2011/09/20

Brian Wilson LIVE at The Royal Festival Hall, London - LITTLE GIRL I ONCE KNEW

17.09.2011

Rock legend Bruce Johnston recalls his buddy Terry Melcher & working on songs from Doris Day’s latest album “My Heart”

September 9, 2011 -> dorisdaytribute.com
We feel immensely privileged to be able to bring to you now an interview with Rock legend Bruce Johnston who is a member of The Beach Boys, an accomplished producer and solo artist, as well as a GRAMMY award-winning songwriter – best known for having penned “Disney Girls” and Barry Manilow’s #1 hit “I Write the Songs”. Johnston alongside his buddy Terry Melcher (Doris’ son) also produced the 1980s recordings which now feature on Doris Day’s new album “My Heart“.

Hurry, It’s Lovely Up Here (Written by Alan Jay Lerner & Burton Lane) +
Daydream (Written by John Sebastian) +
Way I Dreamed It (Written by Bruce Johnston & Terry Melcher) +
Heaven Tonight (Written by Bruce Johnston) +
My One & Only Love (Written by Robert Mellin & Guy Wood)
My Heart (Written by Bruce Johnston & Terry Melcher) +
You Are So Beautiful (Written by Billy Preston & Bruce Fisher) +
Life Is Just A Bowl of Cherries (Written by Ray Henderson & Les Brown)
Disney Girls (Written by Bruce Johnston) +
My Buddy (Written by Walter Donaldson & Gus Kahn)
Happy Endings (Bruce Johnston & Terry Melcher) +
[Sung by Terry with introduction by Doris Day]
Ohio (Betty Comden, Adolph Green & Leonard Bernstein)
[+ previously unreleased song]

2011/09/16

Minty And The Beeb reviews: Glasgow, Manchester, Birmingham

september 2011 ->mintyandthebeeb.blogspot.com
  Our third show... and still we were filled with anticipation and excitement. Again, the show kicked off with the ‘Brian Wilson Reimagines Gershwin’ album from start to finish...

2011/09/14

Brian Wilson reimagines Gershwin @ The Sage Gateshead 2011

2011
Plenty O' Nuttin'
Nothin But Love
Rhapsody in Blue

Van Dyke Parks Songwriter Interview

July 29, 2011 -> songfacts.com
Dan MacIntosh (Songfacts):

You wear so many different hats: composer, performer, instrumentalist, arranger, producer, and lyricist. What do you think is your greatest strength as an artist?

2011/09/13

A Wizard, A True Star: Edsel Rolls Out Todd Rundgren Catalogue Overhaul

-> theseconddisc.com/2011/09/12
He’s been called a wizard, a true star, even God. But by any name, Todd Rundgren is one of music’s most enduring iconoclasts. Not merely content to rest on his early career laurels as a purveyor of top-tier AM pop (“Hello, It’s Me,” “I Saw the Light”) the restless musician has followed his muse from one direction to another over 40+-years, taking in soul (of the Philadelphia and blue-eyed varieties), pop, prog rock, jazz, funk, arena rock, avant-garde experimentalism, a cappella, musical comedy and even operetta! And that’s just naming a few of the styles Todd Rundgren has mastered as an artist.

Exclusive Download: Brian Wilson Covers Buddy Holly (& listen to the cd)

August 19, 2011 -> RollingStone.com
Brian Wilson's interpretation of Buddy Holly's classic song "Listen to Me" is a gorgeous merger of Holly's simple, direct melodic phrasing and Wilson's distinct arrangement and production style.


+ Update: Listen to the whole cd online

2011/09/12

Ben Hughes of A Little Affair covers The Beach Boys - Don´t Worry Baby

2011 (special request)






+ alittleaffairmusic.com

+ see also this comment

Dr. Dog - My Old Ways

2007

Brian Wilson review - The Sage, Gateshead

****

Since he returned from breakdown-induced wilderness, with rapturously received performances of the Beach Boys's 1966 masterpiece, Pet Sounds, a mini-industry has sprung up around Brian Wilson. There have been endless tours, poorly received solo albums and now, with Wilson no longer writing songs, Brian Wilson Reimagines Gershwin, an album remodeling George Gershwin classics in the style of the Beach Boys.
Sunday 11 September 2011 -> guardian.co.uk

2011/09/10

Brian Wilson Bestival 2011

-> iwradio.co.uk
Friday is opened on the mainstage by Island band Naked Indians. They're not actually Indians and despite a promise at the audition, they don't get naked either. Bestival regulars Beardyman and Kitty Daisy and Lewis are next, then it's "California Girls” and here's Brian Wilson, a man responsible for some of the finest melodies known to pop, playing at Robin Hill. It's the first pinch-yourself moment of the weekend and a slightly awkward one. Brian is an uncomfortable stage presence, sat behind a keyboard that he occasionally plays and a screen that may or not hold an autocue. As a performer Brian is elsewhere at times, distracted. The band is marvellous, showing the music the love and attention that Brian's tunes deserve.

