brianwilson.com - New TLOS VIdeo

[Swamp Pirate]

BW 88: B
IJWMFTT: B
OCA: C+
Imagination: B
Live at the Roxy: B
Pet Sounds Live: B-
GIOMH: C-
Smile: A+++  One for finishing it after 37 years.  Two for actually recording it.  Three, for being by far the best solo work Brian's done. 
WIRWFC: A
TLOS (live): A

[Wirestone]

BW 88: B+
BW 88 Reissue: A
IJWMFTT: A-
OCA: B
Imagination: B+
Live at the Roxy: A-
BW Live DVD: B-
Pet Sounds Live: C
Pet Sounds Live DVD: A
GIOMH: B-
BWPS: A
BWPS DVD: A+
WIRWFC: A-

[Andrew G. Doe]

BW 88: B+
IJWMFTT: C+
OCA: A-
Imagination: B
Live at the Roxy: B-
Pet Sounds Live: C-
GIOMH: F
Smile: A
WIRWFC: C+

[Mahalo]

BWPS: A+, sound can't be a fraud. If you wanted something other than what it is, it's your fault as the listener. 

Well put

[Sam_BFC]

Why do you consider SMiLE a fraud?

[brianc]

BW 88: B+
IJWMFTT: C
OCA: B
Imagination: D
Live at the Roxy: C
Pet Sounds Live: D-
GIOMH: F
Smile: A
WIRWFC: Never Heard It (other than "On Christmas Day")

[John]

BW '88 B- (great songs, awful production. I enjoy it more if I think of it as a bootleg of demos put forward for a Beach boys album.)
IJWMFTT - never heard it.
OCA - C (cannot identify with it at all. I mean, I've never gone surfing either, but that music is infectious, not...middle-aged.)
Imagination - C (so-so songs - except for a few, awful production)
Live At The Roxy - B+
Pet Sounds Live - never heard it.
BWPS - A+
GIOMH - Never heard it.
WWIFXMAS - Never heard it.

[Sheriff John Stone]

BW 88: B+
IJWMFTT: C
OCA: B
Imagination: D
Live at the Roxy: C
Pet Sounds Live: D-
GIOMH: F
Smile: A
WIRWFC: Never Heard It (other than "On Christmas Day")

I'm surprised, but pleasantly surprised at your ratings. I must've been reading the wrong things into your posts; I'll re-read them now. BTW, why didn't you break down and buy the Christmas CD?

[brianc]

Also, I have a liking for Brian's mid-1990s, pre-Imagination vocals, which are an acquired taste (nasal, high (in more ways that one), single tracked).

I'm the same way. That mid-'90s period for Brian seems like an inspired time. Maybe not youthful and earth-shattering, but it feels like he was cutting songs that inspired him, on a Phil Spector-level, and they felt genuine.

That said, whatever the flaws of Wilson's solo career have been, my hunch is that if some of these cuts were covered by the Belle & Sebastians of the world, they would sound amazing. I think he's written a lot of great tunes. "Live Let Live" is a catchy number, "There's So Many" is beautiful. Actually, I don't mind the '80s synths and drum machines on the 1988 album whatsoever, because the production techniques on that album are so clearly Brian that it almost reminds me of how he used keywboards on "Love You" -- clearly in the Brian Wilson style. It was "Sweet Insanity" where the instrumentation got to me, because it had '80s synths (in the era of Nirvana!!!!), yet it didn't sound like Brian's production. I can handle any technology or instrumentation, when it is filtered through Brian's style of layering pianos, counter-melodies and his cool percussion.

[brianc]

BTW, why didn't you break down and buy the Christmas CD?

I don't know... just didn't see the point. There's so many things out there that I want to buy, I don't see why I have to own every single thing Brian or the Beach Boys ever put out.

[John]

This is how I feel.

Also, I'd love to hear Melt Away with Wrecking Crew orchestration. And those other songs with the Beach Boys vocals. I think you can even hear which Beach Boy Brian had in mind for each song. Mike definitely on Night Time, Alan on Let It Shine, etc.

