Brian Wilson - That Lucky Old Sun (CD/DVD)
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Free Music Notes for That Lucky Old Sun (CD/DVD)
Free Music Review: Music for the time
Hit: 5 Stars
Now this is really music that we need to hear. If you have your shoes on go ahead and get this.Free Music Review: 4 1/2 stars-- the modern Brian Wilson album we've been waitiing for.
Hit: 4 Stars
Brian Wilson is a man with a large reputation to live up to-- to be fair, taking the next step for the guy who wrote, arranged and produced arguably the greatest album of his generation (the incomparable Pet Sounds) must have been exceedingly difficult, and with resistance from the band, it took 37 years for its followup, the magnificent SMiLE, to surface. But Wilson's career during that 37 year window was largely hit or miss-- while Beach Boys fans, myself included, will speak lovingly of many of the later Beach Boys records, many of them were true group efforts, and Brian's "comebacks", 15 Big Ones/Love You and his debut solo album Brian Wilson, while endearing and engaging, were uneven and at times felt propped up. In recent years, as his solo career took off, barring the completion of SMiLE, Brian's records have sounded like forced attempts at adult contemporary-- much as I enjoy Imagination and Gettin' in Over My Head, they've felt like someone else's idea of how Brian should grow old.
Enter "That Lucky Old Sun".
My expectations were a bit low, I figured on either a continuation of the adult contemporary sound or a thoroughly retro record. What I got instead is what I'd hope it'd be-- Brian Wilson getting older gracefully. Conceived as a thematic suite, "That Lucky Old Sun" is a meditation of sorts on the life of Brian Wilson in Los Angeles. Like his best records from the old days, it's full of swagger (the superb "Going Home") and melody ("Forever She'll Be My Surfer Girl"), with subtle arrangements and fantastic vocal harmonies. Ably executed by an ensemble largely drawn from Brian's touring band, the album is quite engaging and entertaining and while it feels more mature than, say, "Surfin USA" or "Wouldn't It Be Nice", it doesn't feel forced.
So is this another Pet Sounds)? Not really. There's some many tracks that just didn't engage me at all ("Mexican Girl"). But is it really, really good? Definitely. And certainly, it's got some of the best songwriting that Wilson's done in a long time.
This edition comes with a bonus DVD featuring a brief (20 minute) documentary about the making of the album, filmed during the recording sessions, is enlightening and feels quite personal. In addition, we get treated to a couple in the studio performances from the record.
Bottom line is-- "That Lucky Old Sun" is a fun record. It's not the best of the best of Wilson's catalog, but it's a fine followup to SMiLE, about as high praise as I can offer.
Free Music Review: A "song cycle" with narrative looks back on a "Beach Boys" life
Hit: 4 Stars
Okay, let's admit it: No one has listened to a Brian Wilson record (even with the Beach Boys) - since at least the 70s - for his voice. It certainly was distinctive, but like Tom Waits and Rod Stewart, it lost it's lost its melodic quality years ago.
We anticipate Wilson's recordings for the "soundscapes" he creates. Every once in a while there's a "hit single" which you can repeatedly play and even sing all the way through on your own. The Smile album was his triumph. It had the soundscape as well as those songs like "Good Vibrations" that are imbedded in our brains. How was Wilson gonna top this?
Well, he hasn't quite "topped" Smile. But he's created a new genre for Wilson music: the Wilson bio-cantata. First and foremost this is Wilson's giving us his life story from his earliest days of singing, though his drug and depression years to finding himself through his new wife and family, all the time being based in Southern California. Then it's the cantata with four spoken narratives (which rarely rhyme), connecting the songs. When you listen you will note that there is practically no space between the tracks. This is one fluid 38-minute piece. This is not unexpected, because the album was not the initial concept for this music. As you will learn on the 18 minute "Making of..." short on the accompanying DVD to this edition, the piece was commissioned by London's Royal Festival Hall to commemorate it's re-opening. The album was recorded AFTER the premiere. (Why is it Wilson's recent work - such as the complete Smile - debuts on the OTHER side of the Atlantic, far from California?).
As expected, Wilson's vocals are getting rougher on each release, but you know it's Brian, and his back up band recreates much of the Beach Boys sound.
