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Author Topic: Allmusic doesn't like it -- Billboard does  (Read 3047 times)
Wirestone
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« on: August 29, 2008, 03:17:16 PM »

What TLOS needs is Mike Love, apparently. And Brian, really, shouldn't be a solo artist. And the album sounds like Love You, which is a bad thing. The Allmusic review follows.

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That Lucky Old Sun, Brian Wilson’s second major thematic work, isn’t quite the third coming of SMiLE. Instead, it’s an overripe ode to the Southern California of the ’50s and ’60s that the Beach Boys constantly evoked, and although it’s polished with the peak-era production style that Wilson made famous, most of the songs are wrapped around the awkward songwriting and over-wrought pop/rock he’s revisited again and again since his first major return to form, back in 1976. As a thematic topic, “That Lucky Old Sun” is ripe for integration into Brian Wilson’s California myth-making. A Tin Pan Alley chestnut from the ’40s, it contrasts the ease of the sun’s transit each day with the hardship of human toil on earth, a sort of “Ol’ Man River” set in the sky. (Even better is the fact that it’s a professional songwriter’s account of working-class life, which dovetails perfectly with the Beach Boys’ mythic vision of Southern California and the illusionary aspects of Hollywood’s brand of reality.)

That Lucky Old Sun begins with Wilson briefly stating the theme and the intonation of a heavenly choir, but then barrels into the first song, “Morning Beat,” a turgid rocker with a set of adolescent rhymes (one example: “The sun burns a hole through the 6 a.m. haze / Turns up the volume and shows off its rays”). But wasn’t this is supposed to be a collaboration with the great lyricist Van Dyke Parks? Actually, Parks contributes only to a set of spoken narratives, delivered over-emphatically by Wilson himself, that are interspersed throughout the album and attempt to advance the California panorama from Venice Beach to East L.A. to Hollywood — as well as frequent stops along Brian Wilson’s personal timeline. (”How could I have got so low, I’m embarrassed to tell you so / I laid around this old place, I hardly ever washed my face.”) But if Brian Wilson is attempting to look back, his muscle memory for the Beach Boys’ classics appears to be fading faster than his personal memories. That Lucky Old Sun rarely approaches the subtleties of the classic Beach Boys sound. What it evokes instead is the driving ’70s productions on latter-day Beach Boys albums like 15 Big Ones and Love You — granted, with innumerable production touches that could only have come from the mind of Brian Wilson (ah, the clip-clop of wood blocks!).

It’s obvious that Wilson was at the center of some of the best and brightest productions of the ’60s, but the added assumption about being at the center is that there are integral parts radiating outward. (In Wilson’s case, those parts consisted of a superb harmony group with several great lead voices and the on-demand talents of an array of excellent musicians, plus copious engineers and studio technology.) Naturally, his solo career has positioned him at the forefront, which is a very different place than the center and one he’s proved himself unwilling and unable to embrace fully. He needs not only talented collaborators but strong lead voices to place alongside his own; an apt comparison at Wilson’s age is Burt Bacharach, who would hardly consider writing lyrics as well as music and singing every song on one of his albums. The lack of colleagues who could inform the result of this album — the lack of Van Dyke Parks in a prominent role or a Carl Wilson or even a Mike Love — is what dooms That Lucky Old Sun, which assumes a place well below SMiLE in the pantheon of Brian Wilson’s achievements.

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But Billboard raves:

After taking care of some unfinished business in recent years, Brian Wilson shows he still has the stuff of conceptual brilliance on his eighth solo album. "That Lucky Old Sun" is the kind of song cycle that would make Kurt Weill proud, a set of disassociated but nevertheless thematically linked tunes, inspired by Wilson's Southern California roots. Using the title track, a 1949 composition that was a hit for Louis Armstrong, as a recurring motif, Wilson and his collaborators create richly arranged and orchestrated pop songs as well as four poetic spoken-word narratives that give the album a trippy, avant edge. There's a stage-worthy veneer to the entire project as well as some frank autobiographical allusions—"At 25 I turned out the light/'Cause I couldn't handle the glare in my tired eyes," Wilson sings at one point—all affirming his reputation as one of the master pop craftsmen of our time. —Gary Graff
« Last Edit: August 29, 2008, 05:34:16 PM by claymcc » Logged
Alex
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« Reply #1 on: August 29, 2008, 04:06:20 PM »

Foda Allmusic.com!! And foda the Guardian! Just because none of the other BBs are on the record doesn't mean its bad! I wonder how much the Lovester is paying Allmusic to give it a bad review?
« Last Edit: August 29, 2008, 04:08:23 PM by ascrodin » Logged

"I thought Brian was a perfect gentleman, apart from buttering his head and trying to put it between two slices of bread"  -Tom Petty, after eating with Brian.

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« Reply #2 on: August 29, 2008, 04:41:37 PM »

Yeah f*** THEM..

It's gotten about 80% positive good reviews,

And since when do BB fans care about reviews.
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According to someone who would know.

