Brian's Wild Solo-Artist Ride

[Swamp Pirate]

Did Johnny Cash's voice 'carry' his last four CD's...I know, apples and oranges.

I guess I don't get hung up on this as much as others.  I would argue that Brian's voice sounded perfectly fine on Imagination...cue AGD's 'Koff...koff...pro-tools'...and on Smile.  I would also agree that the presentation of Brian's voice on BW88, OCA, a couple of the one-offs he did in the mid-90's, and GIOHM left much to be desired.

Again, Brian's 66 years old and to my ears sounds exactly as I imagine a 66 year old Brian Wilson should sound.  He's never going to sound like he's 24 again but yet it appears to be the benchmark of comparison.  Brian's voice most certainly can carry a whole CD- especially if he's interested, inclined, and inspired...see Smile.  And hopefully TLOS.   

Put the 30 plus songs from a hypothetical Brian solo compliation that I came up with up against anything released by McCartney, Rod Stewart, John Fogerty, and other comtemporaries of his era still active over the past 15 or so years and I think they would acquit themselves just fine...IMO.

Short of singing a duet with Shania Twain, he's never going to have a #1 record or sell a massive amount of product ever again.   And that's okay.     Yes, I believe that Imagination was put out with the hopes that it would be a hit.  Unfortunately, it didn't work out that way.  I still maintain that had South American been the lead-off single that it could have been a sleeper hit a la Kokomo but that's neither here or there.   

In the end, the bulk of the past 15 years has been about Brian reclaiming his music, overcoming his past failures and demons, and reestablishing his musical legacy.   And in large measure, he's succeeded.  He went on the road and toured when no one thought he could/would.  Musicares.  Songwriter's Hall of Fame.  Performing Smile.   Releasing Smile finally after 37 years.  Smile reaching the top 15 at age 62.  Kennedy Center Honors.  And now, the final chapter- TLOS.   Through a positive and stable support system and music, Brian made it out of the wilderness and came back, damaged and all, which is nothing short of a miracle...see Roky Erickson...Arthur Lee...

And after listening to POB and Bambu over the past month, it's a shame that Dennis couldn't do the same.

[Andrew G. Doe]

SJS: The only song on TLOS that's "not new" is the melody for "California Role," which I've heard comes from an unbooted 80s Brian comp. (This was also apparently news to Scott Bennett, who co-wrote the darn thing.)

Every other BW comp on there is new. The "Clangin'" riff and the Can't Wait too Long link track aren't, but neither are they presented as complete songs. They are simply bits incorporated into the whole.

Matter of definition: is the majority of TLOS previously unheard material ? Yes. Was the majority of it written expressly for the South Bank Centre commission ? No. It was back-engineered from the Wilson/Bennett sessions of summer 2006.

And yes, I know - aside from us, who gives a flying one ? 

BTW, "Goin' Home" really should have a co-composer credit for one John Fogerty. 

[Amy B.]

Matter of definition: is the majority of TLOS previously unheard material ? Yes. Was the majority of it written expressly for the South Bank Centre commission ? No. It was back-engineered from the Wilson/Bennett sessions of summer 2006.

2006, 2007...  Does it matter? If we were talking about 1966 versus 2007, then yes, but 2006 versus 2007?

Andrew, did you say in a previous post that Southern California was, in fact, a BW composition? If so, it bears repeating.

[brianc]

I think Andrew was saying that it was back-engineered, as in, there were Scott/Brian songs from 2006, and they were pieced together as a suite per the contract of the South Banke Centre.

[Amy B.]

I think Andrew was saying that it was back-engineered, as in, there were Scott/Brian songs from 2006, and they were pieced together as a suite per the contract of the South Banke Centre.

Yes, that's how I understood it. But they were still pretty new songs.

[Bubba Ho-Tep]

Mornin' Beat -- Some cite the late 60s tune "Walkin'" as an antecedent, and the underlying riffs are similar, but the song sounds quite different.

They sound like the same song to my ears, musically.

[Jonathan Blum]

Matter of definition: is the majority of TLOS previously unheard material ? Yes. Was the majority of it written expressly for the South Bank Centre commission ? No. It was back-engineered from the Wilson/Bennett sessions of summer 2006.

