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Post by kds on Feb 6, 2020 16:50:37 GMT
Yeah, really you've got the stuff from 1966, mostly ... and that's about it. Very little, including their attempts at nostalgia and retro, actually sound like that material. Presumably it's because the recording process changed dramatically, the production trends and capabilities changed dramatically, their voices over time changed dramatically...all of it.
Consider something like "Do It Again." It has always been referred to as a throwback, a recycling, whatever. But it doesn't sound like their older music. It sounds like a band making something that hearkens back, yes, but it doesn't sound like the thing it hearkens back to.
That's fairly common, especially with bands who started in the early 60s. The Beatles 1969 version of One After 909 comes to mind. That was a throwback song, yet it doesn't really sound like 1963 era Beatles (and there's even a recorded version from that time to compare it to). Same goes for "return to form" albums we've discussed before.
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Post by Kapitan on Feb 6, 2020 16:55:58 GMT
Yeah. And if it's a good album, which this is, I just don't see the point other than what they imagine to be marketing (but as you said, probably does more harm than good). Don't try to convince me you're who you were 50 years ago, be who you are now (and be it well)!
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Post by kds on Feb 6, 2020 17:06:33 GMT
Yeah. And if it's a good album, which this is, I just don't see the point other than what they imagine to be marketing (but as you said, probably does more harm than good). Don't try to convince me you're who you were 50 years ago, be who you are now (and be it well)! I agree. Even a slight tweak like "this album was recorded very much in the same spirit as 1965" instead of "sounds like 1965." I think the latter sets expectations that can't be met.
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Post by Kapitan on Mar 13, 2020 23:34:34 GMT
Having just listened to it as it popped up on shuffle, allow me to praise the underrated "Shelter." Great vocal arrangement. I love it.
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Post by jk on Aug 2, 2020 11:48:51 GMT
This is only slightly relevant but I was intrigued by the marked similarity between the pattern on the cover of this Russian album from 1973 (Melodiya Ensemble's Vashi Lyubimye Pesni Igraet, which according to Google Translate means "playing your favourite songs") and that of TWGMTR: Described as jazz-funk library music, it's lightweight stuff but well-played and eminently listenable.
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Post by Kapitan on Aug 19, 2021 0:59:23 GMT
"Easy money / Ain't life funny? / Hallelujah / What's it to ya?"
Was just thinking about this album. That's really the line.
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Post by Kapitan on Aug 19, 2021 20:54:49 GMT
We all have known for quite some time that several of the songs on this album date back to the Wilson-Thomas sessions around the time of Imagination. Last night I was thinking: do any of the recordings?
Several of the musicians from that album are indeed also on this one. Is that just because of the Joe Thomas relationship, so he wanted to bring them back a dozen years later? Or did they not necessarily "bring them back," but just use some of what had been recorded back in the late '90s?
For example, Michael Rhodes played bass on Imagination, and he's also credited with playing bass on five TWGMTR songs: the title track, "Spring Vacation," "Strange World," "From There to Back Again," and "Summer's Gone." If I'm not mistaken, at least four of those are from the 90s. (I'm not sure about "FTrBA.") And I don't know of Rhodes working with Wilson or the Beach Boys at any other time; his credit on Gettin In Over My Head is presumably one of the leftovers.
And Eddie Bayers plays drums only on "Summer's Gone" (which also has Rhodes, Thomas, Scott Bennett, and Paul Mertens who were on Imagination) but nothing else. Again, was he called again for this project for that one coincidentally vintage song, or was his performance from the '90s?
None of this matters to me much in the grand scheme of things. I like the album regardless. And we all know bands, including (especially) the Beach Boys, aren't afraid to try to project an image that doesn't necessarily square with reality at times. What's more, that project was somewhat rushed, and so if there was material that could be used rather than starting from scratch, that's understandable. Mostly I'm just curious. If anyone knows, I'd love to hear more of not just what was written when (which we know to a good extent), but what might have been recorded earlier.
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Post by jk on Aug 19, 2021 21:39:42 GMT
Kapitan , I scanned the relevant posts at Smiley and EH and could find nothing about the timeline of the recordings. Instead, here is my ancient transcription of the chords of the title track. There are moments when the chords reflect the vocal harmonies. At times my primitive notational system has forced me to choose between the vocal and instrumental harmonies. Such is life. All corrections and/or suggestions welcome -- except that one suggestion. Intro:| C - - - | F/G - - - || Verse I:| C - Am - | Bm - Esus4 E | A - F#m7 - | Dm - G - | Am - D - | Am - D - | Dm - C/E - | | Bb - - - | Gsus4 - G - || Chorus I:| C - - - | Gm - - - | Eb Ebma7 Ebm7 - | Db - Dbma7 Dbm7 | F# F#ma7 F#m7 - | B - D - | F#/C# - G#m/C# | F#/C# - G#m/C# - | | Dm7+9 - C/E Fma7 | Gsus4 - G - || Verse II Chorus II Bridge:| Am - - - | D - - - | Dm - C/E - | Fma7 - G - | Bbm/Ab - Ab - || Coda + fade (general chords only):| Db - - - | Abm - - - | Db - - - | B - - - || | Db - - - | Abm - - - | Db Ab/C Bbm - | Ebm - Gbm - | | Db - - - | Abm - - - | Db Db/C Bbm - | B - - - | | Db - - - | Abm - - - | Db Ab/C Bbm - | Ebm - Gbm - ||
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Post by Kapitan on Feb 25, 2022 21:38:53 GMT
As recently noted, I listened to this album. And enjoyed it very much.
