Posts Tagged ‘Beach Boys’

The BEACH BOYS – ” Pet Sounds ” Released 16th May 1966

Posted: May 16, 2021 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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Some time in the spring of 1966, Al Kooper, a musician who’d recently supplied the signature organ riff to Bob Dylan’s ground breaking track “Like a Rolling Stone,” was invited to Brian Wilson’s home to hear some new Beach Boys music, an album called “Pet Sounds”, still a few weeks away from release. “He played it for me,” remembers Kooper, “and then he played it again, which did not bother me. Little did I know that it would receive more plays than anything else in my house for the rest of my life. It’s still my favourite album. Brian was in a world of music that no one else dwelled in.”

Al Kooper is not alone in his assessment. Mojo magazine has named Pet Sounds, the Beach Boys’ 11th album, the greatest LP of all time and Rolling Stone placed it at number two in its original top 500 list, just behind Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. Conceived, written, produced and arranged by Wilson, with lyrics primarily by advertising copywriter Tony Asher – with whom Wilson had never previously collaborated – Pet Sounds was released by Capitol Records on May 16th, 1966, more than a half-century ago. Its impact has only swelled over the years and it was celebrated in 2016 by Capitol via Pet Sounds (50th Anniversary Collectors Edition), a box set housing four CDs and a Blu-ray audio disc. The package, which both reprises and expands upon The Pet Sounds Sessions, released 20+ years ago, includes the original album in stereo and mono, various other mixes, session outtakes and previously unreleased live recordings. It provides deep insight into the making of a landmark recording.

While much of the box set’ may appeal only to diehard fans and audiophiles, the original 13-track album, which features such Beach Boys classics as “Wouldn’t It Be Nice,” “God Only Knows” and “Caroline, No,” continues to find new fans. A key recurring plot point in 2015’s Brian Wilson biopic,Love & Mercy, revolved around the heady, intense Los Angeles sessions for the album, the creative genius directing the ace studio musicians known as the Wrecking Crew while butting up against the other group members, who, the film alleges, felt that his new compositions were not representative of their trademark, best-selling sound. Those oft-repeated qualms, say Beach Boys Mike Love and Al Jardine, never existed.

Adds Love, “One thing I’ve been quoted as saying was, ‘Don’t fuck with the formula.’ But I never said that! It’s the most famous thing I said that I never said. First of all, I named the album. Second, all of us – Carl [Wilson], Al, Bruce, myself – all worked really hard on the harmonies. Pet Sounds is awesome for so many reasons. It was a big leap from where we were,” says Jardine. “We’d been out on tour for a long time [minus Brian, who’d stopped traveling with the band in 1964 to concentrate on writing and recording, his place in the road band taken by new recruit Bruce Johnston]. There was a lot of adjustment. But it wasn’t that we didn’t want to do it.”

Not all Beach Boys fans did initially fall for it though. On its release, Pet Sounds, despite garnering raves from the nascent rock press, It was a lesser performance than most of their previous albums, among them 1965’s Beach Boys Party! and Summer Days (And Summer Nights). Whether or not Brian Wilson and the other Beach Boys felt they’d created a defining work, Capitol Records balked, its executives complaining that the new music – much of it lush, soft, ambitious and introspective, Brian’s response to the Beatles’ new, more sophisticated direction on Rubber Soul – was too far removed from the music the public had come to expect from them.

“We played the album for Karl Engemann, the A&R [artists and repertoire] guy at Capitol responsible for the Beach Boys,” says Love, “and he listened and said, ‘Gee, guys, that’s great, but couldn’t we get something more like “California Girls” or “I Get Around” or “Fun, Fun, Fun”?’” The label’s solution was to tack on to the end of the album’s first side the group’s most recent hit single,  “Sloop John B.” Stylistically, it seemed at odds with Wilson and Asher’s more reflective compositions, among them “That’s Not Me,” “I’m Waiting for the Day,” “Here Today,” “I Just Wasn’t Made for These Times,” “You Still Believe In Me” and the achingly beautiful, Carl Wilson-sung “God Only Knows,” a romantic gem that Paul McCartney has cited as one of his favourite ever songs. The album also included two instrumentals, a head-scratcher to the company brass who’d only seen the Beach Boys as a vocal group.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AOMyS78o5YI

“It didn’t meet their expectations so they took Pet Sounds off the market and quickly put out a best-of album that took the wind out of our sails,” says Jardine. “We really didn’t have a chance to exploit it or perform it.

