid-80s as "Wondering What You're Up to Now." Obviously rewritten with new lyrics)
Been Way Too Long (mid 60s, of course)
Oxygen (This was written soon after Smile was released -- I read an interview with Brian from 04 or 05 in which he mentioned this song).
Midnight's Another Day (from the summer 06 sessions -- apparently Scott helped rework this from a rock song that Brian was working on)
Going Home (new, not to be confused with the Paley sessions tune of the same title. Shortnin' Bread again.)
Southern California (apparently a Scott tune, although clearly written with BW in mind).

[Aegir]

MAD was originally a rock song? I'm trying to imagine it twice as fast and with electric guitars... I think it's better the way it is.

[RickD]

apparently Scott helped rework this from a rock song that Brian was working on)

to say the least!! 

[smile-holland]

Virtually all the BW songs in TLOS are new, as in written since the release of Smile in 04. As I understand it.

Breaks down like such:
Morning Beat (new, although certainly based on the Shortnin' Bread riff. Includes the Hallalujah riff from the 70s).
Going Home (new, not to be confused with the Paley sessions tune of the same title. Shortnin' Bread again.)

Morning Beat strongly reminds me of an outtake/demo from the early 70-ies (Sunflower outtake) called "Walkin' ", the similarities are obiously there.
A mid-80ies version of (I'm) Goin' Home is floating around as well, but was changed significantly for TLOS.
O, and isn't "Oxygen..." a typical 80 healthy-themed song a la "Too Much Sugar" and "He Couldn't Get His Poor Old Body To Move"?


But even if some songs originate from a while back, I still consider them new as they finally got a worthy treatment and - to me - finally sound "finished". Or to say it differently: "God Only Knows" took half an hour to write, "Morning Beat" took 37 years.... I don't mind that at all.

[carl r]

It's great news, I look forward to hearing it (and watching any DVD release).

There's one small qualification. I do like the idea behind something like "Rio Grande" rather than every aspect of the execution.

If Brian is still writing in "feels" then I'd like a more abstract-sounding track every now and then, something which sounds like psychedelic rock and combines a few of these feels in an atmospheric way.  May not always work, but parts of Rio Grande are great, for example.

Maybe this aspect is missing at the moment?

Still, looking forward to hearing this. Maybe he'll let some "heads" remix it at some point. Panda Bear ?

[MBE]

The 88 is from different eras  but only Little Children really feels out of place so 88 is close. I overlooked some details, but again this feels more like a whole then bits and pieces. It's a complete concept.

[buddhahat]

Glad it will be on vinyl. You know this is the first album of entirely new Brian Wilson songs for 31 years. If you discount Good Time and Ding Dang.

Parts of TLOS date back to 1967/68 ("BWTL"), 1975/6 (the "mow-mama-yama-glory-halleluja" riff from "Clangin'"), 1985 ("California Role/Wondering What You're Up To Now"), "Southern California" is a solo Scotty composition and of course a substantial proportion was back-engineered from the summer 2006 Wilson/Bennet sessions. How much was written specifically for the South Bank Center commission ?  Surprisingly little.

I might be wrong but your statement sort of implies that TLOS is weaker because not much of it was written specifically for the South Bank Centre, even though a lot of it was written in the preceding year. Does it matter? Are you suggesting this is another GIOMH?

Presumably what's important is that BW is releasing new material that he's written a significant amount of. As I see it (TLOS cover aside) California Role is not new, obviously neither is BWTL, Southern California is not a BW composition, and there are a few recycled riffs here and there. I don't see any problem with BW plagiarising a few of his own riffs. I work as an illustrator and am constantly recycling motifs that I've used many times before - it's part of the art and I'm sure the same applies to musical composition. Even songs such as California Role have presumably been re-tweaked for this project, and as such are still valid. The only real disappointment for me is to learn that Southern California isn't a BW song, but why should BW be the sole author of every song on an album that's clearly presented as a collaboration?

I'm sure if you scrutinized the writing process of many pop composers, certainly older ones like BW, you'd find they'd plagiarised their own back-catalogues a bit. For some reason though, and I imagine it's to do with the huge gulf between the capabilities of young vs old Brian, if BW recycles any earlier BW tunes it seems to undermine the authenticity of the new work, even if the recycling is very subtle. I just think this is finding fault for the sake of it and that a large part of BW's fan-base expect too much from him.

