With apologies to author Judith Viorst for stealing her phrase, it has been a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad stretch of days in an what has been an unrelentingly godawful year thus far. Just when a momentary respite from the unending horrid, vile, appalling, sickening, disgusting, horrifying current events is desperately needed, there's the news that Sly Stone and Brian Wilson, two GIANTS, innovative composer/arranger/performer/bandeaders gifted in leading one's heart, soul and consciousness to a better place, passed within the same 48 hours. . . WHAT? THAT CAN'T BE!
At least Sly lived long enough to finish his memoirs and receive rousing recognition from music fans and prominent musicians in the last decade of his life.
Sly Stone, a brilliant musician and arranger who's on the funk Mount Rushmore with James Brown, Curtis Mayfield, George Clinton and Prince (wonder if Prince met Sly), sure made the rounds in his heydey. His importance cannot be overstated. Must buy this release of a set Sly and his first version of The Family Stone performed in my old stomping grounds, Redwood City, CA. Sly was already a bonafide Bay Area celebrity from his successful stints as a deejay on KSOL and KDIA.
Sly & The Family Stone, featuring Larry Graham (electric bass), Cynthia Robinson (trumpet), Rose Stone (keyboards, vocals), Freddie Stone (electric guitar), Greg Arrico (drums) and Jerry Martini (saxophones), were a devastating powerhouse band from the git-go.
Here's Sly with Dick Cavett.
And David Letterman. . .
Sly & The Family Stone were inducted into The Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame in 1993 at long last - and that was overdue. Sly makes an appearance at the end of the clip, following his bandmates, including the outstanding vocalist-bandleader-songwriter-bassist Larry Graham.
As all who have seen the fantastic Summer Of Soul can attest, Questlove is a superlative documentary filmmaker.
This music aficionado's favorite Sly record? The 1973 album FRESH, which presents a stripped-down yet ingenious version of the essential sound, minimalistic and beautiful.
Another composer/pianist/arranger/bandleader of astounding abilities was Brian Wilson, the master of symphonic pop.
While I knew he was seriously ill and that Brian's wife Melinda passed last year, this still came as a shock.
Indeed, when heard on headphones, the "pocket symphonies" on the original SMILE sessions can be quite astonishing.
After The Beach Boys hit a lengthy stretch of creative stagnation following the departure of Carl Wilson and the untimely, tragic passing of Dennis Wilson, Brian quite fortunately got to enjoy an extended comeback in the 1990's and oughts, backed by The Wondermints (Darian Sahanaja, Mike D'Amico, Probyn Gregory and the late Nick Walusko), percussionist Nelson Bragg, multi-instrumentalist Paul von Mertens and the late, great Beach Boys tours veteran Geoffrey Foskett.
In this clip, Brian's pal Sir Paul McCartney inducted him into the Songwriter's Hall of Fame.
Much enjoy this tune Brian and Burt wrote together.
Here's a documentary, Pet Stories, about the making of Pet Sounds, which, along with the 1966-1967 Smile sessions, remains this music fan's favorite Brian Wilson/Beach Boys album.
Much enjoy the interviews in which Brian talks music!
In closing, this blogger got a chance to meet Brian and his bandmate and the aforementioned "CEO of falsetto" Geoff Foskett at a record signing in San Francisco, made sure to tell him that his music got me through tough times. Brian's response: a smile and "thanks, man!"
Unfortunately, I never got to see Sly Stone in concert - he retired right before I started seeing tons of live music performances - or meet him. Sly did occasionally do interviews, but one would imagine that due to the many bad things that happened to him and individuals who did him wrong over the decades, perhaps he'd be a tad reticent. Thankfully, Sly's three children did a great deal to assist him.
All the thanks in the universe to all the master musicians noted in this post!
It's Brian Wilson's birthday today! We'll kick this off with one of my favorites among Brian's more recent songs, which he wrote with bandmate and multi-instrumentalist Scott Bennett.
