Brian's Wild Solo-Artist Ride

[Bean Bag]

At times, I find something 'off' with Brian's solo work.  It's a conflicting reality of eccentric-land meets bland-ville.  I have a hard time with that.  Art should address the reality of the artist.  I don't blame ANY of that on Melinda -- don't misunderstand.  Maybe it’s Brian, but there’s clearly an attempt to play it safe and drown Brian’s music with crap so we don’t notice…something.


On Imagination I don't have this problem, you see.  Imagination has the slickest production, yet...the slickest vocals.  Brian comes off to me as "natural" and "at ease" and so does the production.  So it works.  Any "smoothness" in his voice, actually matches the music.  They're in harmony.  No conflict to me.  I like that.

But at other times, the flaky emotional quality of his vocal--does not jib with the background.  Like on GIOMH, when he sings "you made my spirit whole."  It doesn't have any feel.  He's robotic, yet the background is this lush, professional, soothing seaside paradise.  Riiiiiiight.


Dare I say it...but on BWPS, there's something not right too.  Is it the overly-enthusiastic band, pulling off these vocal gymnastics, yet fronted by a damaged man struggling to carry the tune?  He's clearly not "in great shape" yet the band is doing cartwheels all around him.

I sure don't feel like sending in the name of my favorite vegetable, like I did on Smiley Smile, that’s for sure.  Would I email it in now?  Who's going to get it, anyway?  Would I get an automated response?  "Thank you for you Vegetable submission.  Brian really appreciates…"  I know, it's about completing the work...I get it.  I don't fault this album AT ALL.  How can I!


With BW88, again…something’s not on the level.  He sounds like Brian the frail-soul, with a production that is so atrociously void of humanity.  Too much is left for Brian's thin voice to fill in.  He ends up sounding like he's this poor, fragile man trapped in the cold, sterile world of TRON.


Love You...on the other hand, is pure goofy and brilliant Brian....but it's backed by pure, goofy and brilliant music.  Perfecto!


I'm just worried that TLOS, will have that incongruence to it as well.  The poor man, who sounds "not quite right."  Yet he's sitting there with this overly-tight studio band of enthusiastic TV-studio professionals.  Either do it all smooth, like Imagination, or go honest and raw, like Love You.

Can I get a witness…


How can this be?  Brian can do this all by himself!  Brian Wilson going solo is an unbelievable dream come true for everyone on this board.  My Lord, can I get a witness!!  Yet, somewhere, somehow, something is still keeping Brian Wilson from us.

[brianc]

I find the synth productions of BW88 to be total in sync with his vocals. It's a beautiful album. "Melt Away" is one of his best songs ever, and "Rio Grande" is just incredible. Even though it isn't as bizarre as Love You, I still think it's one of his best uses of synthesizers in production. The songs all really hold up, too.

[Bean Bag]

It's not as dire as I make it sound in my original post. I've recently started to really like something about GIOMH.  I pretend to think of it as Love You -- or I remind myself..."this is another album like Love You, from the same dude who did that album."  That helps.  It didn't help that I was thinking Imagination when it first came out.  That created some problems for me.  It made the album feel like a real step backwards.

And I'm glad it's Brian doing all the vocals.  That really helps completes the picture.  And the vocal roughness, even though at times incongruent with the background or production, is part of GIOMH's charm.  But the album is still fighting itself at times with regard to its incongruence.

BW88, has great tracks, so with this album I just have to pretend that it's the late 80s -- and that's the trip I'm going on.  It's a fun little time-capsule in that regard.  But I have to switch to "okay it's the 80s..." mode or I lose a little of the grandeur.  Except with Melt Away and a few others.  That's a great track anyway you slice it.

[Wirestone]

BW88 on its own is decent. BW88 in the remastered version, with the bonus tracks -- that's the keeper. The original Walkin' the Line -- excellent. Night Bloomin' Jasmine on its own -- neat! The Rio Grande rough mix -- stunning.

Perhaps in 20 years, TLOS will also get a remastered edition with the bonus tracks.

[Shady]

I'm listening to Mexican girl right now.