The songs were mostly written with Wilson's keyboard player, Scott Bennett, and the narratives are co-written with Wilson's Smile collaborator, Van Dyke Parks. The only song that stood out for me as "single", which would become as popular as his BB hits is "Good Kind of Love", which a "Good Vibrations"-style chorus. Creatively, I like "Goin' Home" which has this absolutely beautiful Four Freshman (a large influence on Wilson's early work) break in the middle of a basically "rock and roll" song.
I've given this disc a few plays already and enjoy it but, as you'll find, the Narratives - though less than a minute in length, keep breaking the mood. (The reason for four instead of five stars.) Still, this is a must for Wilson fans (of which I'm one!) and it may even convince folks to check out Frankie Laine's original of the title track from the 1950s. (On the DVD Wilson refers to Louis Armstrong's version, but Laine had the major hit.)
So now what can the Brits come up with to commission another piece from the number one Beach Boy? His creative juices are still flowing and there's got to be more wonders to come.
Steve Ramm
"Anything Phonographic"
Free Music Review: Like A Letter From Home
Hit: 4 Stars
Saturday morning A&E ran a Beach Boys bio from several years back, surely hoping to pick up a little bump from the all the media surrounding the release of That Lucky Old Sun. As usual, I couldn't switch the channel even though it covered old ground. The insiders interviewed all said the same thing, running along the lines of 'good to see Brian beating back the demons', 'Brian's finally found some peace', etc. Except for one guy, and this is what he said (paraphrased):
"The Brian you see now, the Brian that smiles and talks about how he's finally found his way - that's not the real Brian. That's the tamed Brian. They've tamed him, or he's tamed himself, but what you're seeing now is not the real Brian Wilson."
I thought that was an odd thing to say, maybe even a little cruel. But...listening to That Lucky Old Sun, I think I might know what he means. Wilson hasn't lost his arranging touch, his ability to manipulate the elements (although his partner and producer in this production played a large role), but...and I don't like saying this...there's almost none of that inventiveness that used to take my breath away. 2004's 'Smile' was really 1967's 'Smile', as far as originality goes, and the last thing I really, really liked by Brian was 'Imagination', from some years back. That one had some of the old magic.
At his best, Brian conjured up incredible musical ideas - gorgeous melodies, rich, compelling vocal tracks, combinations of instruments that defied not only convention but even common sense and made it seem (like all good art) perfectly inevitable. Like it had been lying there for anyone to see, and all he did was just pick it up and show everyone. It's just not apparent, in my opinion, on That Lucky Old Sun. Well...'Midnight Is Another Day' gets partway there, and 'Southern California' is fun.
I'm truly happy for the guy. If he's found peace, if he sleeps at night and looks forward to the next day, well, he has that right. He doesn't owe me anything, and I'll be happy to listen to the old stuff. Listening to That Lucky Old Sun feels to me like a letter from one of my daughters, saying "Dad, I know I'm not doing what you think I should, but I'm happy."
I'm not complaining - I'll take whatever he's offering, and gladly. I just want one more, "Let Him Run Wild".
www.thesundaymusician.com
Free Music Review: Continues to amaze
Hit: 4 Stars
I must admit that I was a bit hesitant to get this cd. I haven't heard the greatest songs on his solo albums and it always seems he/manangement are always trying to be "relevant" in the current musical climate through production, lyrical content, vocalizations, etc. I went to his website in hopes of sampling his new work. The first song that played on the site was "Midnight's Another Day". I got the "Wilson chills" within the first minute. Those hypnotic harmonies swept me off my feet and sucked me in. The following song solidified my purchase of the album, "Southern California". This could've easily been on ANY Beach Boys CD where Brian was the primary songwriter. Mr. Wilson has done it again for me. There are some hints of "eek, that was silly" but that's just my personal tastes. The spoken word elements found on here could be found trite upon first listening but after hearing it a couple of times they let the album pace itself. And Brian has a nice charm to his voice that doesn't tire after repeated listening. I'm sure other reviews are going to hold this up to the Smile legend and blah, blah, blah but I think they're missing the point. He's just making music that he feels compelled to make...and I am certainly most thankful. Great pop, enormous harmonies, ridiculous hooks and the Wilson sound.