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/ News

Love and Mercy: Rhino Collects Solo Brian Wilson For New Anthology, Premieres Two Songs

June 20, 2017 By Joe Marchese 8 Comments

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Brian Wilson turns 75 years young today - and hot on the heels of a well-received biopic and a record-breaking concert tour that continues through this fall, the legendary artist is looking back on his solo career for a new compendium arriving on September 22 from Rhino Records.  Playback: The Brian Wilson Anthology captures, via 18 tracks, the Beach Boy's extraordinary journey from his 1988 Sire Records solo LP debut through 2015's No Pier Pressure.  Two never-before-released tracks will also premiere here.

Playback begins, appropriately enough, with four selections from 1988's Brian Wilson including the Jeff Lynne collaboration "Let It Shine," the dreamy Russ Titelman co-production "Melt Away," the SMiLE-esque suite "Rio Grande" (produced with Lenny Waronker), and of course, "Love and Mercy," Wilson's cri de coeur which still closes each of his solo concerts today.  The collection picks up a decade later with two tracks from Imagination (overlooking the Don Was-helmed soundtrack album I Just Wasn't Made for These Times and the Van Dyke Parks-composed Orange Crate Art on which Brian served as vocalist): the ballads "Cry" and "Lay Down Burden," the latter an affecting tribute to his late brother Carl Wilson.  (Surprisingly, the infectiously bright title track didn't make the cut here.)  Soon after, in 2000, Wilson made his triumphant return to live performing - an occasion marked by the inclusion of original songs "The First Time" and the Tony Asher co-write "This Isn't Love" from Live at the Roxy Theatre.

After issuing Pet Sounds Live to commemorate his complete live performance of the 1966 Beach Boys landmark, Wilson delivered his third full-length album of original songs with 2004's Gettin' In Over My Head, from which the moving title track and R&B-influenced "Soul Searchin'" (a posthumous duet with brother Carl) have been culled.  Later that year, however, Wilson released his most seminal solo work: the completion of The Beach Boys' abandoned SMiLE.  Brian and his band first performed the finished work on February 20, 2004 at London's Royal Festival Hall, bringing it into the studio a couple of months later.  Two tracks from the Grammy-winning Brian Wilson Presents SMiLE are featured here: the scene-setting "Heroes and Villains" and epic finale to the suite's second movement, "Surf's Up."

Following his 2005 Christmas album, Brian returned to solo recording in 2008 for a song suite dedicated to California, That Lucky Old Sun.  The touching "Midnight's Another Day" has been plucked from Wilson's Americana journey in song.  In 2010, he debuted the first of two concept albums released in conjunction with Walt Disney Records.  Brian Wilson Sings Gershwin featured his reinventions of some of George and Ira Gershwin's classic showtunes as well as two songs completed by Wilson from George Gershwin sketches.  One of them, "The Like in I Love You," appears on Playback, along with Brian's rendition of Alan Menken and Stephen Schwartz's Oscar-winning "The Colors of the Wind" (from the film Pocahontas), which appeared on the 2011 follow-up In the Key of Disney.

Wilson's romantic ode to his wife Melinda, "One Kind of Love" was introduced on 2015's No Pier Pressure (his first album after The Beach Boys' 50th anniversary reunion and studio album That's Why God Made the Radio) and was also featured in the biopic Love and Mercy.  Playback doesn't end there, however, making room for two premiere songs.  "Some Sweet Day" was written and recorded by Wilson and Andy Paley in the early 1990s, and makes its official debut here.  "Run, James, Run" (a working title for the "Pet Sounds" instrumental on the album of the same name, inspired by the James Bond films) is a new song recorded in 2017 for this compilation.

Playback: The Brian Wilson Anthology includes new liner notes by David Wild, and the cover boasts a previously unpublished photo of the artist by Robert Matheu.  It's due from Rhino Records on September 22 on CD, double-LP vinyl, and digital platforms. Pre-order links (not yet active as of this writing) are available below!

Brian Wilson, Playback: The Brian Wilson Anthology (Rhino, 2017)

CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada

  1. Love and Mercy
  2. Heroes and Villains
  3. Surf's Up
  4. Melt Away
  5. Let It Shine
  6. Some Sweet Day (*)
  7. Rio Grande
  8. Cry
  9. Lay Down Burden
  10. The First Time
  11. This Isn't Love
  12. Soul Searchin' (Duet with Carl Wilson)
  13. Gettin' In Over My Head
  14. The Like in I Love You
  15. Midnight's Another Day
  16. Colors of the Wind
  17. One Kind of Love
  18. Run, James, Run (*)

