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Post by kds on May 13, 2020 14:35:46 GMT
A live concert film of arguably Brian's best solo album. This appears to be staged in a similar way as the Smile show released in 2004, with a similarly staged doc on the making of TLOS as a bonus feature.
If you're a fan of the TLOS album, this is a really nice companion, especially since the projected videos during the run through of the album add some nice visuals to the otherwise (IMO) disposable spoken word bits. And, even Can't Wait Too Long, which often seemed out of place on TLOS, makes more sense with the pictures of the brothers Wilson. The live run through of the album is really good, and might even be better than the studio album.
The bonus features are decent. There's a Q&A of Brian with Zooey Daschunel that's pretty entertaining, and some other live odds and ends.
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Post by Kapitan on May 13, 2020 14:50:49 GMT
There's a Q&A of Brian with Zooey Daschunel that's pretty entertaining, and some other live odds and ends. "You're very pretty," right? lol
I really enjoyed this one. The doc was somewhat annoying in spots, mostly in the aspects that rehashed Beach Boys history yet again. (We don't need every single video release by the band and solo artists from the band to go through the back story. Everyone--literally everyone!--who bought this DVD already knows it!) And I really could have done without Billy Bob Thornton's "insights," or the segment on classic cars.
But I'm almost always a fan of the "making of" kinds of segments, or people talking about the creation. Not that I believe them, necessarily ... but the more on the record, the more thoroughly we can vet stories and have some idea of what might have been going on. The footage in Bennett's house was pretty cool, as I recall.
The performance part was stellar, too. I've watched it many times over the years. Really fun, such good music. And as KDS says the spoken bits go over better in that environment, which was also true at the live shows. (Maybe my favorite BW concert was TLOS, actually. Certainly up there.)
As crazy as it sounds now, I thought BW was on the upswing around that time and had what felt like realistic hopes we'd get a few more really good albums out of him. That turned out sort-of true, I guess ... but not like I was hoping. Between two covers albums, reunion, reunion ugliness, a few false starts on albums (Jeff Beck, Don Was alleged production involvement, Joe Thomas involvement, then maybe just Brian again?), eventually NPP seeming like yet another potential rebirth that instead fizzled into a half-decade of increasingly awful Pet Sounds shows ... I should know that Beach Boys fans ought not expect to have nice things.
But I digress. TLOS was a great addition to the video catalogue.
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Post by kds on May 13, 2020 14:59:56 GMT
All things considered, TLOS did start a pretty nice run for Brian which included Gershwin, TWGMTR, and NPP. Maybe not exactly a return to his peak, but for so late in his career, it's pretty impressive.
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Post by Kapitan on May 13, 2020 15:27:29 GMT
It did. But to me that run--spread almost over a decade--was marred by two of five albums being covers (even though I like the Gershwin one a lot) and one leading to yet another catastrophe for the Beach Boys. For me, instead of a late-career golden era, it ended up just another bunch of typical ups and downs, false starts, and bad vibes.
But there were certainly plenty of very good musical moments, especially in TLOS, Gershwin, TWGMTR, and to a slightly lesser extent NPP.
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Post by kds on May 13, 2020 17:20:47 GMT
Right, and I don't know if the well is just dry now, considering several songs from TGWMTR and NPP were mined from the 1998 Thomas writing sessions and he won't be collaborating with Bennett again, or if the desire is not there any longer, but it seems more likely that that period of time could be the last creative period for Brian. It really wouldn't be a terrible way to go out.
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Post by Kapitan on May 13, 2020 17:40:33 GMT
Right, and I don't know if the well is just dry now, considering several songs from TGWMTR and NPP were mined from the 1998 Thomas writing sessions and he won't be collaborating with Bennett again, or if the desire is not there any longer, but it seems more likely that that period of time could be the last creative period for Brian. It really wouldn't be a terrible way to go out. Especially compared to some of what might have been his last hurrahs, whether KTSA, the mid-90s releases, even the decent Imagination. None of that would have been very satisfying as a final statement. But I think the run from BWPS through the end, flawed as it is, is a lot more than I'd have expected if you'd asked me before he returned to the road with the 'mints-centered group.
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Post by kds on May 13, 2020 19:32:35 GMT
I also wanted to point out that, much like the Smile tour in 2004, Brian was playing 40+ song setlists for the TLOS tour. And, yeah, I get them not wanting to release version after version of Good Vibrations and Fun Fun Fun, I think a full show from the tour would've been a great document.
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Post by Kapitan on Jun 12, 2022 23:17:50 GMT
Watching the live(ish) performance of this that came along with the documentary, I am re-convinced at how good the album was. I truly think several of these songs are among his best ever solo songs, and even warrant spots in his live shows today. (I realize that's a common complaint for some, not enough newer stuff.) At least half of these songs could be in any given show and not seem out of place, as far as I'm concerned. And watching that Capitol Studios show footage almost brings a tear to the eye. At times, Brian seems downright happy and the band is on fire.
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Post by kds on Jun 13, 2022 0:24:13 GMT
Watching the live(ish) performance of this that came along with the documentary, I am re-convinced at how good the album was. I truly think several of these songs are among his best ever solo songs, and even warrant spots in his live shows today. (I realize that's a common complaint for some, not enough newer stuff.) At least half of these songs could be in any given show and not seem out of place, as far as I'm concerned. And watching that Capitol Studios show footage almost brings a tear to the eye. At times, Brian seems downright happy and the band is on fire.
Coincidentally Midnight's Another Day happened to appear on my playlist as I saw this post.
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Post by Kapitan on Jun 14, 2022 11:31:50 GMT
I've had these songs in my head since Sunday. As we were putting together hypothetical solo-focused BW set lists, I kept thinking how many of these songs could easily be slotted right alongside Beach Boys songs with no obvious drop in quality. No, I'm not telling people something they don't already know, but this was a really good album.
Two things about it crossed my mind this morning, one for the 500th time and one for the first:
For the 500th time, I thought about how great it could have been if it were the Beach Boys reunion album, some five years or so before TWGMTR. You can so easily imagine their voices on it. And while I am a big fan of TWGMTR, I think this is even better (and their voices were that much younger).
For the first time, I thought about how it might have been received without BWPS having come a few years prior. On one hand, BWPS raised Brian's public profile yet again, so maybe he got more press for TLOS than he would have otherwise. But on the other hand, its release meant that with TLOS he was doing a follow-up to an obviously classic piece of work (even if not exactly the definitive recordings of it). I think it compares very well ... but imagine if it were the follow-up to Gettin In Over My Head and Imagination instead of Smile.
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Post by kds on Jun 14, 2022 13:34:57 GMT
When I first got into BW's solo music, I used to say that, had TLOS been a Beach Boys album, it would've likely been a modest hit (ie. as big a hit as The Beach Boys could've had in 2008).
Now, I'm less sure. It would probably have deserved all kinds of love (mostly the good kind), and it still does as a BW album. But, I think it probably would've had the same fate as TWGMTR, still revered by the diehards.
Although, had TLOS lead to a longer BB reunion, that could've changed things.
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