Uncanny

Here we have the Beach Boys/Brian Wilson Promo CD Extravaganza: Official Centralized Information Center

The highs, the lows, the good, the bad and the ugly of collecting Beach Boys/Brian Wilson Promo CDs.

Links to a complete 14 volume set of blogs about the Beach Boys/Brian Wilson Promo CDs that I was able to acquire during the peak of my Beach Boys/Brian Wilson Promo CD obsession. These 14 blogs were posted from June 29, 2009 through April 3, 2010.

Introduction
A Celebration of Brian Wilson’s SMiLE
Gettin’ In Over My Head
Maverick Radio Networks Presents: Brian Wilson – Gettin’ In Over My Head Radio Special
Pacific Ocean Blue + Bambu
Update
What I Really Want For Christmas
Good Vibrations CD Single Deluxe Packaging
The Platinum Collection
Light in the Attic Records 2009 Sampler
That Lucky Old Sun"
Love and Mercy (LP Version)
Imagination- Words + Music (Black & White version)
Trifecta Conclusion: Brian Wilson Presents SMiLE/Beautiful Dreamer CD/Imagination- Words and Music (color version)

LA TIMES "Although the album is [Brian] Wilson's way of sharing his affection for the Gershwins' legacy, for pop aficionados it offers up a meeting of distinct voices in American music from strikingly different eras and locales: the Gershwins inextricably linked with the bustling New York metropolis of the 1920s and '30s, Wilson with sunny Southern California in the '60s."

NY TIMES "What do George Gershwin and the Beach Boys’ prime mover, Brian Wilson, have in common? A jaunty, exuberant tunefulness for one thing, and a desire to push pop into high-art territory for another. In 'Brian Wilson Reimagines Gershwin,' Mr. Wilson dresses Gershwin tunes in surfer attire. With varying degrees of success he turns the melodies into post-Beach Boys pop with stacked harmonies performed in a barbershop tradition that erases vocal individuality for the sake of a creamy harmonic blend. The best cut is a pulsing, bouncy 'They Can’t Take That Away From Me,' in which Mr. Wilson sounds like a child in the throes of puppy love jumping for joy. 'I’ve Got a Crush on You,' garnished with piano triplets, is taken back to the happy days of early rock ’n’ roll. An instrumental 'I Got Plenty o’ Nuttin’' is the best section of a four-song medley from 'Porgy and Bess' that also includes 'Summertime,' 'I Loves You, Porgy' and 'It Ain’t Necessarily So.' The arrangement, featuring banjo, harmonicas and several percussion instruments, evokes lazy 1930s summer afternoons shuffling down a dirt road, fishing rod in hand. The medley’s embarrassing low point, 'I Loves You, Porgy,' sung by Mr. Wilson, feebly trying for melodrama, demonstrates the overall uninterest in lyrics on an album in which the arrangement, not the singer, does the interpretive work. Two beyond-the-grave 'collaborations' — obscure minor Gershwin tunes outfitted with wispy lyrics by Mr. Wilson and the instrumentalist Scott Bennett — are throwaways. Then there’s 'I Got Rhythm,' arranged as a trudging surf-style anthem with martial syncopation. A similar approach to the song was taken by the Happenings, whose hit version in 1967 had a fluency and lightness that is missing in this too self-conscious one. On an album that feels like a posthumous competition, Mr. Wilson emerges the clear loser. STEPHEN HOLDEN"

NY POST "Before he was one of the 20th century’s most revered pop legends — or even a Beach Boy writing hit songs about surfing, California girls and hot rods — Brian Wilson was listening to George Gershwin ... Now Wilson pays homage to the Jazz-age giant with a new album, 'Brian Wilson Reimagines Gershwin,' out Tuesday. While the symphonic nature of Gershwin’s arrangements and instrumentation didn’t work their way into Wilson’s early songs, it clearly marked later singles such as 'California Girls' and 'Good Vibrations.'"

HITFIX "Some albums arrive with such anticipation and weight that they crumble under their own expectations. There is no way that the whole of 'Brian Wilson Reimagines Gershwin,' out Tuesday, can be greater than the sum of its parts. The fact that some of it succeeds as well as it does given the breathy headiness surrounding the project (the Grammy word is already being tossed about), is an accomplishment of its own, but is it enough?"

