The new live release by Brian Wilson And Friends is bittersweet. Wilson is now 74 years old and one has to wonder about his future. His voice is not of the caliber of his prime, so the emphasis on many of the tracks centers on his friends. In some ways he becomes the sideman.\u00a0 On the other hand, he is one of the recognized geniuses of American pop music and his compositions remain a nostalgic part of American culture.<\/p>\n
His friends include former Beach Boys Blondie Chaplin, Ricky Fataar, and Al Jardine, who oddly is not mentioned anywhere in the liner notes but is a dominant figure in the music. Other friends include She & Him and Nate Ruess, the lead singer of the pop group Fun.<\/p>\n
The CD and DVD quality are both excellent, although there are differences in the tracklists, with \u201cCalifornia Girls\u201d and \u201c\u201dCalifornia Saga\u201d only appearing on the CD. The DVD adds nine additional songs, including the classic ballads \u201cDon\u2019t Worry Baby\u201d and \u201cGod Only Knows.\u201d<\/p>\n
The concert was recorded at the Venetian in Las Vegas, and the music is a microcosm of Brian Wilson\u2019s and the Beach Boys career. Al Jardine steers the band through \u201cWouldn\u2019t It Be Nice,\u201d \u201cHelp Me Rhonda\u201d and the underappreciated classic \u201cAll Summer Long.\u201d Chaplin and Fataar shine on \u201cMarcella,\u201d \u201cWild Honey\u201d and \u201cSail On Sailor.\u201d Ruess has a wonderful voice and he takes the lead on \u201cHold On Dear Brother,\u201d\u00a0 \u201cDarlin,\u2019\u201d and \u201cSaturday Night.\u201d\u00a0 Beach Boy staples such \u201cHeroes And Villains,\u201d \u201cDance Dance Dance,\u201d \u201cFun Fun Fun,\u201d and \u201cGood Vibrations\u201d are group efforts, which work well given Wilson\u2019s vocal limitations.<\/p>\n
His solo material is more reflective and runs counterpoint to the early Beach Boys songs. The two bonus songs which close the DVD, \u201cPacific Coast Highway\u201d and \u201cSummer\u2019s Gone\u201d are the statement of an aging musician looking back on his career and life. <\/p>\n
While Brian Wilson takes a back seat to his friends many times, it is his music that is front and center and ultimately carries the album. It is a ride through the decades of the eternal summer that Brian Wilson created so many years ago.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":59,"featured_media":32881,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[9899],"rating":[5617],"class_list":["post-44654","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-brian-wilson-and-friends","rating-rating-b-plus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/44654","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/59"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44654"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/44654\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32881"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44654"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=44654"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=44654"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}