[phirnis]

BW 88: B+
IJWMFTT: B-
OCA: A
Imagination: B-
Live at the Roxy: A-
Pet Sounds Live: never heard it
Pet Sounds Live DVD: A
GIOMH: C
BWPS: A
BWPS DVD: A+
WIRWFC: B+
TLOS (live): A+

[Smilin Ed H]

BW 88 A-
IJWMFTT B-
OCA C+
Imagination C+
Live at The Roxy B-
Pet Sounds Live B-
BWPS A +
GIOMH D -
WIRWFC C+

FWIW, I rate the live PS A
Sweet Insanity D-
Paley Sessions (a collected version of the best of...) B +
TLOS B + (rising higher at times!)
I'm not sure we should judge stuff on whether it died a quick death. I'd like to think I'm more intelligent than that. Van Morrison's turned out the same old turgid (often badly sung) sh*t over the last 20 + years and yet he still has a respectable audience; on the other hand, Fogerty seems to rewrite his songs album after album - and I love 'em.  There's a ton of stuff in the charts that isn't worth a damn and some stuff that is.  Imagine if we applied this dumbass logic to movies in the current climate.  God forbid.

[Amy B.]

BW 88: A- (love these songs and can handle the production, which sometimes even serves the song)
IJWMFTT: B (great material, but a rehash and not in Brian's best voice, IMO)
OCA: B+
Imagination: C+ (I may be a little harsh here. Some of the songs are good, but the production...uggh)
Live at the Roxy: A- (I love this CD. The band is great, and Brian sounds enthusiastic)
Pet Sounds Live: B+
GIOMH: Don't own it. I do have GIOMH (the song) and Desert Drive. They're both great. I have also heard Parkes' cover of Saturday Morning in the City and love it.
Smile: A+ (a fraud? Nope. Brian finally worked on it and released it with the resources he had available. I think it's a tremendous piece of work. Brian's best music, a terrific band, and the original orchestration, albeit with different players. Couldn't ask for more, unless you had a time machine.)
 
WIRWFC: A (I really like this one. Nice arrangements and two great originals. Not sappy or sentimental. Just joyful and genuine, like Brian on his good days.)
TLOS (live): A (Excellent.)

The wildly differing grades on this thread just go to show how subjective all of this is. With some people, I feel like they're listening to Brian's music and trying to find what's wrong instead of letting it wash over them. There's a lot of baggage when you know the guy's story and have heard the rumors. Sometimes you just have to try to hear the music for what it is.

[Swamp Pirate]

I totally agree.  Brian had to overcome 37 years of bad memories, emotional hurdles, and self-doubt about the music to be able to get back on that horse and push Smile to the finish line.  I don't care if Brian didn't spend every single second in the studio with Darian and Mark.   In the final analysis, when everything was said and done, Brian had to give the final okay for the whole project to proceed. 

If Brian didn't want it to happen, it wouldn't have happened.  Brian was in the ultimate position to sabotage the whole project.  But, thanks to a stable, positive support system backing him up every step of the way, he sung his ass off, the music sounded great, and I have a copy of Smile in my CD collection that I play on a regular basis- something I never thought I'd ever have.

And yes, I agree that the performance on the DVD had a little more energy to it. 

Smile is no more a fraud than Summer In Paradise masquerading as a Beach Boys record.

[Wirestone]

Personally, I think it's sad (perhaps telling) that on a board dedicated to BW and the Boys that lower ratings of Brian's albums make one fan respect another more.

[TdHabib]

BW 88: A- (love these songs and can handle the production, which sometimes even serves the song)

I agree with that statement. Personally I think "Melt Away" should have all of that crazy percussion. It's like a synthesizer wall of sound. I'm also happy no-one's been negative about BW88, because my line of classic/near classic Brian work of the last 30 or so years goes something like this:

Love You---->BW88----->2 or 3 choice Sweet Insanity cuts----->Paley Sessions---->finishing touches of BWPS------>TLOS.

I'm happy so many people contributing their ratings. Great to have a wide perspective.