“Brian raised the bar with Pet Sounds,” says Jardine. “People play off that ingeniousness that he has. He hears things and phrases things in a way that you wouldn’t expect.”

For Brian Wilson, who turned 78 on June 20th, 2020, the album represents part of a continuum, the latest development in his evolution as an artist. By the time Pet Sounds was released he was deeply involved in perfecting his next masterpiece, the single “Good Vibrations,” which he’d hoped to include on the album but continued to fine-tune for months. “I decided to experiment with a new kind of music,” Wilson said. “I was young and creative and we really did good. I’m glad that people still like the album.

BRIAN WILSON and Friends – ” Soundstage “

Posted: May 6, 2016 in MUSIC
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Soundstage: Brian Wilson and Friends

Brian Wilson and Friends

Salvo brings the 2015 Soundstage television program starring Brian Wilson, taped in Las Vegas, to a CD/DVD package.  The concert united Wilson with Al Jardine, Blondie Chaplin, Billy Hinsche and various special guests to celebrate his legendary songbook and his new album No Pier Pressure.  The CD features 19 tracks, and the DVD has 25 plus two bonus tracks and additional interview footage.

‘Brian Wilson and Friends’ was recorded live in Las Vegas for Chicago television’s prestigious ‘Soundstage’ programme. The programme features Brian Wilson’s phenomenal touring band (including long-time Beach Boys sidemen Blondie Chaplin and Ricky Fataar) along with special guests Mark Isham, Kacey Musgraves, Nate Ruess (front man of Fun) and She & Him.

The tremendous set list on the DVD and CD includes the Beach Boys classics’ ‘Good Vibrations’, ‘Don’t Worry Baby’, ‘Wild Honey’, ‘Wouldn’t It Be Nice’ and many more.

Brian Wilson tours the UK to celebrate the 50th anniversary of his album ‘Pet Sounds’ in May.

BRIAN WILSON feat AL JARDINE – ” The Right Time “

Posted: February 20, 2015 in MUSIC
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Brian Wilson has a new album ‘No Pier Pressure” available on April 7th, 2015, Brian kicks back in the studio in the lyric video for “The Right Time,” a song that will appear on his new upcoming album “No Pier Pressure“. The song features contributions from two of Wilson’s fellow Beach Boys, Al Jardine (who sings lead) and David Marks.
In the video, Wilson adds the vocal harmonies that made him famous to the song’s chorus and encourages the musicians, giving bassist Don Was a A-OK hand gesture and smiling at a story Al Jardine tells. Lushly orchestrated and relaxed sounding, right down to the “bah-bah-bah” bridge, the song finds Jardine questioning the right time to start a relationship with a woman. The song is available as an instant download on pre-orders of No Pier Pressure.

The LP contains another song that features Jardine and Marks, “What Ever Happened.” It also contains appearances by a number of notable guests, including She and Him’s Zooey Deschanel and M. Ward (who recently covered the Beach Boys’ “God Only Knows”), fun. frontman Nate Ruess, Kacey Musgraves and early Seventies Beach Boys guitarist Blondie Chaplin. When Wilson wrote the album, he was thinking he would be recording it with all of the Beach Boys, as a follow-up to their “That’s Why God Made the Radio“ comeback LP in 2012. But when the reunion fell apart, he assembled a new group of musicians to record what would become     “No Pier Pressure”. The record will come out on April 7th.

CARL WILSON – ” Beach Boy ” December 21st 1946 – February 6th 1998

Posted: February 7, 2015 in MUSIC
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Carl Wilson is one of the most-loved and much-missed vocalists and musicians of his generation, whose glorious voice and authoritative guitar graced scores of great recordings. In celebration of the late Beach Boys singer,

His premature death at just 51, in 1998, robbed us of many more years more of his fine work.

Born in the Californian town that the Beach Boys made famous, Hawthorne, Carl was four and a half years younger than his brother Brian, and two years the junior of his other sibling, Dennis. He was close to six years younger than the other mainstay of the group’s sound and personnel, his cousin Mike Love, so Carl had his work cut out to be taken seriously, at least as a vocalist.

