Brian Wilson - That Lucky Old Sun
|
List Price: Our Price: $8.44 You Save: $10.54 (56%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $1.95 (click here) Category: Music CD See more new music releases 
|
|---|
Buy this Music CD at online store in your country
Canadian Music Store
Canadian Music Store
Free Music Notes for That Lucky Old Sun
Free Music Review: A Brian Wilson Classic...
Hit: 5 Stars
I bought this CD with very little hope it would be a knockout. I listened to the song samples and wasn't too impressed, but I bought it anyways hoping that listening to the album in its entirety would change my mind.
I put the album on my surround sound and just listened...
The first song, 'That Lucky Old Sun', reminded me of 'Prayer/Gee' from BW's 'SMiLE' album...a very subtle but powerful harmony kicks off the CD...
'Morning Beat' is the first real song on the CD. It is an upbeat song about a morning in LA. It isn't the best song on the album, but it adds to the fun of the entire CD.
The narratives that are placed throughout the album are great. I found them to be a little odd at first, but they really set the scene (which is, of course, LA). 'Room with a View' and 'Venice Beach' are my favorite narratives from the album; full of wonderful imagery describing the Southern California life.
'Good Kind Of Love' is my favorite upbeat song on the whole CD. The instrumentals in the second chorus are amazing. This song shows the genius of BW involving instrumentals and harmonies. The lyrics are great...it is a very moving love song.
'Forever She'll Be My Surfer Girl' is a song reminiscent of 'surfer girl'. It is not as fun or touching as 'surfer girl' but in its own merit really adds a Beach Boys sound to the album.
'Mexican Girl' is another of my favorites. It reminds me of the song 'South American' from BW's 'Imagination' album. Again, the instrumentals are great. The lyrics are fun...it is all around a great song.
'Midnight's Another Day' is my favorite song on the album. The chorus' are amazing. The lyrics are some of the most touching I have heard from BW. I don't know if he wrote the song, but he is amazing at singing it.
'Southern California' closes out the album. It is a subtly beautiful ballad that really sounds like a Beach Boys song. The lyrics are amazing and the harmonies are in classic Brian Wilson form.
In the end, I loved this CD. As with most Brian Wilson solo albums, the audio quality is excellent. The instrumentals and harmonies are top notch. Even on the cloudiest/rainiest day this CD will make you think of the sunny and warm California beaches. With imagery laden narratives, touching ballads, and fun/upbeat songs, this album should be in every BW/Beach Boys fan collection.
5/5
Free Music Review: Ears don't lie
Hit: 5 Stars
Not expecting anything especially wonderful after so many years, I put this on and haven't listened to anything else in two weeks. I will not try to compare this CD to any others by Brian or the BBs. There is no sense in it. This music stands on its own and my ears tell me that it is, for the most part, great.
A few points:
1) I do not understand all the criticism of Brian's singing. I think he sounds terrific when soloing and his harmonies are as exquisite as ever.
2) His backup band here is essentially the same one he has had now for a half-dozen years or so. Judging on both instrumental prowess and vocal skills, they are FAR FAR better than the Beach Boys and are arguably the finest band on earth. They can play anything and OMG, can they sing!!!
3) Unlike most others, I enjoyed the narrative links.
4) Midnight's Another Day is nothing less than a miracle. I enjoy most every song on this CD a LOT, but this cut is so far above that it makes you wonder where it came from. It is one of my top two or three Brian songs of all time. There are two times when the music crescendoes to the line, They make me feel all alone. The first crescendo is accomplished with a deft string arrangement. The second one is brought on by what is to me the most brilliant bit of vocal writing in Brian's history. The 30 or so seconds leading up to that musical mountain top is the most ravishing, clever and ecstatic snippet of music of Brian's life. It sounds like Darian, not Brian, is leading the ascent vocally, but the notes all came from Brian and they are STUNNING. It should also be noted that the lyrics to this song are tremendously inspiring. Time to play it yet again.
5) I am hoping so strongly that this CD and the growing success of the wonderful Fleet Foxes, with their amazing harmony singing are signalling a return of pop music to the glories of great vocals.
6) Just buy this and turn to cut 14 and listen to the most dramatic set of piano chord changes you will ever hear at the beginning and then to the rest of Midnight's, a great gift from heaven sent down through Brian, whom we must now love and thank more than ever.
Free Music Review: Brian's Spectacular Road Trip
Hit: 5 Stars
How do you even approach a review of Brian Wilson? Do you embrace the present day musician and all of the baggage that drags into the conversation - or - just give into the powerful urge to stare up at rock's Mount Rushmore and forever see the mythic figure who is credited with among other things, "Inventing California" and pioneering production techniques that have informed every artist from the Beatles to Green Day.