[Smilin Ed H]

He was always onto a loser with some people with regards to SMiLE.  It's the nature of many a middle-aged fanboy to have spent years drizzling over 'their' version of SMiLE, so when the 2004 version appeared some people weren't going to be pleased.  It's not just the BB; take a look at any given moment on the Steve Hoffman board and you can find grown men goofing each other off over obscure variations of Beatles recordings or whether John was better than Paul or Bob was better than all of them or whether that was Macca cutting a fart in Ebony and Ivory - and, of course, the whole song was exactly that.   

[lance]

 BW 88 B+
IJWMFTT C+
OCA never heard it
Imagination Neverheard it
Live at The Roxy Never heard it
Pet Sounds Live Never heard it
BWPS A +
GIOMH Never heard it
WIRWFC Never heard it
 

[the captain]

Personally, I think it's sad (perhaps telling) that on a board dedicated to BW and the Boys that lower ratings of Brian's albums make one fan respect another more.

I don't think it's sad at all. It would be sad if everyone were insulting BW or the BBs on a board related to them, but that doesn't seem to be what happened here. I think it's just a matter of people recognizing one another's relative objectivity. Yes, preferences are subjective, but there is hopefully a relative objectivity within any one person's choices. And so if a person thinks Pet Sounds is brilliant, it's hard to understand extreme devotion to GIOMH, for example, because one is just so (to put it kindly) different. To some of us--serious fans, all--it seems like blind worship when people give everything BW does 4.5 to 5 stars. And so it is refreshing when, without malice or insult, we see people say, "You know, I love Brian Wilson, but that album just wasn't very good." I think it's far more sad when people give all high scores, or when they think it's sad that others don't.

[Day Tripper]

 I think Brian is aware of what the quality of his songs are. I'll make the distinction of "Excellence vs.Success." Where an excellent song doesn't have to be successful (ex.- Caroline No) and a successful song song doesn't have to be excellent (ex.- Kokomo.)  When Brian heard Rubber Soul for the first time he recognized the quality of the entire album. The music industry of that era had pushed for albums that contained two or three good songs and the rest filler. It's my opinion that any output by Brian is welcomed by his management. Does anyone here think that Brian writes 30 or so songs and then the best ten are chosen for an album? I don't. I'm curious if any of Brian's collaborators have ever said, "No Brian, that melody isn't very good."

 Its all subjective anyway according to the effect a song has on a listener. An artist is always going to have his current work compared to previous work. I wish Brian would spend 6 months if he wanted to, to perfect a song and release it as a single for download.  I enjoy reading all of your opinions in this thread.

[carl r]

just looking at what people marks people are giving here, there really is a case that brian and his management should have a lot more belief in the quality of his solo material from Love You onwards than appears to be the case (not easy . When did he last play "melt away" in concert, for example? would anyone else like to hear an extended live version of "night blooming jasmine" ? 

[Aegir]

I love all of Brian's albums, but only a few of them have my respect.

[NightHider]

[And as I understand it, BW arranged the background harmonies and vocals and then recorded them all in just SEVERAL HOURS in a SINGLE afternoon. 

Actually, VDP arranged everything and simply told Brian what to sing. This was confirmed by Van Dyke himself on the blueboard a couple of years ago and again on the blueboard by a blueboarder who had recently had a chat with Van Dyke. The thing that has amazing VDP all these years is how quickly Brian was able to learn the parts and then record them, one by one, in a very short period of time.

Firstly, as the album took some three years to record, I seriously doubt that Van Dyke called Brian in for just one day: the vocal sessions were doubtless spread over several months.

As for who arranged the vocals, in an interview conducted at the time of release it was stated that Brian arranged the majority of the vocals in the studio.

I am certain knocking out the vocals in one day is what I read in a VDP interview shortly after the release of OCA.  I will post if can find it again.

[XY]

By the way, what ever happened to the BW/ Burt Bacharach collaboration I heard about some time ago?  What happened to the rock n' roll album BW was talking so much about about a cupla years ago?

As for the Rock and roll album, well I'm not too sure anybody knows anything about that, other than the fact that it's probably not going to happen.

The Rock 'n' Roll album is Brian's running gag since the 80's when asked what's up next.
Now he even gave a title: "'Pleasure Island, A Rock Fantasy' - A real rock recording."


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