And he truly sounds in love with a Mexican girl,

TLOS is gonna be fantastic 

[brianc]

For some people, the synths on the 88 album might have sounded like Brian was trying to keep up with the times. But it doesn't strike me that way, as with other Baby Boomer bands updating their sound for the '80s. Maybe Gene Landy thought that the synths and drum machines would make Brian current with the New Wave generation. But I don't get the feeling that Brian took it that way. He'd been used to layering synths since the Spring album, and especially 15BO and LY. It sounds to me like he used the instruments at his beckon call for the 88 album, and he built his usual style of melody, counter-melody and percussion around them. I particularly like the keyboard sounds on "There's So Many" and "Night Time." Some really crazy swirls of sound. Pictorial.

But then again, I'm not as offended by drum machines and '80s synths as I once was. Somedays I find myself wanting to hear those sounds quite a lot. I've been listening to a ton of Telex, Alphaville and Visage lately.

[Roger Ryan]

For me, the songs on IMAGINATION are screaming for less slick, more organic production. The Adult-Contemporary overkill is at odds with what Brian does best. I like GIOMH a lot more than most fans despite the vocal lapses and some poor song choices; like LOVE YOU, the production/arrangements are a good match for its off-kilter Wilsonesque view of the world. In a sense, Brian still writes songs that would best be sung by the 23-year-old Brian and/or the Beach Boys in their prime. Since that time is gone, you're left with the 60-something Brian which is fine by me. I like the whole package (songwriting, production, vocal performance); BWPS and the Christmas album deliver well on all three and it sounds like TLOS will do the same.

[Bicyclerider]

Brian, like many great rock artists, has a MOR/pop shmaltz side to his musical personality - think Macca, Elvis, Elvis Costello, Aretha, etc.  But in the past, even when he was doing schmaltz (like on Adult Child) his quirkiness/avant garde impulses would still be present in the mix.  On Imagination all the unique quirkiness that makes Brian unique (Love You, Smile, Had to Phone Ya, Rio Grande - is ironed out and all's that's left is bland smoothness.  some of it is still beautifully done, but sterile, without the emotional connection Brian's quirky bits add to the songs IMO.

I believe Brian still has that avant garde impulse, but will his handlers let him indulge it, or will they discourage it?  The format of TLOS is progressive, but are the songs themselves, as great as some of them (MAD) are?

[brianc]

I don't think Brian has an ounce of the avant-garde left in him. Almost everything since the Wilson/Paley sessions has sounded forced and lacking autonomy.

[roll plymouth rock]

I heard he was going to be following up BWPS with a comedy record and an album of water sounds 

[Bean Bag]

Ah, man...Imagination is perfect!  It's almost a window into an alternate universe where nothing ever went wrong; where Brian and the boys never lost their heads, to paraphrase a line from 'Wendy.'  I think going "adult-contemporary" (whatever that be) is right where they would have remained viable and would have fit.  They sure as flunk wouldn't be doin' death metal, or hippity-hop.  Also, to say "adult-contemporary" is almost a back-handed way of slapping a Kenny G label on it.  Which I think Brian probably wouldn't mind, didn't he like Kenny G?  But either way, Imagination ain't "Lite FM" even though it probably would have fit with the programming.  It's better than that.

And the only song-choice problem with Love You is 'Good Time.'  A great lost track, but from a different era.

And I forgot about the Xmas album ( I always do! )  That's a great one!  With that album in mind...I'm starting to feel better about TLOS!

[Bean Bag]

With regards to the avant-garde.  Here's the thing...I don't think that really emerged until the Today period.  Much of the classic prime-Beach Boy stuff that Brian did wasn't striving for avant-garde anyway.

So I don't think 'lack of avant-garde' can be a sensible criticism of Imagination, as I stated; it's like a "window into an alternate universe where nothing ever went wrong."  It is what it is.  And I don't think that was one of its artistic goals.  So it's not fair to grade it that way.  Just as 'lack of commerciality' isn't a fair criticism of Love You.

You can certainly say "Imagination lack avant-garde," and "Love You lacks commerciality," if you prefer.  But you may as well criticize Brian for not being black-enough. 

 

[brianc]

Yeah, before Today!, they were a rock 'n' roll band, and even stuff that Brian did without the band was still either rock 'n' roll or the occassional Letterman type song that came out on Capitol Records all the time.