If Brian knocked out God Only Knows today, there would be suspicion on these boards because, when questioned, one of the session players admitted that he'd actually contributed that staccato bit in the middle!!

[Amy B.]

Buddha, I agree with everything you posted. Another example is that Mike Love apparently wrote the music to "Let the Wind Blow," (correct me if I'm remembering wrong), Gary Usher wrote the music to "Lonely Sea" (again, that's if I recall correctly), or any of the times Tony Asher apparently suggested that a melody on Pet Sounds "go up instead of down."

Brian has always been open to collaboration/suggestions. Although he may not be 1966 Brian Wilson, to suggest that just because he recycled or received help in 2006/2007 means that it's not really his or is somehow a disappointment is ridiculous. I hope no one is really suggesting that. He is still a very gifted individual, and he does still have a few brain cells left for composing and arranging. Besides, the people Brian works with haven't exactly written their own "Smile"s in their solo careers (as good as they are), so I think we're getting the benefit of Brian's talent here too. What Brian and his collaborators have done here is much more than most 65-year-old pop musicians have pulled off. I'm not sure McCartney or any of the others are subjected to this type of scrutiny every time they release something new. And who knows how much help those guys get reworking their completed compositions in the studio? (Forgive my terrible writing this early in the morning before my coffee.)

[Ron]

Boy I'd hate to be a song writer these days.  I'd be told I can't do anything with any song I ever wrote unless it was less than a year old.  I'd be told I have to come up with every note every syllable myself, and if I don't know how a french horn works then dammit don't use a french horn.  I'd be told i'm unallowed to change lyrics after I've written them the first time.  I'd be told my albums weren't as good as the demos some idiot copied and stole from me at a record label the album didn't even come out on.  Or maybe all that just applies to Brian

[Swamp Pirate]

I personally could care less when the origination of a song is.  The song belong to the artist, not the bootleggers, and he/she can change it however he/she wants until he/she thinks it's ready to be presented.

The fact that it took 37 years to get a proper Smile release does not diminish anything from the finished product- it was well worth the wait. 

TLOS simply completes the circle.

Pet Sounds- Brian's masterpiece.
Smile- Brian's artistic statement.
That Lucky Old Sun- Brian's personal statement and a fitting coda to his career.

[smile-holland]

Glad it will be on vinyl. You know this is the first album of entirely new Brian Wilson songs for 31 years. If you discount Good Time and Ding Dang.

Parts of TLOS date back to 1967/68 ("BWTL"), 1975/6 (the "mow-mama-yama-glory-halleluja" riff from "Clangin'"), 1985 ("California Role/Wondering What You're Up To Now"), "Southern California" is a solo Scotty composition and of course a substantial proportion was back-engineered from the summer 2006 Wilson/Bennet sessions. How much was written specifically for the South Bank Center commission ?  Surprisingly little.

I might be wrong but your statement sort of implies that TLOS is weaker because not much of it was written specifically for the South Bank Centre, even though a lot of it was written in the preceding year. Does it matter? Are you suggesting this is another GIOMH?

Reading previous posts by AGD regarding this subject I pretty much got the idea that he was very positive on TLOS.

Like MBE just mentioned: it's not about the many bits and pieces and the date that is attached to it, but the project/music as a whole. That is new and - on top of that - very enjoyable to listen to with many pleasant (historical) surprises.

[GoofyJeff]

TLOS simply completes the circle.

Pet Sounds- Brian's masterpiece.
Smile- Brian's artistic statement.
That Lucky Old Sun- Brian's personal statement and a fitting coda to his career.

Couldn't agree more.  TLOS is a classic example of the whole being greater than the sum of the parts.  TLOS does indeed complete Brian's trilogy as outlined above, and will help cement his musical legacy, not only as a driving force behind 60s music with his former band (that has been established already), but also as a solo artist.  Also, like Pet Sounds, it is DEEPLY autobiographical, not only in terms of the lyrics, but also musically as it progresses thru the song cycle.

