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The Beach Boys
Joost:
Hey, how about some Beach Boys news?
* Jack Rieley passed away last Friday. He was The Beach Boys' manager in the early 1970s, he co-wrote many of their songs in these years, he sang lead on the song 'A Day in the Life of a Tree' and he was the narrator on the 'Mt. Vernon and Fairway' EP.
* Brian's new album 'No Pier Pressure' was released this month. It features guest appearances by Kacey Musgraves, Zooey Deschanel & M. Ward (She & Him), Sebu Simonian (Capital Cities), Nate Ruess (Fun) and Beach Boys members Al Jardine, David Marks and Blondie Chaplin. Unfortionately, I have to say that it's one of my least favorite Brian Wilson albums. I still love 'That Lucky Old Sun' and 'That's Why God Made the Radio', so I expected much more from this.
* The Brian Wilson biopic 'Love & Mercy' premiered on the Toronto International Film Festival in 2014, but it will finally be in US cinemas on June 5, 2015. Reception so far is pretty positive. Trailer:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lioWzrpCtGQ
* The Carl Wilson biography 'Long Promised Road' is set to be released on September 29.
* 'I Am Brian Wilson', the second Brian Wilson autobiography, is set to be released on October 8. There already is a Brian Wilson autobiography from the 1990s called 'Wouldn't It Be Nice', but Brian has admitted that he didn't even read (let alone write) that one.
Joost:
My track by track review of No Pier Pressure:
This Beautiful Day: Sounds a bit like 'Summer's Gone', the final song on the last Beach Boys album, and I guess it's fitting that Brian's first solo album after that one starts with a similar sounding song. Not one of Brian's most convincing vocals, but still a decent little album intro.
Runaway Dancer (w/ Sebu Simonian): Just painful. I hate it. Absolutely hate it. This just might be the very worst song that Brian ever had anything to do with in his life. I was in my teens in the 1990s and I absolutely despised all that electronic dance music that my peers were listening to. So it almost feels like betrayal to hear electronic beats and synths like those on a Brian Wilson album. Oh, and I also hate saxophones.
Whatever Happened (w/ Al Jardine & David Marks): Even after Al's solo album 'A Postcard From California' and the 2012 Beach Boys album 'That's Why God Made The Radio', it's still a thrill to hear a brand new song with more than one Beach Boy singing on it. This song does sound a bit like an outtake from Brian's 'Imagination' album, and that's not a good thing. A bit too plastic.
On The Island (w/ Zooey Deschanel & M. Ward of She & Him): Nice one. Very sunny, very mellow, a bit wacky (in a good way), reminds a bit of the very cool 1968 Beach Boys song 'Busy Doin' Nothing'. And I love Zooey's voice. Downside is that it sounds like a She & Him song with Brian guesting on backing vocals, rather than a Brian Wilson song.
Half Moon Bay (w/ Mark Isham): A somewhat unremarkable instrumental, although it does remind of the two instrumentals on 'Pet Sounds'. A bit too jazzy for my taste, but still pleasant enough.
Our Special Love (w/ Peter Hollens): An entirely a capella song with beat boxing. Yuck. Comes way too close to R&B (not the real rhtyhm & blues, but the slick modern kind) and whatever all those boy bands (Take That, Boyzone) were making in the 1990s and 2000s.
The Right Time (w/ Al Jardine & David Marks): Pleasant song, Al sounds great as always. The chorus sounds too much like 'Lay Down Burden', though. This is self-plagiarism, basically.
Guess You Had To Be There (w/ Kacey Musgraves): So far, this is hands down my favorite song on the album. Some really gorgeous melodies here. Nice, laid back arrangement. I like it a lot.
Tell Me Why (w/ Al Jardine): No, this is not the Beatles song. Fairly mediocre and a bit too sappy. I do love that Al is on so many songs on this album.
Sail Away (w/ Blondie Chaplin and Al Jardine): This is a fun song. I like the subtle Sloop John B melodies. Blondie's voice aged really well. He sounds cool. Especially with Blondie's vocal, this would've been a great song for 'That's Why God...'.
One Kind Of Love: Pretty good one, probably the second best song on the album. Some beautiful things going on in the string and brass arrangement.
Saturday Night (w/ Nate Ruess): I don't mind that this album has so many guest singers. But since this is a Brian Wilson album, it doesn't make sense that he gives someone else the lead vocal on almost an entire song. So again, this just sounds like Brian guesting on someone else's song. Having said that, I do like Nate Ruess's voice and this song is really catchy.
The Last Song: Lana Del Rey was supposed to sing on this, but she never finished her vocals. Someone on a Beach Boys forum wrote that this is "The bastard love child of Bruce Johnston and Dennis Wilson at their most sappy. This tries to be another Summer's Gone but fails to do so," and I think that's a pretty good description.
BTW: There's also a "deluxe edition" with 3 extra songs (including a new version of the 1965 Beach Boys song 'Summer Means New Love', this time with vocals), and a Target exclusive version with 5 extra songs (the "deluxe edition" bonus tracks plus a 1975 demo of 'In The Back of My Mind' and a new version of the 1988 Brian Wilson track 'Love and Mercy').
nimrod:
I went to see The Beach Boys last night, with Mike Love & Bruce Johnson, I have to say it was all nostalgia but thoroughly enjoyed, great night
Mike was probably the worst singer of the 7 piece band ;D
All the hits loads of great film as a backdrop and a big tribute to George Harrison when Mike recounted his days in Rishikesh, I think Pisces Brothers was the song he sang about him & George
! No longer available
oldbrownshoe:
Just heard of an interesting release.
It's an expanded version of the 'Beach Boys Party!' LP, over 2CDs, and it appears to have a huge amount of previously unreleased material on it.
stevie:
Am reading Mike Love's autobio and its pretty interesting. I'mm not a major BB fan - I have none of their records - but I like the odd song. A lot of their stuff up till 1966 wasn't recored with the best sound, certainly not as well as our guy's stuff lol. Reminded me of the murky sound the early Stones has.
Mike tells some good stories but he likes to namedrop a bit about all the women he was with in the 60's. Well, not namedrop precisely but he mentions his conquests lol. And he does try a bit too hard to maintain that the BB were level with the Beatles a few times. I don't agree but its a good read anyway
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