I think it's just that, after Brian mind was sorta blown to smithereens, people have come to expect his music to be far out. I remember when Steve Gaines's book on the Beach Boys came out... it made Guns & Roses look like wussies. So, you know, musically, Brian took things out there, and his mind was shattered, so who is gonna buy this alternate universe where Brian Wilson is a-okay. If the shoe fit, but of course, he's been through hell, and he still oooks quite shattered. I think the people who like his avant-garde or his playful side... they kind of hope that he will be able to do that sort of thing, because maybe it's comforting to him and comes off as more authentic. Making him try to sound like a happy Beach Boy doesn't always work. However, when he wants to make a rock 'n' roll track, of which he did many with Andy Paley in 1994-96, it still works. "Soul Searchin'," "Desert Drive," "I'm Broke" and "Proud Mary" are great rock 'n' roll productions, without sounding like he's trying to be happy-go-lucky.

It's probably looking way too deep into, but I think there's something in there that holds true. Who knows?

[Jon Stebbins]

Yeah, before Today!, they were a rock 'n' roll band, and even stuff that Brian did without the band was still either rock 'n' roll or the occassional Letterman type song that came out on Capitol Records all the time.

I think it's just that, after Brian mind was sorta blown to smithereens, people have come to expect his music to be far out. I remember when Steve Gaines's book on the Beach Boys came out... it made Guns & Roses look like wussies. So, you know, musically, Brian took things out there, and his mind was shattered, so who is gonna buy this alternate universe where Brian Wilson is a-okay. If the shoe fit, but of course, he's been through hell, and he still oooks quite shattered. I think the people who like his avant-garde or his playful side... they kind of hope that he will be able to do that sort of thing, because maybe it's comforting to him and comes off as more authentic. Making him try to sound like a happy Beach Boy doesn't always work. However, when he wants to make a rock 'n' roll track, of which he did many with Andy Paley in 1994-96, it still works. "Soul Searchin'," "Desert Drive," "I'm Broke" and "Proud Mary" are great rock 'n' roll productions, without sounding like he's trying to be happy-go-lucky.

It's probably looking way too deep into, but I think there's something in there that holds true. Who knows?

I Get Around was the first sign of Brian being Avant Garde...there wasn't anything even remotely like it happening in music...and yet he somehow made it accessible. But that record was coming form a completely original point of view musically...it still sounds out there today. 

[lance]

Yeah, it's future music, alright, from the harpsicord to those weird guitar things and the vocal break.

I haven't heard Imagination or GOOMH; I am a little afraid to. And I've never heard any bootlegs. I think 88 is pretty damned good, though--in fact, I would say it is obviously a "love you" type album. A little too slick, a little too eighties, but brilliant and out there anyway.

[Bicyclerider]

When I say Brian has an avant garde impulse or side to his musical personality, I don't think he is consciously trying to be avant garde - he's just trying to follow whatever musical vision is in his head, without regards to rules or convention, not trying to make his creations fit some already created mold but making new molds to fit his new musical ideas.  I Get Around is a great example.  Pet Sounds, Good Vibrations, I Went to Sleep, Busy Doin' Nothin, Diamondhead, Had to Phone Ya, Love You, Mt. Vernon and Fairway, you can go on and on.

BC may be right - at Brian's age there may not be any more avantgarde, musical frontier pushing left in Brian.  But I do hear that Brian quirkiness in the Paley sessions mentioned, particularly Proud Mary and I'm Broke.  It's in BWPS, but how much of that is just stringing together old compositions with Darian written transition pieces?  I don't hear it in the songs of TLOS, as good as some of them are.  Is Brian "editing out" the weird stuff, or is he thinking straight linear songs - verse, chorus, break - and the outside the box stuff doesn't even occur to him?  I'd think an artist like Brian with his mental and emotional problems might get even farther out there with age - like a Skip Spence or Syd Barrett or Roky Erikson - but instead he's gotten more conventional.

[brianc]

Yes. Exactly. It'll be a nice album. The band plays well. The songs are nice. I still like hearing Brian's falsettos. And his fragile voice is emotive, when it's not too processed. All in all, it's the work of Brian with his collaborators, and should make for a good listen, because those around him care that much about him and his legacy.

