Emdeeh
Pacific Coast Highway
Posts: 520
Likes: 532
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Post by Emdeeh on Jan 31, 2023 13:43:43 GMT
For me, it's Blondie Chaplin. Since he left the Stones and joined Brian on tour, I've really come to appreciate his talents much more than I did when he was with the BBs. Part of that is because he's been touring with Brian for longer than his BB tenure lasted, so we've had more of a chance to see him in recent years.
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Post by Kapitan on Jan 31, 2023 15:36:48 GMT
I think I could post an entry on every Beach Boy, with some showing more significant changes of mind than others. And I might! But I'll start right at the top: Brian D. Wilson.
When my fandom began, it was because of BW. It was the mid-late '90s surge of publicity around his narrative as an avant garde, psychedelic, progressive genius (and lunatic) who was constricted by the limitations of this boring old "band" (who couldn't even really play much, just sing) of squares. Each glimmer of quality was a credit to him pushing it through those gatekeepers, with the peak of Pet Sounds tragically his high point--because his greater project of Smile was crushed, and his spirit with it.
That was more or less the story as I learned it, the first real story I absorbed about the group beyond my previous, inattentive general categorization of them as embarrassingly lame (Sunkist commercials, Kokomo, Full House).
What has changed about my understanding of Brian Wilson? Basically all of the above, to some degree or other.
I now think Brian's tendency toward anything avant garde is wildly overblown, and toward anything psychedelic as a very time-and-place fling shared by more or less everyone else in the pop-rock scene of '66-'68ish. In fact, now I think his musical tastes are and were quite square. His unique talents and approach still made for remarkable innovations, whether in arrangements, production, or songwriting. But the guy at heart was a fan of standards, Gershwin, Rosemary Clooney, the Four Freshmen: he obsessed over recording "Ol' Man River" in summer 1968! A year or two prior, even his psychedelic would-be masterpiece included "I Wanna Be Around," "You Are My Sunshine," and "The Old Master Painter." He famously loved "Shortenin' Bread." Brian had a certain hipness, yes, but it lay mostly in his brilliance, not in his taste, in his approach, in his look, in his cultural identity. In fact, it was almost in spite of it, or because of it but in an ironic way. (So square he's cool.)
The mental health and drugs angle are far less a laughing matter or point of excitement to me now than they were then. There has long been a trope about the mentally tortured genius in art, and Brian fit that perfectly for newly adult me. But it's not a trope to celebrate or promote. I still wonder whether there is some kind of relationship between mental health struggles and artistic genius, because there does seem to be one, but there's nothing cool about somebody's problems.
The degree to which he was constricted by the band--and how good the other band members were--is also a point of reconsideration. Theirs was a complicated relationship, to be sure, but it mixed commercial concerns, familial concerns, artistic disagreements, personal issues...it wasn't "don't fuck with the formula." Sure, to some degree they milked him at times in ways that seem unseemly: "Brian's Back," for example. But Brian also seems to have been a manipulator as well as a manipulated (person). Yes, he wrote, arranged, and produced a tremendous amount of amazing material that established the group's success. Nobody can reasonably argue he is the person most responsible for their success. But he also stopped touring by the mid-60s, and dramatically pulled back on writing, arranging, and producing by the end of the '60s. He had some great moments in the decades since, but they were fewer and farther between (and in many cases, they were not with or for the Beach Boys). Some of this was not necessarily his decision--a person doesn't choose mental illness--but he's no angel, either.
So that's a quick summary of how my mind has changed about Brian Wilson. I still think he's far and away the most talented, most interesting member of the group, and don't think they would have amounted to much of anything without him. But I think the others were far better than I initially thought, and he was far more complicated and in some ways, downright boring, than I'd initially thought. In other words, he was and is a human being, not a story, a narrative, or a legend. Just like the rest of them.
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Post by kds on Jan 31, 2023 16:40:11 GMT
On Brian Wilson, I pretty much agree with all points above.
When I first started to delve into The Beach Boys in the 00s, I knew little about Brian's story. I knew more of the myth than the man. "He was a reclusive genius behind everything great The Beach Boys had ever done." I was aware that he had a bit of a resurgence, took Pet Sounds on the road, and even finished the fabled Smile. But, I was also under the impression that he'd been far less prolific between the years of 1967-2004 than what was actually true. In fact, when The Beach Boys reunited in 2012, I actually thought it had been much longer since he played with them than it really was.
