Reviews
 Keep It Simple
Van Morrison
Roger McGuinn @ the Huntington IMAC, Long Island, NY - April 4, 2008
Emily Saxe @ the Allen Room/Jazz at Lincoln Center - April 5, 2008
Another Country
Tift Merritt
Be Your Own Pet
Get Awkward
Paul McCartney – The McCartney Years (DVD)
Juno – Music from the Motion Picture
Various Artists
Yes - Their Definitive Story
Day and Night Driving
Seven Mary Three
InterMedia Arts Center 2/2/08
Huntington, NY
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Beach Boys
Do you know how long it has been since the Beach Boys released an album with new original material? I do. That would have been in 1992, fifteen years ago, when they released the totally execrable “Summer in Paradise,” an album so bad that it could have been recorded by Aleutian Eskimos pretending to be the Beach Boys. Do you know how many compilations or collections of old material the band released since then? I do. If you include imports and all of the collections that they licensed to others, there have been 101 separate releases. That is not a misprint. In the past fifteen years, one hundred and one cd’s have been issued containing recycled material. While Mike Love and his cohorts complain about (and sue) Brian Wilson in absentia, they write nothing of consequence, but repackage everything they can get their hands on, especially the stuff that features the real mainman, Brian Wilson. I can understand when an old band tries to coast on its reputation, but 101 re-packaged pieces of product is so far beyond the pale and so abusive of the band’s core audience that it’s a wonder anyone cares any more.
I, for one, cannot review “The Warmth of the Sun” on the merits of its songs, because it would be painfully redundant to do so. All that exists here are a few classic tracks intermingled with a few obscurities. As a rule (and especially when applied to the Beach Boys catalog), the more obscure the tune, the worse it is, and this collection practically screams that point. So, why would you buy this collection? I don’t know. Maybe if you never bought a Beach Boys album in your life, this would be worthwhile, but with 101 other compilations to choose from, I see no particular advantage for this specific collection. Perhaps you are so masochistic that you feel compelled to buy anything that has the band’s name attached. If so, I feel so truly sorry for you, as well as your ex-wife, your estranged children and your mortgage company.
Meanwhile, Mike Love is probably sitting at home right now, arranging the next batch of songs for next week’s compilation. That can’t be healthy for him, so let’s do him a really big favor. Let’s ban all future recycled collections credited to the Beach Boys. If our goal is achieved, we might force Mike to do something with an iota of creativity attached. Wouldn’t that be nice?
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