Morning Beat - A fun rocker in the spirit of the earliest BB songs
Forever My Surfer Girl - A nice nod to Judy Bowles and remembering where it all began
Oxygen - very much in the spirit of his mid 80s health songs (Just Say No, Too Much Sugar, Couldn't Get His Poor Old Body to Move, etc)
Midnight's Another Day - probably the single most autobiographical song on the album
Goin Home - I don't care who you are but the line "At 25 I turned out the lights" is heartbreaking
Southern California - A beautiful coda to the album, and if this is the last we hear of Brian, a fitting end to a phenomenal career

All in all, I cannot wait for the CD/DVD.

[Rocker]

Buddha, I agree with everything you posted. Another example is that Mike Love apparently wrote the music to "Let the Wind Blow," (correct me if I'm remembering wrong),

I don't know, but Mike introduced this song in the early 70s as " a prayer that Brian put music to".

[Dr. Tim]

It's unusual for one to stop by here while still digesting his plate of crow - let alone admit he's happy to be eating it.

AGD had predicted this as a sensible scenario, and while I agreed with him, my opinion was that Captiol would never do it because the dinosaurs in charge would blow that chance like all the major label execs have done with everything else.   Apparently Mr. Hinds -- who knows he has to shake things up to keep the EMI brand relevant -- is willing to take a chance here, and give it an appropriate big-budget send-off.

This is not just a "safe bet" to put out a legacy artist's new LP, of whatever quality.  In that case he'd have re-signed Paul McCartney -- and he hasn't.  BWPS is still a highly respected piece of work among the music cognoscenti, even if some folk here have problems with it.  Brian is one of those handful of "old guys" who still have it, who can reach into the ether and pull back new stuff that's beyond "hip".  Other members of that gang would be Neil Young and Bob Dylan.  Maybe Scott Walker, who is on Mars, and Trent Reznor too, keeping in mind he too is in a different world and the jury is still out (though Ghosts I-IV is far better than one might expect from someone who has nothing to prove).  There aren' t too many, and some other "legacy" guys still doing new stuff like Macca, Joni Mitchell, Paul Simon, and John Fogerty are slugging it out to join them but it's hard to say if they will get there.   

[Wirestone]

I stand by my outline in general.

"Mornin' Beat" does have some structural similarities to "Walkin'," but it's all more general than specific. It's not a rewrite -- more a reuse of a basic chord sequence.

Oxygen does indeed hark back to the fitness songs. But that has nothing to do with whether it's new or not. And Brian was writing fitness songs in the 60s and 70s too -- see HELP is on the Way and Life if for the Living.

I'm not familiar with a mid-80s demo of Goin' Home. I'm quite familiar with the mid-90s Paley tune, which is entirely different. I'd have to hear it to know.

[brianc]

You know this is the first album of entirely new Brian Wilson songs for 31 years. If you discount Good Time and Ding Dang.

Not only was the 1988 BW solo album made up of entirely new BW songs, but so was the unreleased 1994/96 Wilson/Paley sessions. When you are adding up projects of Brian's total immersion and production genius, I think it's important to mention the Paley/Wilson album right along with "Today," "Pet Sounds," "Smile," "Friends," "Love You" and the 1988 album.

[phirnis]

I don't like the idea of That Lucky Old Sun being called a "cover version". It rather is an interpretation, put in an entirely new context. Louie Louie, now that's a cover version.

[Wirestone]

After somehow mysteriously hearing TLOS today (I think it was blown in on the winds), I have to say how impressed I still am by it. The whole really transcends the sum of the parts -- and MAD is spine-chilling.

[Ron]

The way I took "Oxygen", was that it was a new song, meant to represent Brian in the 70's and 80's.  The whole album has themes of morning/day/night, childhood/youth/beachboys/landy years/current Brian, etc.  If you look at the album as representing the sun jorneying through the day, each song a little later on in the day, Oxygen comes in the afternoon, and starts with an alarm clock going off... (Brian sleeping all day, being lazy) and then the lyrics of course are about how he spent the 70's and 80's "Open up, open up, open your eyes, it's time it's time it's time to rise/o.k., lets take it slow... you ain't got no place to go"  etc. 

