Brian Wilson on The Tonight Show
This might be a long and somewhat wordy post, but please read to the end. We should all be saddened, not only for the missing, but also for the implications for one of the world's great composers and musicians.
So last night, I was not feeling particularly well, so I went off to bed pretty early and just flipped channels on my little TV when I saw that Brian Wilson was going to be performing on the Tonight Show. (That sentence was too long. Stick it.) So I thought, though I was tired I should probably stay up and watch, I mean, WOW! It's BRIAN WILSON! I love Smile or, as convention is given to spelling it, SMiLE, so I'd love to hear something from it performed live.
So I did. And man, waiting was awful.
I had to sit through:
1. A particularly stupid monologue. (-log?) (-lawg?)
2. A racist bit where some stupid comedian made fun of a Chinese family for being Chinese.
3. A dumb interview with Patricia Arquette
4. An interview with, of all morons, Jeff Gordon; followed by an idiotic bit where he and Jay tried to peel out and burn the tires of two cars they brought in.
5. The increasingly stupid glut of late-night commercials.
But, I thinks to meself, it will be all worth it. Right?
Right?
Right?
RIGHT?
Wrong.
I knew something was off kilter when Wilson had trouble hitting the first note of the song they chose: Good Vibrations. The "I - I - I, love the colorful CLOTHES! she wea - a - ars" starts at a Bb and just goes up from there. So if he can't hit that Bb, it's going to sound rough. And it did. His voice was particularly troubling. He completely biffed the "Oh My-hy-my what an elation!" line in the second third of the song.
But his vocal troubles were just the beginning.
When the curtain went up he looked as though everyone in the audience had just cocked a loaded Smith and Wesson and pointed it in his direction. Wilson looked completely shell-shocked. He was sitting behind a keyboard that looked like he might play it, if only he could find the guts to push the buttons. But he never did. He placed his hands on it a couple a' times, but always seemed to chicken out. He forgot the "I - I - I, I bet I know WHAT! she's li - i - ike" line, and looked relieved when he was able to remember "and I can feel how right she'd be for me - e - e".
So I was thinking today about just posting a: "Wow, poor guy; too bad he wasn't able to pull himself together for probably the highest profile performance he's had in years" type of post today. But I was lazy. So I waited, and did a little searching around for other people's impressions. Most people who post about Wilson are complete sycophants who won't really say what they think, so I never really got an honest impression. So I delayed. But it's a good thing, because eventually I found this:
---
“SMiLE” Cellist Missing from Phuket. Brian Wilson Asks for Help.
Los Angeles, CA January 4, 2005 -- Markus Sandlund, one of the talented cellists from the Stockholm Strings and Horns who performed on Brian Wilson’s album SMiLE, has been reported missing from Phuket, Thailand.
Markus Sandlund (born April 29, 1975) and his girlfriend, Sophia, traveled to Thailand after completing the SMiLE tour in Australia and New Zealand. They were vacationing at the Orchid Beach Resort at Khao Lak (room 112) when the Tsunami hit.
At the time of the tsunami they were at the pool. Sophia was swept away by the flood and was later rescued. She is now back home in Sweden where she is still hospitalized, recovering from injuries. She has not seen Markus since the wave hit.
"I have been devastated since I heard the news that Markus is missing in Thailand,” said Wilson. “ We have sent an agent to see what we can find out, but as of today we have been unable to locate Marcus in the area. If there is anyone out there who might know Markus' whereabouts please contact info@brianwilson.com. My prayers go out to all of the victims and their families and I would ask you to say a prayer for Markus’ safe return."
---
This is truly horrible, and explains Wilson's look, and might also explain his inability to put his heart and soul into the performance, reaching for that high Bb. We should all be quite saddened--hopefully this shan't bring Wilson down too much such that he is unable to perform up to par. Let's hope for the best.
So last night, I was not feeling particularly well, so I went off to bed pretty early and just flipped channels on my little TV when I saw that Brian Wilson was going to be performing on the Tonight Show. (That sentence was too long. Stick it.) So I thought, though I was tired I should probably stay up and watch, I mean, WOW! It's BRIAN WILSON! I love Smile or, as convention is given to spelling it, SMiLE, so I'd love to hear something from it performed live.
So I did. And man, waiting was awful.