"God Only Knows" is introduced as a love song, although it's an odd one (he may not always love her, she might leave him). I put my arm around my wife as that gorgeous intro rings out, reproduced immaculately by The Wondermints. Then, Brian sings, in a voice cracked and stilted. His delivery gives this performance a whole new level of poignancy and vulnerability. He's given the world some beautiful music and been through so much personally that it's wonderful that he's here this afternoon. I hope he enjoyed performing for us as much as the crowd enjoyed watching him. The sustained applause after "God Only Knows" could have made a standing ovation but the drummer counts us in to the next tune. We get "Heroes And Vilians", "Good Vibrations" and then a return to the stage and Brian says "let's rock". Someone gives him a bass guitar which he barely plays and we have "Fun, Fun, Fun" and "Surfin' USA" to finish. We won't see his like again.

The Beach Boys' "Smile" Sessions: Why the Album Never Came Out, And Why It Now Will - Part 1

08 September 2011
-> peteramescarlin.com
Then one day in 2003 you hear something astonishing.

Brian Wilson has decided to finish "Smile." He and his new band will debut the completed work in London in February 2004, then record a studio version to be released in the fall.

Part I
+ Part II

2011/09/09

The Brian Wilson Tour Has Started!


Setlist (September 7, 2011: Dublin, Ireland: Grand Canal Theatre)

First set:

Gershwin album (Rhapsody In Blue Intro; The Like In I Love You; Summertime; I Loves You, Porgy; I Got Plenty O’ Nuttin’; It Ain’t Necessarily So; ‘S Wonderful; They Can’t Take That Away From Me; Love Is Here To Stay; I’ve Got a Crush on You; I Got Rhythm; Someone To Watch Over Me; Nothing But Love)

Second set:

California Girls
Dance Dance Dance
Catch A Wave
Mary Had A Little Lamb
Surfer Girl
Please Let Me Wonder
You're So Good To Me
The Little Girl I Once Knew
Salt Lake City
Don't Worry, Baby [Jeff]
Do You Wanna Dance
Do It Again
Darlin' [Darian]
I Get Around
Sail On, Sailor [Scott]
Pet Sounds
Sloop John B
Wouldn't It Be Nice [Jeff]
God Only Knows
Heroes And Villains [Cantina]
Good Vibrations

Encore 1

Johnny B Goode
Help Me, Rhonda
Barbara Ann
Surfin' USA
Fun Fun Fun

Encore 2

All Summer Long

+ European Tourinfo September 2011

Jez Graham - Solar System

2004
A great piano solo version of Brian Wilson's composition from 1977's Love You album

2011/09/08

CATCH A WAVE: A tribute to the Beach Boys

-> marstalent.com
“You guys look and sound just great !” Probyn Gregory, current guitar player for The Brian Wilson Band.

“Wow ! What an amazing performance!” Fred Vail, First Beach Boys promoter/announcer for the Beach Boys live in Sacramento album in 1964.

“You guys brought back such fond memories of the old days I was in tears when I heard you sing.” Carol Wilson-Bloom, former wife of original Beach Boys’ drummer Dennis Wilson.

“Really good man ! A must see!” Jeffrey Foskett, current musical director for legendary producer, singer and songwriter, Brian Wilson.

+ YouTube sampler

2011/09/07

Brian Wilson: On Record

September 1st, 2011 -> americansongwriter.com 
He sings his answers over successive bowls of strawberries at his favorite L.A. deli. The fullness of his thoughts is purely musical.

+ European Tourinfo September 2011

55 Days

before the release of

2011/09/06

repost: VAN DYKE PARKS TO DO RARE LIVE PERFORMANCE AT MISSISSIPPI STUDIOS

Repost from 2010, because it has some interesting quotes, and it might shed a light on why Van's participation on the upcoming 'SMiLE Sessions box' is low key / or maybe publicity is kept low key at his request?


QUOTE:
Also don't count on hearing any songs from "Smile."

"I spent a lifetime of condemnation in the shadow of its incompletion," Parks said.

He calls the finished album (BWPS 2004) "adequate" but bemoans the absence of artist Frank Holmes' original cover art (which inspired the songwriting process, Parks said).
Other than calling him in to finish a few lyrics, Parks said, Wilson's camp didn't consult him on any decisions regarding the finished "Smile."

