Brian Reimagines Gershwin

[Myk Luhv]

I'm not gonna lie: seeing Brian pose like that made me laugh my ass off. 

Haha, me too. It sort of reminded me of VDP for some reason... I guess I can just picture him posed like since it seems like something he'd do!

[Andrew G. Doe]

Last night.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/.a/6a00d8341c630a53ef0133f2b4efa2970b-pi

That is a weird pose he has his legs contorted into, and the shoes he's wearing don't seem to quite gel with the rest of his attire, haha. Oh Brian~

I see a man standing, leaning against a piano with his legs crossed. Nothing in the least weird about that.

[hypehat]

I'm more concerned about the band - three dressed in all-black? In LA? In JULY??  And is that Probyn in a VELVET SHIRT?? What are they thinking?

[LostArt]

"Among the usual suspects — “Someone to Watch Over Me,” “They Can’t Take That Away From Me” and “Summertime” — are two obscure tunes likely to excite fans of George and Ira Gershwin". I quit reading after that sentence. When simple math becomes to much of a task for a writer, then said writer does not deserve to have anybody read his or her articles. Except if your name happens to be Andrew Doe, or Jon Stebbins.  

I don't see any problem with the math.  Brian did finish off two obscure Gershwin tunes ("TLIILY" and "NBL"), in addition to the usual subjects ("STWOM", "TCTTAFM", and "Summertime"...which are hardly obscure).

[the captain]

Actually while I was about to disagree with Jay, I'm halfway flip-flopping. LostArt is correct in the writer's intentions: in addition to those three "usual suspects," the album contains two obscure tunes (for a total of five songs referenced). But he didn't quite say that. He said among those usual suspects, which I think could be taken to mean that two of those three usual suspects are obscure. That is not the case and is an oxymoron, too.

[The Heartical Don]

Last night.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/.a/6a00d8341c630a53ef0133f2b4efa2970b-pi

That is a weird pose he has his legs contorted into, and the shoes he's wearing don't seem to quite gel with the rest of his attire, haha. Oh Brian~

I see a man standing, leaning against a piano with his legs crossed. Nothing in the least weird about that.

Same here, AGD. I only began to look closer when I read the comments here. At first I did not see anything strange.

[Cliff1000uk]

There's absolutely nothing wrong with that photo although the more I now look at it, the more it looks like they are in the corner of Madame Tussauds
 

[Don_Zabu]

Couldn't resist:

[Ron]

Wait, I've got to do THIS now that Don Zubuzubu has edited the picture.

[Ron]

Notice too how the rest of the band standing around Brian actually drew down his coolness.  Without them in the picture, his full coolness can exude. 

[buddhahat]

I'll be writing more (much more) on this in the near future. But here's a brief report from last night's listening party in L.A.

http://www.peteramescarlin.com/node/158

(posted this on the welcome board, by accident. Here it is in a mo bettah place, I think)

Wow, thanks Peter - this has got me really excited!

[Wirestone]

They had a listening party in New York, too.

http://nymag.com/arts/popmusic/features/67401/?imw=Y&f=most-emailed-24h5

Hard-core Beach Boys fans—a more high-strung bunch than you might expect, what with all those good vibrations—are about to get rained on. “No,” Brian Wilson says flatly when asked about cousin-bandmate-antagonist Mike Love’s assertion that Wilson would rejoin the band for a 50th anniversary reunion tour.

But never mind. The surf-sound mastermind has landed a new collaborator, and he’s proving considerably easier to work with: George Gershwin. Wilson’s new record, Brian Wilson Reimagines Gershwin, may be the summer’s most stunning mash-up, a marriage of two of popular music’s most influential and well-loved composers—New York sophistication meets SoCal rapture—that casts both in a new light. Tackling everything from standards (“It Ain’t Necessarily So,” “Someone to Watch Over Me”) to little-known rarities, Wilson has created gorgeous and unexpected arrangements that strip away decades of familiarity. “They’re unlike anything I’ve heard before,” says Adam Gershwin, George and Ira’s great-nephew, who helps manage George’s estate. “But I would expect nothing less from Brian.”

Wilson was around 5 years old when he first heard “Rhapsody in Blue.” “All I remember is I loved it,” he says. And when he began writing his own music, it was Gershwin who “inspired me to write good harmonies.” Adam Gershwin believes his great-uncle and Brian to be kindred spirits. “They each had success early in their careers, and in both cases they not only transcended the fairly limited genres they were working in but expanded into a much wider range of musical expression, with ‘Rhapsody in Blue’ and ‘Good Vibrations.’ ” Of course, they also both collaborated closely with siblings—though, as Adam notes, the similarity ends there. “I’m not sure Brian had quite the same relationship with Carl and Dennis that George and Ira did,” he says of the Wilson clan’s troubles and fallout.

