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Author Topic: TLOS on vinyl  (Read 24044 times)
Shady
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« Reply #75 on: August 26, 2008, 06:22:36 AM »

I got my Vinyl today, my local Tower Records here in Ireland only had 2 of 10 copies left after two days.

Sadly I don't have a turntable, so I might frame it or something.
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The Heartical Don
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« Reply #76 on: August 26, 2008, 06:35:55 AM »

I got my Vinyl today, my local Tower Records here in Ireland only had 2 of 10 copies left after two days.

Sadly I don't have a turntable, so I might frame it or something.

You could, um, of course, um, send it to me.
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« Reply #77 on: August 26, 2008, 06:43:17 AM »

I got my Vinyl today, my local Tower Records here in Ireland only had 2 of 10 copies left after two days.

Sadly I don't have a turntable, so I might frame it or something.

You could, um, of course, um, send it to me.

You could, um, send him a turntable as well though....   Roll Eyes
« Last Edit: August 26, 2008, 06:51:04 AM by SMiLE-Holland » Logged

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« Reply #78 on: August 26, 2008, 06:51:39 AM »

I got my Vinyl today, my local Tower Records here in Ireland only had 2 of 10 copies left after two days.

Sadly I don't have a turntable, so I might frame it or something.

You could, um, of course, um, send it to me.

You could, um, send him a turntable as well though....   Roll Eyes

 Grin Grin Grin I can't top that... priceless!!
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Shady
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« Reply #79 on: August 26, 2008, 07:41:37 AM »

I got my Vinyl today, my local Tower Records here in Ireland only had 2 of 10 copies left after two days.

Sadly I don't have a turntable, so I might frame it or something.

You could, um, of course, um, send it to me.

As the Don i'm sure you will get your hands on one!!  Roll Eyes
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« Reply #80 on: August 26, 2008, 09:30:33 AM »

I think, as happens so often in fan sites regardless of their subject, familiarity breeds contempt...  people get so used to the sort of material under discussion that the bar for acceptance gets raised unseemingly high.  As someone who hasn't immersed himself in the canon of Literature About LA to the extent it sounds like you have, I found the lyrics and readings nicely evocative.  Not revelatory, but then it doesn't need to be to be worthwhile...

Brian's lived in this city for 66 years, and I thought, "Is this all he has to say about it?"
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« Reply #81 on: August 26, 2008, 09:37:46 AM »

That's interesting because to me, I don't really care what he says about LA. I've never lived there or even been there but that doesn't affect how I hear bands from LA. I respect your opinion, but it does strike me as a bit bizarre that an album should be judged harshly because it fails to capture the essence of LA.
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« Reply #82 on: August 26, 2008, 10:09:33 AM »

I think, as happens so often in fan sites regardless of their subject, familiarity breeds contempt...  people get so used to the sort of material under discussion that the bar for acceptance gets raised unseemingly high.  As someone who hasn't immersed himself in the canon of Literature About LA to the extent it sounds like you have, I found the lyrics and readings nicely evocative.  Not revelatory, but then it doesn't need to be to be worthwhile...

Brian's lived in this city for 66 years, and I thought, "Is this all he has to say about it?"

Give the man a break, he was never much of a master with the pen, even though he did have some real momens of inspiration..'this whole world' and 'surfer girl' for example.

But did you really expect some vivid poetic images of suburban LA life from a 66 year old man with Brian's history.

Hey at least he's not releasing songs like 'Nod your head'

TLOS is a masterpeice in my view.
« Last Edit: August 26, 2008, 10:11:27 AM by Wild_Honey-In_Stereo » Logged

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« Reply #83 on: August 26, 2008, 10:30:17 AM »

I think inasmuch as the album is about LA (and as noted below that's debatable), it's about what Van Dyke Parks thinks about LA.

Only three of the 10 original songs deal with the city or region -- Morning Beat, California Role and Southern California. The first could be about any city, with some lyrical revision. And the last is more about Brian than the region.

The songs themselves are generally about Brian Wilson-type topics. Health, exercise, love, fear, music, night and day. You can arrange them nicely into a morning-to-night sequence (and it's suggested by the songs themselves and by Brian taking up TLOS as a tune) but none of that is LA-based.

But when Scott, Darian and Van Dyke began to flesh out the concept, the LA stuff came into play. The narratives are all specifically about LA, but they're also all specifically Van Dyke's work.

I think the key to the city-specific nature of the album (or lack thereof) comes in those final lyrics of "Southern California," though. "When you wake up here / You wake up everywhere." It's the notion of California as the promised land -- as an Eden. The specifics actually make this rosy view less compelling. Think of other BW songs -- "I wish they all could be California Girls" (A song about California that actually is about everywhere else.) "Catch a Wave and you're sitting on top of the world" (a regional activity transformed into a global view).
« Last Edit: August 26, 2008, 05:58:52 PM by claymcc » Logged
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« Reply #84 on: August 26, 2008, 10:31:14 AM »

Hey at least he's not releasing songs like 'Nod your head'

No, but it might be released as a bonus track on the Australian release of TLOS!
 Grin

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« Reply #85 on: August 26, 2008, 11:15:38 AM »

Only three of the 10 original songs deal with the city or region particularly -- Morning Beat, California Role and Southern California. The first could be about any city, with some lyrical revision. And the last is more about Brian than the region.

