Uncanny

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"