During the summer of 2012, I sought out more information on the man, and learned that he hasn't actually laid in bed for three years or whatever. I still kinda fell in line with many of the old and tired fan narratives that Brian was the brains of The Beach Boys, while the other guys were just along for the ride, and even held him back to a degree.
Within a few years, I realized that, while Brian was the primary creative force in the band, it wasn't only him. And, in fact, he also shared some responsibility in some of the band's failures. I actually found it a little odd that fans who'd been into his music for far less time than me couldn't accept that Brian was fallible.
I still find Brian Wilson to be a fascinating person, perhaps even more so after pulling away the myth to reveal the man.
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Post by lonelysummer on Feb 1, 2023 20:03:53 GMT
Kapitan and kds, you nailed it in regards to Brian. Now what was the question? I'm going to say Mike Love. Back in the 90's, with Mike constantly bragging about the $ucce$$ of Kokomo, and pushing the band into projects like $tar$ and $tripe$ and $ummer in Paradise, I grew to detest him. I blamed Mike for all of the bands failures. I saw him as an egotist who had no respect for the talents of his bandmates. I stopped going to Beach Boys concerts, stopped buying their albums. I saw Brian as the cool Beach Boy. I was puzzled why he rejoined them for a bunch of lame remakes of the oldies with country artists; that's not what I wanted "my" Brian to do. My dislike of Mike grew even greater when the Beach Boys name went to him after Carl's death. I refused to see Mike's band when they came to town. What changed? I guess just time and growing older. I finally went to see Mike's Beach Boys in 2019, and loved the show. He's got a very talented group of guys up there. It didn't hurt to have releases like Sunshine Tomorrow and Feel Flows come out and confirm that Mike was a part of the more "hip" music the group made in the late 60s/early 70s. And it helped that his solo album, Unleash the Love, had lyrics about things a little heavier than "hey baby, let me do it to you on the beach".
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Post by kds on Feb 1, 2023 21:30:55 GMT
I never really had any strong opinions on Mike when I first got into The Beach Boys. I knew he was the singer with the ball cap. But, outside of Brian, I really didn't know much about Mike, Al, Carl, or Dennis.
In late September 2012, I was pretty angry with Mike after he "pulled the plug" on the reunion. And, as I got more into the band, I did fall for some of the anti Mike stuff going around. But, I've come to the conclusion with it goes far beyond the simplistic Brian = Good / Mike = Bad thing with The Beach Boys, and even the ending of C50 wasn't as black and white as suggested.
I view Mike as a key lyrical contributor to the classic era, but also a very insecure person, to the point that he often puts his foot in his mouth more than necessary.
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Post by Kapitan on Feb 1, 2023 22:02:51 GMT
OK, I said I might discuss how my mind has changed on everybody, and while I may or may not, since I started at the top with BDW and you guys kicked the hornets' nest that is Mike Love, why not continue with him? My earliest memory of Mike Love was that he seemed cool. He and Al, mostly because they had blonde hair and when I was a very small child (4? 5?) seeing old footage or pictures, well, that was what struck me as cool. Actually I had the same impressions when I'd see rock bands in the first half of the 80s: it was David Lee Roth who looked cool, far more than EVH or, god forbid, AVH or Mike Anthony! Cut to my teen years. Mike Love became embarrassing to me by the time I was a teenager for the same reasons I'd already mentioned when talking about Brian, above, or the band overall in previous threads. A little later, as I learned that first Brian-centric story, Love went from embarrassing to just the worst. A no-talent schmuck who was at his best moments neutral, and at his worst a combination of idiotic and evil. Terrible lyrics, no musical sense whatsoever, the worst voice in the group, crushed the artistic spirit of Brian Wilson, and lawsuits! Oh, those lawsuits! That's my mind circa 1998, '99, 2000. Yes, as with everyone else in the band, my impressions have changed over time. But as much as I hate seeing some people obsess over real and perceived flaws of Mike Love, I can't lie, either: I still really don't care for the man in many respects. First, the positives. I cannot argue that he co-wrote many of the band's biggest hits. I cannot argue that he entertained fans through all these years, putting in professional performances even when the (imo) more talented band members weren't always up to snuff in the area of professionalism. He truly seems committed to entertaining fans, and he has done a lot of it. And he is apparently committed to his sense of spirituality, to antiwar movements, and to environmentalism. If I'm not mistaken, even his vegetarianism is a moral choice more than a health choice. I don't have to agree to admire that. And he's had great fashion