It occurred to me today, since its 2012 release, I think I've listened to That's Why God Made the Radio more than any Beach Boys album they have released in the past 50 years. Even The Smile Sessions, which were a fantasy a decade prior, haven't been as regular a listen as TWGMTR. Love You, which I always cite as a favorite, hasn't been as regular a listen in this past decade as TWGMTR. Nor Holland or CATP.
Maybe Surf's Up and Sunflower, but as I said we're talking the past 50 years, so they're just prior to that. Certainly Pet Sounds, but that's well prior to that 50 year cutoff.
I was relatively cynical about this album's prospects when it was announced. Not HIGHLY cynical, but somewhat cynical. And I still have my share of things I wish had been different about it. But if you'd told me in 2011 that the group's upcoming album was going to get more spins over the next decade than anything they'd done since 1972, I'd have thought you were dead wrong (if not flat-out nuts).
Usually I rate it a pretty good album. But thinking about it this way, I must think it's a little better than "pretty good."
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Post by kds on Feb 26, 2022 2:18:11 GMT
TWGMTR is an album I go back to often as well. Firstly, I think its really good. Secondly, there's a bit of personal nostalgia as its the only BB album I experienced in real life. And third, its a reminder of such a great year for me personally.
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Post by kds on Jun 6, 2022 15:25:39 GMT
I meant to post yesterday that the tenth anniversary of the release of TWGMTR was yesterday.
June 5, 2012.
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Post by Kapitan on Dec 5, 2022 13:37:28 GMT
I thought I'd paste this post I made yesterday in an episode-specific Beach Boys Talk thread here, for ongoing discussion. I can't believe that this slipped my mind, but it did! I blame the holidays, etc. But thanks to jk's post yesterday, I was reminded and so I listened this afternoon. Really good show, guys. And I appreciate you asking a question about the making of the TWGMTR album. (I could listen to a few hours of discussion about that, but I know your time is limited with guests, and so one question was much appreciated.) It seems the reality of the making of that album was more or less what a (realistic) person would have guessed. Here is my stab at transcribing that segment. It isn't long, but it says a lot. The lead-in question is whether with TWGMTR there were any similarities to recording in the old days.
"None at all, it was totally different. In the old days, we would do a track, Brian would play bass. He'd go in and get our sounds in the booth, and then come out and do the bass, and then we'd overdub the vocals. And Brian was totally involved.
"With God, um, with That's Why God Made the Radio, Brian wasn't ... [pauses, looks up as if choosing his words]... he was more of an executive producer. Joe Thomas would run things by him, say, 'is that OK, Brian?' and Brian would either 'yes' or 'no,' thumbs up or thumbs down. And then he'd say I'd like to hear more of this or that, and then [?indecipherable to me?] and then Brian would throw his vocals on. He wasn't as deeply involved with the engineering or the producing. Joe Thomas did most of that. "And, um, when I got there, I was just contributing to the vocals. And then I went to Gary Griffin's studio, and I just, I overdubbed guitar on all the stuff, and most of it was too bizarre to use. But a couple of the cuts from the album do highlight some of the guitar, like, um, "Beaches"... what's the name of that? ["Beaches in Mind"] Yeah, that's got more, that's got some guitar on it. You can hear a little of my guitar on the title track, too." On one hand, it's irrelevant. It shows that you don't need "the Stalin of the Studio" at the peak of his powers to make a good Beach Boys record. The engineers, Joe Thomas, the musicians, and the band themselves all contributed to a really strong album that I'm very thankful for. On the other hand, a person can't help but wish, or imagine 'what if...?'
Just continuing with this, while it wasn't a surprise, exactly, imagine more or less treating a founding Beach Boy as a token guest on the reunion album: that's what David Marks's comments sound like to me. Basically, "the album is fully planned and mostly recorded: you can sing as part of the group harmonies here, here, and here. And yeah, ok, you can noodle a little on your guitar on these, if you want (but we probably won't use them)."
I'd be curious to hear similarly honest comments from Al, Bruce ... even Mike ... and even Brian. I'd bet Bruce and Al at least had a similar experience: "show up and sing these parts (and please stop talking about "Waves of Love")." It's one of the more interesting things about the band to me right now. We know the songs were mostly Brian's, but what about the recordings and arrangements? I'm very curious.
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