Departed
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Post by Deleted on Jan 5, 2019 14:07:24 GMT -5
Its pretty bad. I decided to check it out because of morbid curiosity, and yeah I can attest its reputation is well earned. But I don't know how to even criticize it. It just sounds like such a mess, none of the tracks have any describable melody or hook at all. They each sound like frankensteined monsters of ideas that don't gel. The lyrics/vocals are pretty bad, but (no offense to the legend) most of his solo albums suffer the same problem.
The cover is godawful and never should have been used. It looks like something a teen would slap together in photoshop. Ive created better collages in photoshop without half trying--there's no reason in the world a professional shouldn't have been able to do better. Ive heard they were "honored" the guy who designed the Sgt Pepper cover made this...but who cares what's on a guy's resume if he still does a lousy job? That anecdote, if true, just makes me so ashamed as a fan, that THEY felt honored by HIM. He's Brian goddamn Wilson, that guy should have been the one who was honored to work on this album...and he should have done a better job too while he was it.
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dumbchops
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Favorite Album: Sail On Sailor
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Post by dumbchops on Jan 6, 2019 18:45:13 GMT -5
I give it a 7 but only because I don't listen to it like I used to. Damn, this album was the soundtrack of my summer of 2004! My favorite songs include "Saturday Morning In The City", "City Blues", "Rainbow Eyes" and others. I always got a kick out of "The Waltz" which is a bit of a joke. Although I didn't know it at the time, there were a lot of tracks from the aborted Paley sessions and Sweet Insanity.
This album is hated amongst BW fans but I like this album a lot more than NPP for instance. It's quirky and fun. When it came out, I didn't really have access to the internet for a few months so I had no idea how poorly this album was accepted. I was playing it to my friends and family and I didn't hear any complaints at all. Then I finally heard the news of the upcoming BWPS concerts and cd and I was utterly blown away.
I had a mix cd I made of my favorite BW songs (up to 2004) and there were more songs I used from this album than Imagination or Orange Crate Art. The 1988 album is good enough to stand on its own without pillaging for tracks.
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Post by filledeplage on Jan 6, 2019 19:09:08 GMT -5
I give it a 7 but only because I don't listen to it like I used to. Damn, this album was the soundtrack of my summer of 2004! My favorite songs include "Saturday Morning In The City", "City Blues", "Rainbow Eyes" and others. I always got a kick out of "The Waltz" which is a bit of a joke. Although I didn't know it at the time, there were a lot of tracks from the aborted Paley sessions and Sweet Insanity. This album is hated amongst BW fans but I like this album a lot more than NPP for instance. It's quirky and fun. When it came out, I didn't really have access to the internet for a few months so I had no idea how poorly this album was accepted. I was playing it to my friends and family and I didn't hear any complaints at all. Then I finally heard the news of the upcoming BWPS concerts and cd and I was utterly blown away. I had a mix cd I made of my favorite BW songs (up to 2004) and there were more songs I used from this album than Imagination or Orange Crate Art. The 1988 album is good enough to stand on its own without pillaging for tracks. Don't get the hate for this one. There are a few gems and I think it should have been named "How Could We Still Be Dancing?" - a song I really like with Elton, and got a chill when I hear Soul Searching' with Carl's vocal. There are about 3 that I really like, including "The Waltz" which totally captures the proverbial American high school dances in the 60's with their contrived social mores. Love Van Dyke's work on this. He nailed it. The song cracks me up. As does the group-think of fans, who should be thinking independently and judging the work on it's own merits.
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Post by kds on Jan 8, 2019 14:08:21 GMT -5
Taking this album on its own merits, and freely thinking, I cannot go above a three.
I think the album gets off to a nice start with How Could We Still Be Dancing. Soul Searchin and the title track are also pretty good. However, there's not much else I really like.
A Friend Like You is downright embarrassing considering the talent level of Brian Wilson and Paul McCartney. Much of this album is sort of like this.
Not really a great way to follow up an album 37 years in the making.
