Review of Brian Wilson: An All Star Tribute To

Introduction

Brian Wilson is one of Rock`s great survivors. With what he has gone through (and put himself through) he shouldn`t be around today. But he is and he is still making challenging and critically acclaimed music. OK, it may not command the same audience as the old Beach Boys songs but songs like "Love And Mercy" are every bit as good as those early classics.

In early 2001, some of Rock royalty (Elton John, Jimmy Webb, Carly Simon) and some newer faces (Ricky Martin, Darius Rucker, Evan and Jason) got together to record a tribute to Brian in New York. This was broadcast on 4th July 2001 and the highlights feature on the DVD.

Video

Video is letterboxed at 1.78:1 and it is just what you would expect in a modern made-for-TV special - clean, brightly coloured and lacking in any touch of invention or flair that would lift it above run-of-the-mill. There is nothing to complain about and nothing to praise.

Audio

Image Entertainment are getting a reputation (in my book at least) of producing great sounding DVDs and this is no exception. On all three tracks (DD 5.1, DD 2.0 and DTS 5.1), the music is presented with a warmth and detail that does the songs proud. Best of the bunch (as usual with Image) is the DTS track, but the others won`t disappoint.

Being Beach Boys/Brian Wilson songs, vocal harmonies feature heavily in the mix and these are presented beautifully, often directed to the rear to bathe you in sonic warmth.

However, while the audio is excellent, the same can`t be said for all the performances. This is, sadly, a patchy collection. Some performances are excellent, notably Darius Rucker and Matthew Sweet on "Sail On, Sailor", Elton John and Brian Wilson on "Wouldn`t It Be Nice", and Brian on "Love And Mercy". However, for every good performance, there is an equally dire one. Ricky Martin makes an absolute mockery of "California Girls" and "Help Me Rhonda" with his stilted delivery and compulsive gyrations. These songs are meant to be flowing and lilting whereas Martin spits out each word as a distinct entity and in a speak-and-spell monotone. Equally bad is Wilson Phillips (with Brian`s daughters) with their tuneless rendition of "You`re So Good To Me".

Still, if you program the crap out, you have a magic 30 minutes.

Features

Features are reasonable. There is a basic photo album which will keep you amused for a few seconds but, more substantially, there is a bonus track ("Do It Again") and over an hour of interviews. "Do It Again" is performed by Brian and ensemble and is a worthwhile addition but it is hard to see why it wasn`t just included as part of the concert continuity. It is adding it as an extra just to be able to say "Hey, look, we`ve got an extra track".

The interviews with the artists involved and the producer are both interesting and frustrating. Interesting in that (sycophantism aside) you get an opportunity to learn a lot about the making of the concert and, more importantly, how Wilson`s works influenced the like of Darius Rucker, Matthew Sweet, David Crosby and Elton John. However, the frustration comes in the presentation. The interviews are packaged as a series of question menus and you must select each question in turn to hear the answer. There is no option to play all. One tip to improve the flow is to press the next track button on the remote before the chapter ends.

Could do better.

Conclusion

Overall and very mixed bag. In its original recorded form, the music was excellent. Given that it was crafted in the studio and not necessarily intended to be performed live (at the time anyway), the backing musicians do an admirable job of adhering to Wilson`s vision. The performers, unfortunately, do not always live up to the material and the musical accompaniment. Ricky Martin should never have been given the opportunity to mangle these Beach Boys` classics. He was presumably brought in to encourage the teen market to by the CD/DVD. Ditto Evan and Jason (who the hell are Evan and Jason?).

But at its best, this is sublime music, beautifully performed. Wilson himself (while cutting a remote and unnerving figure) still has a great voice and is the most appropriate vessel for these works. Fortunately, he gets the chance to perform 6 of the 21 tracks. Darius Rucker, Elton John, Matthew Sweet, Aimee Mann and (a very chunky) Vince Gill acquit themselves well. Darius Rucker and Matthew Sweet`s performance of
"Sail On, Sailor" is the highlight for me.

It is, of course, a very American affair, even though some of the best musicians ploughing the same furrow as Wilson are British. It would have been more fitting for, say, Sean O`Hagan and the High Llamas to perform one of Brian`s more challenging works.

If you ignore some of the truly awful performances and some cringe worthy testimonials by George Martin and Dennis Hopper, you will feel as if you are being bathed in the warmth of the sun.