First Listen: 'Brian Wilson Reimagines Gershwin'
By DJ M on July 30th, 2010
In Brian Wilson/B. Boys
LA TIMES "One of the key things [Brian] Wilson and George Gershwin share is the ability to absorb the traditions that preceded them and forge them into something new and utterly individualistic. Both men also longed to expand the structural boundaries of the music of their times. Wilson brings his signature skill at vocal harmony, musical arrangement and orchestration to bear, relying extensively on the endlessly resourceful backing of the members of the Brian Wilson Band that’s been with him in concert and on record since his musical renaissance began at the end of the '90s. He’s delivered another thematically and musically contiguous opus that leads one song into the next by way of inventive instrumental segues, threading what’s just been sung and played to what comes next ... There’s no doubt that Wilson’s album will elicit some squawking from those who prefer a Sinatra-Tony Bennett-Ella approach. But it does provide an undeniably fresh perspective on some of the most widely recorded music in history. Who could ask for anything more?"