[Bean Bag]

I don't think he is consciously trying to be avant garde - he's just trying to follow whatever musical vision is in his head...

I agree 100%.  With the exception of Pet Sounds (a little) and SMiLE (probably more), I don't think he was ever trying to fit a scene or "go somewhere."  On those two projects he was clearly pushing envelopes, whether personal or artistic/cultural...or both.

So with his stuff today, it's very autobiographical.  That's seems typical of people who've already climbed the foda mountain.  So I think we're not expecting him to push...it's enough to push himself to do anything.

So does he need to tour all the time?  For a guy who never liked touring...it's almost like, the rock has "rolled over."   

[Sheriff John Stone]

At times, I find something 'off' with Brian's solo work.  It's a conflicting reality of eccentric-land meets bland-ville.  I have a hard time with that.  Art should address the reality of the artist.  I don't blame ANY of that on Melinda -- don't misunderstand.  Maybe it’s Brian, but there’s clearly an attempt to play it safe and drown Brian’s music with crap so we don’t notice…something.


On Imagination I don't have this problem, you see.  Imagination has the slickest production, yet...the slickest vocals.  Brian comes off to me as "natural" and "at ease" and so does the production.  So it works.  Any "smoothness" in his voice, actually matches the music.  They're in harmony.  No conflict to me.  I like that.

But at other times, the flaky emotional quality of his vocal--does not jib with the background.  Like on GIOMH, when he sings "you made my spirit whole."  It doesn't have any feel.  He's robotic, yet the background is this lush, professional, soothing seaside paradise.  Riiiiiiight.


Dare I say it...but on BWPS, there's something not right too.  Is it the overly-enthusiastic band, pulling off these vocal gymnastics, yet fronted by a damaged man struggling to carry the tune?  He's clearly not "in great shape" yet the band is doing cartwheels all around him.

I sure don't feel like sending in the name of my favorite vegetable, like I did on Smiley Smile, that’s for sure.  Would I email it in now?  Who's going to get it, anyway?  Would I get an automated response?  "Thank you for you Vegetable submission.  Brian really appreciates…"  I know, it's about completing the work...I get it.  I don't fault this album AT ALL.  How can I!


With BW88, again…something’s not on the level.  He sounds like Brian the frail-soul, with a production that is so atrociously void of humanity.  Too much is left for Brian's thin voice to fill in.  He ends up sounding like he's this poor, fragile man trapped in the cold, sterile world of TRON.


Love You...on the other hand, is pure goofy and brilliant Brian....but it's backed by pure, goofy and brilliant music.  Perfecto!


I'm just worried that TLOS, will have that incongruence to it as well.  The poor man, who sounds "not quite right."  Yet he's sitting there with this overly-tight studio band of enthusiastic TV-studio professionals.  Either do it all smooth, like Imagination, or go honest and raw, like Love You.

Can I get a witness…


How can this be?  Brian can do this all by himself!  Brian Wilson going solo is an unbelievable dream come true for everyone on this board.  My Lord, can I get a witness!!  Yet, somewhere, somehow, something is still keeping Brian Wilson from us.

Great, great, great, GREAT post! I have been feeling your feelings for over a quarter of a century now.

Yes, something is "off" with Brian's solo work. When Brian emerged from the Landy hijacking in 1983, something was seriously wrong with him. He was not the same. But, it was determined that Brian would be a solo artist. The only problem was, Brian no longer had the goods to be a solo artist. So, people did the work for him. Something is "off" with Brian's solo work because it's probably not his work. The production was done mostly by others - Titleman, Lynne, Paley, Thomas, Parks, Sahanaja, Bennett, etc. You wanna hear some examples of Brian's production, listen to GIOMH and some of those Christmas tracks.

The same thing with the songwriting. First, it's hard to find "new" songs written by Brian on his solo albums. They are either re-writes, re-recordings, or written "in collaboration" with others. The last time Brian sat down and wrote a batch of new songs for an album project was for Love You in late 1976. I could probably find some new songs that were "aided" by others, though; just enough to make them sound "off".

So, what are Brian's main contributions on his solo recordings? Well, the vocals, both lead and background. But, as you said, Bean Bag, the flaky quality of the vocal doesn't match the music, or the "feel" that he was trying to get across. It is so frustrating because Brian used to be the master at communicating those feelings with his vocals. Maybe the vocals don't match the music because it ain't his music.

