A Couple Beach Boys Covers
So the band I’m in – Evil Prince Ludwig The Indestructible – met the other day to discuss songs for our next gig. It looks like we’ll be taking a stab at "Sail On Sailor" by the Beach Boys. My favorite version of the song comes from An All-Star Tribute To Brian Wilson, performed by Darius Rucker and Matthew Sweet. (Sweet’s vocal is shaky, but Rucker pimp-slaps the song.) I ripped the song from the DVD and thought it was worth sharing. I also ripped Vince Gill’s heartbreaking cover of "The Warmth Of The Sun." I don’t know if the sound quality’s perfect – I haven’t ripped a lot of audio from DVDs – but I think you’ll enjoy anyway.
Darius Rucker & Matthew Sweet – Sail On Sailor (live) (download)
Vince Gill – The Warmth Of The Sun (live) (download)
By the way, has anybody taken a listen to Brian Wilson’s new song, "Midnight’s Another Day?" I kind of love it. Brian’s fragile voice works perfectly, and the piano/backing vocals are heaven. It’s part of Brian’s new work, That Lucky Old Sun, which debuts on September 10th live in the UK. Thoughts?
September 5th, 2007 at 11:22 am
Ah! Bless your heart for filling the only hole in my Matthew Sweet collection. This song is seriously hard to find.
September 5th, 2007 at 12:05 pm
While I agree that "Midnight’s Another Day" is thoroughly a Brian Wilson song, and that his place in the mix is secure, I couldn’t help but wonder how it would sound coming from a stronger voice.DwD
September 5th, 2007 at 12:16 pm
Well, you could say that about almost any song Brian’s performed over the past few years, right? There are a lot of Brian songs I have a hard time with because of his voice, but this is one where it doesn’t bother me.
September 5th, 2007 at 12:39 pm
Thanks – these are some true hard to find gems. The DVD rips sound OK to my ears. I’ve never heard Vince Gill sing before this…no wonder he’s so big!
http://billsmusicforum.blogspot.com/
September 5th, 2007 at 2:44 pm
On Wilson: Don’t get me wrong – he’s kind of a hero to me… But "Smile" suffered greatly by having been realized in the 2000s.
September 5th, 2007 at 2:58 pm
You think? I really loved the recent release, but I do think that probably has to do more with his backing band…
September 5th, 2007 at 6:15 pm
My take on "Smile", brilliant as it is, is that it’s the voice of a bright-eyed innocent. The songs were written for that voice and that would have been so in the late sixties. Sure, it wouldn’t have been entirely honest. Murray Wilson did a whole lot to piss out the fire of Brian’s innocence, but drugs, failed relationships, the loss of family and the betrayal of others (Mike Love is a cousin, right?) not to mention Dr Eugene "Marrow Sucker" Landy have all taken their toll. When I hear "Smile", a part of me believes Wilson is pining for the thing that should have been rather than just being it… But I read an awful lot into these things to begin with. DwD
September 17th, 2007 at 4:57 pm
I liked both of these songs. Have you ever heard Rucker’s "This Is My World"? It’s on his 2002 solo album, but it first showed up on the Shallow Hal soundtrack (the Farrelly Brothers have great taste in music … or maybe it’s that their tastes are similar to mine and therefore I’m biased). It’s a nice pop-soul number that’s nothing like his work with Hootie and the Blowfish, at least not the songs of theirs that I’m familiar with.