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Post by E on Jan 8, 2019 16:49:59 GMT -5
There are some good songs here (title track, Don't Let Her Know, City Blues, How Could We Still Be Dancing and Soul Searching) but the execution lets them down badly and it's a tough listen. 4
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Post by Jim on Mar 5, 2019 9:08:36 GMT -5
Not really a great way to follow up an album 37 years in the making. It didn't follow up BWPS. It was both recorded and released before it, earlier in 2004.
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Post by kds on Mar 5, 2019 9:12:20 GMT -5
Not really a great way to follow up an album 37 years in the making. It didn't follow up BWPS. It was both recorded and released before it, earlier in 2004. My mistake, for some reason, I thought GIOHM was released in late 2004.
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Post by The Cap'n on Mar 5, 2019 12:27:17 GMT -5
It was after the initial Smile shows but before the album, as I recall.
In Glasgow, he introduced one of the GIOMH songs along the lines of “this is on our new album, which will be out...well actually I don’t know when it’s coming out.” Cracked me up.
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Post by Jim on Mar 5, 2019 14:17:56 GMT -5
It didn't follow up BWPS. It was both recorded and released before it, earlier in 2004. My mistake, for some reason, I thought GIOHM was released in late 2004. Yeah apparently Brian's people got Warner's (?) to do a deal where to get BWPS released on Nonesuch, they also had to release GIOMH on Rhino. Now why Brian and company would do this, didn't make much sense to me. I remember that era and even with all the excitement over Brian finally unveiling a completed SMiLE it was pretty obvious that in spite of some big time guest stars (Paul McCartney, Elton John, Eric Clapton) Brian did not have a quality album on his hands. Ultimately BWPS (the album) did pretty amazingly anyways, peaking on the charts at number 13 (I think), so it doesn't seem like the release of GIOMH hurt things. But at the least, I can't see how it's release helped anything. However, since this is an album thread I will point out that "How Could We Still Be Dancin'" is a cool rocker and "You've Touched Me" is a nice tune as well. However, I think "You've Touched Me" could be re-recorded with a much, much better vocal from Brian. Also, even though "Gettin' in Over My Head" and "City Blues" and "Don't Let Her Know She's an Angel" are well written songs that could be great with the right arrangement, none of these songs reach their potential on the album. "Soul Searchin'" is a good song too, but in this case The Beach Boys version is now the go-to version so the album version doesn't do much for me. And the rest, I'm sure a lot of those fall into the same problem as most of what I've already discussed. I haven't listened to them in a long time and don't have much desire to at all.
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Post by The Cap'n on Mar 5, 2019 14:20:31 GMT -5
I think about half of the album could be salvaged just by swapping out Brian’s background vocals for his band’s. More effort put into the leads and it gets bumped up another notch. It could have been a solid 6-7. Instead, 3.
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Post by AGD on Mar 5, 2019 14:24:03 GMT -5
The fact that some of the tracks were originally recorded between ten and two years previously didn't exactly help either...
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Post by The Cap'n on Mar 5, 2019 14:28:53 GMT -5
I don’t think it’s their vintage that damned them so much as quality. I mean, the Smile tracks weren’t released en masse for 45 years, and they held up.
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Departed
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Post by Deleted on Mar 5, 2019 14:33:52 GMT -5
The Paley tracks on this album are far better in their unfinished bootleg format, which speaks volumes. Just listen to the 90s version of the title track and then the album version back to back--there's no comparison. It's a classic case of over-production, sanding down the harder edges that made the original charming in the first place. I have similar misgivings with BWPS, though it's far less heavy handed there.
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Post by kds on Mar 5, 2019 14:48:33 GMT -5
My mistake, for some reason, I thought GIOHM was released in late 2004. Yeah apparently Brian's people got Warner's (?) to do a deal where to get BWPS released on Nonesuch, they also had to release GIOMH on Rhino. Now why Brian and company would do this, didn't make much sense to me. I remember that era and even with all the excitement over Brian finally unveiling a completed SMiLE it was pretty obvious that in spite of some big time guest stars (Paul McCartney, Elton John, Eric Clapton) Brian did not have a quality album on his hands. Ultimately BWPS (the album) did pretty amazingly anyways, peaking on the charts at number 13 (I think), so it doesn't seem like the release of GIOMH hurt things. But at the least, I can't see how it's release helped anything. However, since this is an album thread I will point out that "How Could We Still Be Dancin'" is a cool rocker and "You've Touched Me" is a nice tune as well. However, I think "You've Touched Me" could be re-recorded with a much, much better vocal from Brian. Also, even though "Gettin' in Over My Head" and "City Blues" and "Don't Let Her Know She's an Angel" are well written songs that could be great with the right arrangement, none of these songs reach their potential on the album. "Soul Searchin'" is a good song too, but in this case The Beach Boys version is now the go-to version so the album version doesn't do much for me. And the rest, I'm sure a lot of those fall into the same problem as most of what I've already discussed. I haven't listened to them in a long time and don't have much desire to at all. I really like How Could We Still Be Dancin, and I think the album does get off to a good start, but grows tedious as the album goes on.