BOSTON HERALD "The standout feature is the excellence of [Brian] Wilson’s vocals. During the last few years, his live singing has run the gamut from shaky to soaring. 'Brian Wilson Reimagines Gershwin' proves he still has the abilities of his Beach Boys youth totally intact and he’s happy to share them. Not that the arrangements are not also remarkable. They are sublime and reference both Gershwin and Wilson. As a result, these mostly oft-recorded tunes take on stunning new lives."

THE PORTLAND PRESS HERALD "I was really thrilled and stoked to get the call from Brian's people to work on his record yet again ... Brian being who he is, he can get the best arrangers and the best musicians, so I am always interested to hear what he's coming up with."

THE GLOBE AND MAIL "The release this coming Tuesday of Brian Wilson Reimagines Gershwin is being handled as a Major Event by Walt Disney Records. The Gershwin estate had come calling, inviting Wilson not only to re-record a dozen signature pieces by George and Ira Gershwin, but to troll through the vaults and, in a first, complete two unfinished songs by the brothers – The Like in I Love You and Nothing But Love."

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY "Hearing the architect of 1960s 'teenage symphonies to God' cover the symphonically inclined George Gershwin is a kick, if not always a revelation. On Brian Wilson Reimagines Gershwin, easy-listening Brian shows up more than weirdo Wilson, and when it comes to doing '' 'S Wonderful'' as a light bossa nova, 's just okay. But 'They Can't Take That Away From Me' remade as a 'California Girls''-style shuffle is too novel to pass up. B+"

NOW TORONTO "On this adoring tribute to composer George Gershwin, [Brian] Wilson is a different Boy than he was in those dark days of the 70s. At 68, he finally sounds revitalized, even better than on his solo recording of Smile in 2004."

HOLLYWOOD TODAY "Randall Miller & Jody Savin, the filmmaking team behind the Sundance and indie hit Bottle Shock are following that success with another true to life tale, this time about Dennis Wilson, the heartthrob and drummer of The Beach Boys ... Miller adds, 'The soundtrack will feature Dennis’ music from Pacific Ocean Blue as well as previously unreleased Dennis Wilson music and music from the Beach Boys as well. The music is another character in the film and we are proud to have [Brad] Rosenberger and [Carl B. Wilson and Jennifer Wilson] along as our producing partners to help guide the music.'"

SCREEN DAILY "The Drummer follows the last six years of [Dennis] Wilson’s life when which he created arguably some of his finest music. Wilson was the only member of the band who surfed but tragedy struck in 1983 when he drowned off the coast of California shortly after releasing his only solo album, Pacific Ocean Blue."

EXCLAIM "Beach Boys’ Dennis Wilson was a quiet and unassuming figure whose lone solo album, 1977’s cult classic Pacific Ocean Blue, gained importance as a window into a tortured soul after Wilson drowned in 1983 at the age of 39. Following that album’s reissue in 2008, his life is set to be honoured once more with the planned release of a Dennis Wilson biopic in 2011."

CONTACT MUSIC "Late Beach Boys star Dennis Wilson is returning from beyond the grave - filmmakers Randall Miller and Jody Savin are bringing him back to life on the big screen."

NO DEPRESSION "To keep this short, [Brian] Wilson's best work is from the mid-'60s and most these tunes (minus the two new ones) were given their definitive versions in their own era. Nor is this the best album of Wilson's career as a solo artist. But it is a fun collection of great pop songs without a clunker in the bunch, and in these days of Auto-Tuned, overpolished bubblegum that is something there isn't nearly enough of."

AQUARIUM DRUNKARD has a download link to Brendan McGrath's compilation of some of his favorite cuts from the latter day Beach Boys records, called "Beach Bros."