sense through the years. Then there are the intraband relationships. Here, I do actually feel for Mike. He was in a band that at various times seemed to have virtually no concepts of hard work or professionalism. The (arguably) three most talented members of the group all struggled with various chemicals over the years that made them unreliable, two to really, really significant degrees. In a very real sense, his co-leading bandmate Brian abandoned one-half of the equation, the road, within just a few years to focus on writing and producing ... and more or less abandoned that just a few years later, having to be coaxed into productivity. There were eventually factions, and you can prefer this one to that one, but Mike was trying to keep the machine going. And he did. Left to his devices, it wasn't pretty, especially on record, but he did keep it going. Had they left it all to Brian in, say, 1969, or 1972, or 1978, the result would have presumably been the disbanding of the band. But while he entertains millions and millions of fans, I am largely turned off by the guy on stage. I hate--I mean hate--his banter. (The Knebworth show, for example, with his interjection at the end of "Lady Lynda" of a supposedly comical "Al Jar-diiiiine.") His go-to stories, repeated ad nauseum in every interview for decades on end, are like fingernails on a chalkboard to me. I'm no psychoanalyst, but as kds said, he almost has to have some kind of insecurity or personality disorder to fight for himself over and over and over when, quite frankly, it only ever makes him look worse. The Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame induction, of course, is a tremendous example. He so often comes across as a thin-skinned blowhard. On the most important subject, and the only one I can claim any real authority about (because it's a combination of factual information and, more than that, personal taste) is the musical one. Love's reputation, at least as he tells it and to a lesser degree as do the other Beach Boys (especially Bruce Johnston), is that of someone with an eye and ear for trends, hooks, commercial potential. But other than in those early years, he didn't often demonstrate that. Under his leadership, the band had one #1 hit, and a pair of pretty bad albums. (Well, one was half good ... because it had classic hits on it.) His solo material is, to my taste, pretty awful from the late 70s right through the more contemporary ones. His environmentalism has apparently inspired him even to recycle old songs, because nobody rerecords and rereleases old music more than him. For my attempts to be fair, and my changed perceptions over time, he still tends to be the epitome of "cringe" for me more often than not. But that said, his confidence, his attitude, his songwriting, his voice, and his ability to perform and emcee were a massive part of the group, especially in the early years, but also through the decades to the present.
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Post by Sheriff John Stone on Feb 2, 2023 2:11:04 GMT
When I was a newbie in the mid-1970s, there were very few books/biographies on The Beach Boys, and the ones that were in print were hard to find and not very good. The group was on TV somewhat, but mostly with performances and not in documentary form. And, finally, since these were pre-internet days, a fan had to get information - current or past - wherever you could find it, which meant scouring magazines for anything Beach Boys. Despite all of that, or lack of it, I formed my opinion of Brian Wilson. And, I did it mostly from listening to the records...the recent ones. After listening to 15 Big Ones, I came to the conclusion that Brian Wilson could still produce at a very high level. After listening to The Beach Boys Love You, I came to the conclusion that Brian Wilson could still write songs at a very high level. And, after listening to M.I.U. Album, I came to the conclusion that Brian Wilson could still at a very high level. Now, if he could just put it all together again. I believed that Brian could still make great records, maybe not as strong as his heyday (1964-1966), but close. Then David Leaf's book came out in 1978, and that only reinforced my beliefs. David wrote about Brian still possessing his musical talent and skills, and that, with the "right" circumstances, would do great things again. I believe him and I believed my own instincts.
Over the next couple of years (1979-1981), it wasn't easy to hold on to those dreams, but I did. I looked for anything - a great song like "Good Timin'" (which I didn't know at the time was written in 1974), a note that he hit on a song (there were a few on Keepin' The Summer Alive), a concert where he appeared at least lucid (I saw a few with Brian there), and maybe even his physical appearance (he looked great in 1979). To quote Jesse Jackson, it was "keep hope alive!" And I did. I continued to believe that the old Brian Wilson, albeit in a somewhat damaged state, was still in there. I saw glimpses, and, man, did I look for them. Anywhere I could find them. You wanna talk about an eternal optimist. Maybe it would be the next album. Yes, that's when Brian would really be back, I thought. I hoped.
