Coram Deo ~

Looking at contemporary culture from a Christian worldview

Tag Archives: Brian Wilson


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BOOK REVIEWS and NEWS

Book Reviews
a-life-well-playedA Life Well Played: My Stories by Arnold Palmer. St. Martin’s Press. 272 pages. 2016
****

This was Arnold Palmer’s 13th book, and the sequel to his 1999 autobiography A Golfer’s Life. The book, which was published shortly after his death on September 25 at age 87, features 75 short stories on a wide range of topics under the headings of Golf, Life and Business.  As a bonus on the audiobook version of the book Arnie reads the beginning section of the book, be it in a very weak voice.

Arnie writes that the biggest influence in golf and life was his father, “Paps”. He taught him to be a sportsman along with good sportsmanship. He rode him hard and rarely complimented him.  His parents taught him manners and respect. Other major influences on him were his first wife Winnie, agent Mark McCormack, and the game of golf.

Of the 75 stories Palmer includes here, I had many favorites. Among them were:

  • His love of Latrobe Country Club (he considered Latrobe, PA to be home), Bay Hill, and Pebble Beach
  • His thoughts about Jack Nicklaus
  • Playing boldly, charging and going for broke
  • Arnie’s Army
  • His thoughts on civility, trust (sealing some of his most important business deals with just a handshake), and listening well
  • Signing autographs (and doing a good job of it too)
  • His love and devotion to first wife Winnie
  • His love of flying. He wrote that had he not made a career of playing golf, he would have most likely been an airline pilot
  • His heroes (his father, Bryon Nelson, Walter Hagen and Bobby Jones)
  • His charity efforts, especially those related to children
  • His relationship to Ike (Dwight D. Eisenhower)
  • Golf course design. He still had plans to design the “ultimate course”
  • The Golf Channel, which he co-founded
  • The Arnold Palmer drink (iced tea and lemonade)

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Movie Review ~ Love and Mercy

Love & MercyLove and Mercy, rated PG-13
***

This film is based on the life of Brian Wilson, the genius behind the Beach Boys. It is in many ways a difficult film to watch as it portrays the hard life that Wilson has lived, enduring his abusive father Murry (played by Bill Camp) who was actually fired as manager of the band, mental illness, drug abuse and a difficult relationship with cousin and fellow band member Mike Love (played by Jake Abel), which continues to this day.

The film, directed by Bill Pohlad, focuses on two specific periods in Wilson’s life, switching back and forth throughout the film. In the mid-1960’s Wilson is a tormented soul, the victim of his father’s abuse (we see him play an early version of his classic “God Only Knows”, for his father, who dismisses it), and decides to stop touring with the band to focus on writing songs and working in the studio. We see his creativity in taking the music that he hears in his head and taking it to develop the songs that would eventually become the band’s 1966 masterpiece Pet Sounds. Paul Dano, who is made to look like a young Wilson, superbly portrays this young Wilson, who we see begin to use LSD on the way to a mental breakdown. Yet even after the success of “Good Vibrations”, the largest selling Beach Boys single, Wilson still craves his father’s affirmation. I believe Dano’s performance is worthy of a Best Actor Oscar nomination.

In the mid-1980’s we see a heavily medicated Wilson played by John Cusack (no effort is made to make him look like Wilson, which is distracting), completely under the control of the evil Dr. Eugene Landy, excellently portrayed by Paul Giamatti. Landy claims to have “saved” Wilson from a life of spending three years in his bed and weighing 300 pounds, but he now controls all aspects of his life, even serving as his legal guardian.  The film does include some adult language, including the abuse of God’s and Jesus’ names several times, especially by Dr. Landy. Followed by his handlers, Wilson goes into a Cadillac car dealer and meets Melinda Ledbetter, portrayed by Elizabeth Banks. This meeting will change his life.

The two hour film was quite slow at times, but the acting performances – Dano, Giamatti, Banks and Cusack – are superb. My favorite part of the film was watching Wilson in the studio working with musicians to create the music for Pet Sounds (which Rolling Stone magazine has named the #2 rock album of all-time, second only to the Beatles Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, which was inspired by Pet Sounds), while the band was on the road touring. However, when the band returns, Love (and Wilson’s father) want him only to recreate duplicates of early Beach Boys hits (surfing, cars and girls), rather than this new music.

Incredibly, Wilson, now 72, has survived and continues to be an important artist, recording and touring (including a July 6 date with fellow Beach Boys Al Jardine and David Marks at the Ravinia Festival near Chicago). See my review of Wilson’s 2015 album, No Pier Pressure, originally intended to be a Beach Boys album, which gives us glimpses of his genius. A song from the new album – “One Kind of Love” – plays over the closing credits after a video of him playing “Love and Mercy” in concert.