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Post by monolithic on Mar 5, 2019 16:59:03 GMT -5
My mistake, for some reason, I thought GIOHM was released in late 2004. Yeah apparently Brian's people got Warner's (?) to do a deal where to get BWPS released on Nonesuch, they also had to release GIOMH on Rhino. Now why Brian and company would do this, didn't make much sense to me. I remember that era and even with all the excitement over Brian finally unveiling a completed SMiLE it was pretty obvious that in spite of some big time guest stars (Paul McCartney, Elton John, Eric Clapton) Brian did not have a quality album on his hands. Ultimately BWPS (the album) did pretty amazingly anyways, peaking on the charts at number 13 (I think), so it doesn't seem like the release of GIOMH hurt things. But at the least, I can't see how it's release helped anything. However, since this is an album thread I will point out that "How Could We Still Be Dancin'" is a cool rocker and "You've Touched Me" is a nice tune as well. However, I think "You've Touched Me" could be re-recorded with a much, much better vocal from Brian. Also, even though "Gettin' in Over My Head" and "City Blues" and "Don't Let Her Know She's an Angel" are well written songs that could be great with the right arrangement, none of these songs reach their potential on the album. "Soul Searchin'" is a good song too, but in this case The Beach Boys version is now the go-to version so the album version doesn't do much for me. And the rest, I'm sure a lot of those fall into the same problem as most of what I've already discussed. I haven't listened to them in a long time and don't have much desire to at all. Wasnt it simply that no record company wanted to release GIOMH. So they had to get a label to take them as a pair in order to get it out. They shouldnt have bothered anyway. Nearly all of the songs sounded better in previous incarnations (included those that had been recorded when Brian was at his most brainwashed) and Brian's vocals are really tough to listen to. There are some really poor lyrics as well. The songwriting for one or two songs is decent though.
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Post by Jim on Mar 5, 2019 17:35:28 GMT -5
Wasnt it simply that no record company wanted to release GIOMH. So they had to get a label to take them as a pair in order to get it out. That was my point. Why bother getting it out there in the first place? Of all of Brian's albums, this was one of the few I never really heard or read a thing where he expressed any excitement over it's release. The '88 album, BWPS, That Lucky Old Sun, No Pier Pressure all had Brian at least excitedly talking about the material. With GIOMH (and Imagination) he just didn't seem to have much excitement for what was going on. Maybe it's just me though.
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Post by AGD on Mar 5, 2019 17:48:56 GMT -5
The Paley tracks on this album are far better in their unfinished bootleg format, which speaks volumes. Just listen to the 90s version of the title track and then the album version back to back--there's no comparison. It's a classic case of over-production, sanding down the harder edges that made the original charming in the first place. I have similar misgivings with BWPS, though it's far less heavy handed there. Um... the GIOMH version of "Saturday Morning..." is the 1994 Wilson/Paley version, with a very few percussion overdubs.
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Departed
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Post by Deleted on Mar 5, 2019 18:40:37 GMT -5
The Paley tracks on this album are far better in their unfinished bootleg format, which speaks volumes. Just listen to the 90s version of the title track and then the album version back to back--there's no comparison. It's a classic case of over-production, sanding down the harder edges that made the original charming in the first place. I have similar misgivings with BWPS, though it's far less heavy handed there. Um... the GIOMH version of "Saturday Morning..." is the 1994 Wilson/Paley version, with a very few percussion overdubs. Oh.