It is unfortunately Wilson's unique burden that both realities coexist. Against his prolific body of achievement any objective evaluation of his current work becomes distorted beyond any reasonable context - either by magnifying its' importance because he is - who he was, or by creating a sympathetic grading curve that acknowledges the impossible standards, and personal tragedy, that defines his story.
Maybe it's just easier to keep it simple. That Lucky Old Sun deserves to be experienced in the environment to which Wilson's work is best suited - in the car with the windows down and miles uninterrupted. After a few wind swept turns through the cd my conclusion was inescapable - That Lucky Old Sun is a terrific record.
With the possible exception of Van Dyke Parks irritating and unnecessary spoken narrative the entire effort really sparkles. Wilson's voice is clear and unrestrained, his production is translucent and his band drives the entire celebration of Southern Californianess with a professional sheen - up and down shifting with a fusion of subtlety and power. I was particularly taken by the three songs that close the cd - Midnight's Another Day, Going Home, Southern California - if you are at all worried that TLOS is just another payday for a geriatric icon coasting on fumes - this trifecta of superbly crafted pop songs easily stands shoulder-to-shoulder with Wilson's best work.
Is TLOS better than Pet Sounds? It doesn't matter. Is it a worthy follow-up to SMILE? That's not the point. TLOS is a beautiful record in its own right and that alone makes it worth the drive - even at $4 a gallon.
Free Music Review: Brian Wilson Is Back in Better-Than-Ever Form!
Hit: 5 Stars
That Lucky Old Sun is the coolest album I have heard in a long time, super and wonderful!
Having read so many reviews here alluding to Brian's genius, I will acknowledge that state of mind for him, and it is as appropriate now as it ever was--this amazing man and artist has lost nothing whatsoever to time, hard knocks, or personal difficulties. If anything, it has all increased his insight, his ability, and the emotional depth of his work, without ever taking him away from an appreciation and celebration of good times in a place that seems made for the good times, Southern California (specifically LA). Or maybe it's his inner strength that has kept him from surrendering to the tragedies of life, acting instead to strengthen and deepen his artistry.
That's what That Lucky Old Sun is all about--musically brilliant, beautifully produced & executed, with understanding and compassion and insights about his own life as well as life in general. It's gratifying and upbeat, melodically beautiful, with a rhythm as infectious as the Morning Beat he sings about on the album.
Speaking of "sings"...I've read a number of comments about Brian's singing on this album, even going so far as to suggest that he should not sing on record (or CD) anymore. Nothing, but nothing, could be further from the truth! His voice is as good as it ever was, and his performance even better than in the halcyon Beach Boys days, and anyone listening to That Lucky Old Sun will very quickly hear this.
Get this great piece of popular artistry if you want to spend some time with a very cool, upbeat kind of guy who's surrounded himself with some great musicians and singers for this "love letter to LA" CD--and who also happens to be a genius!
Brian, based on this album (and Smile), has matured as an artist but never lost the exuberance and joy of life, and he celebrates it all in That Lucky Old Sun's seventeen tracks, which in listening flow seamlessly from one to another, as I'm sure he meant them to.
Brian--you rock!!!
Free Music Review: Overwhelmingly beautiful
Hit: 5 Stars
Forget five stars - 'That Lucky Old Sun' deserves ten stars and beyond.
Just listen to it & you'll see what I mean.
I don't really want to hype it too much - let it be your own discovery.
But if you can listen to Brian's new music & after a couple of times through you're not in tears... well, consider having that old ticker checked, & make sure your heart's still beating.
It's that crushingly beautiful and emotional.
Like Bob Dylan, Brian in his 60's has somehow rediscovered the sources of his talent and creativity. He's back at the peak of his game, back at the level of Pet Sounds and Smile. If you know how great those albums are, you know what that means.
Here's the report from daily life: I took my daughter, age 7, to hear Brian at the Hollywood Bowl on September 12th, maybe the most magical evening of music, maybe the best concert I've ever heard. His musicians are fabulous, far better than the Beach Boys ever were - they sang "Our Prayer" live onstage, in perfect tune, six part harmony, something I never thought I'd live to hear, and a knockout version of "Heroes and Villains" that finally makes sense of that masterpiece the way Brian intended for the original Smile album.
Since then my daughter won't stop playing TSOL, in the car, at home, morning and night - she just wants to hear it again and again. "It kind of makes me cry," she says.
So you can say lot of things about Brian and 'That Lucky Old Sun' - Brian is the musical poet of our time, the voice of our generation.
You can say a lot of things. All I know is, my kid won't stop listening to the new album and I can't either.
Peace & love to all, and thank you, Brian.
(written by a friend of Brian's long ago, & co-writer of his bootlegged song "Stevie", a tribute to Stevie Nicks)