Seems a bit disingenuous when you remember we're in an era where rock artists routinely take two years to pull together one album!  Does anyone complain that half of Paul McCartney's "Memory Almost Full" is "not new" because it dates back to 2003-4?

Cheers,
Jon Blum

[Jonathan Blum]

I think Andrew was saying that it was back-engineered, as in, there were Scott/Brian songs from 2006, and they were pieced together as a suite per the contract of the South Banke Centre.

Again...  I think people are treating this as if it somehow makes the work suspect.  When to my mind it's no different from Brian incorporating "Sloop John B" and his pitch for a James Bond number into this new album Capitol was asking for...

Cheers,
Jon Blum

[MBE]

I have no problem with how it's writen. Just the publicity is misleading.

[XY]

Perhaps the South Bank Centre project was already in the pipeline in 2006 when the Bennett sessions took place? TLOS was announced in February 2007, "Oxygen To The Brain", "I'm Going Home", "A Message Man", "Wonderin' What You're Up To Now", cover of "Proud Mary", "What Love Can Do" & a new ballad partly sung in Spanish with music & lyrics by Brian ("Mexican Girl" I guess) were mentioned in a September 2006 interview.

[Andrew G. Doe]

Matter of definition: is the majority of TLOS previously unheard material ? Yes. Was the majority of it written expressly for the South Bank Centre commission ? No. It was back-engineered from the Wilson/Bennett sessions of summer 2006.

2006, 2007...  Does it matter? If we were talking about 1966 versus 2007, then yes, but 2006 versus 2007?

Andrew, did you say in a previous post that Southern California was, in fact, a BW composition? If so, it bears repeating.

I did, and I was wrong - been corrected by someone who knows better than my first informant.

[MBE]

Perhaps the South Bank Centre project was already in the pipeline in 2006 when the Bennett sessions took place? TLOS was announced in February 2007, "Oxygen To The Brain", "I'm Going Home", "A Message Man", "Wonderin' What You're Up To Now", cover of "Proud Mary", "What Love Can Do" & a new ballad partly sung in Spanish with music & lyrics by Brian ("Mexican Girl" I guess) were mentioned in a September 2006 interview.

You could be correct, I don't know. At the end of the day if it's good it's good.

[Amy B.]

I have no problem with how it's writen. Just the publicity is misleading.

Is it misleading? I thought that in the promotional video, Brian said, "I had a creative explosion about two years ago," which would mean 2006. Then in some other material he talked about weaving TLOS (the song) into the songs he'd written, implying that this came later.

[Amy B.]

2006, 2007...  Does it matter? If we were talking about 1966 versus 2007, then yes, but 2006 versus 2007?

Andrew, did you say in a previous post that Southern California was, in fact, a BW composition? If so, it bears repeating.

I did, and I was wrong - been corrected by someone who knows better than my first informant.

Ah, so it was written by Brian or by Scott?

[Wirestone]

Re: Walkin' vs. Morning Beat

They're really not that similar at all. Different lyrics, rhythm, bridge, vocal melody ... That counts as a different song in my book.

Yes, there is a certain riff similarity -- but after a back-to-back comparison, the riff is also somewhat different. There's now a bit of Shortnin' Bread in it. My suspicion is that Brian remembered that basic piano riff and that he and Scott wrote a new song around it.

[Andrew G. Doe]

2006, 2007...  Does it matter? If we were talking about 1966 versus 2007, then yes, but 2006 versus 2007?

Andrew, did you say in a previous post that Southern California was, in fact, a BW composition? If so, it bears repeating.

I did, and I was wrong - been corrected by someone who knows better than my first informant.

Ah, so it was written by Brian or by Scott?

Music by Brian/lyrics by Scotty.

[Wirestone]

For what it's worth, Brian has been quite clear -- in interviews and the essay in the tour booklet -- that the songs for TLOS were taken from the Wilson-Bennett sessions.

There may have been the desire early on to claim that TLOS was conceived and created as an organic whole -- that it sprung fully formed from B-Dub's brain -- but that's thankfully been abandoned. The piece as it stands is strong enough to handle its diverse parentage.