He was, however, established in the role of lead guitarist for the group from their very first album, 1962’s ‘Surfin’ Safari.’ His Fender solo, halfway through the hit single title track and in between Love’s verses, sets the template for the customisation of Chuck Berry’s lead lines that was Carl’s first hallmark as a guitarist. His bold introductory line on ‘Surfin’ USA’ was another memorable motif, and occasional instrumentals also put him centre stage, such as the affectionately- titled rock ‘n’ roll shuffle ‘Carl’s Big Chance’ on 1964’s ‘All Summer Long.’

Carl’s early vocal leads on Beach Boys songs were often in the Berry-influenced rock ‘n’ roll idiom that partly defined their early sound, and he was in the spotlight on early album versions of ‘Summertime Blues,’ ‘Louie Louie’ and others. But gradually, his pristine voice started to imprint itself on some of the group’s most memorable sides.

As Brian’s songwriting became more sophisticated, Carl’s voice grew with it, developing a distinctive, supple soulfulness that makes a song like ‘Girl Don’t Tell Me,’ from 1965’s ‘Summer Days (And Summer Nights!)’ such a pleasure. By now, he was also expanding as a guitar player, using the 12-string Rickenbacker that he and other figureheads such as Roger McGuinn and George Harrison helped to popularise.

Then, in the mid-1960s period, came the two most indelible of all Carl’s vocal performances. To this day, many casual listeners probably don’t realise that it’s the often unsung Carl who gives life to his brother Brian’s incredible melodies and lyrics on either of them: ‘God Only Knows,’ the 1966 masterpiece from the ‘Pet Sounds’ album was followed by another work of genius before the end of the year, ‘Good Vibrations,’ on which Carl does the lion’s share of the vocal work, augmented by Brian and Mike.

Carl also showed himself a fine interpreter of the complex lyrics of Van Dyke Parks, as on the mesmeric ‘Wonderful’ from ‘Smiley Smile.’ As the group’s work became more influenced by the experimentation of the later 1960s, there was still room to rock out, with a soulful lead on their cover of Stevie Wonder’s ‘I Was Made To Love Her,’ and to helm chart hits like ‘Darlin’’ and another cover, ‘I Can Hear Music.’

Wilson’s voice helped ease the Beach Boys into the 1970s on ‘Surf’s Up,’ on whose title track Carl plays a major role. The group’s next album, ‘Carl and the Passions – So Tough,’ was even named after an early group of his. As Brian’s involvement lessened, Carl’s musicianship grew ever more important, and his lead vocals on some of their less successful albums of the late 1970s remain very charming, notably ‘Sweet Sunday Kinda Love’ from the ‘M.I.U. Album.’

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OAIyCu-oSJA

Carl was the main featured vocalist on 1979’s return to acclaim, the ‘L.A. (Light Album),’ singing and co-writing the fine ‘Good Timin’’ with Brian and steering the lovely ‘Full Sail,’ among others. As the 1980s dawned, the group’s momentum ebbed, even if they were, as Carl sang, trying to keep the summer alive; but 1985’s self-titled album provided the ballad ‘She Believes In Love Again,’ which he co-sang with its writer, Bruce Johnston.

Carl made two solo albums, a self-titled 1981 set and ‘Youngblood’ in 1983. while both are now sadly deleted, here also is a great live performance of ‘Heaven,’ one of the highlights of that solo debut:

A talent such as Carl Wilson’s comes along all too rarely and should be remembered every day, but especially on his birthday.

BRYAN ADAMS – ” God Only Knows ” Beach Boys/Brian Wilson Cover

Posted: January 22, 2015 in MUSIC
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God only knows how, but the hoarse voiced photojock really pulls it off, slowing down the song to a funereal pace, intoning over bare piano, with only a trace of strings and some George Harrisony slide. OK, arguably Brian Wilson’s meisterwork, it’s a song hard to destroy, but this lily he has gilded to the wall, and may surprise his many detractors, of which I am usually one.

When Bryan Adams decided the Beach Boys’ 1966 song “God Only Knows”, he thought he’d approach it like one of Tony Bennett and Bill Evans’ classic voice-and-piano duets. “There was no way I would ever want to duplicate a Beach Boys song,” says the Canadian rocker, who included the song on his forthcoming album “Tracks of My Years”.

“I wanted to have the vocal featured up front, with no echo and no reverb. I wanted people to hear the nuances of the voice, without any color on it. There’s nothing more beautiful than piano and voice together — other than maybe voice and guitar.