First off, "Mexican Girl" is about as in-crowd as Jar-Jar Binks was to the reggae contingent. The other SoCal stuff is all nice and fluffy... a few steps up from "Kona Coast." Van Dyke's poems are fine, in terms of the words. I like the last one a lot. But they are read with the vibrancy of a man asleep. It's the best solo album he's done since Orange Crate Art. But that isn't saying much. I listened to the latter yesterday and felt genuinely excited and moved by it. With the exception of "Midnight's Another Day," this new one makes me feel pretty much nothing. But that's just me. I'm one person, and entitled to my opinion. I'm glad so many are getting something out of it. Brian undertook something ambitious, and it's cool that so many are getting so much out of it. I just have little desire to put it on, so it's been sitting on my shelf since the first few spins.
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Wirestone
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« Reply #86 on: August 26, 2008, 11:39:10 AM »

It's all good.

It's interesting -- I should theoretically be more annoyed by the bolting on of a concept album framework to a nice new batch of Brian Wilson songs. But Darian is one smart cookie, and he managed to make the songs sound better for the context rather than worse, which could be the case in such a situation.

Sadly, I think the good reviews that the album has been getting -- and will get -- are more about the sequencing (hey, this kinda sounds a little Smile-like) than the songs. Which is a shame, because I think the songs are good. But there wouldn't be a buzz about a Brian Wilson album that just contained 3-minute songs.
« Last Edit: August 26, 2008, 03:16:07 PM by claymcc » Logged
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« Reply #87 on: August 26, 2008, 11:49:48 AM »

Never know. It could grow on this old crab, as the years go by.
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« Reply #88 on: August 26, 2008, 12:37:40 PM »

Hi everybody - this is my first post here and I thought TLOS was as good a place to jump in as any...

I absolutely love the album.  It's not perfect, but considering all that Brian has done in his career, even a "perfect" album would be criticized by some... expectations can just be so darned high...

To think back on 1982 when many of us thought Brian was not long for this world, and then to think that we have SMILE and TLOS this decade from the 66-year old Brian is, well... perfect...

Hi, Andrew - how goes it???
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« Reply #89 on: August 26, 2008, 01:51:13 PM »

But did you really expect some vivid poetic images of suburban LA life from a 66 year old man with Brian's history.

I don't know about suburban. Or even poetic. But vivid? Yes. Something from the soul. These postcards of surface L.A. never get beneath, well... the surface.
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« Reply #90 on: August 26, 2008, 02:20:53 PM »

As soon as I start reading that somebody thinks TLOS is about LA or they start comparing or relating TLOS to OCA I stop reading because it's obvious to me they just don't get it.
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« Reply #91 on: August 26, 2008, 03:09:54 PM »

I have personally never understood why anyone compares any Brian Wilson album to OCA. (And I say this as someone who bought the album the year it came out and listened to it a lot.)

OCA, as excellent as it is, is not a Brian Wilson album. He doesn't write, arrange or produce any material on it. It's like having Paul McCartney sing an album of new Tom Waits material -- interesting, but it wouldn't tell you much about Paul. It is a Van Dyke album with Brian vocals -- and honestly, if you listen to Moonlighting, Van Dyke's vocals fit the songs better.

Van Dyke does have a role with this album, of course, but it's not his creation.
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« Reply #92 on: August 26, 2008, 03:11:23 PM »

Hi everybody - this is my first post here and I thought TLOS was as good a place to jump in as any...

I absolutely love the album.  It's not perfect, but considering all that Brian has done in his career, even a "perfect" album would be criticized by some... expectations can just be so darned high...

To think back on 1982 when many of us thought Brian was not long for this world, and then to think that we have SMILE and TLOS this decade from the 66-year old Brian is, well... perfect...

Hi, Andrew - how goes it???

My my - one of the old guard !

Yo Marty, how's life with you ?  Cheesy
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« Reply #93 on: August 26, 2008, 05:12:42 PM »

Hey at least he's not releasing songs like 'Nod your head'

Aw c'mon, that's like faulting "Abbey Road" cause "Her Majesty" is a throwaway.  :-)  (Plus, if you look, that last verse ties up the themes of the whole damn album...)

Cheers,
Jon Blum
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« Reply #94 on: August 26, 2008, 07:35:53 PM »

Hey, Andrew, I'm fine, thanks... I decided I should start to post since I've never stopped following Brian, plus this is a nice board... well, I gotta go, I've got to finish my next issue of CTN (due out in '83, I believe)...
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Amy B.
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« Reply #95 on: August 26, 2008, 09:15:18 PM »

Yikes, I thought I liked TLOS, until I read this thread!