So the way I see it, and again everything is anybody's interpretation, the album is the sun looking down on California, and he sees things in different times and different years and different aspects of the city.  Morning Beat is of course the morning, and it's a general song trying to show what California is all about, Good Kind of Love starts as two lovers wake up is about youthful 20 something love (perhaps Brian and Marilyn), Forever She'll be my Surfer Girl is about Surfer Girl, Marilyn or whoever, etc.  and also about the early 'morning' of Brian's career.  The song literally mentions several times about Brian writing his first masterpiece, etc.  Live let Live is a progressive environmentally themed song that could represent the nature aspect of California but also the late 20's 'awakening' of Brian's more liberal side (smoking drugs, hanging out with poets, recording SMiLE, etc.), Mexican girl represents the hispanic population of California of course, California Role represents Hollywood, Oxygen represents Brian's insanity in the 70's and 80's, Can't Wait too long is used to set up "midnight" and also to represent wasted time (can't wait too long, been way too long), Midnight represents the evening and the sorrow that comes with the dark, and has tastes of optimism in it.  It also represents the revival period Brian's been through recently, crawling out of his hole.  "Goin' Home" represents Brian's current happy go lucky don't care about record sales as much anymore attitude, where he's asserting he's just trying to have fun with life, it's obvious in the lyrics.  It also represents of course Brian's eventual death... "Southern California" lyrically, musically, and positionally on the album represents the summation of Brian's career, what he's thankful for, he mentions his brothers at the beginning, etc.  This is his Coda to represent his life and his album. 

He did something very similar (in my eyes, at least) with the 04' sequence of SMiLE.  GREAT album, but like with SMiLE, the casual listener isn't going to catch the references Brian makes to his own legend.  The only people that will truly be moved by the album are those that are already big fans. 

[MBE]

You know this is the first album of entirely new Brian Wilson songs for 31 years. If you discount Good Time and Ding Dang.

Not only was the 1988 BW solo album made up of entirely new BW songs, but so was the unreleased 1994/96 Wilson/Paley sessions. When you are adding up projects of Brian's total immersion and production genius, I think it's important to mention the Paley/Wilson album right along with "Today," "Pet Sounds," "Smile," "Friends," "Love You" and the 1988 album.

Well the Brian Wilson album had a number of new things but it came from various times between 1983-88. I would say that counts as being all new, but Little Children is really why I say it's not all new. That was from 1976 and re-recorded. The original demo had already been bootleged by 1988. The Paley stuff was a surge of good writing, though I know I'm Broke for one went back to 1983. The main reason I didn't mention it is because it never came out. Which to me is sad because I feel it's overall better then anything Brian has done since the seventies save for Smile.

[mikeyj]

Buddha, I agree with everything you posted. Another example is that Mike Love apparently wrote the music to "Let the Wind Blow," (correct me if I'm remembering wrong),

I don't know, but Mike introduced this song in the early 70s as " a prayer that Brian put music to".

Well I don't know if this means anything but Let The Wind Blow is one of the only Brian & Mike songs that credits it as "Love/Wilson".

[mikeyj]

Buddha, I agree with everything you posted. Another example is that Mike Love apparently wrote the music to "Let the Wind Blow," (correct me if I'm remembering wrong), Gary Usher wrote the music to "Lonely Sea" (again, that's if I recall correctly), or any of the times Tony Asher apparently suggested that a melody on Pet Sounds "go up instead of down."

I agree Amy. It's stupid to suggest that if it credits Brian then he did EVERYTHING and ignored any ideas given to him. And as you say, just because it doesn't have the credit "B. Wilson" attached to it, doesn't mean that it's somehow not good.

I think you are right in regards to LTWB.. at least that's what I've heard. Never heard that about Lonely Sea.. that's interesting. Where did you read that?

[Roger Ryan]

My understanding is that Usher brought in the chord structure to "Lonely Sea" and Brian and him fashioned the melody and lyrics to it. But then, who knows; it's very difficult to determine what collaborators bring to a song if both write both music and lyrics.

I could even suggest that Brian had a hand in writing the new "Southern California" if one counts the bit of "Passing By" that made it into the melody.