Here's a clip of Brian in the studio with fellow symphonic pop mastermind Sir George Henry Martin.
As fate would have it, Brian's birthday in 1942 is literally two days after the natal anniversary of his friend and maestro across the pond, Mr. Paul McCartney. Sir Paul is clearly moved and choked up when inducting Brian into the Songwriters' Hall Of Fame.
Today, on the occasion of his 71st birthday, we pay tribute to composer/pianist/arranger Brian Wilson. Since this blog also designates the 20th of every month as Burt Bacharach Day, here's a tune Brian and Burt wrote together.
Too bad a "Beach Boys Sings Burt Bacharach" project didn't happen. This "Walk On By" cover shows great but unrealized potential. Bear in mind that such a move towards pure pop would not have been feasible in 1967-1968, since the band had, practically overnight, transitioned from the hottest thing in show business to, with the commercial dominance of guitar-driven psychedelic rock, such dreaded designations as "old hat", "last year's Trend Du Jour" or even worse, "Box Office Poison".
Invariably, either Mike Love, Capitol Records, Murray Wilson or all of the above would have shot such an idea down in short order. It was most fortuitous that The Beatles actually were not only allowed to grow creatively and supported by their millions of fans, but encouraged to do so - as Brian (and to a lesser degree his songwriting brothers Carl and Dennis) most assuredly were not. At least Brian survived, and with his stellar recording Brian Wilson Presents SMiLE and accompanying tour in 2003-2004, enjoyed some measure of vindication.
It's the 20th of the month, Burt Bacharach Day - and also a happy 70th birthday to the great Brian Wilson.
Once Brian and Burt wrote a song together - and here it is.
I can't think of Burt playing any of Brian's songs on piano offhand, but among many unfinished projects by The Beach Boys, there was, indeed, a cover of "Walk On By". I love it - especially how Brian Wilson adapts those "Four Freshman/Hi-Los" style vocal parts to the sophisticated harmonies of Burt Bacharach.
Brian also wrote a song for his Gershwin tribute album which actually strikes me more as a loving tribute to Burt, as well as a companion piece to "That's What Friends Are For".
Since Brian's colleague and friend Sir Paul McCartney turned 70 a couple of days ago, so it's fitting that we pay tribute here to them - as well as Burt.
Thanks a million, Sir Paul, Brian and Burt for making this world a better place!
Since June 20 is the birthday of Brian Wilson, I'm posting the one clip available involving Brian (with or without The Beach Boys) covering Burt Bacharach music. Posted this clip of an intriguing but never finished demo - The Beach Boys covering Burt Bacharach's "Walk On By" - a couple of years back. Don't have the particulars, but it would appear to have been very likely recorded between the Wild Honey and Friends albums in 1967-1968.
Listening to how deftly the Burt and Brian styles of composition and vocal arrangement dovetail, one concludes that had Capitol Records encouraged the Brother label to release non-Beach Boys solo projects by The Wilsons - all spotlighting new original material and musical ideas that broke with the BB's "sun, surf n' babes" Top 40 formula - the results would have been rewarding.
Fortunately for music lovers, Brian re-emerged 30 years after this recording, Wondermints and Stockholm Strings in tow, to set things right and celebrate both the commercial and more experimental aspects of his music in style.
I regard 1966 as something of a watershed year in 20th century music, across the genres. The sheer number of legendary figures from rock, blues, soul, old-school country, jazz (and those musicians who bravely cut across the genres) still at the top of their game in 1966 and recording great albums boggles the mind.
Smack dab in the middle of this feverish period of creative experimentation, on May 16, 1966, Pet Sounds, the acknowledged piece-de-resistance of Brian Wilson And The Beach Boys, was officially released by Capitol Records.
While the average teenage record consumer of the time may well have not known what to make of Pet Sounds, the music community - and especially John Lennon and Paul McCartney - knew that Brian's "orchestral pop" had set a new and most ambitious bar line.
