Brian Wilson; Brian Wilson and Friends (BMG CD/DVD)

 |   |  1 min read

Don't Talk (ft Mark Isham)
Brian Wilson; Brian Wilson and Friends (BMG CD/DVD)

There is certainly no shortage of Brian Wilson music about these days. We've had a couple of versions of SMiLE (including the excellent box set) and more recently the 50th anniversary reissue of Pet Sounds (again in an impressive expanded edition).

Then of course he has released solo albums like No Pier Pressure (none of which have done much in the way of recapturing the old magic).

And now this a 19-song CD and 26-song live DVD of Wilson with his regular players (Blondie Chaplin, Ricky Fataar), longtime Beach Boy Al Jardine and some guests (Sebu, jazz trumpeter Mark Isham on the delightful instrumental Half Moon Bay, Nate Ruess, She and Him aka Zooey Deschanel and M. Ward).

Because the SMiLE and Pet Sounds sets have scooped up the important songs which Wilson fans and newcomers want and need to hear, this selection errs to more recent material off No Pier Pressure (on which Sebu and Isham appeared), the Beach Boys patchy reunion album of 2012 That's Why God made the Radio, concert favourites (Sloop John B, Wouldn't It Be Nice, Help Rhonda, Fun Fun Fun) and classics (Dont Worry baby, Heroes and Villains, Good Vibrations, Don't Talk, God Only Knows).

These songs often get the souped-up live treatment (enter blazing guitar solo, brusque sax, clap along with Good Vibrations) and of course Wilson's voice isn't a patch on what it once was.

However this is not as uneven as it sounds – let's be honest Brian Wilson's recent best songs shave off from his legendary Pet Sounds/Good Vibrations period – and if it shines a light on his recent and rather lovely Pacific Coast Highway and Summer's Gone (from That Why God Made the Radio) which appear as bonuses on the DVD then all well and good.

But we repeat ourselves: there is no shortage of Brian Wilson music about these days.

This is mostly just more of it.

Share It

Your Comments

post a comment

More from this section   Music at Elsewhere articles index

Julian Lennon: Jude (digital outlets)

Julian Lennon: Jude (digital outlets)

Few would chose Julian Lennon's life: an absent or indifferent famous father whose murder severed any further possible contact when he was 17; his own musical career always inviting a comparison he... > Read more

Jenny Hval: The Practice of Love (Sacred Bones/digital outlets)

Jenny Hval: The Practice of Love (Sacred Bones/digital outlets)

Norwegian multi-discipline artist (novelist, songwriter, sonic experimenter, collaborator) Jenny Hval is – like Laurie Anderson – someone who melds the spoken and sung word with unusual... > Read more

Elsewhere at Elsewhere

The Cash Box Kings: Hail to the Kings! (Alligator/Southbound)

The Cash Box Kings: Hail to the Kings! (Alligator/Southbound)

Just a consumer service here: this is a stacked thick, 13-song collection of Chicago blues on the Alligator label fronted by singer Oscar Wilson and harmonica honker/singer Joe Nosek who wrote... > Read more

Hossam Ramzy: Rock the Tabla (Arc Music)

Hossam Ramzy: Rock the Tabla (Arc Music)

With the kind of diverse guests only this acclaimed Egyptian percussion player could call on -- jazz drummers Billy Cobham and Manu Katche, A.R. Rahman (aka "the Mozart of Madras",... > Read more