Announcement posted - TLOS by Sept. 2nd!

[Amy B.]

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?

You know, I can't remember. Was it AGD's book? I might have been thinking of a different song, though. Anyway, the point still stands-- Brian didn't write every note in his catalog, even during his heyday.

[Alex]

I'm totally stoked for this! 2008 is going to be an awesome year for BB releases. That Lucky Old Sun, Pacific Ocean Blue, AND Postcard from California! Are Dave Marks or Mike and Bruce going to release anything this year?

[GoofyJeff]

I'm totally stoked for this! 2008 is going to be an awesome year for BB releases. That Lucky Old Sun, Pacific Ocean Blue, AND Postcard from California! Are Dave Marks or Mike and Bruce going to release anything this year?

Don't forget the singles box set (insanely expensive as it is...)

Was the 3-disc David Marks set released this year or was that late last year?  I haven't picked up any of his stuff yet, but fully intend to shortly.

As for Mike and Bruce, they aren't allowed to record anything using the BB name, so don't hold your breath.  Mike does have his "Unleash the Love/Mike Love Not War" album that he could put out if he wanted to....

[GoofyJeff]

there's a new splash page over at BW.com promoting TLOS complete with video footage of the press conference and the band performing songs... FYI 

[Chris Brown]

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 wouldn't be surprised if that one was true...the chord sequence is very basic and simple really, so I can imagine Usher just playing those 4 chords and Brian coming up with a melody.

As for "Let the Wind Blow", there is no way that Mike wrote all the music to that.  Maybe I underestimate his musical skills a bit, but come on.  Those chord changes and modulations are pure Brian Wilson.  Maybe he helped with some of the music, but Brian had to have been involved as well.

[c-man]

Byron Preiss had this to say about the creation of "Let The Wind Blow":

"...one of Mike's most beautiful compositions.  Written while in his car, Mike took it to Brian, who changed the melody line, gave it a different beat, and went into the studio to record".

[carl r]

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.

..I'd agree with this... just noticed today that the second-to-last part of "Fairy Tale" (I guess this is also known Mount Vernon and Fairway) sounds really like the verse melody in "Southern California" - interesting, as Brian apparently didn't write this song !

[c-man]

As far as Brian not writing "Southern California"...I'm wondering if he or Scotty have gone on record as saying that, or if that's an assumption made by hearing the demo, on which Scotty reportedly sings the lead.  Reason I wonder this is because Scotty also reportedly sings lead on all of the "California Role" demo, even though we know Brian wrote the music to that.  Just wondering.

[TimeToGetAlone]

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.

..I'd agree with this... just noticed today that the second-to-last part of "Fairy Tale" (I guess this is also known Mount Vernon and Fairway) sounds really like the verse melody in "Southern California" - interesting, as Brian apparently didn't write this song !

I don't know if these would be the same parts of MV&F or not, but I did notice musical bits resurface.  Lazy Lizzie (an unreleased BB song) has a chorus which is so similar to a piece of one segment.  Also, I found the last one we hear being played sounds a little, albeit a different arrangement.

[Wirestone]

For what it's worth, you can definitely hear BW doing backing vocals in California Role's demo, while he doesn't seem to be on the Southern California recording.

[Amy B.]

Didn't Scott also sing the What Love Can Do demo? Did he have anything to do with the writing of that?

[Aegir]

Byron Preiss had this to say about the creation of "Let The Wind Blow":

"...one of Mike's most beautiful compositions.  Written while in his car, Mike took it to Brian, who changed the melody line, gave it a different beat, and went into the studio to record".

I never remember where I read these things, but from my understanding, Mike had written it as an upbeat R&B-styled track, which Brian then took and morphed it into what it was on the album. If Mike gets a composer's credit for arranging Mama Says, then Brian gets one for arranging Let the Wind Blow.

And the chords are pretty standard, I think. It's a lot less musically complicated than, say, Big Sur or Sumahama.

[the captain]

Less complicated than Big Sur? I don't know about that. Not that it's complicated, but isn't Big Sur just walking down (and up) a C chord? Without listening at the moment, I'm guessing it's just C, G/B, Am, G/B, etc. Also, to Amy's point (sorry it's not a new paragraph here, but you'd be surprised at what merlot does to a laptop's keyboard functionality), I don't think Scott sang the WLCD demo. I dont' recall who did, but I thought I recalled it being some name I didn't know, that it was just some hired singer.

[Wrightfan]

Less complicated than Big Sur? I don't know about that. Not that it's complicated, but isn't Big Sur just walking down (and up) a C chord? Without listening at the moment, I'm guessing it's just C, G/B, Am, G/B, etc. Also, to Amy's point (sorry it's not a new paragraph here, but you'd be surprised at what merlot does to a laptop's keyboard functionality), I don't think Scott sang the WLCD demo. I dont' recall who did, but I thought I recalled it being some name I didn't know, that it was just some hired singer.

Actually, after fooling around my keyboard a bit, I think it's C, G/B, AM, C/G and then it's repeated.

[Wirestone]

What Love Can Do is credited to Brian, Burt Bacharach, and Bacharach lyricist Steve Krikorkian.

And no, I didn't think it was Scott on the demo either.

[Chris Brown]

Byron Preiss had this to say about the creation of "Let The Wind Blow":

"...one of Mike's most beautiful compositions.  Written while in his car, Mike took it to Brian, who changed the melody line, gave it a different beat, and went into the studio to record".

I never remember where I read these things, but from my understanding, Mike had written it as an upbeat R&B-styled track, which Brian then took and morphed it into what it was on the album. If Mike gets a composer's credit for arranging Mama Says, then Brian gets one for arranging Let the Wind Blow.

And the chords are pretty standard, I think. It's a lot less musically complicated than, say, Big Sur or Sumahama.

I don't know about that...most of it is pretty simple, but like I said, that key change in the bridge where it ends with Eb as the tonic then goes back to Ab isn't something your average songwriter would come up with, let alone Mike Love (who as far as I know hadn't written any music for the BB at that point).  It just doesn't make sense, unless maybe Mike came up with the main verse music but Brian did the bridge...that I might be able to buy.

[Aegir]

I don't have the best ear for these things, but to me, Let the Wind Blow, is G7, C, C7 and Dm, Am for most of the song then Dm, G and Em, Bm and Em7, D/A for the bridge.

Maybe we need to start a definitive chord progression thread...

[mikeyj]

I don't know about that...most of it is pretty simple, but like I said, that key change in the bridge where it ends with Eb as the tonic then goes back to Ab isn't something your average songwriter would come up with, let alone Mike Love (who as far as I know hadn't written any music for the BB at that point).  It just doesn't make sense, unless maybe Mike came up with the main verse music but Brian did the bridge...that I might be able to buy.

I do remember hearing - perhaps even from AGD - on one of the boards that Mike wrote the verse and Brian wrote the bridge. But, who knows?