January 30, 2010 Peter Ames Carlin
http://www.oregonlive.com/O/index.ssf/2010/01/van_dyke_parks_to_do_rare_live.html

+ MySpace
http://www.myspace.com/vandykeparks

New cd Fruit Bats - Tripper


Released: August 2, 2011 -> subpop.com
 With the 2001 release of the Fruit Bats’ debut album, Echolocation, Eric D. Johnson embarked on a career in music that has, to date, included ten years with the Fruit Bats, sideman duties for bands including Califone, Vetiver and The Shins, and more recently, soundtrack work for films like Ceremony and the soon-to-be-released Paul Rudd comedy Our Idiot Brother. Tripper, the new and fifth Fruit Bats full-length, was recorded at WACS Studio in Los Angeles with Thom Monahan

More on YouTube: Fruit Bats - So Long (& more songs from Tripper CD)

Is the Beach Boys' Mike Love a hero or villain?

6/9/2011 -> clatl.com

Why have you been pegged the bad guy?

Back in the '60s, there were two camps in the Beach Boys: the Wilson Brothers, who were into drugs, and [Al] Jardine, Love and [Bruce] Johnston, who were not. I never appreciated the effects that LSD and other drugs had on our cousins.

Various books about the Beach Boys

'Back To The Beach', Kingsley Abbott, Helter Skelter UK, 2nd edition

'Pet Sounds', Kingsley Abbott, id.

'You Still Believe In Me', Charles Granata, also about Pet Sounds

'The BBs And The California Myth', David Leaf, 1985 (2nd hand and expensive)

'The Nearest Faraway Place', Timothy White, Henry Holt USA, 2nd hand very cheap, mucho facts as background info

'Wouldn't It Be Nice', Brian Wilson, autobio with Todd Gold, an alleged autobio BTW, cobbled together but still indispensable

'Heroes And Villains', Steven Gaines, USA, sensationalist but indispensable, and one of the sources for the above autobio

'Look! Listen! Vibrate! Smile', Domenic Priore, A4 format exhaustive press cuttings-cum-research tome on SMiLE

'SMiLE', Domenic Priore, 2005, the story of SMiLE, hotly debated here but necessary

'The BBs On Record' by Andrew G. Doe, very handy and worthwhile

'The Beach Boys', Byron Preiss, reasonable in pruned form, essential in the original Ballantine deluxe photo+art format

'Surf's Up', Brad Elliott, THE vinyl discography of them all

'Dennis Wilson, The Real Beach Boy', Jon Stebbins, very good book on Denny's music and antics

SOURCE: SmileShop Msg by Prof. Souris P.-Flogiston 2004?

2011 BONUS:
2011 -> andrewhickey.info

2011/09/02

After 44 Years, The Beach Boys’ Smile Will See the Light of Day


The Beach Boys’ unfinished follow up to their beloved Pet Sounds album, Smile, will be released officially for the first time in November according to Capitol/EMI records.

Not The Little Boy I Once Knew

Source: http://www.tinhouse.com/mag/back_issues/archive/issues/issue_10/feature.html


Not The Little Boy I Once Knew
.....Innocence and Experience in the Music of Brian Wilson
Or When Good Vibrations Go Bad.....
By Andrew Hultkrans



"Hello, Mr. Wilson . . ."


Sometime in the spring of 1967, Brian Wilson, the pop wunderkind behind the music of the Beach Boys, heard these words as he wandered into a screening of the John Frankenheimer film Seconds. He was, at the time, sporadically working on what was to become the most legendary unreleased album in rock history, originally titled Dumb Angel but later called Smile, and he was losing his mind. According to a friend who was at Wilson's house when he returned from the movie theater, Seconds had a profound effect on the young composer.


More


SMiLE 2004 review

Article written by ?? (JRauch?)
*) Copy from SOURCE: http://www.utdallas.edu/~awa021000/stuff/smile.html



'1967'

History



Smile is an album with one hell of a story, and that's probably why it's the most discussed and dissected unreleased album in the history of rock music.
After the critically overwhelming but commercially underwhelming Pet Sounds album, lead songwriter Brian Wilson had to come up with an album that would not only return the Beach Boys to the level of commercial success which had made them the most popular American band of the 60s, but also keep the Beach Boys musically relevant and hip with the times - no easy task in the rapidly changing musical landscape of late 1966 and early 1967.


More


The Shortenin' Bread Riff

This is approximately how I heard it on "Fantasy Is Reality"

True dreamer

September 2, 2011 -> irishtimes.com
TALKING TO BRIAN Wilson feels dreamlike. The conversation, like his music, is swirling with intent, a need for clarity amidst a fuzzy kind of landscape. His way of speaking is musical, staccato-like and quavering, weighed down by a painful but inspirational history. Music is his only muse, and it has become a prayer for him since he was a child