BILLBOARD Brian Wilson: "When I was 2 years old, my mom would play 'Rhapsody in Blue' for me, and I just loved that song ... Later on, a friend of mine who was an expert on Gershwin asked me, 'How'd you like to play the main theme on piano?' and I said, 'Sure!' ... It took us about two weeks: I'd play a little bit from the Leonard Bernstein recording, then I'd go to my piano, then back to Bernstein, then back to my piano, until I got the whole thing down."

Paul Mertens (saxophonist and music director): "One thing we really wanted to avoid was schmaltzing this stuff up ... I don't want to name names, but there have been some very successful [standards-oriented] records over the last few years that have been incredibly lazy in that regard. We were trying to play the songs as if they were Brian's music, and Brian did them in the way only he could ... Miles Davis is one of the most important artists of the past century, but when he did the 'Porgy and Bess' record with Gil Evans [in 1958], I'm sorry, but I don't hear the songs in there. I hear Miles and Gil Evans launching outward from that music. With Brian, he's doing the song, and what comes through is the sincerity of his performance ... When it came down to making the record, it was just about, 'How does it sound? ... Brian was nervous going in because he took the responsibility so seriously. But after the first day I remember he said, 'OK, this is going to work. It's gonna be cool.' "

VARIOUS OPINIONS REGARDING "BRIAN WILSON REIMAGINES GERSHWIN"

SPIN reviews "BWRG" and gives it a 4/5

POISON IVY JONES has some brief thoughts about the VIP listening party from a few days back

THE NATIONAL NEWSPAPER published a rather lengthy review of "BWRG" written by J Gabriel Boylan: "So here we have the American songbook meeting Sixties pop; two divergent strands of 20th-century nostalgia. With 14 songs clocking in at just under 40 minutes, nothing drags and, as a collection, it provides a neat analog to Wilson’s two-minute symphonies. Moreover, segues tie nearly all the songs together, giving the feeling of a cohesive vision."

THE AUSTRALIAN finds that, "Without going into too much detail, since it's a little early to run a review, let's just say that Wilson's exploration and reimagining of the Gershwin catalogue is 'interesting.'"

HUFFINGTON POST scribe David Wild wrote that, "I encourage anyone who's ever loved Brian Wilson -- or the late great Gershwins, George and Ira -- to check out Brian Wilson Reimagines Gershwin for themselves. The album features Brian's distinctive takes on some Gershwin favorites, as well as two 'new' collaborations -- songs that the Gershwin estate handed over for Brian to complete that have become 'The Like In I Love You' and 'Nothing But Love.' The results are, to my ears, some 'S'Wonderful Vibrations' and new pet sounds."

BRIANWILSONREIMAGINESGERSHWIN.COM unofficial (?) fan (?) site for "BWRG"

NY MAGAZINE “'No,' Brian Wilson says flatly when asked about cousin-bandmate-antagonist Mike Love’s assertion that Wilson would rejoin the band for a 50th anniversary reunion tour."

PETER AMES CARLIN "Brian's music, the good stuff, anyway, makes me feel the same way. Everyone has peaks and valleys, and some BW releases are mixed bags - some tunes feel inspired, others feel a little more labored. But here's a great and unexpected twist: 'BWRG' is the real thing, end to end. It's the heart of BW, interpreted by Himself, and seemingly unfiltered. It works on levels I can't even describe yet. Too soon, I need another ten or 20 spins to really get the hang of the songs, to grasp the connections, to trace the journey between young BW's primal bond to 'Rhapsody in Blue' through the length of his own life and work, to this masterpiece of cultural/musical synthesis/imagination/artistry."

REUTERS "Initial listens of 'Gershwin' reveal Wilson to be in strong voice, clearly heard above the trademark harmonies that tend to drown him out on stage. His version of 'It Ain’t Necessarily So' comes close to Bronski Beat’s falsetto cover. The bossa nova version of '‘S Wonderful' tips its hat to Joao Gilberto’s. 'Gershwin' could also be viewed as a companion to the Beach Boys’ 1966 masterpiece 'Pet Sounds,' given the similarities between that album’s jaunty instrumental title track and the new album’s vocal-free take on 'I Got Plenty O’ Nuthin.’' Or between 'They Can’t Take That Away From Me' and 'Wouldn’t It Be Nice,' respectively."