Although Pet Sounds now stands comfortably atop this blogger's short list of absolute favorite pop albums, I must confess that the intricacy, beauty and creativity of the vocal and instrumental arrangements by maestro Brian Wilson were pretty much lost on me in my guitar hero and prog rock-obsessed youth. Perhaps influenced by the rampant over-exposure and saturation of The Beach Boys' numerous Top 40 hits, I didn't "get" Pet Sounds (and such later Beach Boys masterpieces as Sunflower) at the time for a good reason: I didn't actually sit down and listen to the album in its entirety until many years later.
It took repeated listenings to Brian Wilson's music, decades later, sparked by an inspirational viewing of Don Was' 1995 documentary I Just Wasn't Made For These Times, to convince me.
This blogger/music lover's mind was seriously blown by the following YouTube clips about the making of Pet Sounds, which illuminate Brian Wilson's role as producer-arranger-conductor-mastermind.
In 2011, I am still listening to Pet Sounds and finding sonic nuances I had never perceived before.
I still love all that amazing mid-1960's music, from the ever-tuneful Beatles and Beach Boys to the soulful blues and propulsive hard bop, right through to the audacious avantgardists (Zappa, Beefheart, Ayler, Ornette), but will always have a soft spot for the following favorite songs from Pet Sounds:
Brian Wilson produced the "Good Vibrations" single later in 1966 and had planned his "and now for something completely different" followup, SMILE, which departed even from The Beach Boys pop hitmaking formula than Pet Sounds.
With apologies to Bob Dylan, The Doors, The Kinks, The Byrds, The Zombies and The Small Faces for the sin of omission, my brief "desert island" list of pop masterpieces that never fail to be satisfying listening, preferably with headphones and without any interruptions, includes:
The aforementioned SMILE sessions, recorded and arranged by Brian Wilson in late 1966 and early 1967
Arthur Lee and Love's Forever Changes
Of 1950's pop, the recordings that rival the aforementioned psychedelic era chestnuts for profound, sublime artistry - and I never tire of listening to these, either - would be the ultra-atmospheric Frank Sinatra studio masterpieces (Songs For Swingin' Lovers, In The Wee Small Hours, Only The Lonely), many featuring the Nelson Riddle Orchestra. And those ravishingly beautiful albums will be grist for another blog entry.
To Brian, the boys and intrepid Hollywood Studio aces The Wrecking Crew, thanks a million for the music and the memories.
Here's one of the great songs Brian Wilson and Van Dyke Parks wrote in the sandbox (yes, there was a piano in the sandbox) in 1966. Brian, Van Dyke - I look forward to hearing you guys perform in the San Francisco Bay Area again sometime!
Since this idea for a cover by The Beach Boys of "Walk On By" was never completed (at least, not that I know of), I hesitate to select it for Burt Bacharach Day. Still, the glimmer of brilliance and originality, as Brian Wilson adapts those "Four Freshman" vocal harmonies to Bacharach's songwriting, is undeniable.
This sounds like it's from the era when the Beach Boys were experimenting with quite a few covers: when Wild Honey (1967), which also includes the "Brian meets Motown meets Bacharach" gem Aren't You Glad, was their latest album.
From the brief evidence here, it sounds like this - had it progressed beyond the germ of an idea stage - would have been a fabulous Beach Boys recording. I certainly hope this one minute bit was not all there was to it.
That said: yes, I admit it, dear readers, it's time for yours truly to join the nearest Beach Boys/ Wilson Brothers 12-step group!
This blog pays tribute to Burt Bacharach on the 20th of each month. Today, we also salute an equally inspired composer/pianist/vocalist who first made it big in the 1960's, Brian Wilson, who is 67 years young today. Thankfully, Brian, like Burt, is still touring and bringing good music to audiences around the world.
Enjoy Brian's cover of Burt's "My Little Red Book". It's quite wonderful and stylistically midway between the renditions by Elvis Costello and Arthur Lee & Love.
In retrospect, it's too bad Brian didn't record a cover of this with The Beach Boys. It would have sounded great and fit in beautifully in their 1967 album Wild Honey.
