Forever She'll Be My Surfer Girl video on Amazon

[Wirestone]

Watch, enjoy, analyze.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B001BN732I/002-9225065-8452048?pf_rd_p=424837701&pf_rd_s=center-3&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_i=5174&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=1SHCC0R54D16WBQVQFKH

[Andrew G. Doe]

Pretty good... but Brian's either post-dubbed or lip-synching.

[Wirestone]

Or it's a combination of different shots / vocal takes -- the method used on the BWPS DVD.

Edit:

See my follow-up post below.

[GoofyJeff]

Or it's a combination of different shots / vocal takes -- the method used on the BWPS DVD.

I think this is most likely, as I heard they ran thru the entire album at least 5 times for the cameras...

[theduke]

The cymbals in many parts of the video are either out-of-sync with the audio, or he hits them and there is no audio. The vocals are slightly out-of-sync at the start of the bridge. The vibraphone doesn't always match up either.

[Wirestone]

I didn't have a chance to actually listen until now. I would be very surprised if the audio is actually a live performance. Brian sounds double-tracked at points. I suspect this is the album track, with the live performance synced up.

[Jonas]

Guys, its a music video...

Surfer girl...marilyn or melinda? you decide!

[Andrew G. Doe]

Guys, its a music video...

Surfer girl...marilyn or melinda? you decide!

Neither - in '61 it was Judy Bowlles. 

[Wirestone]

News from the bloo -- apparently the DVD on the CD/DVD combo is less than a half-hour long. So no complete live performance -- and from the looks of this video, possibly no live performance at all.

[♩♬🐸 Billy C ♯♫♩🐇]

Well, that's a shitload of f***.  I'll pass on the combo then.

[JimC1702]

Amazon lists the DVD at 26 minutes.

[Roger Ryan]

Here's what Amazon says is on the DVD:

1. Chapter 1: Morning Beat - Making Of The Album 
2. Chapter 1: Our Prayer - Making Of The Album 
3. Chapter 1: That Lucky Old Sun - Making Of The Album 
4. Chapter 1: California Role - Making Of The Album 
5. Chapter 1: Midnight's Another Day - Making Of The Album 
6. Chapter 1: Southern California - Making Of The Album 
7. Chapter 1: Surfin' - Making Of The Album 
8. Chapter 1: Oxygen To The Brain - Making Of The Album 
9. Chapter 1: Mexican Girl - Making Of The Album 
10. Chapter 1: Can't Wait Too Long - Making Of The Album 
11. Chapter 1: Going Home - Making Of The Album 
12. Chapter 1: Live Let Live - Making Of The Album 
13. Chapter 1: Going Home - Making Of The Album 
14. Chapter 2: Good Kind Of Love - Live Performance From Capitol Studio A 
15. Chapter 2: Forever My Surfer Girl - Live Performance From Capitol Studio A

To decipher the strange "Chapter" headings, it looks like we get behind the scenes footage of Brian and company recording specific songs for the album (although I have no idea why "Our Prayer" and "Surfin'" are included - they must do run-throughs of those on a lark), plus two live performances: "Good Kind of Love" and "Forever My Surfer Girl".

With all the multiple takes going on, it might be more accurate to call the performances "in-studio videos".

[Andrew G. Doe]

OK, riddle me this - Brian has been performing live and solo since spring 1999 on a regular basis... and we're still waiting for a full concert DVD. I think this tells you as much about the nous of his management as does the fact that every one of his solo albums has been on a different label.

[GoofyJeff]

OK, riddle me this - Brian has been performing live and solo since spring 1999 on a regular basis... and we're still waiting for a full concert DVD. I think this tells you as much about the nous of his management as does the fact that every one of his solo albums has been on a different label.

This is the one thing that bugs me to no end.  As great as the SMiLE DVD is, I would have loved to see a full concert.  The 2004 unplugged sets were phenomenal.  Shame that no official recording of those is available.

Yo, BriMel, are you listening?  Please release a full concert DVD from the upcoming TLOS tour   

[Wirestone]

I have been bickering about this for a while.

Brian's albums have not all been on different labels.