Wilson began the project with a careful study of Gershwin’s catalogue, including more than 100 forgotten or unfinished pieces, which he listened to over and over until he got to what he believed to be each composition’s essence. “On ‘I Got Rhythm,’ I wanted to make it sound like that guy really loves that gal,” explains Wilson, who, after years of seclusion, has been expanding his public appearances for the past decade. “Or on ‘Summertime,’ I wanted to make it sound like it really was about summertime. I tried to put so much emotion and feeling into it, to really do justice to the music, so people would think, Hey, Wilson really knows what’s going on with Gershwin.” To illustrate his point, he breaks into song, which is how he has always communicated best. “I loves you Por-geee, don’t let him take me,” he croons. Even at 68, his voice is redolent with innocence and longing. “Don’t let him handle me, and drive me mad … ”

[Wirestone]

Also, David Wild talks about introducing the LA listening session:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-wild/my-american-idol-chris-is_b_667129.html

[Don't Back Down]

You can now pre-order the album on iTunes with a bonus track - "Let's Call The Whole Thing Off"
(from Brian's Facebook page)

This sounds cool! Wonder if it's a duet with Taylor?

[Andrew G. Doe]

You can now pre-order the album on iTunes with a bonus track - "Let's Call The Whole Thing Off"
(from Brian's Facebook page)

This sounds cool! Wonder if it's a duet with Taylor?

Oh, crap... no. 

[LostArt]

You can now pre-order the album on iTunes with a bonus track - "Let's Call The Whole Thing Off"
(from Brian's Facebook page)

This sounds cool! Wonder if it's a duet with Taylor?

No, it's a duet with Mike Love.  Here's Brian's part...

You say reunion, and I say forget it
You say a tour, and I say no way jack
A tour, a concert, a record, with guest stars
Let's call the whole thing off

[Surfing Moose]

You can now pre-order the album on iTunes with a bonus track - "Let's Call The Whole Thing Off"
...

What does Brian sing about? The 50th Anniversary?

[Shady]

You can now pre-order the album on iTunes with a bonus track - "Let's Call The Whole Thing Off"
(from Brian's Facebook page)

This sounds cool! Wonder if it's a duet with Taylor?

Now I gotta get an iTunes copy too.. 

[Shady]

You can now pre-order the album on iTunes with a bonus track - "Let's Call The Whole Thing Off"
...

What does Brian sing about? The 50th Anniversary?

 

[jeffcdo]

Gotta say I'm bummed it looks like we're going down that bonus track path again, having to repurchase in multiple formats just to collect all the bonus tracks, if you happen to want a physical copy of the CD.  Only one announced so far on iTunes, I fear there will be others.  It's just kinda cheezeball.  Of course us hardcore fans will want to hear everything.  Put the individual bonus tracks up for sale individually.  Then at least people are free to choose between what format to by the album in and not forced to buy the album proper over and over to collect the bonus tracks.   OR, forced to download the bonus tracks illegally which then helps nobody.

[Wirestone]

Who cares?

Every. Single. One. of Brian's albums solo albums since the first has had bonus tracks that required some kind of extra purchase.

BW88 had single B-sides. Then the reissue had another album's worth of stuff.

IJWMFTT had one of the few Paley tracks as a the B-side of its overseas-only single.

Imagination had a live track and a capella track on its lead off single.

Both live albums had new issues with bonus tracks.

GIOMH, BWPS and TLOS all had iTunes exclusive bonus tracks.

This was to be expected. And if you don't want 'em, don't buy 'em. Or wait -- Brian's website put up all the TLOS bonus stuff as streaming audio about six months after the album came out.

[Andrew G. Doe]

Gotta say I'm bummed it looks like we're going down that bonus track path again, having to repurchase in multiple formats just to collect all the bonus tracks, if you happen to want a physical copy of the CD.  Only one announced so far on iTunes, I fear there will be others. 

If there are, they won't be other outtakes - there aren't any.

[Don_Zabu]

You can now pre-order the album on iTunes with a bonus track - "Let's Call The Whole Thing Off"
(from Brian's Facebook page)

This sounds cool! Wonder if it's a duet with Taylor?

Pfft, like he can beat Christopher Walken's SNL rendition of the song.

[Andrew G. Doe]

Who cares?

Every. Single. One. of Brian's albums solo albums since the first has had bonus tracks that required some kind of extra purchase.

Every. Single. One ?

Don't think so.

[Wirestone]

Er, right. I did leave out the Christmas album on my tally.

It did, however, have a special bonus spoken-word message on the UK single, right?