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Post by Kapitan on Apr 10, 2020 13:23:18 GMT
I'm not sure that reputation has lasted, though, at least as strongly as it had once been. In the past half dozen or so years, among his reclamation projects were the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Santana, Eminem, and the Smashing Pumpkins. None of those efforts got the kind of praise that some of his earlier, similar projects did.
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Post by kds on Apr 10, 2020 14:14:09 GMT
It wasn't as high profile as it could have been, but he did get a lot of praise for the 2013 Black Sabbath album "13." I think Rubin's decline in prominence in more due to the changing of the industry than anything. But, among fans of legacy artists like Brian Wilson, I think it would still be a very big deal.
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Post by Sheriff John Stone on Apr 10, 2020 14:18:15 GMT
I think Team Brian would allow a "co-produced by" credit. They'll do anything if they think it'll help sales, and Rick Rubin's name still means something.
I'm a big fan of Rubin's work with Johnny Cash, but I don't think I would prefer that stripped approach with Brian. It's just my opinion, but I don't like "just Brian at the piano singing his songs". I find Brian's performances like that to be off-putting and embarrassing, and I've felt that way for a long time, going back to the 1970's. I know a lot of people liked that recent Rolling Stone-sponsored, In My Room segment that Brian performed from his home, but I found it wince-inducing.
Now, I realize Rubin would obviously add other instruments to the mix other than a piano, and the backing track would sound cool (like the Cash recordings), but Brian's vocals would obviously sound weathered like Johnny's, too, and I don't think that's a good thing, not with Brian Wilson's music. I know I keep advocating for it, but give me a Joe Thomas vocal-produced song any day, without the warts and flaws and...age.
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Post by kds on Apr 10, 2020 14:22:04 GMT
I think Team Brian would allow a "co-produced by" credit. They'll do anything if they think it'll help sales, and Rick Rubin's name still means something.
I'm a big fan of Rubin's work with Johnny Cash, but I don't think I would prefer that stripped approach with Brian. It's just my opinion, but I don't like "just Brian at the piano singing his songs". I find Brian's performances like that to be off-putting and embarrassing, and I've felt that way for a long time, going back to the 1970's. I know a lot of people liked that recent Rolling Stone-sponsored, In My Room segment that Brian performed from his home, but I found it wince-inducing.
Now, I realize Rubin would obviously add other instruments to the mix other than a piano, and the backing track would sound cool (like the Cash recordings), but Brian's vocals would obviously sound weathered like Johnny's, too, and I don't think that's a good thing, not with Brian Wilson's music. I know I keep advocating for it, but give me a Joe Thomas vocal-produced song any day, without the warts and flaws and...age.
I think Rubin is smart enough to know what works for each artist. The bare bones approach for Cash's original American Records worked, as did the later ones where he was backed by The Heartbreakers. I think Rubin would be smart enough to know that Brian would need The Wondermints backing him to bring his songs to life.
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Post by Kapitan on Apr 10, 2020 14:27:33 GMT
To me, once the Wondermints/BW band are involved, you don't actually get any benefit from Rubin. His style is all about making the artists comfortable and do what they're good at. I don't imagine that a relative stranger (as far as I know) is more likely to get Brian comfortable than is Darian Sahanaja, Paul Mertens, etc. And those guys are VERY capable of producing.
So I'll make a shameless plug for my idea on the previous page, the Discovered/Covered approach... It requires the least of Brian, yet gets "new" Wilson music out there in an authentic form.
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Post by Sheriff John Stone on Apr 10, 2020 14:29:22 GMT
I think Team Brian would allow a "co-produced by" credit. They'll do anything if they think it'll help sales, and Rick Rubin's name still means something.
I'm a big fan of Rubin's work with Johnny Cash, but I don't think I would prefer that stripped approach with Brian. It's just my opinion, but I don't like "just Brian at the piano singing his songs". I find Brian's performances like that to be off-putting and embarrassing, and I've felt that way for a long time, going back to the 1970's. I know a lot of people liked that recent Rolling Stone-sponsored, In My Room segment that Brian performed from his home, but I found it wince-inducing.