AGD: Interesting news that "Southern California" is a Brian comp. It makes sense, though, in that the song is another "Love and Mercy" rewrite. Brian has done that before with "Your Imagination" -- he obviously likes that verse feel.

[c-man]

2006, 2007...  Does it matter? If we were talking about 1966 versus 2007, then yes, but 2006 versus 2007?

Andrew, did you say in a previous post that Southern California was, in fact, a BW composition? If so, it bears repeating.

I did, and I was wrong - been corrected by someone who knows better than my first informant.

Ah, so it was written by Brian or by Scott?

Music by Brian/lyrics by Scotty.

So in other words, same as the rest of the album?

[Wirestone]

C-Man: For what it's worth, Brian is credited in the tour booklet as contributing some lyrics to the piece. My guess is "Oxygen to the Brain."

[XY]

I did, and I was wrong - been corrected by someone who knows better than my first informant.

I bet I know what your first informant was.

[Bean Bag]

...meanwhile, back in my original post    I axed about why it seems that something keeps keeping us from the real Brian.  In the old days it was always Mike's objection to Smile, or Brian himself not wanting to work.  So the prospect of going solo, again, a dream come true, yet there's always something...Landy, Labels getting in the way.

I was suggesting that maybe touring and being on the road, perhaps...which totally doesn't seem like "BRIAN."     Some have speculated (or is that me) that Melinda might push him to do things, for "resolution" .  But I was reminded today about the Sweet Insanity sessions.  To me.......there's an example of where I think the real (at the very least somewhat real) Brian almost slipped through--but again, stopped....by the label.

Why is this?  Does anyone frankly care what the label thinks?  How many people will be directing TLOS?

What I'm getting at is -- shouldn't Brian be left alone?  He's got a website.  Make music and post.   

[Andrew G. Doe]

I axed...

No you didn't - you asked. "Axed" is something you do with a sharp cutting edge mounted on a handle. It's right up there with the incorrect use of "disrespected" (actually, there is no correct use as there is no such word) in the sloppy English stakes.

[Roger Ryan]

The "real" Brian allows others to give him a push in a certain musical direction when he needs it, to go on the road or into the studio to occupy his time. He's happy to allow collaborators to handle arrangements and suggest sequencing. He even looks to handlers to clear some of his answers to the press. He likes the routine of eating breakfast at the same restaurant each day, taking a walk in the park, spending some time at his piano, writing some pop songs and playing around with them in a studio. Sometimes he's enthusiastic about all of these things, sometimes not so much. He'll check himself into the hospital if he feels he's sinking too deep.

This is who he is...and pretty much who he's been for the last 30 years. You like SWEET INSANITY? Great, but I don't see where those tracks are any closer to a "real" Brian Wilson than anything else he's actually released over the past twenty years. You like IMAGINATION? I like some of it too, but don't care much for the production. I could blame Joe Thomas for that (as co-producer, he's the logical culprit), but, ultimately, Brian put his name on it, so it's his product, like it or not. The "real" Brian Wilson has released some spectacular work and he's released some garbage. And even in his heyday he screwed up. It wasn't Landy or Melinda, but someone had to tell him that his first mix of PET SOUNDS sounded bad and he needed to remix it. Would it have been better if the "real" Brian was allowed to release that first mix of his masterpiece? And we all know what the "real" Brian thought of the SMiLE sessions circa May, 1967. SMILEY SMILE was "real" alright, real disappointing.

It's absurd to try and guess which albums, tracks or vocals the "real" Brian is responsible for. The circumstances, his emotions and mental health, others' opinions and reactions all factor into it. When compared to a Roky Erickson or a Arthur Lee or even a John Fogerty, Brian has contributed a substantial body of work over the last twenty years; I'm happy to accept all of it as his "reality".

[brianc]

Awesome, Roger.

[the captain]

I axed...

No you didn't - you asked. "Axed" is something you do with a sharp cutting edge mounted on a handle. It's right up there with the incorrect use of "disrespected" (actually, there is no correct use as there is no such word) in the sloppy English stakes.

I love you.