BW 88 (Reprise)
OCA (Warner Bros.)
Imagination (Giant)
Live at the Roxy DVD-A (Rhino)
GIOMH (Rhino)
Smile (Nonesuch)

were all released by Warner Bros. records companies. The label on the CD doesn't mean too much -- it's all under the same corporate umbrella.

IJWMFTT was on MCA because Don Was had a deal there.
What I Really Want for Christmas was on Arista (a Sony company)

[the captain]

The label on the CD doesn't mean too much -- it's all under the same corporate umbrella.

Technically true, but it does matter. Ask Warner about Wilco and Yankee Hotel Foxtrot...

[Wirestone]

Luther: Touche. But when you look at something like GIOMH and see it released on Rhino -- that's because Brian and his people made a two-record deal with Warner's (Smile being the other one, and which came out on Nonesuch). So the contract was with one company, but the albums were split between labels. It's just not true to imply that because they're on two labels that he signed with one, then was dropped, then signed with the other -- which is what a statement like Andrew's can imply.

It's the same deal with Elvis Costello and the bizarre recent contracts he's signed in which whatever he records can come out on whatever Universal label is appropriate. Lost Highway, Deutsche Grammophon, etc.

[the captain]

Luther: True enough. But when you look at something like GIOMH and see it released on Rhino -- that's because Brian and his people made a two-record deal with Warner's (Smile being the other one). So the contract was with one company, but the albums were split between labels. It's the same thing with Elvis Costello and the bizarre recent contracts he's signed in which whatever he records can come out on whatever Universal label is appropriate.

Not quite the same thing, in that Costello's is a long-term plan (admittedly an odd one). Wilson's albums may have all come out on Warners subsidiaries, but they weren't pre-planned that way as part of a long-term package. As you said, there was one such instance of a two-album deal. Not the same. And in between each deal, he's been shopping. It's largely coincidental, I'd guess, that each time he ended up on a Warners sub.

[Rich Panteluk]

I think the both the audio and video are great.  Really good.  I'm no "Brian can do no wrong" blueboarder, but this bodes very well for the album.  I'm not really interested in the debate on how "live" this is (might be a comp or perhaps just the album version of the song with synched video) and I will leave this to others.  Not many live videos are 100% live and most go through a fair amount of post production anyway. 

But isn't this recording of the song MUCH, MUCH better than the demo?  I sure think so.  I am getting more and more excited about this release.

I agree with some others who have mentioned a bit of disappointment with the album version of MAD versus the demo.  I will reserve final judgement until I get the pristine sounding version in my sweaty palms, but from what I have heard of the album version of MAD I concure that the vocal swell that comes at "makes me feel so alone" doesn't touch the demo.  In the demo version it almost sounds as if the vocals are going to burst through the speakers and very desperate.  Gorgeous moment.  That moment is not nearly as rewarding on the album version.  But that doesn't mean the album version is without it merits.  I love the strings and some of the other touches in the album version quite a bit more than the demo.  At least I already have a high fidelity cd copy of the MAD demo, so all is cool.

This new version of FSBMSG is heads and shoulders better than the demo.  If this is an indicator of quality control, I suspect I will enjoy most of the album versions of the TLOS much better than the demos (and I quite like the demos).  Bring it on!

[Sheriff John Stone]

Is FSBMSG going to be a single?

[♩♬🐸 Billy C ♯♫♩🐇]

It's lip-synched... that's the album version that's playing.  So consider it like an MTV video, only without the pretension.

[XY]

Couldn't care less if it's lip-synched, cut together from 5 live takes or whatever. It sounds great!

And for people who always need something to critisize: The piano falls a little out of rhythm in the intro.

[Ron]

I've lost all objectivity with Brian, that seems to me like just a phenomenal song and it certainly sounds like it has that "Beach Boys" sound to it.  I guess "Lush" would be the best word for it.  It seems like something your casual beach boys fan (read, almost everybody alive) would enjoy nearly as much as the 60's songs. 

This is gonna be a GREAT album, it looks like the finished versions are slightly better than the fantastic demos. 

[chris.metcalfe]

Good stuff. Foskett does a great Carl impression towards the end. Is that d'Amico on drums? And - I know I haven't been paying attention recently - who's the new bassist?

[JimC1702]

Taylor still looks hot!