Posts Tagged ‘The Beach Boys’

BRIAN WILSON – ” Love and Mercy ” Movie

Posted: June 5, 2015 in MUSIC
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The life of reclusive Beach Boys songwriter and musician Brian Wilson, from his successes with highly-influential orchestral pop albums to his nervous breakdown and subsequent encounter with controversial therapist Dr. Eugene Landy.

LOVE & MERCY presents an unconventional portrait of Brian Wilson, the mercurial singer, songwriter and leader of The Beach Boys. Set against the era-defining catalog of Wilson’s music, the film intimately examines the personal voyage and ultimate salvation of the icon whose success came at extraordinary personal cost.

You’d think it would be difficult for Brian Wilson to pick his favorite Beach Boys song, but he’s decisive: It’s “God Only Knows.” he loves the new Wilson biopic Love & Mercy (out Friday), there are parts that were hard for him to watch.

“Paul Dano delivers an astonishing performance as the younger version of Brian Wilson, with John Cusack playing him in the later years, a gambit that pays off handsomely in a production that reflects Wilson’s blaring imagination with its own ingenious structure, visual approach, sound design and poetic sensibility.”
– The Washington Post


“A deeply satisfying pop biopic. John Cusack gives one of the best performances of his career.”
– Hollywood Reporter “It’s a refreshing surprise to find LOVE & MERCY, a story about the pop icon Brian Wilson from two ends of his life, break the mold and even invigorate the form.”

– Los Angeles Times

“For Beach Boys fans this will be an obvious must-see.”
– JoBlo

“Paul Dano and John Cusack both do sterling work as the two halves of this broken soul, drawing us in and making us care, so that when we do finally get a chance to see the real Brian Wilson.”
– Hitfix

“It’s like being inside Brian Wilson’s creativity.”
– Indiewire

“As conceived and written by veteran filmmaker Oren Moverman (Bob Dylan film I’m Not There, most pertinently), the fact-based LOVE & MERCY intercuts two tracks of Wilson’s life. In so doing, LOVE & MERCY achieves the improbable: make a music biopic circa 2015 fresh and interesting.”
– Los Angeles Times

“Paul Giamatti is marvelously monomaniacal as Eugene Landy.”
– Elle

“Elizabeth Banks is terrific.”
–  Film Journal International

 

The BEACH BOYS – ” Today ” Released 50 years ago today

Posted: March 8, 2015 in MUSIC
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‘Beach Boys Today! Turns 50 years old , To call the Beach Boys prolific in their early years hardly does justice to an output of eight studio records in their first two and a half years of making albums. The last in that sequence, the fondly-remembered ‘Beach Boys Today!’ is marking its half-century today, released on March 8, 1965.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pSF2SoNaZSc

Also known simply as Today!,was the eighth studio album by the American group the Beach Boys, and their first of three releases that came out in 1965. It peaked at number four on US  Charts and included the top 10 singles “When I Grow Up (To Be a Man)” and “Dance, Dance, Dance“, along with “Do You Wanna Dance?“ which reached number 12 later that year. The album marked a major transition point for the band through Brian Wilson‘s sophisticated, orchestral approach. In December 1964, Wilson suffered a nervous breakdown while on a plane, and was then introduced to marijuana as a stress reliever. He then became a regular user after he realized the profound effect it had on the way he perceived music, subsequently resigning from touring with the group in order to focus solely on songwriting and producing. The tracks on the first half of Today! feature an electric guitar-rock oriented sound that contrasts the second half consisting of ballads, showing an increased mature lyrical depth that would foreshadow the future efforts Pet Sounds. The second side marks Wilson’s continuing maturation as a recording artist; all the songs showcase creatively developed vocal & instrumental arrangements,with a complex Wall of Sound production, and lyrically introspective subject matter.

Beach-Boys-DYWD

The LP hit record stores as the group were climbing the American charts with their latest single, which showed both their feelgood side, on Bobby Freeman’s ‘Do You Wanna Dance’ (with lead vocals by Dennis Wilson) and brother Brian’s increasingly thoughtful and inventive songwriting, on the lovely ‘Please Let Me Wonder.’

Beach Boys When I Grow Up

Both tracks were included in ‘Today!,’ which showcased Brian’s ever more sophisticated production skills. The album also featured the Beach Boys’ two previous hits, the equally reflective ‘When I Grow Up (To Be A Man)’ and the upbeat ‘Dance, Dance, Dance.’

