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Posts Tagged ‘Beach Boys’

Sunday, June 19th, 2011

"God Only Knows"

Elvis Costello covers The Beach Boys

Image via WikipediaWikipediaAt some point last night, probably around 11PM, Brian Wilson took a bow on a Toronto stage for possibly the last time. The show at Massey Hall was originally a promo stop for last year’s Reimagines Gershwin album, but following an interview with The Evening Standard last month wherein he mused that he could be retiring from touring following this year, it also became a sort of farewell tour.

So this week’s selection is both a tribute to the man and his work and also a nod to another pop music legend coming by for a visit this week, though I don’t think anyone is worried that Elvis Costello will be retiring anytime soon even if his current Spectacular Spinning Songbook tour has a whiff of victory lap-ness about it. Crowd-pleasing was rather the last thing on his mind back in 1993 when he released The Juliet Letters, a collaboration with English string ensemble The Brodsky Quartet. In addition to the original material on the record based on fictional letters written to one Juliet Capulet, Costello took advantage of the players at his disposal to reinterpret some favourite songs including the Pet Sounds classic, this live version of which didn’t appear on the original album but was included in the 2005 reissue.

Costello will be at The Sony Centre in Toronto this Thursday, June 23, and being backed by The Imposters it’s unlikely any Juliet Letters material will be found on the song-selecting wheel of fortune. As stated, we probably won’t see Wilson in these parts again unless those persistent rumours about a Beach Boys 50th anniversary tour come to fruition, and I wouldn’t hold my breath on that one.

MP3: Elvis Costello & The Brodsky Quartet – “God Only Knows”
Video: The Beach Boys – “God Only Knows”

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Sunday, June 14th, 2009

Patrick Wolf covers The Beach Boys

Image via Amazon.comAmazon.comThat Patrick Wolf is a bit of a unique character isn’t really up for debate, his unique personality apparent to anyone who’s ever read an interview or followed his Twitter and his music also refusing to submit to easy categorization. So thematically, having him cover The Beach Boys’ “I Just Wasn’t Made For These Times” for the 2006 Pet Sounds tribute album Do It Again made good sense, but stylistically you had to wonder if pairing such a dramatically inclined singer with one of Brian Wilson’s most vulnerable and wistful compositions was a good idea. Happily, Wolf is able to dial it down enough to keep its poignancy yet still impart his personality on it.

“Dialed down” are not words you’d use in conjunction with Wolf’s latest album The Bachelor, but the grandiosity why his fans love him. He’s at the Mod Club in Toronto this Wednesday night, June 17, to support. PopMatters has a feature piece and Clash the second part of their interview with Wolf. Brian Wilson released a new solo record in That Lucky Old Sun in late 2008 and more recently, Summer Love Songs was the umpteenth Beach Boys compilation to hit the market, seeking to set itself apart by offering new stereo mixes of a half-dozen songs as well as a previously unreleased Dennis Wilson composition.

MP3: Patrick Wolf – “I Just Wasn’t Made For These Times”
Video: Brian Wilson – “I Just Wasn’t Made For These Times”

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