Review - "Brian Wilson and Friends - A Soundstage Special Event" Blu-ray

 

I was quite surprised a few weeks ago to see that the WTTW PBS website, home to the station that produces the "Soundstage" show, was already selling various packages including a DVD of Brian's "Soundstage" show. The show has just started airing this month on PBS stations, so I was surprised to see a longer version of the special offered so soon. Initially, the website only offered what purported to be a DVD of the show. Soon after, they clarified that the release is a Blu-ray/DVD combo pack, which is GREAT news!

It appears this release will be "exclusive" to PBS (meaning presumably the website and most likely as a PBS pledge drive "gift") until November at least. So I would advise picking this up. The website offers several packages, including packages that include concert tickets. I went with the $30 package (plus $10 shipping!) that includes a signed copy of the Blu-ray/DVD set, and a completely superfluous copy of the "standard" 13-track edition of the "No Pier Pressure" CD. In a nice move, they've had Brian sign in the inner card insert to the set. Perhaps I'll use the cover from this superfluous CD to put in a frame alongside the autograph or something. In any event, I essentially paid $40 to get the Blu-ray of this show (with the autograph as a nice little extra bonus). Packaging nerds will want to know that the combo pack comes in a cardboard "digipak" style case, with a plastic tray for the two discs. The digipak is DVD case height rather than Blu-ray height, which may annoy super-nerds who want all their Blu-ray discs to match when shelved.

Let's get the video and audio quality stuff out of the way first. I'm of course reviewing the Blu-ray here. On the audio side, the disc offers a 24-bit PCM stereo (2.0) track, as well as a DTS-MA 5.1 track. Both sound just fine. I can't complain and can't offer much excessive detail. Joe Thomas produces and directs the "Soundstage" show, and this like his other shows I've seen look and sound excellent. On the video side of things, we of course get a nice pristine HD picture. On a few occasions, the picture slightly jitters. This doesn't seem to be a camera issue; but perhaps some sort of mastering or compression issue. It only happens on rare occasions for a few seconds, often during a busy moment on screen, and it's only worth mentioning in that it would probably keep me from giving this a full "10" on video quality.

Let's get to the contents! The main "feature" includes the majority of tracks from Brian's show in Las Vegas this past December. The tracklisting: 

Our Prayer (w/ Al)
Heroes and Villains (w/ Al)
Sloop John B. (w/ Al)
Dance, Dance, Dance (w/ Al)
Good Vibrations (w/ Al)
This Beautiful Day (w/ Mark Isham)
Runaway Dancer (w/ Sebu)
Don't Worry Baby (w/ Sebu)
Marcella (w/ Blondie, Ricky, Al, and Billy Hinsche)
Wild Honey (w/ Blondie, Ricky, Al, and Billy Hinsche)

Sail On Sailor (w/ Blondie, Ricky, and Al, and Billy Hinsche)

Sail Away (w/ Blondie, Ricky, and Al)
Half Moon Bay (w/ Mark Isham)
Don't Talk (w/ Mark Isham)
Saturday Night (w/Nate Ruess)
Hold On, Dear Brother (w/ Nate Ruess, Blondie, and Ricky)
Darlin' (w/ Nate Ruess)
On the Island (Studio, w/ She & Him)
God Only Knows (Studio, w/ She & Him)
The Right Time (w/ Al)
Wouldn't It Be Nice (w/ Al)
Help Me, Rhonda (w/ Al)
All Summer Long (w/ Al)
Fun, Fun, Fun  (w/ Al, Blondie, Ricky, and Sebu)
Guess You Had To Be There (Audio Only, under credits and interview)

I have to say, considering they always end up cutting some songs, they did a great job of including most of the most interesting songs from the show. Al sits in during most of the set, although he exits during the other "guest" spots. Brian still handles some of his leads, handing the lead over to Al for part of "Sloop John B.", and having Al sing "Wouldn't It Be Nice", in addition to Al's other regular leads. 