I had to sit through:
1. A particularly stupid monologue. (-log?) (-lawg?)
2. A racist bit where some stupid comedian made fun of a Chinese family for being Chinese.
3. A dumb interview with Patricia Arquette
4. An interview with, of all morons, Jeff Gordon; followed by an idiotic bit where he and Jay tried to peel out and burn the tires of two cars they brought in.
5. The increasingly stupid glut of late-night commercials.
But, I thinks to meself, it will be all worth it. Right?
Right?
Right?
RIGHT?
Wrong.
I knew something was off kilter when Wilson had trouble hitting the first note of the song they chose: Good Vibrations. The "I - I - I, love the colorful CLOTHES! she wea - a - ars" starts at a Bb and just goes up from there. So if he can't hit that Bb, it's going to sound rough. And it did. His voice was particularly troubling. He completely biffed the "Oh My-hy-my what an elation!" line in the second third of the song.
But his vocal troubles were just the beginning.
When the curtain went up he looked as though everyone in the audience had just cocked a loaded Smith and Wesson and pointed it in his direction. Wilson looked completely shell-shocked. He was sitting behind a keyboard that looked like he might play it, if only he could find the guts to push the buttons. But he never did. He placed his hands on it a couple a' times, but always seemed to chicken out. He forgot the "I - I - I, I bet I know WHAT! she's li - i - ike" line, and looked relieved when he was able to remember "and I can feel how right she'd be for me - e - e".
So I was thinking today about just posting a: "Wow, poor guy; too bad he wasn't able to pull himself together for probably the highest profile performance he's had in years" type of post today. But I was lazy. So I waited, and did a little searching around for other people's impressions. Most people who post about Wilson are complete sycophants who won't really say what they think, so I never really got an honest impression. So I delayed. But it's a good thing, because eventually I found this:
---
“SMiLE” Cellist Missing from Phuket. Brian Wilson Asks for Help.
Los Angeles, CA January 4, 2005 -- Markus Sandlund, one of the talented cellists from the Stockholm Strings and Horns who performed on Brian Wilson’s album SMiLE, has been reported missing from Phuket, Thailand.
Markus Sandlund (born April 29, 1975) and his girlfriend, Sophia, traveled to Thailand after completing the SMiLE tour in Australia and New Zealand. They were vacationing at the Orchid Beach Resort at Khao Lak (room 112) when the Tsunami hit.
At the time of the tsunami they were at the pool. Sophia was swept away by the flood and was later rescued. She is now back home in Sweden where she is still hospitalized, recovering from injuries. She has not seen Markus since the wave hit.
"I have been devastated since I heard the news that Markus is missing in Thailand,” said Wilson. “ We have sent an agent to see what we can find out, but as of today we have been unable to locate Marcus in the area. If there is anyone out there who might know Markus' whereabouts please contact info@brianwilson.com. My prayers go out to all of the victims and their families and I would ask you to say a prayer for Markus’ safe return."
---
This is truly horrible, and explains Wilson's look, and might also explain his inability to put his heart and soul into the performance, reaching for that high Bb. We should all be quite saddened--hopefully this shan't bring Wilson down too much such that he is unable to perform up to par. Let's hope for the best.
posted by dd0031 at 3:24 PM
2 Comments:
Dale,
While it is quite sad that Wilson's cellist is missing, I do not believe that to be the cause of the poor performance. I saw Brian Wilson live in Chicago about 5 years ago, when he (and his band) performed Pet Sounds in it's entirety. Brian was exactly as you described - dazed look, off-key vocals, not playing the keyboard in front of him.
The show was great for what it was - a faithful reproduction of the Pet Sounds album (along with some other B-Boys hits), with lots of great instrumentalists and vocalists - but not a great Brian Wilson performance. I think it's due to his infamous (IN-famous?) breakdown back in the 60's that resulted in the original Smile never getting off the ground. From what I understand, he was never all that fond of performing and touring, and he eventually became more and more reclusive, to the point that he no longer toured with the band. And he kind of cracked at some point and was never the same.
I just got that new Smile album for Christmas and it is pretty good. His vocals are decent, but I suspect it took a lot of work to get it that way. But the songs are great and the band is great, too. I still prefer the original versions of the few songs that were released, like Surf's Up, just because the older sound quality gives it a little more mythical feel. Whatever, I'm a nerd.
Hmm. That's funny. I had heard that when performing Smile, Wilson had chilled out from his "nervous" performing of Pet Sounds. It's probably a day-to-day thing. It seems to me that if he can't hit that note, they should drop the key of the song. 'Cuz that was muy terrible.
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