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Post by Kapitan on Nov 20, 2021 17:45:01 GMT
SPOILER ALERT FOR THOSE WHO HAVE NOT WATCHED THE DOCUMENTARY.
PROCEED AT YOUR OWN RISK.
We know there is a new studio album coming, apparently quite soon. While we'll know more soon enough, I thought it might be fun for those interested in doing so to speculate a bit.
Right Where I Belong I'm Going Home It's Not Easy Being Me Slightly American Music It's OK The Night Was So Young Honeycomb Long Promised Road I'm Broke Must Be A Miracle Rock & Roll Has Got A Hold On Me In My Room (Live) So what do we know about each, in terms of what to expect from the album? First of all, if there has been anything official announced that gives more info, it's more correct than my speculation! But since I don't know of any yet... "Right Where I Belong" - the "new" song with Jim James, which has been teased via the documentary trailer and which appears in part several times throughout the documentary. By "new," we're probably talking 2017-18, I'm guessing. "I'm Going Home" - Is this just "Going Home" from TLOS? (It wouldn't be the first time titles were slightly changed on different releases.) If so, is it just the original, or a slight remix, or a new version? If not, is it a new song with a similar title? "It's Not Easy Being Me" - A Paley sessions song, is this the original or a remake? I'm hopeful for a new one. "Slightly American Music" - ditto. "It's OK" - New version of the 15BO single, as we heard snippets in the doc. "The Night Was So Young" - Will it be a new version? "Honeycomb" - New recording, some of which we saw in the works in the doc. "Long Promised Road" - New recording, possibly featuring verses by Blondie Chaplin and Jim James, as we saw that happen in the studio in the doc. We also had notice a remake of this was going to be included. "I'm Broke" - New version of a Paley sessions song. "Must Be a Miracle" - Paley sessions song, will it be a new version? They played it in the doc, but I believe that was the original version. (I wasn't honestly paying THAT much attention to that at the time.) "Rock & Roll Has Got a Hold On Me" - Did I miss this entirely? I don't recall hearing it in the doc, or recognize the title. Hopefully another new one! "In My Room (live)" - I predict this will be a live version of the Beach Boys classic song "In My Room."
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Post by lonelysummer on Nov 21, 2021 5:56:40 GMT
Wow, you didn't waste any time getting this one up.
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Post by Kapitan on Nov 21, 2021 12:11:32 GMT
Wow, you didn't waste any time getting this one up. It's, for me, by far the most interesting concrete Brian Wilson-related announcement in years. So, no, I wasn't about to dilly dally. I'm excited--and what's a Beach Boys message board for if not discussing Beach Boys-related music?
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Post by B.E. on Nov 21, 2021 16:02:39 GMT
I think the documentary (and therefore the origins of the soundtrack) date back to around the same time as Playback: The Brian Wilson Anthology (2017) - which featured the Paley-era recording of "Some Sweet Day". So, I'm thinking the Paley material might have been earmarked for the project around that time. Total speculation, of course, but that means that I'd lean toward them being the Paley-era recordings. Even further speculation, but I'd wager that they were probably brainstorming meaningful but also realistic ways of releasing some of the better stuff that hadn't been released yet. And this documentary and soundtrack makes perfect sense.
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Post by Kapitan on Nov 21, 2021 16:10:52 GMT
I think the documentary (and therefore the origins of the soundtrack) date back to around the same time as Playback: The Brian Wilson Anthology (2017) - which featured the Paley-era recording of "Some Sweet Day". So, I'm thinking the Paley material might have been earmarked for the project around that time. Total speculation, of course, but that means that I'd lean toward them being the Paley-era recordings. Even further speculation, but I'd wager that they were probably brainstorming meaningful but also realistic ways of releasing some of the better stuff that hadn't been released yet. And this documentary and soundtrack makes perfect sense. I was thinking along the same thing for a few reasons.
Along similar lines of thinking, though, I was a little surprised and disappointed not to see "Run James Run" on this album. Why? Because I think this, despite being a soundtrack, is basically "the rock 'n' roll album." And "RJR" would have a) not only benefitted from a little fleshing out, but b) fit the bill. (Same thing for "Some Sweet Day," for that matter. I mean in terms of fitting Brian's idea of a rock and roll album.)
By the way, the fact that "My Marianne" is still among the unreleased annoys the hell out of me! I always liked it and "Some Sweet Day" as much as anything left in the can, and then the latter was finally released. I see "Slightly American Music," for example, and just shrug. But that's just my taste.
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Post by Kapitan on Nov 23, 2021 15:12:31 GMT
Also posted in the "Is the Library Closed?" thread, here is the first single (and presumably the only) from the upcoming soundtrack album to Long Promised Road.
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Post by The Cincinnati Kid on Nov 23, 2021 20:43:32 GMT
Temporarily moving this to the main forum so it gets more eyes.
Brian's vocal is interesting on the single. It's fine for a latter day vocal, I guess. It's funny that I prefer the shouty vocal over whatever is going on in the verses. What is going on during the line "the music really is?" Is that a production goof? I actually thought I missed the beginning of the song, but it just begins rather abruptly. Overall, I'd give it a 6/10, maybe moving it to a 6.5 and rounded to a 7 upon more listening. I like everything about it aside from the clunky/wordy lyrics and some of Brian's vocal.
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Post by Kapitan on Nov 23, 2021 23:20:38 GMT
I don't know what to say about this song yet.
The structure is interesting. It's not just a by-numbers tune. Herky jerky in that BW way. That's cool.
