Bloggerhythms

Among the seemingly endless number of songs Gerry Goffin and Carole King wrote together is "I'm Into Something Good." As usual, during their songwriting partnership she wrote the music and he wrote the lyrics. "Something Good" was first released in 1964 by Earl-Jean McCrea who only used her hyphenated first name on the record. McCrea was also a member of The Cookies, a girl group who earlier had R&B and crossover successes with "Don't Say Nothin' Bad (About My Baby)" and "Chains." (The latter was later covered by The Beatles on their full-length, debut LP, Please Please Me. ) Both of these Cookies' hits were also written by Goffin and King. Earl-Jean's version was a pop-rhythm and blues single that only reached #38 on the Hot 100. The 45 rpm was arranged by King and produced by Goffin. ...

How great was Brian Wilson? If you listen to At My Piano -  the late star's final, solo, studio album of fifteen unadorned piano tracks played by The Beach Boys' resident genius - you'll quickly understand the extent of his talent as a melodicist. The simplicity of this set allows the listener to fully appreciate the beauty of Wilson's creations performed on a musical instrument that is truly irresistible when played by a great talent. Some critics have said that Wilson took the easy way out, that these songs have been redone too many times to be appreciated again, but I counter with this: how many artists have issued multiple live albums with arrangements played very close to their original records or released remixes of old songs just to sell more product? At least Wilson offered listeners something different, although he admits that the original idea belonged to his record label, Decca. However, it was a request he willingly undertook. There are many w...

Sadly, Brian Wilson has passed away. In only eight days he would have turned 83. He was born only two days after Paul McCartney, so maybe there is something to astrology after all. After The Beatles, the California band and Terry Kath era Chicago were always either number two or three on my list of musical loves. It often depended on my mood. My introduction to The Beach Boys was during the Summer of 1965. It will be sixty years ago next month when I heard "California Girls" for the very first time. It was among the first five records I ever bought with my own money. I've always loved vocal harmonies and nobody was better at creating them than The Beach Boys. To me, that fun, summer single was the most astounding piece of music I had ever heard at the time. I remember it well because it gave me goosebumps. Below this video is an old post I wrote in 2018 about my love for the band. It was originally titled In Defense of The Beach Boy...

Much has been written about Paul McCartney (born June 18, 1942) and Brian Wilson (June 20, 1942) - two of the more important and enduring legends of the pop and rock world - so saluting them today may be redundant. But, even though I'm a little late to the party both icons have meant so much to me that I couldn't let their milestone 80th birthdays pass without acknowledging the occasion. Growing up, the lives of these two boys couldn't have been more different. One was raised in a suburban, middle class environment near a Pacific Ocean beach while the other one lived in government housing in Liverpool, England. One had two loving, devoted, parents and the other one barely survived a very troubled household with an abusive father. While both men often took part in the excesses of the 1960s one emerged from the decade relatively unscathed while the other one suffered long term health and mental problems that he is still fighting today. Despite those differences, McCartney and...

CMH Label Group , the independent record company that has issued dozens of string quartet tribute albums under the moniker Vitamin String Quartet (VSQ) has covered artists as diverse as Slayer, Enya, Bon Jovi, Oasis, Warren Zevon, Bjork, Radiohead, Rush, Fleetwood Mac, and more. Even more recently they've released albums covering Lana Del Rey, Sigur Ros, Lady Gaga, Coldplay, and Kanye West. Tom Tally, a producer of over 50 VSQ albums  described VSQ's mission on Wikipedia. " Vitamin String Quartet is about applying rock n' roll attitude to classical technique."   Back in 2005 VSQ was responsible for a nice reworking of The Beach Boys' 1966 classic,  Pet Sounds. I   can't envision either string quartet fans or Slayer fans listening to classical arrangements of that band's work, but Pet Sounds is music that easily lends itself to a classical treatment. Despite the limitations of using only three string players and a percussionist the quartet's spars...

