Instead of doing work today I decided to hunt down Brian and Dennis Wilson’s notorious Cocaine Sessions, sometimes known also as the Hamburger Sessions or Things We Used to Get Brian to Show Up for Practice. The two brothers recorded this demo at Village Recorders during a real low point in 1981 while Brian was in temporary hiatus, not too long before Dennis’ tragic death. This short collection of fragments documents a sweet and haunting glimpse from the last years of their song writing partnership. I can’t brag about the quality, I know, the tape hiss is about as loud as the music, but with a little Treble Reducer the white noise dissipates and some pretty great sketches emerge. Stoned off their gourds, the duo navigate some pretty commanding melodies on organ and piano with vocals both exhausted and hysteric. The tape’s two ‘coherent’ tracks “Oh Lord” and “I Feel So Fine” were slated to be properly developed although they just never materialized, but maybe these dejected, underwater gospels were never meant to get cleaned up.
You can grab the whole bootleg here.
MP3 :::
Brian Wilson & Dennis Wilson – Oh Lord
Brian Wilson & Dennis Wilson – I Feel So Fine
As followers of our Twitter are more than aware, Kenny Bloggins has been straight fiendin’ the past few weeks. It’s probably been annoying as all hell, and I suppose I’m somewhat sorry. But not really – the final season of LOST begins tonight, and we are throwin’ down. In the traditional way this blog celebrates all the stupid shit going on in my life, it seemed necessary to throw a Super Swingin’ Mix in your vicinity to lift John Locke’s name on high. And hey, it also can serve as sort of a peace offering to you all for the general numberskullery that will occur on the Twitter account over the next few months. So… all the songs below relate to themes, storylines, etc. from LOST. Can you find all the connections at home, kids? Oh, and of course 4, 8, 15, 16, 23 and 42 are well represented in this mix. What kind of a blogger do you think I am?
I’m not entirely sure many or any of you care about some of the theories that myself, L-Train, and our friends have hypothesized. I’ll just leave it at this – John Locke will resurrect and Jacob’s ass is evil. Believe.
Much love to the Vintage DHARMA Flickr pool for providing the image above.
MP3 :::
Nethers – It’s an Island
Brian Eno – Burning Airlines Give You So Much More
Trap Door – International Psychedelic Mystery Mix Untitled 15
The Advisory Circle – Farmland Freeland
Broadcast – Never Trust a Rusty Bolt
Fairport Convention – Eastern Rain
Silver Apples – Program
Blonde Redhead – 23
Battles – Bad Trails [Live]
The Wilderness – Your Hands
The United States of America – Stranded in Time
Flying Saucer Attack – To the Shore
The Conet Project – Counting Control
Can – Mushroom
Brian Wilson – Cabin Essence
The Great Northwest – Chief John
No Age – Things I Did When I Was Dead
13th Floor Elevators – May the Circle Remain Unbroken
The Zombies – Imagine the Swan
Leadbelly – Don’t You Love Your Daddy No More?
The Incredible String Band – Nightfall
Animal Collective – Don’t Believe the Pilot
Bachelorette – The End of Things
Tomorrow marks the 30th anniversary of the Jonestown massacre at the Peoples Temple community in Guyana, the second largest death en masse of American civilians from non-natural disaster origins (the first being niner eleven), claiming 909 very loyal lives. Jonestown wasn’t just a bizarre and significant historical event, but also was a direct influence or tangential muse to lots of delightfully psychotic music. As with anything that could be filed under the hard-to-explain, I, too, am extremely fascinated by cults. Continue reading ‘Happy Jonestown Day – Pass the Kool Aid, Por Favor’
I haven’t heard it yet, since I’m typing this very post from work and the tyrants have firewalled all streaming content, but you probably can (and should) go on and czech the new Brian Wilson jam That Old Lucky Sun from now until Sept. 1 (the day before its release). And, for whatever reason, it’s USA Today that has the jump on this. So go here and let me know how it is. I’ll be right here.
While you’re groovin’ high, I suppose you can also peruse all the hawtttt celebrity gossip USA Today is wont to publish. The article has a nice little timeline available to read so you can get to know B Dubs a little better, though it curiously omits the most fun part of his life – flipping out and building a sandbox around his piano. I hope that That Old Lucky Sun is awesome, but being released to USA Today first doesn’t bode well for its potential awesomeness.
I actually had the pleasure of hearing Brian Wilson speak at a panel during the CMJ Music Marathon 2004 in New York City, right before the Smile sessions were released. He seemed like a nice man. Though he was the keynote speaker that day, he didn’t say much. At all. Whatsoever. Van Dyke Parks did most of the talking, and he would occasionally lean over to Brian and say “isn’t that right, Brian.” “Yes, yes, I remember that. Very fun. Making music. Fun.” It was weird. But it was awesome, too.
Pics or it didn’t happen:
Continue reading ‘New Brian Wilson Streaming Online, New Verve Also Streaming (and Kinda Sucks)’