Now, I realize Rubin would obviously add other instruments to the mix other than a piano, and the backing track would sound cool (like the Cash recordings), but Brian's vocals would obviously sound weathered like Johnny's, too, and I don't think that's a good thing, not with Brian Wilson's music. I know I keep advocating for it, but give me a Joe Thomas vocal-produced song any day, without the warts and flaws and...age.
I think Rubin is smart enough to know what works for each artist. The bare bones approach for Cash's original American Records worked, as did the later ones where he was backed by The Heartbreakers. I think Rubin would be smart enough to know that Brian would need The Wondermints backing him to bring his songs to life. Good points. Is the only thing that kept or is keeping Brian from hooking up with a great producer Brian's reputation a producer? Is he/they that insecure?
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Post by Kapitan on Apr 10, 2020 14:33:24 GMT
Is the only thing that kept or is keeping Brian from hooking up with a great producer Brian's reputation a producer? Is he/they that insecure? I don't know. He has hooked up with great producers over the years, with decidedly mixed results (or worse). From then-hot Steve Levine on 85 to Jeff Lynne to Don Was to Phil Ramone, he has handed over the keys. But I do think there is value in the credit "Produced by Brian Wilson," considering his reputation as arguably the greatest producer of the '60s.
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Post by kds on Apr 10, 2020 14:34:36 GMT
I think Rubin is smart enough to know what works for each artist. The bare bones approach for Cash's original American Records worked, as did the later ones where he was backed by The Heartbreakers. I think Rubin would be smart enough to know that Brian would need The Wondermints backing him to bring his songs to life. Good points. Is the only thing that kept or is keeping Brian from hooking up with a great producer Brian's reputation a producer? Is he/they that insecure? I think that's very possible. It could be why he didn't do more with Jeff Lynne in the late 80s (of course that was probably more to do with Landy) when Lynne did a lot of good for Roy Orbison and George Harrison.
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Post by The Cincinnati Kid on Apr 15, 2020 16:12:34 GMT
Maybe the library will temporarily open:
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Post by Kapitan on Apr 15, 2020 16:44:12 GMT
If he did, did it quickly, and recorded and released it warts-and-all while he's still interested, it would be my two-decades-long dream finally come true...
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Post by Kapitan on Nov 17, 2020 14:41:25 GMT
I was checking SS to see whether there was anything interesting going on that hadn't been raised here and some people said Capitol had looked into the possibility of a 60th anniversary reunion album ... only to be rebuffed immediately by Brian and Al, apparently not in the course of any negotiations, but simply as a nonstarter.
If that's true, I guess the library is indeed closed, at least on official, new Beach Boys music. Outtakes, rarities, live stuff, tracks, and Sugar Ray guest spots might be all we've got left to look forward to, after all.
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Post by Kapitan on Nov 17, 2020 14:42:44 GMT
(To be fair, that actually doesn't mean Brian won't do anything else as a solo artist. But it's been about five years and he doesn't exactly seem either active or on top of his game since then.)
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Post by kds on Nov 17, 2020 14:46:56 GMT
As much as I'd like a new BB album, I think Brian, Mike, and Al have all mined their respective stockpiles of songs for TWGMTR, Postcard, NPP, and UTL, so it might be for the best to leave TWGMTR as the band's studio swan song.
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Post by Kapitan on Nov 17, 2020 14:55:47 GMT
Hey now, for all we know, Al has been hard at work on a revised "Lady Lynda" these past 43 years...a little tweak here, a little change there. That, "Waves of Love v5.0," and you're really on to something.
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Post by kds on Nov 17, 2020 15:01:53 GMT
Maybe a Christmas themed Lady Lynda since he seems to be keen on releasing one off Christmas singles in recent years.
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