After 1981, I didn't see much of Brian Wilson. There was a short snippet of the press conference after Dennis Wilson died which was broadcast on MTV. Brian spoke a little and looked fantastic. And then one night in (the fall?) of 1984, I tuned into Entertainment Tonight, and Brian was featured in a segment about his treatment with Dr. Landy and another one of his comebacks. I can still remember the first sentence that came from his mouth - "I have been up, I have been down, under, over, this way, that way, but I'm still here, and I'm still rockin'..." There was one big problem. He wasn't still here. Oh, he looked great. He lost a hundred pounds by then. His hair was great. The beard was trimmed. He wore stylish clothes. But his eyes. Those eyes. Deer in the headlights look. Slurred speech. The facial expressions. Making pronouncements instead of just talking normally. And then they showed him at the piano singing "Male Ego", or should I say yelling "Male Ego". I want to tell you, I was shook up after watching that segment. I still remember thinking to myself, "He's gone. That's not Brian Wilson."
It was at that very moment, seeing that Entertainment Tonight segment, where I started to question or change my opinion or outlook about the future of Brian Wilson. He appeared a whole degree (is that the right word?) worse than the 1976 version of Brian Wilson which was a whole degree worse than the 1966 Brian Wilson. All of a sudden I wasn't so optimistic. I went into every new Beach Boys recording with skepticism. I was worried. Did Landy cause permanent damage? Could Brian still write? Could he still sing? I didn't like Brian's contribution on The Beach Boys (1985). I didn't like "Let's Go to Heaven In My Car" (I bought the Police Academy IV soundtrack album just for that one song). I didn't like Brian Wilson (1988). And on and on. He didn't write like the old Brian Wilson. He didn't produce like the old Brian Wilson. He didn't sing like the old Wilson. He seemed like an entirely different person, even though I never met the man!
I'm gonna stop here, and I'll close with this. Starting in 1984, I just did not...enjoy...the music of Brian Wilson like I once did. Not even close. Something changed, something left, and I never heard it again. It's a lot like the theme of "Caroline, No". There were very few isolated moments on his ensuing solo albums that got to me. Very few. And I so wanted them to get to me. Just like they used to. So, to finally answer the question of this topic/thread, I guess I think differently about Brian Wilson. It started in 1984 and continues today.
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Post by lonelysummer on Feb 2, 2023 4:10:32 GMT
When I was a newbie in the mid-1970s, there were very few books/biographies on The Beach Boys, and the ones that were in print were hard to find and not very good. The group was on TV somewhat, but mostly with performances and not in documentary form. And, finally, since these were pre-internet days, a fan had to get information - current or past - wherever you could find it, which meant scouring magazines for anything Beach Boys. Despite all of that, or lack of it, I formed my opinion of Brian Wilson. And, I did it mostly from listening to the records...the recent ones. After listening to 15 Big Ones, I came to the conclusion that Brian Wilson could still produce at a very high level. After listening to The Beach Boys Love You, I came to the conclusion that Brian Wilson could still write songs at a very high level. And, after listening to M.I.U. Album, I came to the conclusion that Brian Wilson could still at a very high level. Now, if he could just put it all together again. I believed that Brian could still make great records, maybe not as strong as his heyday (1964-1966), but close. Then David Leaf's book came out in 1978, and that only reinforced my beliefs. David wrote about Brian still possessing his musical talent and skills, and that, with the "right" circumstances, would do great things again. I believe him and I believed my own instincts.
Over the next couple of years (1979-1981), it wasn't easy to hold on to those dreams, but I did. I looked for anything - a great song like "Good Timin'" (which I didn't know at the time was written in 1974), a note that he hit on a song (there were a few on Keepin' The Summer Alive), a concert where he appeared at least lucid (I saw a few with Brian there), and maybe even his physical appearance (he looked great in 1979). To quote Jesse Jackson, it was "keep hope alive!" And I did. I continued to believe that the old Brian Wilson, albeit in a somewhat damaged state, was still in there. I saw glimpses, and, man, did I look for them. Anywhere I could find them. You wanna talk about an eternal optimist. Maybe it would be the next album. Yes, that's when Brian would really be back, I thought. I hoped.