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kirkk
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Favorite Album: Pet Sounds, SMiLE, Sunflower... but I could go on and on...
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Post by kirkk on Mar 5, 2019 22:08:56 GMT -5
I used to play friends “Fairy Tale” because the turn in the lyrics always cracked me up:
”Once upon a time Not so long ago We walked hand in hand A stranger smiled hello”
Okay, seems fine, Brian’s walking with his girl down the street. But wait...
”Then a dragon came Put a spell on you Stole your heart away...”
While I’m sure many would say “hey, he didn’t mean a literal dragon”, I say it’s 50/50 whether that is true or not. When I hear it, I picture The Fonz of dragons walking up, sweet talking Brian’s girl, and flying away with her.
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Post by filledeplage on Mar 6, 2019 8:00:44 GMT -5
I used to play friends “Fairy Tale” because the turn in the lyrics always cracked me up: ”Once upon a time Not so long ago We walked hand in hand A stranger smiled hello” Okay, seems fine, Brian’s walking with his girl down the street. But wait... ”Then a dragon came Put a spell on you Stole your heart away...” While I’m sure many would say “hey, he didn’t mean a literal dragon”, I say it’s 50/50 whether that is true or not. When I hear it, I picture The Fonz of dragons walking up, sweet talking Brian’s girl, and flying away with her. Fairy Tale and The Waltz remind me of high school late 50's era courtship - fleeting - with make-ups and break-ups...holding hands and angora sweaters.
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Post by AGD on Mar 7, 2019 1:51:33 GMT -5
"The Waltz" reminds me to never, ever, ever listen to it again.
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petsite
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Post by petsite on Mar 7, 2019 2:11:30 GMT -5
This LP is one that I don't listen to as much as others from Brian's solo career. But some of the tracks do hold up for me. I wish this version of GIOMH had been on Imagination for which it was recorded. It would have been better than Keep An Eye On Summer.
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Post by filledeplage on Mar 7, 2019 8:46:47 GMT -5
"The Waltz" reminds me to never, ever, ever listen to it again. It is definitely era-based; with definite rules of courtship interposed. Heavily chaperoned dances from that time, following dress codes, generally had boys on one side and girls on the other. If it was an organized church/school dance, and you were dancing too closely with your partner, the young man might get a tap on the shoulder and a reminder to "Leave room for The Holy Ghost." That song still cracks me up and I think VDP painted a precise visual of that era, and well. No question as to any "what does columnated ruins domino?" mean. Plain language - nothing abstract. Understood by all.
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Post by Jim on Mar 7, 2019 9:53:59 GMT -5
This LP is one that I don't listen to as much as others from Brian's solo career. But some of the tracks do hold up for me. I wish this version of GIOMH had been on Imagination for which it was recorded. It would have been better than Keep An Eye On Summer. This is one that has confused me. Are the recordings of "Gettin' in Over My Head" and "How Could We Still Be Dancin'" indeed Joe Thomas co-productions? I know that "Dancin'" is a Thomas co-write but I have to say that on both songs (just as on the rest of the album) Brian's vocals aren't exactly great. And whatever one wants to say about Joe Thomas, I don't think people can say he hasn't gotten some of the best Brian Wilson vocals since 1975 on Imagination, That's Why God Made The Radio and No Pier Pressure.
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Post by drbeachboy (Dirk) on Mar 7, 2019 18:27:40 GMT -5
This LP is one that I don't listen to as much as others from Brian's solo career. But some of the tracks do hold up for me. I wish this version of GIOMH had been on Imagination for which it was recorded. It would have been better than Keep An Eye On Summer. This is one that has confused me. Are the recordings of "Gettin' in Over My Head" and "How Could We Still Be Dancin'" indeed Joe Thomas co-productions? I know that "Dancin'" is a Thomas co-write but I have to say that on both songs (just as on the rest of the album) Brian's vocals aren't exactly great. And whatever one wants to say about Joe Thomas, I don't think people can say he hasn't gotten some of the best Brian Wilson vocals since 1975 on Imagination, That's Why God Made The Radio and No Pier Pressure. Joe’s productions are a bit too clean for my taste, but you are right, he makes Brian sound great.
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