Archive for January, 2009

23 Songs For Today

Wednesday, January 28th, 2009

1) Chasing Pavements- Adele

2) This Is Your Life- Amy Macdonald

3) How Deep Is Your Love?- Bee Gees

4) There’s So Many- Brian Wilson

5) Being With The One You Love- Brian Wilson

6) Thank You – Dido

7) Warwick Avenue- Duffy

8 ) Watermark- Enya

9) Now And Then- John Lennon (with enhancements from Dave White and Gary Moore)

10) A Magical Night- Laurie Biagini

11) A Way Home- Marina Belica

12) Oh! The Swiss- Prefab Sprout

13) Summer Song- Saint Etienne

14) Tomorrow Never Dies- Saint Etienne

15) Russian- Saint Etienne

16) Language Lab- Saint Etienne

17) Stop And Think It Over- Saint Etienne

18) Finisterre- Saint Etienne

19) Madeleine- Saint Etienne

20) Change Is Hard- She & Him

21) Be Still- Stephen Kalinich

22) Le Depart- Style Council

23) Rain- Wally Badarou

 

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LA Interview

Sunday, January 25th, 2009

It’s hard to believe that the full first full performance of That Lucky Old Sun in the city that inspired the work will be taking place on the 28th of this month at the Wiltern. To celebrate this and the release of the DVD on the 27th, here is a good interview with Brian on the LAist website.

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Brian’s Hidden Beauties LVIII: Being With The One You Love

Friday, January 23rd, 2009

Brian Wilson in 2007

In my last entry, I looked at a song that a few people saw as underrated gems, and here is another obscure solo track that has a few fans. Indeed, Being With The One You Love was a single B-side, the underbelly of the Melt Away single -the A-side being on the Brian Wilson 1988 album. This song only got a CD release when the Brian Wilson album was re-released with bonus tracks in 2000.

The song’s genesis was a track called Doin’ Time On Planet Earth from the Wilson/Usher era. In it’s released form, it’s one of Brian’s from the heart love songs, expressing the vulnerabilities and deep emotions of being in love -even if it isn’t poetry, it’s one of those songs that is very easy to identify with.

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Brian’s Hidden Beauties LVII: Fairy Tale

Sunday, January 18th, 2009

Some people (including serious Brian Wilson fans) may question my sanity in including a third song from Gettin’ In Over My Head, but a thread on our message board around underrated Brian Wilson songs convinced me I wasn’t the only one who like Fairy Tale from that album. This was originally a Sweet Insanity era track called Save The Day with a bit of a world-peace message but the lyric was re-written by David Foster for the released version although the melody is intact.

And indeed, the melody is the reason that this song is in my hidden beauties collection; even if you may not like the vocals, lyrics and production, surely this is one of Brian’s great tunes -certainly one that sticks in my head quite often. I actually find the released version quite moving, especially the harmonic sections at the end. So I am not alone, and not ashamed to say that I really like this song.

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Grammy Museum Evening

Friday, January 16th, 2009

Last night was Brian’s Grammy Museum Evening and you can read a positive report about it on our message board here. The “Rock and Roll” album makes another “appearance” in the interview but nice to see a playlist with a substantial amount of newer songs.

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Prefab Hopes

Thursday, January 15th, 2009

When I set out my three musical wishes for 2009, I didn’t dare to really hope for a new Prefab Sprout album, despite some speculation that something was happening. But there does now seem to be more substance to the story, including info on their longtime record label, Kitchenware. Can we really start hoping now….

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Not Just The Cute Dog Pictures

Monday, January 12th, 2009

I'm Waking Up To Us

The cute doggie on the cover may suggest some sweet, sunny sentiments, but the songs on the 2001 Belle And Sebastian EP I’m Waking Up To Us have a certain vitriol that in some contrast to the packaging on the record. Beach Boys fans may well know the lines from the second track I Love My Car

I love my Carl
I love my Brian my Dennis and my Al
I could even find it in my heart to love Mike Love
I wish I could say the same for you

The title track is essentially a break-up song; probably a farewell from lead singer Stuart Murdoch to ex- and soon to be ex-band member Isobel Campbell, and it is surely one of the great songs of love disillusionment. The third track is the thoughtful Marx And Engels. This is an intriguing EP for Beach Boys fans, but also one of the all-time great releases in that format. You can get all the songs on the Push Barman To Open Old Wounds compilation but why not get the original EP for the cheap, else you’ll miss out on all the dog pictures (there are more on the back cover and inside).

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Three Musical Wishes For 2009

Wednesday, January 7th, 2009

Well, we got Pacific Ocean Blue , Lucky Old Sun and even A World Of Peace Must Come in 2008, so I’m going to regard anything new or even an archival release from the Beach Boys/Brian as a bonus. So here are my three musical wishes for 2009- any genies out there

1. A release of the Let It Be movie on DVD – I’ve been waiting more than 25 years to see this!

2. A new album from Lucky Soul. This one is looking fairly promising.

3. A new album from A Girl Called Eddy – also seems possible.

Let’s see at the end of the year how I score – I expect, two out of three ain’t bad and all three would be a jackpot!

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Brian’s Hidden Beauties LVI: Time To Get Alone

Tuesday, January 6th, 2009

I’ve said it a few times on this blog, and I’ll probably say it a few times more – it was Disc 3 of the Good Vibrations box set that converted me from a casual to a serious Beach Boys fan, and made me realise there was a lot more depth to the catalogue than Pet Sounds and the hits. One of the songs that made Disc 3 great was Time To Get Alone ; a classic love song written originally by Brian for his friend Danny Hutton and Redwood (precursor to Three Dog Night).

However, presumably, the Beach Boys realised this song was too good to pass them by and it was included on the 1969 20/20 album. The song is noted for the chillingly beautiful “deep and wide” moment, but also shows Brian’s ability to write a simple, catchy and beautiful love song. Carl Wilson’s production also helps transform the Beach Boys recorded version. You can also a hear an alternative version with an a-capella tag on the Hawthorne, CA compilation.

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Everybody Has A New Year (And Busy) Year

Friday, January 2nd, 2009

Wishing everyone a wonderful 2009 from the Cabin Blog! Let’s hope it is a peaceful year, in more ways than one. However, a certain Mr. Brian Wilson won’t be having too quiet a January; quite a lot happening on his front, namely

-a special evening on the GRAMMY stage, including interviews of Brian and some acoustic performances (15th)

-two performance of That Lucky Old Sun in Los Angeles (28th) and San Diego (29th)

- Release of That Lucky Old Sun DVD on the 27th

More information on all of this at the official site.

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