Seriously, everyone's entitled to an opinion, and here's mine. It's terrific. Brian C mentioned just letting it wash over him, and I think that's really how BW's work is meant to be experienced. To pick apart the lyrics doesn't seem fair-- with some exceptions, BW is not known for his lyrics. Besides, Scott wrote a lot of the lyrics, but somehow this is becoming yet something else that must be a sign of how Brian isn't as good as he used to be.  I mean, "I love the colorful clothes she wears" isn't exactly brilliant and profound, but that doesn't take away from the feeling you get when you listen to GV, does it? Of course not, since it was written in BW's heyday.

I actually thought the lyrics were quite good. I felt that I could tell where Brian contributed, like "They have the right kinda thing," is so Brian, and where Scott was not trying to emulate Brian's lyrics but keep the style straightforward, as Brian would talk now. Brian may be deep or may not be deep, but he sure doesn't express himself on a "deep" way. It might have been a little strange to hear him sing a profound statement about the history of CA and his role in it. Leave that to VDP.

As far as the music goes, I love it. Surprise, surprise. It has many of Brian's hallmarks. Oxygen to the Brain has been criticized, and I dont' know why. It's got the tempo changes, the unexpected changes in the melody, and the theme of resurrection that Brian has revisited so many times. California Role is nostalgic, melody-wise, just like Saturday Morning in the City, and it fits with an album that uses a 1940s song as its backbone-- and it fits with the Hollywood theme. I think both of them have killer melodies, as do Good Kind of Love and Live Let Live. And oh! Brian's new material is autobiographical. Is that a shock? Most of his material is autobiographical to some extent.

I think it's possible to overanalyze something to the point where it seems to lose value, like saying a word over and over again until it makes no sense. I also think that as much as Brian is the subject of a bit too much hero-worship, he's also the subject of too much criticism. If you don't like the songs, he wrote them. If you do, they're the work of his band. If his voice sounds better than on the last few albums it's still not as good as it was in 1966. If Brian is collaborating with others it must mean he can't work alone, and if he does a wall of Brians or takes all the leads he really should rely more on his band.

I'd give the album four out of five. No, it's not Pet Sounds or Smile. But it's creative and fresh and enjoyable, and it easily matches or exceeds what Brian's contemporaries are releasing.

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TonyW
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« Reply #96 on: August 26, 2008, 09:57:12 PM »

CLAP! CLAP! CLAP!

A standing ovation for Amy .... she gets it!

And one paragrapher should be rendered in stone and placed on the home page of every Brian Wilson and Beach Boys website:

"I think it's possible to overanalyze something to the point where it seems to lose value, like saying a word over and over again until it makes no sense. I also think that as much as Brian is the subject of a bit too much hero-worship, he's also the subject of too much criticism. If you don't like the songs, he wrote them. If you do, they're the work of his band. If his voice sounds better than on the last few albums it's still not as good as it was in 1966. If Brian is collaborating with others it must mean he can't work alone, and if he does a wall of Brians or takes all the leads he really should rely more on his band."
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« Reply #97 on: August 26, 2008, 10:42:04 PM »

As criticial as I have been concerning Brian's solo career and the circumstances/environment around him and his "people"....I freakin' love TLOS. I personally feel it's the best BB/BW since Holland, POB excepted. Definitely his best vocals since the glory days, that's for sure. His voice may be fading, but he's singing with feeling for the first time since...hell I don't know.
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« Reply #98 on: August 26, 2008, 10:59:05 PM »

Brian's lived in this city for 66 years, and I thought, "Is this all he has to say about it?"

That's just it -- it's not trying to be "all he has to say about it".  Just something he's saying.  This album's no more trying to be the definitive Statement About LA than "Shut Down" is all he has to say about cars.  I really think the ambition of the songs lie elsewhere...

Cheers,
Jon Blum
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« Reply #99 on: August 27, 2008, 02:49:18 AM »

What Amy said. This album is "creative, fresh and enjoyable". The songs do somehow mesh together into what is effectively a concept album, and so often with concept albums the concept kills the music...but not with TLOS. Because the songs were mostly there before the concept was added, and it wasn't laid on thick...it was quite carefully sewn in by altering lyrics and by Van Dyke's exquisite word-play poems.

As for Brian's rendition of the narratives, I think he does a good job. He doesn't slur his speech like he so often has in the last twenty years, and I don't get the impression that he hasn't a clue what VDP's words mean. Despite the fact that the vague LA concept was probably not his idea, he seems to be enthused by it and there's an energy on this LP in his vocals that certainly wasn't there on most of GIOMH and even SMiLE sometimes struggles to equal.

If we accept the likely situation that Brian will sing rather lackluster vocals when he's not interested in a project, but that he can still deliver the goods when he's fired up....then one comes to the conclusion that TLOS was a good experience for him.

Am still not convinced I like what Brian is doing on "Going Home", but then I loved the live premiere of that so much any new recorded version will take a few spins to get used to.

No Mark Linett...hmm...interesting...because Mark knows Brian and his work and techniques so well....but the LP doesn't seem to suffer. Dare I think that Brian actually took control of recording and mixing this? The BBC documentary on Monday night did say that during SMiLE, Brian got himself up to date and familiar with modern recording technology, what's possible and how it all works.....is this perhaps the result? Or did his co-conspiritors just happen to work well with Brian....as well as Mark does?
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