After 1981, I didn't see much of Brian Wilson. There was a short snippet of the press conference after Dennis Wilson died which was broadcast on MTV. Brian spoke a little and looked fantastic. And then one night in (the fall?) of 1984, I tuned into Entertainment Tonight, and Brian was featured in a segment about his treatment with Dr. Landy and another one of his comebacks. I can still remember the first sentence that came from his mouth - "I have been up, I have been down, under, over, this way, that way, but I'm still here, and I'm still rockin'..." There was one big problem. He wasn't still here. Oh, he looked great. He lost a hundred pounds by then. His hair was great. The beard was trimmed. He wore stylish clothes. But his eyes. Those eyes. Deer in the headlights look. Slurred speech. The facial expressions. Making pronouncements instead of just talking normally. And then they showed him at the piano singing "Male Ego", or should I say yelling "Male Ego". I want to tell you, I was shook up after watching that segment. I still remember thinking to myself, "He's gone. That's not Brian Wilson."
It was at that very moment, seeing that Entertainment Tonight segment, where I started to question or change my opinion or outlook about the future of Brian Wilson. He appeared a whole degree (is that the right word?) worse than the 1976 version of Brian Wilson which was a whole degree worse than the 1966 Brian Wilson. All of a sudden I wasn't so optimistic. I went into every new Beach Boys recording with skepticism. I was worried. Did Landy cause permanent damage? Could Brian still write? Could he still sing? I didn't like Brian's contribution on The Beach Boys (1985). I didn't like "Let's Go to Heaven In My Car" (I bought the Police Academy IV soundtrack album just for that one song). I didn't like Brian Wilson (1988). And on and on. He didn't write like the old Brian Wilson. He didn't produce like the old Brian Wilson. He didn't sing like the old Wilson. He seemed like an entirely different person, even though I never met the man!
I'm gonna stop here, and I'll close with this. Starting in 1984, I just did not...enjoy...the music of Brian Wilson like I once did. Not even close. Something changed, something left, and I never heard it again. It's a lot like the theme of "Caroline, No". There were very few isolated moments on his ensuing solo albums that got to me. Very few. And I so wanted them to get to me. Just like they used to. So, to finally answer the question of this topic/thread, I guess I think differently about Brian Wilson. It started in 1984 and continues today.
I had a very different reaction to the Landy era Brian. I was amazed at how great he looked. And then when he started putting out new music, I was just blown away. I played "Let's Go to Heaven In My Car" over and over during the summer of 1987. Waited what felt like an eternity for that first solo album, and when it came out, I loved it. "Melt Away", "There's So Many", "Let it Shine", "Rio Grande", no, it wasn't the Brian Wilson of the 60's or 70's, this had a new sound, but it was the 80's and in my mind, that was okay.I learned to love his post-smoking voice. And I learned patience as a Brian Wilson fan. 7 years between albums, and when we finally got a new album from him, it was all remakes. That aspect was disappointing, but I played it - IJWMFTT - and loved it. Got "Orange Crate Art" and loved that. But where was Brian Wilson the songwriter? I have to admit, I was starting to wonder if we would ever get a new album of songs written by Brian. "Imagination" became another album I fell in love with. And then that was it for Brian and new music for quite a few years. The focus shifted to Brian the live performer. The old songs. "Live at the Roxy". "Pet Sounds Live". And BWPS. Oh yeah, and one album of "new" songs that lacked the magic I associate with Brian. "What I Really Want for Christmas" was a nice surprise - really, I didn't expect to like it as much as I did. Since then, IMO, the quality of Brian's released music has gone downhill, as have his live performances. I no longer perk up when I hear there is a new Brian album on the way. "Brian's releasing an album of him playing the oldies on the piano. No vocals". Zzzzzz. "Brian's releasing a grab bag soundtrack album. Zzzzzzzzzzzzzz. Yeah, it's sad to say, but it's true of a lot of artists of his generation. I can't tell you the last time I heard a new Paul McCartney song that I liked. The Rolling Stones are embarrassing. And even my personal favorites, Ray and Dave Davies, have gone quite a few years now without releasing any great new songs. I think we're pretty lucky to have gotten one pretty good new Beach Boys album in 2012. I am thankful for that.
