Great followup to "1962-69" DVD with lots of insightful interviews. A MUST for all Wilson fans!
The UK-based Chrome Dreams DVD label (distributed in the US by MVD) has really grown in quality over the year. Their earlier productions had just a few music journalists and no real music of the artist on them. They were just "OK" but beginning with the predecessor to this DVD "Brian Wilson - Songwriter 1962-69" things really improved and I raved about it to every Wilson or Beach Boy fan. This one picks up where that volume ended and spends much of its time on the post Pet Sounds period, especially the Warner Reprise years. The commentators include Bruce Johnson and Mark Volman plus a bunch of Wilson biographers as well as their early years Manager and their recording engineer. All are entertaining to listen to. My favorite (but this is subjective) is music professor Philip Lambert who sits at a piano and demonstrates his comments on Wilson's composition elements. There is a lot of vintage footage though you do have to realize that some is silent because of copyright issues. But...
Brian in the 70s
Firstly it is worth pointing out that this film is the sequel to the excellent Brian Wilson - Songwriter: 1962-1969, which if you haven't seen I would highly recommend, examining Brian's output throughout the `Surf Band' period, the recording of Pet Sounds and the abortive Smile sessions.
This film picks up the story where the first part left off, following Brian's breakdown and the recording of `20/20'. Over the course of the next two hours, the documentary covers in some depth the recording of each Beach Boys album throughout the 70s.
A wide range of excellent contributors are on hand to explain events, including Beach Boy Bruce Johnston, their manager Fred Vail and friends of Brian and fellow L.A. scenesters Danny Hutton of Three Dog Night and Mark Volman of The Turtles. Behind-the-scenes studio perspectives come from a number of different producers, engineers and session musicians who worked on the albums. We also hear from a host of Brian Wilson biographers,...
Do It Again
As I write this, there are six reviews of this DVD and each of them give the disc 5-stars. I hate to be the odd man out, but I'd probably give it 3.5. Since you can't do half stars on Amazon, I bumped it up to 4 because I love Brian. An issue I have with the documentary is that it is more about Brian and his mental state than it is about him being a songwriter, which is in the title of the feature. Only about 44-minutes in does Philip Lambert start to analyze "This Whole World" musically. He also does good pieces on "Do It Again" and "Blueberry Hill" which were left out and put in the bonus section. Bruce Johnston is only in it a couple times, unlike part 1. Peter Ames Carlin and Domenic Priore do the majority of the commenting. (Peter's book, "Catch a Wave," should not be missed).
One reason I was disappointed in the first installment, was that while the title said 1962-1969, the four post-SMiLE 60s albums were barely touched upon. When I saw this DVD was coming...
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