The show overall is refreshing and relatively full of energy. There has always been something just a bit sterile and reserved about Brian's stage presentation. Not just himself, but having the huge backing band on stage. This band is about the music, not showboating. I've always loved that about this band, and Thomas has produced a show that strikes the perfect balance between that attention to detail and also having a colorful, lively stage presentation. Thomas' direction is straightforward as well, without hyper quick-cutting. The direction and editing is perfect for such a show, managing to move around to shots of the entire band, but doing so at a proper pace. The backing band sounds great as always. Brian "Ike" Eichenburger is the falsetto guy on the show, but he is augmented on and off throughout the show with Matt Jardine. Having both guys along with the rest of the band sounds great. It's sounding like Matt will be the guy on the 2015 tour, and I'm excited about that, but I would love to see both Ike and Matt together.

Brian sounds as good on this show as he is ever going to on a live video presentation. They've done their best to polish Brian's performance up. There may be a bit of post-production work with his voice. But on the whole, everything sounds live and not futzed with after the fact. Al sounds AMAZING on the show. His voice shines, providing that key "Beach Boys" sound to the backing vocals, and delivering amazing robust and youthful sounding lead vocals for a guy past 72 years of age. 

Blondie Chaplin and Ricky Fataar are a great addition. Ricky stays in the back drumming on his songs, and sounds just fine. His presence and the importance of having four guys on stage who recorded "So Tough" and "Holland" is the key. Blondie sounds cool on his vocal turns on "Sail on Sailor", "Wild Honey", as well as his bit on "Sail Away." I have to say "Sail Away" steals the show among the "new" songs on the album. It's a solid composition, and having Blondie, Al, and Brian all trade off on lead vocals. Blondie (and Ricky) are in a supporting role on "Hold on Dear Brother", but you can tell Blondie in particular likes resurrecting the track. 

Mark Isham's trumpet work is just fine. I'm not that big on trumpet wankery. He just has a small part on 'This Beautiful Day", while he is featured more prominently on the pleasant instrumental "Half Moon Bay." His most enjoyable work probably comes with his turn on the "Pet Sounds" track "Don't Talk (Put Your Head on My Shoulder)." 

Sebu Simonian and the band offer a live take on the electronic-laden track "Runaway Dancer" that sounds a bit more rocking and organic. Sebu also offers a fine if not super memorable take on "Don't Worry Baby", with only a bit of off-script vocal riffing.

Aside from any Beach Boys, Nate Ruess offers the best guest spot. He has a voice in the higher register, and this helps in singing some songs otherwise likely out of the range of other folks in the band. I find his voice to be pleasant but a bit on the bland side. But he has the range to offer excellent and energetic renditions of three tracks. He first belts "Saturday Night" from the new album, with the entire band offering excellent backing. Then, with perhaps the most ingenious and daring setlist selection of the night (not sure if Ruess or someone else picked it), he brings Blondie and Ricky back out to back him while he offers a performance of the "So Tough" track "Hold on Dear Brother", offering a performance full of gusto if nothing else. Rounding out his set is a nice take on "Darlin'." As with Sebu, he offers a few vocal riffs/ticks that I'm not a fan of, but his voice is attuned well to a song like this.

The show strangely takes a detour for two (possibly partly or wholly staged) studio "peformances" with Brian and "She & Him", featuring Zooey Deschanel. Deschanel has a nice vocal tone, and is one of those singers who is more about tone than epic vocal prowess. We get studio renditions of "On the Island" (off the new album) and "God Only Knows." She fares better with the former.

The set rounds out with more of Al, offering great vocals on "The Right Time" and "Wouldn't It Be Nice" (the best Al has sounded on the song in eons!). 

At the last minute literally as the credits roll, they manage to shoehorn in some quick interview bits with Kacey Musgraves while a bit of her track with Brian, "Guess You Had to Be There", plays in the background. 

On to bonus features. There are individual interview segments with the young guest stars. The most interesting "bonus" bits are two additional songs: "Pacific Coast Highway" and "Summer's Gone." Brian does the former solo with his band, while Al joins in for the latter. They offer faithful renditions of these tracks from the 2012 Beach Boys reunion album. 

Simply put, this is easily the best *looking* live video presentation we've ever gotten from Brian, and it's probably the best content-wise as well outside of his "Smile" and "Pet Sounds" sets (and on those, the music and performances are great, but the stage and video presentation are a mixed bag). It offers a good mixture of Beach Boys and guest stars. This is easily a must-own.

It's Out! Try to Snag the Target Exclusive Version!