And, lastly, Bean Bag, you hit the nail right on the head. You have this enthusiastic band doing these vocal gymnastics, "fronted by a damaged man trying to carry a tune". As the late, great Jim Morrison used to sing, "Something wrong, something not quite right." Thanks again for your thoughts, Bean Bag.

[Wirestone]

Hum. Here are two points that I believe are factual.

1.) Brian has virtually always written with strong collaborators -- Mike, Gary Usher, Asher, Parks. Love You was an exception -- an album in which Brian did most of the music and lyrics himself (but not the production -- that was finished and polished by Carl). So to diminish recent BW songs simply because they're collaborations ignores the past. You may not like the songs, you may feel the collaborators do too much -- but that's different than dismissing something out of hand because it's a collaboration.

2.) New songs are quite easy to find on BW solo albums, and he has written far more that were not released. BW88 has many, of course, but "Imagination" also has "Cry" (a solo composition), "Lay Down Burden," and several others. GIOMH has "A Friend Like You" and HCWSBD. Both Christmas album songs are new. Then there are spare songs like "Walkin' Down the Path of Life" (another solo comp),  "Believe in Yourself" and "Everything I Need." Not to mention unbooted tunes written with Paley, Asher, Kalinich and Bennett. So again, to act as though the new songs simply aren't there is untrue. Again, you may not like them, and that's fine. There may not be as many as from the Brian of the 60s. But that's not the same as them not existing.

We are walking perilously close to the "because I don't like the music, that means Brian didn't do it" territory. It's a land where conspiracy theories take root and Melinda sprouts little devil horns.

I think the simpler answer is that Brian still composes music, but often with substantial help from others for lyrics, piecing his "feels" together and writing connecting melodies. He still produces, but has a short attention span that means orchestral arranging, technical and mixing details are often handled by others. He still sings, but he has a 66-year-old voice that has been abused in various ways. And while he may have had a clear course as a young man, his career now is guided by an informal committee of friends, business folk and his wife.

For some, this all leads to a product that is too compromised to enjoy. I understand why they feel that way. But I also think that Brian's spirit and musical presence is often strong enough to cut through that and hit listeners in the gut. TLOS seems like it could do that.

[Jason]

Brian's solo career was loaded with promise. If you listen to his earliest solo endeavors, going back to 1962-63 (The Beginning of the End, Visions, Thank Him, Mother May, Marie), he was really on to something special. Simple pop songs with incredible harmonies. Simultaneously similar to and different from what the Beach Boys did if that makes sense. Treading the same water, so to speak, but also forging his own path.

If you listen to his stuff around the mid-60s, he's getting into more spaced out, orchestral forms (Three Blind Mice), which were really out of sync with the Beach Boys stuff he was working on at the time.

Then in 1967-70 he's working on and off, mostly for himself, with tracks like Honey Get Home, which was originally on a tracklist for Wild Honey before being pulled. Here's where the real division between Brian Wilson-written/produced Beach Boys recordings and Brian Wilson recordings enters.

1970-75 had all the "living room #1s", some of which we've heard, some we haven't.

When he was rehabilitated by Landy in 1975-76 and after he had finished 15 Big Ones, Brian basically recorded for himself again, putting down tracks like Short Skirts, Marilyn Rovell, and the sublime You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin' cover. And of course, Love You. The only reason the latter became a Beach Boys album was because, of course, Carl stepped in, since Brian was only into his own way of doing music which didn't jibe with Carl's ideas of such, meaning Carl preferred, as he was entitled to as second in "command", so to speak, something a little more produced.

In 1977-78 he recorded new songs with Stan Love and Rocky Pamplin in an effort to help the latter become a star, since, for some reason, Brian thought Rocky was a great singer. The circulating cover of To Sir With Love from these recordings is evidence enough that Brian was WAY off. Avoid at all costs.

Then of course the early 80s brought an influx of creativity encouraged by vast quantities of greasy beef, cheese, and cocaine as we all know. These "cocaine sessions" are pretty much the building blocks on which Brian built his, shall we say, "official" solo career.