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Post by Sheriff John Stone on Feb 2, 2023 11:50:40 GMT
When I was a newbie in the mid-1970s, there were very few books/biographies on The Beach Boys, and the ones that were in print were hard to find and not very good. The group was on TV somewhat, but mostly with performances and not in documentary form. And, finally, since these were pre-internet days, a fan had to get information - current or past - wherever you could find it, which meant scouring magazines for anything Beach Boys. Despite all of that, or lack of it, I formed my opinion of Brian Wilson. And, I did it mostly from listening to the records...the recent ones. After listening to 15 Big Ones, I came to the conclusion that Brian Wilson could still produce at a very high level. After listening to The Beach Boys Love You, I came to the conclusion that Brian Wilson could still write songs at a very high level. And, after listening to M.I.U. Album, I came to the conclusion that Brian Wilson could still at a very high level. Now, if he could just put it all together again. I believed that Brian could still make great records, maybe not as strong as his heyday (1964-1966), but close. Then David Leaf's book came out in 1978, and that only reinforced my beliefs. David wrote about Brian still possessing his musical talent and skills, and that, with the "right" circumstances, would do great things again. I believe him and I believed my own instincts.
Over the next couple of years (1979-1981), it wasn't easy to hold on to those dreams, but I did. I looked for anything - a great song like "Good Timin'" (which I didn't know at the time was written in 1974), a note that he hit on a song (there were a few on Keepin' The Summer Alive), a concert where he appeared at least lucid (I saw a few with Brian there), and maybe even his physical appearance (he looked great in 1979). To quote Jesse Jackson, it was "keep hope alive!" And I did. I continued to believe that the old Brian Wilson, albeit in a somewhat damaged state, was still in there. I saw glimpses, and, man, did I look for them. Anywhere I could find them. You wanna talk about an eternal optimist. Maybe it would be the next album. Yes, that's when Brian would really be back, I thought. I hoped.
After 1981, I didn't see much of Brian Wilson. There was a short snippet of the press conference after Dennis Wilson died which was broadcast on MTV. Brian spoke a little and looked fantastic. And then one night in (the fall?) of 1984, I tuned into Entertainment Tonight, and Brian was featured in a segment about his treatment with Dr. Landy and another one of his comebacks. I can still remember the first sentence that came from his mouth - "I have been up, I have been down, under, over, this way, that way, but I'm still here, and I'm still rockin'..." There was one big problem. He wasn't still here. Oh, he looked great. He lost a hundred pounds by then. His hair was great. The beard was trimmed. He wore stylish clothes. But his eyes. Those eyes. Deer in the headlights look. Slurred speech. The facial expressions. Making pronouncements instead of just talking normally. And then they showed him at the piano singing "Male Ego", or should I say yelling "Male Ego". I want to tell you, I was shook up after watching that segment. I still remember thinking to myself, "He's gone. That's not Brian Wilson."
It was at that very moment, seeing that Entertainment Tonight segment, where I started to question or change my opinion or outlook about the future of Brian Wilson. He appeared a whole degree (is that the right word?) worse than the 1976 version of Brian Wilson which was a whole degree worse than the 1966 Brian Wilson. All of a sudden I wasn't so optimistic. I went into every new Beach Boys recording with skepticism. I was worried. Did Landy cause permanent damage? Could Brian still write? Could he still sing? I didn't like Brian's contribution on The Beach Boys (1985). I didn't like "Let's Go to Heaven In My Car" (I bought the Police Academy IV soundtrack album just for that one song). I didn't like Brian Wilson (1988). And on and on. He didn't write like the old Brian Wilson. He didn't produce like the old Brian Wilson. He didn't sing like the old Wilson. He seemed like an entirely different person, even though I never met the man!
I'm gonna stop here, and I'll close with this. Starting in 1984, I just did not...enjoy...the music of Brian Wilson like I once did. Not even close. Something changed, something left, and I never heard it again. It's a lot like the theme of "Caroline, No". There were very few isolated moments on his ensuing solo albums that got to me. Very few. And I so wanted them to get to me. Just like they used to. So, to finally answer the question of this topic/thread, I guess I think differently about Brian Wilson. It started in 1984 and continues today.