Coming Soon... A Review of "No Pier Pressure"

I will hopefully be reviewing the "Target" exclusive version with the two bonus tracks. I want to be a thoughtful, thorough review, so I don't want to rush it.

Okay, the Beach Boys Opinion Page is Going to Try Facebook.....

We're going to give it a go on Facebook folks. As I mentioned some time back, the idea is that perhaps I'll be able to offer more commentary and news and whatnot over there, while still putting stuff up regularly here, usually more in the long-form area (e.g. the reviews of tracks below).

So you can check us out at: http://facebook.com/beachboysopinion

As you can see above, Brian has more hands-on experience with Facebook than we do, so do whatever you can to spread the word about our Facebook page and the blog here. I only ask that so I can at least feel like somebody's reading this stuff. I'm still getting the hang of what works and what doesn't; our Facebook page is a "Page" rather than personal one, so it really has to rely on folks coming across it and recommending it. I can't send "friend" requests and whatnot for a Facebook "page" that isn't a person one. 

In any event, let's hope this all works and spurs some activity and creativity.

Review - "Guess You Had to Be There" - Brian Wilson (featuring Kacey Musgraves)

Now also up for listening online (though not as a purchase) is Brian's collaboration with Kacey Musgraves, "Guess You Had to Be There." 

Continuing the trend of previewing the "guest stars" leading up the album's release, "Guess You Had to Be There" offers an inoffensive four-chord (more or less) slower tempo pop song, with plenty of country arrangement accoutrements to remind us that Musgraves is from the Country section of the record store. (The figurative record store for the most part, since few exist now... that's an opinion piece for another time of course). 

As with most duets of this nature, the two fanbases probably don't know a ton about the other artist. On this track, Musgraves offers a pleasant, straight-forward lead vocal, punctuated with some bits from Brian. The song's simple nature becomes a bit repetitive, although Brian and Kacey have arranged some nice backing vocal arrangements for the track; these are probably the highlight of the song. The song isn't overtly "Country", but rather simply adds a few key Country-ish bits on guitar to land enough in Musgraves' wheelhouse to hopefully please her fans as well. 

I can't offer much else to say about the track. It sparked a huge "autotune" debate on the Smiley Smile board. I honestly don't know if it's on here or not. Musgraves' vocal certainly has a sleek sound to it with a sheen that sounds like it could be either autotune or a good gob of  processing (reverb, double-tracking, the usual). 

I would rate this as inoffensive, middle of the road. A different lead vocalist at least makes things a bit more interesting, and Brian does have a clear knack for arranging female backing vocals; though we don't get to hear that too often.

Review - "Sail Away" - Brian Wilson (featuring Blondie Chaplin & Al Jardine)



The third track from Brian’s album to be (sort of) released, “Sail Away” stands out as the strongest yet. It seems the pattern of unveiling tracks from “No Pier Pressure” involves an emphasis on the tracks featuring guest stars. While the previous two tracks (“The Right Time” and “Runaway Dancer”) have been made available for purchase online, “Sail Away” has thus far only been made available via an exclusive online stream (on the Wall Street Journal website of all places; it seems each new track is being “premiered” via a different website).

The track features Blondie Chaplin and Al Jardine joining Brian on lead vocals. While “The Right Time” was essentially nearly a Jardine track penned by Brian, “Sail Away” features a trade-off among all three lead vocalists. Blondie takes the first group of verses while Brian takes the second go around. Al sings all of the choruses more or less. There are times when he and Brian’s voices both seem to sing together on the chorus, along with group vocals that pop in and out. Much like the “That’s Why God Made the Radio” album, the style of mixing often features lead vocalists overlapping or doubling, and sometimes it all gets churned together with other backing vocals. It’s a sometimes frustrating mixing style, to meld lead vocalists together (we’re not talking about two-part harmony), but that’s only present here and there.

The song itself is a delightful mid-temp bouncy pop song; a bit of “sea chanty” style is thrown into the mix arrangement wise. Many have noted some similarities to “Sloop John B”, although I would say the only obvious reference to “Sloop” is the flute riff heard several times during the song. As always, there are intermittent robust backing vocals. The falsetto vocalist isn’t super evident; it doesn’t sound overtly Foskettian (it will be interesting to see how much of Jeff Foskett’s 2013 vocal work ends up being held over on the album), and the live “Soundstage” take sounds similar enough that it could be Matt Jardine on the studio version as well. (It’s unclear if Brian Eichenberger, who stood in for the falsetto parts at all of the post-July shows in 2014, was part of any studio sessions).