Brian Wilson & Al Jardine at Parx Casino   Brian Wilson is approaching the end of his Pet Sounds tour and if you are among the lucky people who had a ticket to one of these shows you won't be disappointed. The Beach Boys' resident genius took the stage with his outstanding ten-piece band that included his old group's original rhythm guitarist, Al Jardine , and his 1970s bandmate, Blondie Chaplin. Wilson's voice has lost its high end and when he needed to hit the upper registers, his son-in-law, Rob Bonfiglio , took the spotlight. Bonfiglio led the way on "Don't Worry Baby" and several other early hits. Jardine also took his share of lead vocals. The concert opened with a very nice take of the first Beach Boys song I ever heard, "California Girls," so it always holds a special place in my heart. From there they played "Dance, Dance, Dance" followed by more early chartbustng singles and a few deep tracks thrown into the mi...

Love & Mercy is indeed a very good movie and based on what I've read about about both Brian Wilson and The Beach Boys (which is a lot) what we see on the screen is very accurate. It's also extremely well acted and directed, a definite thumbs up as Siskel and Ebert would have said. Praise for the film has been nearly unanimous. I agree with most observers that Paul Dano was better than John Cusack at playing Wilson, Elizabeth Banks as his future wife (Melinda Ledbetter) was drop dead gorgeous, and Paul Giamatti was perfectly evil as Dr. Eugene Landy. The movie has been discussed endlessly in the entertainment press and on music blogs everywhere so for me to write a proper movie review at this juncture would just be redundant. Instead, it's time to look at this film biography from a slightly different angle and address a glaring omission director Bill Pohlad should have included. This post offers no defense of Landy's treatment of Wilson during the time period...

Until Paul Tanner (1917 – 2013) passed into the great recording studio in the sky earlier this month most people, including me, had never heard of him. Yet he's quite an interesting fellow who played on some of pop music's greatest recordings as part of a long and diverse career in the business. It's hard to believe that there was still someone alive who played in the Glenn Miller Orchestra. The trombonist was the last surviving member of Miller's famous big band. He played with them from 1938 until 1942 on almost all of the bandleader's hits including "In the Mood," "A String of Pearls," "Chattanooga Choo Choo," and "Pennsylvania 6-5000." What makes Tanner fascinating is the fact he was also the man who played on one of rock's most famous songs in 1966. He was responsible for the electro-theremin on The Beach Boys' "Good Vibrations." After Tanner left the Army Air Force at the conclusion of World...

Except for 2004's Smile Brian Wilson's solo releases have never matched the quality of his best Beach Boys material. His frequently juvenile lyrics are the reason. While the genius arranger reacquired his lost sanity around 1983 emotionally he is still locked into 1965 and it shows in his songs.  The problem is emphasized by the lyrics found on his new CD of George Gershwin standards, Brian Wilson Reimagines Gershwin .  Everything on this disc was written many years before the Hawthorne, CA native was even born and because Gershwin's lyrics are more sophisticated than Wilson's we are rewarded with a set of tunes that are more enjoyable than anything found on the latter's recent original work.  For this album the star only needed to use the talents he is best suited for: arranging the music and producing the record in the studio. Wilson has said many times that his favorite piece of music has always been Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue." He even reme...

It was a long time coming. I finally got to see the master of vocal harmonies perform live. Brian Wilson, a man who either couldn’t or wouldn't play on stage for more than two decades, brought his great songs and harmonies, along with a small rock orchestra that included full horn and string sections, to Philadelphia last evening. It was wonderful. Wilson sat in front of his electronic keyboard most of the evening, singing lead vocals on every song, but oddly he didn’t play a single note. It wasn’t until the encore, when he strapped on his bass, that he actually became a member of the band he put together. Wilson’s voice has deepened to the point where he can easily handle the many lead vocals once sung by Mike Love. He can still sing well but he can no longer hit the high notes or sing falsetto. It doesn’t matter because guitarist and main sideman, Jeff Foskett, effortlessly handled those chores. The band was spectacular all night and who would expect less from this perf...