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Music Reviews and News

monkeyNo Pier Pressure - Brian Wilson

 Music Review

 

No Pier Pressure – Brian Wilson
***

Originally intended to be the Beach Boys’ follow-up to their 2012 under-appreciated That’s Why God Made the Radio (until Mike Love “fired” Brian Wilson, Al Jardine and David Marks at the end of their 50th Anniversary Tour), No Pier Pressure ended up as the first solo album of all-new material from the 72 year-old legendary Brian Wilson since 2008’s That Lucky Old Sun. Those harmonies…..that’s what I loved about the Beach Boys, and that’s the best part of this new project, which can feel a bit disjointed and inconsistent. That makes sense, as four of the songs seem to have been for the Beach Boys album, a few are true Wilson solo songs, and the others feature guest artists, with mixed results.

Wilson joins the list of rock and roll veterans who have lately tried new approaches. Van Morrison and John Fogerty recently released duet projects. Paul McCartney has recently worked with Kanye West and Rihanna, and Bob Dylan released an album of songs that Frank Sinatra had recorded. None of these artists have anything left to prove and thus can experiment.

For Wilson’s eleventh solo studio album, he returned to Capitol Records, his longtime label with the Beach Boys. He also reunites with Joe Thomas, his frequent songwriting partner and co-producer.

The four songs which feature combinations of Beach Boys Al Jardine, David Marks and Blondie Chaplin – “Whatever Happened”, “The Right Time”, “Tell Me Why”, and “Sail Away”, feature stunning harmonies and are worth the price of the album (or you can just download those songs individually). Those songs will take you back to the best of the Beach Boys music. Jardine and Chaplin will be joining Wilson on tour this summer.

Wilson handles the vocals for the opening “This Beautiful Day”, “One Kind of Love”, and the closing “The Last Song” (a version of which was reportedly recorded with Lana Del Rey) himself.

“Runaway Dancer”, featuring Sebu Simonian of Capital Cities, has a dated 80’s disco feel to it and is my least favorite song on the record. Next least favorite is “On the Island” featuring She & Him. “Half Moon Bay” features beautiful harmonies and the trumpet of Mark Isham. “Our Special Love”, which was originally going to feature Frank Ocean, instead includes the vocals of Peter Hollens. “Guess You Had to Be There” is a catchy song featuring vocals from Kacey Musgraves. This would be my favorite of the songs featuring the non-Beach Boy guest artists. “Saturday Night” featuring Nate Ruess of fun., is likeable, but doesn’t feature enough of Wilson.

Throughout, Wilson’s voice is strong and the production is excellent. The genius of Wilson comes through on No Pier Pressure, but the album is uneven because of the varied styles and guests that are included.

 MUSIC NEWS:This is Not a Test - Toby Mac

  • TobyMac’s new album. TobyMac’s sixth studio album ***THIS IS NOT A TEST*** is scheduled to be released August 7.
  • Jon Foreman Solo EP. Switchfoot frontman is going to be releasing some new solo EPs this year, with each song representing one particular hour of the day. For his first EP, Daylight, Foreman recently released the song titles. The action begins at 11 a.m. with “Terminal,” followed by “The Mountain”, “You Don’t Know How Beautiful You Are”, “Caroline”, “The Patron Saint of Rock & Roll” and “All of God’s Children” finishing at 4 p.m. Stay tuned to find out exactly when the new record is coming
  • The Table. Check out Chris Tomlin with the University of South Florida Gospel Choir doing this song from his latest album Love Ran Red.
  • U2’s Flight to Now (Turbulence Included). Jon Pareles of the New York Times writes about U2 getting ready for their Innocence and Experience Tour.

Song of the Week

This week’s song is Steve Camp’s “He Covers Me”, a song that meant a lot to me for a long time. I had the pleasure of meeting Steve several years ago when our church hosted him for a weekend of teaching and worship.
Oh Lord I feel so barren and ashamed of who I am
How I often fell
I hid it well
A lie I cannot defend
So I lean upon Your mercy
As I confess my sin to You
It is no easy way
No saving face
When you finally see the truth
Let my life be filled with only You

I know someday I will be free
The weight of sin shall be released
But for now He covers me
And though the trials never end
I learn to take them as my friend
For each day He covers me

Sometimes the pressure builds around me
And I feel about to break
I suffer patiently from wrongs done to me
But vengeance isn’t mine to take
Let me glory in my weakness
Until Your strength’s revealed in me
It is Your grace alone that helps me carry on
To be the man I long to be
Let Your life be perfected in me
(You’re the Light) Until it’s You they see

And though heartache surrounds me
I know Your love is around me
Nothing can separate me from You
Oh Lord I know it’s true