I'd enjoy hearing a cover of this featuring a Brian arrangement, Burt on Fender Rhodes, Brian's current band (featuring "C.E.O of falsetto" Jeffrey Foskett, soaring soprano Taylor Mills, multi-instrumentalists Paul Van Mertons and Scott Bennett, as well as all members of the fabulous Wondermints) and. . . Alex Chilton, another inspired, prolific and original songsmith who first hit it big in the 1960's.
It's not a far fetched idea at all. Alex' first band, The Box Tops, opened for The Beach Boys in the late 60's. The Boys returned the favor by covering Alex' biggest hit.
Then again, Alex is one of the few musicians to cover a song from Brian's magnum opus, "Pet Sounds." Really? Here's Alex and Big Star, performing Wouldn't It Be Nice at Shepherd's Bush Empire on August 28, 2008.
Hearing Big Star rock out on that classic Beach Boys number reminds me how much I would love to hear them cover Burt's "I Don't Know What To Do With Myself". Thanks to whoever found these rare demos and concert clips and posted them on YouTube!
Brian Wilson, in concert, 2007 It's true - I was among the greying but enthusiastic multitudes wearing Hawaiian shirts at last night's Brian Wilsonshow at Oakland's historic Paramount Theatre, and damn proud of it! I sat in the second row right, jumped up and down, yayed, yelled and whooped loud enough that Brian and his bandmates could definitely hear me.
Yes, it's no accident that I did not become a music critic.
This may have been the bestBrian Wilson Bandperformance, start-to-finish, I've had the pleasure to hear. It was easily the hardest rocking version of a Brian Wilson or Beach Boys band I have heard. There was no filler in the opening set of BB evergreens, performed with a passion and exuberance that breathed vibrant new life into the classic 60's chestnuts. As is his custom, Brian has surrounded himself with talented vocalists, including soprano Taylor Mills, 'CEO of falsetto' Jeffrey Foskett, Scott Bennett and all of the superb L.A. band The Wondermints, who nail those "Four Freshman" harmonies as if they're the proverbial piece o' cake.
My favorite part of the show was the performance of the new album,That Lucky Old Sun(written by Brian, Scott Bennett and Van Dyke Parks) in its entirety.
Part homage to 1950's and 1960's Southern California, part candid autobiography, it's short, sweet and offers that unique blend of happy power pop with poignant, moving interludes. A string section joined the band and, as the cellos and violins do on Pet Sounds and Smile, added yet more gorgeous layers of harmonies to the mix. Here's a short piece about the album, which for me provides a valuable balancing antidote to the snotty cynic within:
Nothing if not brave, Brian directly addresses the personal problems he has survived in sections of That Lucky Old Sun - and relates them to the human experience we all share. Since I'm a (shudder) 'sensitive guy', this aspect of Brian's music gets me, every time. Alas, the struggle and emergence into the light from a long dark night of the soul is rarely a topic for pop songwriting, especially in the current environment that treats an awful lot of music as a consumer product like french fries or Funyuns, to be marketed primarily to those under 18 years of age. In short, great show! It rocked the house and, in those reflective passages, achieved something virtually no one other than George Gershwin, Louis Armstrong, Lester Young and Duke Ellington can for me - elicited the good tears. Thanks, Brian and band - hope to see ya on your next swing through these parts.
Eric Dolphy, that most brilliant and idiosyncratic of jazz improvisors, would have been 79 today. For Eric's utter mastery of clarinets, saxophones and flute, as well as his savvy as a composer and ability to tackle any genre of music, he remains among the great artists, a true 20th century giant.
To Brian Wilson, the master of symphonic pop, a very happy 65th to you - so glad you are still here!
Enjoy "Heroes And Villains", the opening song from Brian's greatest work, SMiLE.
For Burt Bacharach Day, the randomly chosen 20th of any given month, here is vocalist Trijntje Oosterhuis, performing Falling Out Of Love with the Metropole Orchestra.