I had a very different reaction to the Landy era Brian. I was amazed at how great he looked. And then when he started putting out new music, I was just blown away. I played "Let's Go to Heaven In My Car" over and over during the summer of 1987. Waited what felt like an eternity for that first solo album, and when it came out, I loved it. "Melt Away", "There's So Many", "Let it Shine", "Rio Grande", no, it wasn't the Brian Wilson of the 60's or 70's, this had a new sound, but it was the 80's and in my mind, that was okay.I learned to love his post-smoking voice. And I learned patience as a Brian Wilson fan. 7 years between albums, and when we finally got a new album from him, it was all remakes. That aspect was disappointing, but I played it - IJWMFTT - and loved it. Got "Orange Crate Art" and loved that. But where was Brian Wilson the songwriter? I have to admit, I was starting to wonder if we would ever get a new album of songs written by Brian. "Imagination" became another album I fell in love with. And then that was it for Brian and new music for quite a few years. The focus shifted to Brian the live performer. The old songs. "Live at the Roxy". "Pet Sounds Live". And BWPS. Oh yeah, and one album of "new" songs that lacked the magic I associate with Brian. "What I Really Want for Christmas" was a nice surprise - really, I didn't expect to like it as much as I did. Since then, IMO, the quality of Brian's released music has gone downhill, as have his live performances. I no longer perk up when I hear there is a new Brian album on the way. "Brian's releasing an album of him playing the oldies on the piano. No vocals". Zzzzzz. "Brian's releasing a grab bag soundtrack album. Zzzzzzzzzzzzzz. Yeah, it's sad to say, but it's true of a lot of artists of his generation. I can't tell you the last time I heard a new Paul McCartney song that I liked. The Rolling Stones are embarrassing. And even my personal favorites, Ray and Dave Davies, have gone quite a few years now without releasing any great new songs. I think we're pretty lucky to have gotten one pretty good new Beach Boys album in 2012. I am thankful for that. Physically? No question, the Brian Wilson that emerged in the mid-1980s looked spectacular. Mind-blowing. Could this Brian Wilson be that Brian Wilson? Heck, the guy was lifting weights and running in 10K's. Brian was close to looking like that in 1978-79 when Stan & Rocky were doing their thing, but this was different. And, I wanted to add that not many people - including me, especially me - never thought that Brian could/would tour the way he did in the Melinda era.
My above post, my point, was that post-1982, after Brian entered the Landy program for the second time, the magic in the music seemed to be less and less. For me. Actually, I think Brian exceeded, yes, exceeded Brian Wilson with Sweet Insanity songwriting-wise. But, the spark, the magic, was starting to fade - and I'm not even blaming Landy for that. Subsequent songs, subsequent albums, lacked that unique Brian Wilson touch that I heard as late as 1977's Love You. Less and less did I hear musical moments and wonder - how did he come up with something like that? For sure there were moments. Every BW solo album had a song or two or three that was quite good. Many of them were good enough to make the cut on the 60's and 70's Beach Boys' albums. And the vocals were sometimes, many times, more than acceptable. I will also say that on some solo albums Brian sang better than I ever thought he would again. But that's a funny thing, too. Why do I prefer some of those mid/late 70's BW vocals?
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Post by kds on Feb 2, 2023 14:05:25 GMT
Back to Brian (Brian's back?), I'll say that I've been pretty pleased with much of his output of the last 25 or so years. I'm not really a fan of much of his writing from the mid 70s through the mid 90s. There are some exceptions. A couple BB songs here and there, maybe half the BW88 album.
But, I think since the relaunch of his solo career in 1998, he's released some really solid material. I really enjoy the three albums he did with Joe Thomas (Imagination, TWGMTR, NPP). I love TLOS and Brian's Christmas album. Even Gershwin, while the source material isn't my cup of tea, is really well done.
Granted, that stuff doesn't hold a torch to his genius era material, but that's to be expected decades later.
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Post by Kapitan on Feb 2, 2023 14:18:42 GMT
I am also more a fan of his Melinda-era solo material more than his Landy-era stuff. I know it doesn't bother everyone, and I have no problem with that, but for me the production through the 80s and into the early 90s is a real drag. But I also don't think a lot of the songs are very good, with mostly ballads being the exceptions: L&M, Melt Away, and There's So Many in particular.
That said, I don't really like Thomas's production style, either! But I dislike it less, generally, and I do think he had better material for those albums. Some of that is a credit to Thomas himself, as a cowriter.