The thumbnail says written and performed by Wilson and James. And as I was listening (but before noticing that), I was thinking: I bet that's Brian on piano, it wouldn't surprise me if that's James beating the drum, there aren't many harmonies and they just seem like James ... did they really do this themselves? Maybe. Piano, bass, a drum (and later a simple drum part), guitar(?), sleigh bells, vocals. The string part is the only thing they couldn't do themselves, but that's easy enough to program. Well, not for Brian to program, but you know...
I don't get the beginning. It's hard to imagine that as a choice.
I dislike a lot of the lyrics for all the same reasons I've mentioned a thousand times before.
James sounds good.
I need to listen to it more to even know what to think. It's a weird one, honestly. In some ways it's so simple, like a "Walking Down the Path of Life" sort of track. But that was simple with a little band. This is not that.
And by the way, it isn't for sale yet on iTunes, which seems odd considering it is out there on YouTube and it's just a few days before the album is released. Strange "marketing" for this album!
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Post by Kapitan on Nov 24, 2021 1:31:51 GMT
Growing on me. Headphones help. Criticisms remain.
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Post by Sheriff John Stone on Nov 24, 2021 13:05:08 GMT
"Right Where I Belong" is a bizarre song. At the beginning I thought it was a demo or a rehearsal. Brian's vocal is very, very bad. Shouting and slurring. Calm down, Brian. This song reminds me of Sweet Insanity or maybe That Lucky Old Sun. Lyrically and theme-wise, we've heard it all before. And, the production sounds like Gettin' In Over My Head, which isn't a good thing. Very rough.
So, Jim James is Brian's new Jeff Foskett, his new high voice, at least on this song. "Right Where I Belong" is all over the place. Parts are good, there is some energy, but the song needs to settle into a groove which it never really does. I wish a Darian Sahanaja or a Paul Mertens would've interceded and put some more structure to the song. It is creative musically, but, again, I'm not sure where they were going with it. Where's Joe Thomas when you need him.
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Post by kds on Nov 24, 2021 13:16:40 GMT
Decent song. I'll agree with Sheriff that it's not a very good lead vocal, especially in the intro.
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Post by Kapitan on Nov 24, 2021 13:20:37 GMT
So, Jim James is Brian's new Jeff Foskett, his new high voice, at least on this song.
I'm sure it's only on this song. I don't think he seems well known on this board, but Jim James is very successful on his own, both in My Morning Jacket and as a solo artist. He's not likely to spend time just being a falsettoist for Brian, by any stretch of the imagination. He's Brian's new high voice like Nate Reuss was Brian's new Carl Wilson.
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Post by bellesofparisstan on Nov 26, 2021 7:44:50 GMT
So, all of the new songs sound fine. However, for the vintage 90s tracks? Well… Let’s put it this way, if you didn’t like how the feel flows remasters and remixes over all sounded, you are going to hate this. The 90s tracks have been remixed to be very, very bright and very, very bassy. At points, the drums are so loud that they’re basically gated. I’m Goin’ Home is the first example, and it’s quite unfortunate because it comes right after right where I belong. As everyone knows, flaws aside, the mixing and mastering of this track is really good. Everything sounds decent and clean, it’s not too bright, nothing is really overpowering. And then you’re met with the new stereo mix of I’m goin home. It’s overly bright, the bass is extremely overwhelming, and… oooh boy… the vocal. The vocal, for lack of a better term, sounds bad. It’s low quality, it’s bright, and it introduces an artificial hissing sound to the entire track. Again, for anyone who wasn’t satisfied with the sound of feel flows Will immediately recognize all of the trademarks of a 2021 Linett mix. Must Be a miracle, it’s not easy being me and Slightly American Music are quite bad as well, but nothing too noteworthy. Just more heavy compression, brightness and thick bass. But then… skip 7 tracks, and I’m Broke might just be the worst, most painful remix I’ve ever heard. The vocal basically sounds like it was being recorded from a crappy phone speaker. It’s truly bad. Obviously getting these tracks released is a nice surprise, but… it sounds like 2019-21 era Linett, so far from a lot of people’s taste. If you liked FF and you don’t notice any of these problems, more power to you, please enjoy. These are beautiful songs. If you do notice things like this, well… be warned. If like me, you were hoping that the disappointing sound quality of Feel Flows was an accident, a one time thing, it doesn’t appear so. On a much more positive note, all of the brand new Brian recordings sonically sound much better. And if Right Where You Belong’s vocals turned you off, The rest of these shed a much better light. Rock & Roll Has Got a Hold on Me is the stand out for me, absolutely amazing Track, and exactly what I think that Brian is talking about when he mentions his “Rock & Roll” album. Honeycomb is a lot of fun as well, and the new recording of the night was so young was a nice surprise
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Post by jk on Nov 26, 2021 8:55:00 GMT
This is what I posted at EH and it still makes sense at BBT! Well into its second page of mainly positive reviews with some reservations [they'd devoted a topic to it over there], "Right Where I Belong" deserves better than to be shrugged off by the likes of me stampeding in on a high horse. So I have it bookmarked and listen to it from time to time. I'm optimistic. I guess I just I needed a little push. Thanks, folks. There are a lot of felicitous touches, such as at 1:30, where the high out-of-tune vocal line is followed by the upward sweep of violins and that long multi-octave pedal point. The disarming intro makes more sense when seen in the light of the little low-pitched "pause" at 2:26. So, it's working its magic already... Edit: It took a while for me to discover that Jim James who sings the high bits is from My Morning Jacket...
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Post by Kapitan on Nov 26, 2021 13:24:42 GMT
I bought the album this morning and am just a couple of songs in. I'm going to try to listen to it all maybe twice before I give any kind of review/criticism.
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