Tracks 1, 4-5 & 7 from Brian Wilson, Sire 25669, 1988
Tracks 2-3 from Brian Wilson Presents SMiLE, Nonesuch 79846-2, 2004
Tracks 6 & 18 previously unreleased
Tracks 8-9 from Imagination, Giant 24703, 1998
Tracks 10-11 from Live at the Roxy Theatre, BriMel 1001, 2000
Tracks 12-13 from Gettin' In Over My Head, Rhino/BriMel R2 76471, 2004
Track 14 from Brian Wilson Reimagines Gershwin, Disney Pearl D000428902, 2010
Track 15 from That Lucky Old Sun, Capitol, 2008
Track 16 from In the Key of Disney, Disney Pearl D001345502, 2011
Track 17 from No Pier Pressure, Capitol 602537978038, 2015

Categories: News Formats: CD, Digital Download, Digital Streaming, Vinyl Genre: Pop Tags: Brian Wilson, The Beach Boys

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Joe Marchese

JOE MARCHESE (Editor) joined The Second Disc shortly after its launch in early 2010, and has since penned daily news and reviews about classic music of all genres. In 2015, Joe formed the Second Disc Records label. Celebrating the great songwriters, producers and artists who created the sound of American popular song, Second Disc Records, in conjunction with Real Gone Music, has released newly-curated collections produced by Joe from iconic artists such as Johnny Mathis, Bobby Darin, Laura Nyro, Melissa Manchester, Chet Atkins, and many others. He has contributed liner notes to reissues from a diverse array of artists, among them Nat "King" Cole, Paul Williams, Lesley Gore, Dusty Springfield, B.J. Thomas, The 5th Dimension, Burt Bacharach, The Mamas and the Papas, Carpenters, Perry Como, Rod McKuen, Doris Day, Jackie DeShannon, and Andy Williams, and has compiled releases for talents including Robert Goulet and Keith Allison of Paul Revere and the Raiders. Over the past two decades, Joe has also worked in a variety of capacities on and off Broadway as well as at some of the premier theatres in the U.S., including Lincoln Center Theater, George Street Playhouse, Paper Mill Playhouse, Long Wharf Theatre, and the York Theatre Company. He has felt privileged to work on productions alongside artists such as the late Jack Klugman, Eli Wallach, Arthur Laurents, Betty Comden and Adolph Green. In 2009, Joe began contributing theatre and music reviews to the print publication The Sondheim Review, and in 2012, he joined the staff of The Digital Bits as a regular contributor writing about film and television on DVD and Blu-ray. Joe currently resides in the suburbs of New York City.

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Comments

  1. ChrisP says

    June 21, 2017 at 11:10 am

    Great compilation - wished South American would have made the cut - it's a great song that should have been released as a single!

    Reply
    • John Manning says

      June 21, 2017 at 6:38 pm

      I'm sure South American was a single In some markets, coupled with an acapella version. That said, I've never found a copy…

      Reply
  2. Albert says

    June 24, 2017 at 9:27 am

    Some odd choices. I agree that South American would make sense, along with the title song from that album which was a single.

    I would include at least 2 more songs from Gettin' in over my Head. I don't think that songs from the Disney or Gershwin albums are necessary unless they are essential and I can't think of any that are.

    I would have included the song Orange Crate Art and the version of Do it Again he did from the "I just wasn't made for these times" album. Perhaps even another track from that one.

    Reply
  3. wes mont says

    June 25, 2017 at 10:55 pm

    No songs from "I Just Wasn't Made For These Times" soundtrack?

    Reply
  4. Jon White says

    June 27, 2017 at 7:48 am

    not very good and wise slection of songs for such a long career
    18 songs isnt much, and of course the obligatory "new songs" companies throw onto an anthology

    Reply
  5. Brett Alan says

    June 28, 2017 at 6:14 am

    It would have been nice to include his first solo single (discounting "Caroline No" as not really solo), "Let's Go To Heaven In My Car", which wasn't on an album, although it is on a reissue of his first solo set.

    Reply
  6. Paul LaD says

    June 28, 2017 at 9:44 pm

    It is ridiculous that this is NOT a 2-cd affair.

    Reply
  7. Robert says

    June 30, 2017 at 11:41 am

    I would argue that The Like In I Love You is an essential track since the Gershwin estate allowed for the completion and recording of an unfinished composition which is unprecedented, I believe. Not sure why they didn't license anything from IJWMFTT. This Song Wants to Sleep With You Tonight (an Andy Paley co-write) was on a cd single from that era. There are tracks that haven't appeared on disc from several of the albums that could have been included as well as countless other totally unreleased tracks to sweeten the package. The Brian Wilson / Tony Asher co-write that appeared on The Wilsons could have been re-recorded as a solo track or included from the album as Brian appears on that and other tracks. Something from Orange Crate Art warranted inclusion as did What Love Can Do from the New Music From An Old Friend album. The exclusion of Your Imagination is mind boggling. This thing is not well rounded. Incomprehensive at best. Loaded down with slow tempo songs. I'm sure that it isn't easy to compile Brian's solo career since outside Love and Mercy there doesn't seem to be anything the man himself considers essential. And the licensing that has to be done presents a challenge but this attempt misses the mark by a fairly wide margin.

    Reply

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