A few papers have been carrying stories of Brian’s jealousy of the Beatles in their heyday -which isn’t exactly the biggest shock story of the year. What is more interesting is another new song with Scott Bennett (remember they co-wrote Midnight’s Another Day) called Beatleman. Now that would be one to sing with Paul.Â
Archive for August, 2007
More Brian Beatling
Friday, August 31st, 2007Prefab On Brian
Wednesday, August 29th, 2007If you check the comments on my previous post, you will see some links to YouTube clips of Jeff Beck with the Brian Wilson band at the Musicares tribute. In looking around YouTube, I found this interesting clip where Martin McAloon talks about Brian’s songwriting.
As some of you may now, I’m a big Prefab Sprout fan, and like the Beach Boys, Prefab Sprout are also a fraternal band. Paddy McAloon was the band’s leading creative force but Martin was always an integral part of the band.
The clip looks discusses Brian’s approach to songwriting and hypothesizes just how much turned around conventional approaches to music in his songwriting.
And no, Martin, isn’t the vocalist for Prefab Sprout….
23 Songs For Today
Sunday, August 26th, 2007Just a list for today of some songs in high rotation on my IPod/ITunes -some of which I’ve blogged about recentlyÂ
Soulful Old Man Sunshine -The Beach Boys Â
Let Him Run Wild-Â The Beach BoysÂ
Summer Means New Love -The Beach BoysÂ
And Your Dream Comes True - The Beach BoysÂ
Here Comes The Sun -The BeatlesÂ
Two Of Us - The BeatlesÂ
A Day In The Life -The Beatles
Odessa-Bee GeesÂ
Bad To Me - Billy J Kramer  Â
Live Let Live-Â Brian WilsonÂ
World Of Make-Believe -Burt Bacharach
It’s For You- Cilla Black  Â
Everybody’s Got To Learn Sometime -KorgisÂ
Other Side of the World-KT TunstallÂ
Nothing But a Blur from a Bullet Train -LambchopÂ
Let Somebody In -The Magic NumbersÂ
Ageless-NushuÂ
I’ve Never Seen Love Like This -OrpheusÂ
Too Much Rain -Paul McCartneyÂ
I Don’t Want To See You Again - Peter and Gordon Â
We’ll Find a Place -Swing Out Sister
Not Alone Any More-The Traveling Wilburys
Time Of The Season -The ZombiesÂ
Wednesday Grabbag
Wednesday, August 22nd, 2007A few odds and ends tonight
- Courtesy of the Pet Sounds Mailing List, a story from the Evening Telegraph that indicates that the Sgt. Pepper track that Brian will be performing in September will indeed be She’s Leaving Home.
-Also from the Pet Sounds Mailing List, news that Brian’s daughter, and Wilson Phillips member, Wendy has given birth to twins. Congrats to Wendy, husband Dan and granddad Brian. And good luck, Wendy!
-And finally, have a look here for some fun speculation around departed rock stars. Yes,  the very much undeparted Brian Wilson does get a mention. And no, I don’t think it would be a good idea, but long time readers of the blog will know I’m not exactly a Kurt Cobain fan…..
Tales From The Far North
Tuesday, August 21st, 2007
I’ve finally got the soundtrack to the movie Arctic Tale which features a brand-new Brian Wilson/Van Dyke Parks song, Live Let Live. And the wait has definitely been worth it- it may not have quite the instant appeal of Midnight’s Another Day or What Love Can Do, but Brian Wilson has come up with another great pop tune, with a nice arrangement including cello -maybe feeling a little forced at times, but clearly showing a master tunesmith at work.
Given the Brian Wilson/Van Dyke Parks credit, I guess one small mystery is whether this is part of That Lucky Old Sun, or maybe something extra that was written during the collaboration for these sessions.
It’s hard for me to be fully objective but the Brian Wilson song seems to be head and shoulders above anything else on the soundtrack. I enjoyed the two tracks involving Aimee Mann, and it’s nice to have the 70s party hit We Are Family, but there isn’t anything else that sounds very essential, even after a few listens. However, the packaging is nice with some nice nature shots, and the movie certainly seems to be promoting a good conservation message. Overall, it seems a nice set to have to complete a Brian Wilson collection, and I do hope the movie heads down this way to the far south very soon.
Conventional Success
Monday, August 20th, 2007Power Pop Lullabye
Saturday, August 18th, 2007
Lisa Mychols will always be one of Cabin Blog’s favorite people for her fantastic Christmas album Lost Winter’s Dream, but she has done a lot more than just that great work. It’s great to see her involved in new projects, and the latest is a collaboration with Hillary Burton under the title Nushu. The CD is called Nevermind Lullabye but it isn’t the angsty grunge of Nirvana or a quiet lullabye that’s on offer here -rather it’s a power pop album with great female vocal harmonies, solid guitar work and catchy melodies.
Top tracks include So Glad You Dig Me, Ageless, Reach For Me and PopSound which fully showcase Mychols and Burton’s talent. Nice to see that the album is currently number one at http://www.girlband.org. So take a trip to the band’s website and support these very talented artists.
Let The Convention Begin!
Friday, August 17th, 2007
Tomorrow is the day of the BB Friends Convention  organised by Susan Lang. All I can say is “very best of luck” and “wish I was there!” Have a fantastic time, folks!
Brian’s Hidden Beauties XXXIV: Friends
Wednesday, August 15th, 2007
Yes, cheesy joke…but just imagine if the world-beating American sitcom had used the Beach Boys song of the same name as it’s theme tune…it certainly would have been appropriate for the theme of the series.
The title track of the 1968 album was a lovely waltz (during Brian’s “waltz” period) that reflected the simple joys of friendship and an interesting democratic songwriting credit of Brian/Carl/Dennis Wilson and Al Jardine. At a time in my life when I rely on old and new friends for support, the song rings even truer, and shows that maybe this album was way ahead of its time, rather than out of time…and it certainly was in waltz time.
Once again an impeccable mix of melody, harmony and heartfelt lyric make for a true unknown classic. It got a bit of deserved airtime on the recent Warmth Of The Sun compilation, but definitely remains in the second league of Beach Boys’ songs in terms of wider recognition..and was thus sadly ignored by the producers of a certain sitcom.
He Gets Around
Wednesday, August 15th, 2007Here are two more stories via The Nearest Faraway Place mailing list illustrating that Brian seems to be keeping very busy
-Colloborating with Righteous Brother, Bill Medley, on a version of In My Room for Bill’s solo album
- Being a judge in an international songwriting competition (but we’re not expecting the new Simon Cowell here, right…)