But this weekend I listened to TLOS again while driving home from a lunch with my parents and brother. Even in the less-than-ideal listening environment of my car on the interstate, I was struck again by how damn cool that record is. Not the spoken bits, I increasingly hate that they were included at all. But the songs? His best batch of new material in a very long time, at least since Love You, but maybe since Friends or Wild Honey. I really, really like those songs. And I think they did a great job recording them.
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Post by kds on Feb 2, 2023 14:31:54 GMT
I am also more a fan of his Melinda-era solo material more than his Landy-era stuff. I know it doesn't bother everyone, and I have no problem with that, but for me the production through the 80s and into the early 90s is a real drag. But I also don't think a lot of the songs are very good, with mostly ballads being the exceptions: L&M, Melt Away, and There's So Many in particular. That said, I don't really like Thomas's production style, either! But I dislike it less, generally, and I do think he had better material for those albums. Some of that is a credit to Thomas himself, as a cowriter. But this weekend I listened to TLOS again while driving home from a lunch with my parents and brother. Even in the less-than-ideal listening environment of my car on the interstate, I was struck again by how damn cool that record is. Not the spoken bits, I increasingly hate that they were included at all. But the songs? His best batch of new material in a very long time, at least since Love You, but maybe since Friends or Wild Honey. I really, really like those songs. And I think they did a great job recording them. I'm not really huge on JT's production either, particularly on Imagination. But, I think Brian's run of albums from WIRWFC, TLOS, and Gershwin are the best sounding albums of his solo career, and maybe the best sounding BB related albums since Sunflower.
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Post by lonelysummer on Feb 5, 2023 5:07:02 GMT
I am also more a fan of his Melinda-era solo material more than his Landy-era stuff. I know it doesn't bother everyone, and I have no problem with that, but for me the production through the 80s and into the early 90s is a real drag. But I also don't think a lot of the songs are very good, with mostly ballads being the exceptions: L&M, Melt Away, and There's So Many in particular. That said, I don't really like Thomas's production style, either! But I dislike it less, generally, and I do think he had better material for those albums. Some of that is a credit to Thomas himself, as a cowriter. But this weekend I listened to TLOS again while driving home from a lunch with my parents and brother. Even in the less-than-ideal listening environment of my car on the interstate, I was struck again by how damn cool that record is. Not the spoken bits, I increasingly hate that they were included at all. But the songs? His best batch of new material in a very long time, at least since Love You, but maybe since Friends or Wild Honey. I really, really like those songs. And I think they did a great job recording them. I'm not really huge on JT's production either, particularly on Imagination. But, I think Brian's run of albums from WIRWFC, TLOS, and Gershwin are the best sounding albums of his solo career, and maybe the best sounding BB related albums since Sunflower. Wow, that's very strong statement. I guess as far as sounding natural, like not super heavy on the synths, I would agree. His vocals were very good on those albums, too.
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Post by Sheriff John Stone on Feb 5, 2023 12:44:32 GMT
I'm not really huge on JT's production either, particularly on Imagination. But, I think Brian's run of albums from WIRWFC, TLOS, and Gershwin are the best sounding albums of his solo career, and maybe the best sounding BB related albums since Sunflower. Wow, that's very strong statement. I guess as far as sounding natural, like not super heavy on the synths, I would agree. His vocals were very good on those albums, too. But, all of that being said, despite the more natural sounding albums, the better/best songs of his solo career, and the (relatively) very good vocals - and for the sake of discussion I'll agree with you (except for WIRWFC) - is the magic there for you on those albums? On any of the solo albums? Do you hear it? Do you feel it? There's reasons some albums/songs are revisited through the years and some are left on the shelf...
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Post by Kapitan on Feb 5, 2023 13:09:34 GMT
For me, the answer re TLOS is an unhesitating, enthusiastic "yes": it's a fantastic album, not just good sounding, but with really good songs--better than most Beach Boys albums. Not at the level of the truly greatest, of course, but I don't see any of his peers putting out anything better in those years, either.
Gershwin is also really good, but not being a covers guy in general, it's a step or two down. (Still sounds great, though, and well performed.)
If anything, while Brian's solo career has probably often been overrated--several of his new solo albums were greeted with effusive praise--I think these two in particular are now underrated.
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