Walked out on Brian Wilson today

[infinite_walrus]

I was excited to see brian Wilson on the smile tour. I shouldn't have been. The whole thing seemed so souless. Every note was what it should be. There was no deviation. He got up off his barstool once and that was for the intermision. His vocals were hidden. His band were nothing, but yuppy hipsters (very good muscians thoug). So disapointing.

[ollie]

Originally posted by infinite_walrus
I was excited to see brian Wilson on the smile tour. I shouldn't have been. The whole thing seemed so souless. Every note was what it should be. There was no deviation. He got up off his barstool once and that was for the intermision. His vocals were hidden. His band were nothing, but yuppy hipsters (very good muscians thoug). So disapointing.

Were you expecting a jam band?

[oblio]

i saw smile a few weeks ago
i thought it was brilliant
i didn't really care that his band were a bunch of lame session musicians because only musicians of such high caliber could pull off such music live. everyone was playing multiple instruments for the entire length of smile, all at unbelievably weird time signatures and sometimes for only a single measure. it was simply amazing to witness such a tight band pull off such a complex piece of music. anyways, it's not like brian wilson wasnt using session musicians in the late 60s...It's a shame you walked out...I found the opening set to be kind of lame, as they played watered down beach boys hits, but once they moved onto pet sounds, things really picked up...then smile...and then a phenomenal encore. i was thoroughly pleased.

[infinite_walrus]

I don't klnow what I was expecting. Maybe that was the problem. I just want to travel back in time and see the Beach Boys 30yrs ago.

Upon listening to it again I don't think I like the new smile, well not as much as I like old one. I would agree that the musicians were amazingly talented and what they were doing was very impressive, but I guess it's just not for me and I should have realized that.

I was hoping it would pick up after the sing along beach boy hits. But two sax solos in there and another by the fifth song on smile and I was done.

[vacantmoon]

when i saw SMiLE performed last fall by mr wilson and co. i thought it was simply amazing :D

[mikehattem]

His band is NOT a bunch of studio musicians... they are an LA power pop band called the Wondermints and have been playing and recording with him for years especially Darian Sahanaja (the keyboard player with the big black hair) who coordinated the whole SMiLE project by going through all the old tapes and getting Brian to get down to work... You should see the doc, Beautiful Dreamer which is all about the making of the record and you could see that even though the band is still very reverent of Brian and the music they have become pretty close friends over the years they've been together... The closeness and bond that he feels with the band (especially Darian) is what, I believe, made him feel comfortable enough and confident enough to actually set about finishing SMiLE... I don't think he could've done it with a bunch of yuppy studio musicians...

mike

[yayablahblah]

i agree with vacant moon ... i saw it all last year and it was
great

[oblio]

mikehattem we must have seen COMPLETELY different documentaries because it looked like brian wilson didn't give a damn about this godawful band. it was actually kind of depressing to see the rehearsals because they're such a bunch of wankers. the worst of them all is faux-hipster darian but the tight ass falsetto guy might be the bigger jerk. these guys are total L.A. yuppies.

[mikehattem]

oblio, you cant say the band is "godawful" if you saw what they pulled off live, not only was the record a recording feat but the live show was a musical feat in itself... i'm a musician myself so maybe i have greater appreciation for the ability it took to pull this off (there aren't very many bands out there that could pull of that live show musically or vocally let alone both) but i could see how, not considering that, they would look like LA yuppies... also in the rehearsal scenes where he looked severely disinterested it wasn't that he "didn't give a damn" it was because he was struggling internally with revisiting and reanimating this material which caused him so much "distress" all those years ago...

[uncle eggma]

i think what these people mean by "yuppies" is the fact none of the band look like indie rock "hipster" 60's revivalists blah blah whatever...and thank god for that!...just because they are middle age guys in polo shirts doesn't mean they don't know good music. don't judge folks by their looks so much.

[mikehattem]

I just think its funny that he called Darian Shanaja a faux-hipster...

who's the faux-hipster...

the guy who's posting about Brian Wilson on a fan board
or
the guy that sat next to him and helped him finish SMiLE :)

Mike

[oblio]

You can be a good musician and a lame yuppie too! just listen to the dismising, arrogant way the band talks to brian wilson in the dvd. also as far as BW's detachment during rehearsals - that looked like disinterest/boredom to me, not brian wilson battling the demons of rehearsing harmonies...