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Firmly established as the group’s creative inspiration, Brian Wilson was now making ever more use of the studio as a palette for his imagination. The album featured such exotic instrumentation as harpsichords, oboes, cellos, French horn and all manner of percussion, such as timbales, sleigh bells and even triangle.

‘Today!’ also featured the album version of ‘Help Me, Ronda,’ soon to be released as a single in an alternative recording, spelled ‘Help Me, Rhonda,’ which topped the US charts. Among the other highlights was another gorgeous, introspective Wilson composition, ‘She Knows Me Too Well.’ ‘Beach Boys Today!’ entered Billboard’s Top LPs chart at the end of March at No. 149 and went on to a No. 6 peak, staying on the bestsellers for two weeks short of a year.

The BEACH BOYS – ” Holland ” Released 9th January 1973

Posted: January 9, 2015 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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The Beach Boys “Holland” album was released this day in 1973. Brian’s contributions included “Sail on Sailor, “Funky Pretty” and the extended suite “Mount Vernon and Fairway (A Fairy Tale).” The album also featured Al Jardine’s “California Saga: California” with an intro vocal by Brian. I love Holland. I consider it one of the band’s  best Albums. Blondie and Ricky’s contributions to the Beach Boys were underappeciated. Huge fan of The Trader by Carl. Blondie’s vocal on “Sail on Sailor” is superb.

Holland was the nineteenth studio album by the American rock group The Beach Boys, released in January 1973. It was recorded in Baambrugge, Netherlands over the summer of 1972 using a reconstructed studio sent from California, and with two Brian Wilson tracks rush-recorded in Los Angeles and added to the album at the last minute. The photograph on the album’s front cover is an upside down image of the Kromme Waal, a canal that runs through the center of Amsterdam.

Holland included a bonus EP, Mount Vernon and Fairway (A Fairy Tale), a musical fairy tale written by Brian Wilson about a magical transistor radio who appears to a young prince. Narration was provided by the group’s manager: Jack Rieley.

DENIS WILSON – ” Died 31 Years Ago Today ” December 28th 1983

Posted: December 28, 2014 in MUSIC
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denis wilson

It was 31 years ago today, that the world lost Dennis Wilson. Dennis was the only member of The Beach Boys who was a surfer. To many, Dennis was the perfect example of the Southern California surfing lifestyle.
Dennis Wilson was the son of Audree Neva (née Korthof) and Murry Gage Wilson. He spent his family years with his brothers and parents in Hawthorne, California. Dennis’ role in the family dynamic, which he himself acknowledged, was that of the black sheep. Though anxiety-filled and aggressive at times, he was also sensitive and generous. Possessed with an abundance of physical energy and a combative nature, Dennis often refused to participate in family singalongs, and likewise avoided vocalizing on the early recordings that Brian made on a portable tape recorder, but Dennis would sing with his brothers late at night in their shared bedroom on a song, Brian later recalled as “our special one we’d sing,” titled “Come Down, Come Down from the Ivory Tower.”
Wilson released his debut solo album Pacific Ocean Blue in 1977. His collaborators on the album included Daryl Dragon (the ‘Captain’ of Captain & Tennille) and Gregg Jakobson. The album peaked at No. 96 in the U.S. and sold around 300,000 copies, matching that year’s Beach Boys album Love You. Pacific Ocean Blue performed well critically and continues to maintain a cult following. Wilson’s trademark gravelly and melancholy vocals resonate throughout the work. The expanded Sony Legacy edition was voted the 2008 Reissue of the Year in both Rolling Stone and Mojo magazines.Succeeding years saw Wilson battling alcohol abuse. Smoking had taken a toll on his voice, although the resultant gravelly effect helped define him as a singer. On December 28, 1983, shortly after his 39th birthday, Wilson drowned at Marina Del Rey, after drinking all day and diving in the afternoon to recover items he had thrown overboard at the marina from his yacht three years prior.

Dennis Wilson‘s body was buried at sea off the California coast (33°53.9′N 118°38.8′W) by the U.S. Coast Guard on January 4, 1984. His song “Farewell My Friend” was played at the funeral. As non-veterans of the Coast Guard and Navy are not allowed to be buried at sea unless cremated, Dennis’ burial was possible due to the intervention of President Reagan

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