After being farmed out to Hawaii for detox, Brian goes back into composing mode, and he's inspired in ways he hasn't been since Love You. A great tape circulates of Brian in 1983 working on four tracks (In The Night Time, Black Widow, There's So Many, Little Children) with just a keyboard and drum machine. These show Brian in good voice, and the compositions, while simpler than before, are endearing and touching.

Then the Wilson/Usher period left tons of working recordings behind, and these, as the Wilson Project book described, showed Brian in a great frame of mind, really enjoying himself and digging the music. Funny how none of these ever came out in original forms, because for the 80s, they were probably the purest Brian compositions that existed from what I've heard.

After the first LP, Brian pretty much lost his way. It wasn't a huge success, Sweet Insanity got rejected, he lost Landy, then he really became disjointed musically, and this is when Brian the active songwriter truly ended.

At the end of the day, Brian writes, yes. There is unmistakable evidence on the first album, Sweet Insanity, the Paley sessions, that there is considerable input from the other half of the songwriting partnership beyond the lyrics. Imagination? Forget it...two BW solo compositions, two remakes, and 7 questionable ones to say the least. GIOMH, yeah ok, we have something original, but who really LIKES the album?

BWPS doesn't count.

TLOS is Brian's last gasp, and even then he's still poaching bits of material from the past.

Facts need to be faced. When Landy went, the songwriting quantity and quality pretty much went. We should be glad he even writes for himself, let alone for public consumption.

[♩♬🐸 Billy C ♯♫♩🐇]

Brilliant post.

Both of the original tracks on the Christmas album were Brian, and it shows. There's a different feeling about them that is lacking from his other work.  HCWSBD, btw, was an Imagination-outtake, or roughly around the same time period. A Friend like You was definitely Brian musically, but damn'd if the lyrics weren't clunky. Everything else was old.

[MBE]

Posted this recently in another thread but I figured it fits here too so I hope no one minds.

Brian's solo career is a mixed bag for me. All the shows from 99-04 were pretty good in my eyes. The oldies shows since then  not so much. L.O.S. is more then worthy though.

Albums? None are as good as POB or anything Brian did before the major voice change. Smile may be close but of course that's vintage on the whole. I like the natural production on his last three albums, even if GIOMH is certainly uneven. Sweet Insanity was terrible, OCA is not not good to me either. Nothing special about it to my ears. The 88 and Paley sessions are pretty good on the whole, a few trite Landy lyrics on the 88 aside. IJWMFTT was unoffensive but not really exciting. The Xmas is surprisingly good, Imagination is mediocre, I only like GIOMH better because the production is not all fake sounding plus I have always loved City Blues.
So yes I think his solo career is better then we could have hoped, but not always well thought out. Smile alone pretty much makes it worth it. When he has good musicians, co-producers, engineers etc. he usually does fine work. His live band at their peak were great. LOS should be one of his best solo efforts.

[MBE]

As far as songwriting I think TLOS is pretty good and probably the most consistent burst of writing since the Paley days. I think BW 88 aside the Landy era songs from 83-91 are the worst Brian ever wrote. A couple are cute but in and of themselves I wouldn't think he was anything special. The 88 LP used the cream of the crop, and though Walkin The Line, Little Children (old anyhow) and Night Time don't work for me, every other track is a seriously good song.

[Sheriff John Stone]

So yes I think his solo career is better then we could have hoped, but not always well thought out.

Really? I'm a bit surprised to see you post that, MBE. Of course, it IS a matter of opinion, and I respect yours, just surprised.

Brian's been a solo artist for almost 25 years now, longer than he was a Beach Boy. Over that period of time, there were obviously times when he had to make an attempt at some commercial success, and pleasing the masses. I understand that, and don't have a problem with it. Thus, we get an Imagination. But, and this is a big but, Brian had so many years - decades actually - to "say something". I  mean, wasn't that one of his main motivations for going solo.

If you take away the re-recordings of old songs, the live albums, and a couple of holiday tunes, what you basically got from Brian's solo career, in the form of new material, was BW88, Imagination, and parts of GIOMH. Now, if I avoid being overly critical, sarcastic, and biased toward the Beach Boys as a group, the best word I can use to describe Brian's solo output would be disappointing. I just expected so much more, at least I hoped for more...