Blondie’s vocal is deep and robust. Al once again shines, stealing the show with a pristine lead vocal. Brian sings in the same register as Blondie on his turn, and the vocal sounds heartfelt and in a sweet spot range-wise for Brian. All in all, this is the best of the tracks that have been released. The song itself is nice, the vocals are top notch, and one can’t help but feel some warm feelings hearing these three guys trade off on vocals.

No, this doesn’t sound like it could have been on “Holland” or anything. This sounds like the kind of stuff Brian writes and arranges now. More and more, it’s becoming a surprisingly simple yet ingenious move for Brian to essentially use a variety of lead vocalists as tools/instruments to flesh out his musical ideas. It becomes the most awesome of fringe benefits that it allows some great vocalists to be heard who haven’t heard as much lately, like Blondie and Al. The songs don’t sound like they’ve been written to set up a contrived “Duets” format. Rather, it sounds like Brian’s writing songs and not worrying about changing the key, and is seeking out vocalists who can realize what he’s writing.

Whether it’s coincidence or not, Brian seems to lately enjoy a group format in some way or another. One of the best parts of the 50th Anniversary was that Brian didn’t have to do all the heavy lifting. But he was still able to participate, and still able to form all the musical ideas behind the scenes. It may be that he was still in this frame of mind after the demise of the reunion, and followed this idea to its next logical conclusion. It was of course an additional potential selling point/angle that he would be able to integrate younger artists into the fold. That he also used old timers like fellow Beach Boys as well speaks to the idea that Brian wants the best vessel for his musical ideas rather than a contrived “Duets” album.

"Sail Away" is also available to view on YouTube via the live "Soundstage" performance. Again, it looks like a marvelous show.

Review - "Runaway Dancer" - Brian Wilson (featuring Sebu Simonian)



The second track to be made available for purchase from “No Pier Pressure”, “Runaway Dancer” is a relatively rare foray into something approaching a modern, contemporary pop chart sound. Written and performed with Sebu Simonian from the duo “Capital Cities”, “Runaway Dancer” ultimately offers some interesting musical hooks couched in a production and arrangement style that not surprisingly has caused some divisiveness among fans.

Musically, the song is relatively straightforward. Brian starts the song off singing the first verse in a lower register. Sebu offers some higher register vocals, though his voice is usually couched in several vocal parts, so it’s difficult to hear his singular voice. The track is underlined by a techno-ish beat which, along with some bleepy keyboard parts and slightly staccato guitar makes the track sound much more like “Capital Cities” than Brian Wilson.

However, it appears Brian probably wrote most of the composition, with Sebu offering input as well. It sounds like the production and arrangement is where the track took on the contemporary sound that Capital Cities fans would be much more familiar with.

With any track like this that not only deviates from the norm, but seems to cater (some would argue pander) to younger listeners, the issue can divide fans. Extremes are jumped to quickly. You sound like an old curmudgeon if you suggest Brian is pandering. Conversely, if you like the track, the accusation sometimes is that you’re a sycophantic Brian fan who will “like” anything he does.

I’m inclined to say the techno-ish sound is not to my liking; regardless of the motivation in using it. Its ubiquity in terms of modern pop trends is certainly part of this. I didn’t know I had already heard a Capital Cities song until I tried one out and realized “Safe and Sound” is the annoying song that seems to be playing every time I go into the mall.

Still, “Runaway Dancer” has some interesting hooks. It can get stuck in your head, which may or may not be a good thing. The more jazzy chord changes on the transitions between bridge and transitions after the verses (also heard in the intro) sound interesting. The use of saxophone (not something I’m usually enamored with) does give the track a bit of an interesting twist and deviation that puts a bit of a Brian stamp on this one.

Ultimately, the track is about as successful as such a foray could possibly be for Brian. I think this one is a solid album track. I may not go back and seek it out often, but as I often say, one track like this is okay. If Brian had cut an entire album in this style, it would be more grating.

Also worth noting is that a live version of the song from the “Soundstage” taping from December is up on YouTube, and it understandably and refreshingly sounds somewhat less synthetic and processed. It might be a preferable version to some folks.