Seriously, there was a Beach Boys Love You condom?!  Amazing.
Dutchie
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« Reply #3 on: August 30, 2008, 12:47:10 AM »

FUBAR  Grin
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the captain
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« Reply #4 on: August 30, 2008, 05:39:00 PM »

It ought not be too surprising that allmusic didn't give TLOS a great review. They have been pretty hard on BW solo material, and even BBs material overall. In the past few years they've re-reviewed most of the back catalogue, but I bought a late 90s edition of their book (See, kids, in the old days the Internet was called books, and they were made of paper and ink...updates were made by buying new editions, and so on. These were hard times.) and it pretty consistently gave BBs albums 2-3 stars. Things like Sunflower (now 4.5), Surf's Up, Smiley Smile and Wild Honey (all now 4) were all lowly regarded. For whatever reason, that's just how they come at the stuff. So allmusic and the Guardian don't like it. Oh well. Other major outlets did. And there are more (and more mixed reviews) to come. Most non-fanatics would probably agree this isn't a flat-out classic, and so it's bound to be reviewed hot and cold. Taste plays a huge part, and I think most people can understand why this wouldn't be to everyone's. It's not that big a deal.
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« Reply #5 on: August 30, 2008, 06:30:25 PM »

That review was on the All Music blog.  I'm not sure whether or not it will wind up in the permanent section, which doesn't have a review yet.  I guess it will be clear in the next week or so once the album is released.  The ratings system for All Music is supposed to be based on a comparison to the entire artist's career, BTW.  I used to do some freelancing for them, and that was the guideline given.  Plus, reviews are assigned on a voluntary basis; first come, first served (staffers first, then freelancers).  So the reviewers tend to be people who like the artists who they're reviewing.  John Bush, the blog reviewer, co-authored Brian's bio on the site.  So, that is the opinion of someone who likes Brian, at least.  I have less of a problem with that than someone who seems biased and uninformed, which was my problem with the Guardian review.
« Last Edit: August 30, 2008, 06:33:07 PM by forget marie » Logged
the captain
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« Reply #6 on: August 30, 2008, 06:33:34 PM »

That review was on the All Music blog.  I'm not sure whether or not it will wind up in the permanent section, which doesn't have a review yet. 
Recently their blog reviews have become their album reviews--at least those I've noticed.
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« Reply #7 on: August 31, 2008, 05:22:28 AM »

That review was on the All Music blog.  I'm not sure whether or not it will wind up in the permanent section, which doesn't have a review yet.

It doesn't have a review yet on AllMusic, but they did already give it 3 stars...
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the captain
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« Reply #8 on: August 31, 2008, 07:18:31 AM »

It doesn't have a review yet on AllMusic, but they did already give it 3 stars...
The review is on the front page, under the blog heading. They did the same thing with POB: show it in their blog, then move it to the artist's discography upon release.
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« Reply #9 on: August 31, 2008, 07:20:46 AM »

It doesn't have a review yet on AllMusic, but they did already give it 3 stars...
The review is on the front page, under the blog heading. They did the same thing with POB: show it in their blog, then move it to the artist's discography upon release.

I know, but when you look at his discography, that's no review yet but there already is a 3 star rating.
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joe_blow
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« Reply #10 on: August 31, 2008, 10:58:51 PM »

It ought not be too surprising that allmusic didn't give TLOS a great review. They have been pretty hard on BW solo material, and even BBs material overall. In the past few years they've re-reviewed most of the back catalogue, but I bought a late 90s edition of their book (See, kids, in the old days the Internet was called books, and they were made of paper and ink...updates were made by buying new editions, and so on. These were hard times.) and it pretty consistently gave BBs albums 2-3 stars. Things like Sunflower (now 4.5), Surf's Up, Smiley Smile and Wild Honey (all now 4) were all lowly regarded. For whatever reason, that's just how they come at the stuff. So allmusic and the Guardian don't like it. Oh well. Other major outlets did. And there are more (and more mixed reviews) to come. Most non-fanatics would probably agree this isn't a flat-out classic, and so it's bound to be reviewed hot and cold. Taste plays a huge part, and I think most people can understand why this wouldn't be to everyone's. It's not that big a deal.

Rolling Stone has done that with reviews in the past as well. I had an album guide back in the day that had rated POB 2.5 stars, Friends, 20/20 two stars. I remember it had Sunflower at three stars, which years later made their list of top 500 albums of all time.
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the captain
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« Reply #11 on: September 01, 2008, 06:48:10 AM »

It doesn't have a review yet on AllMusic, but they did already give it 3 stars...
The review is on the front page, under the blog heading. They did the same thing with POB: show it in their blog, then move it to the artist's discography upon release.

I know, but when you look at his discography, that's no review yet but there already is a 3 star rating.
I know. That is exactly what I've been saying. As they have been doing recently, the review debuts on the front page blog section and then upon release date is moved to the reviews section (that currently has the rating but no review).
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Demon-Fighting Genius; Patronizing Twaddler; Argumentative, Sanctimonious Prick; Sensationalist Dullard; and Douche who (occasionally to rarely) puts songs here.

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