Brian Wilson presents Pet Sounds Live

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I was lucky enough to be at the Festival Hall in London in January when this new live album was recorded, and its great to now have an official release. For anyone who's even had only a passing interest in Brian's work this is a must buy. For everyone else who already knows his genius well no doubt you've got this already. The shows were the best I've ever seen in 19 years of concert going. To see Brian live on stage was like a miracle anyway, but to see him and his band - the best band in the world - perform these songs with such care and love was just amazing. If you were there this is the perfect way to remember it. If you weren't then I'd definitely recommend this CD to see that it really was as good as the reviews said. And next time Brian and his band come your way - go check him out, you'll be forever glad that you did.

― wave, Monday, 17 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Seeing Brian Wilson at the Queen's Jubilee concert thing was really depressing. He looked all detached and sad, while all these hangers- on, has-beens, and slappers butchered his beautiful songs. (Andrea Corr singing 'God Only Knows' - JUST FUCK OFF!)

I take it this album is quite different?

― Andrew, Monday, 17 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

The album is passable, but not amazing. I got to listen to it, but there's no way I'm buying it for myself. If nothing else, the between songs talking is REALLY annoying, and the only thing that I got out of it was wonder that they even got as close as they did to making the songs sound like the album. Really, if you have Pet Sounds, there's no reason to buy the live version, and if you're going to buy one, there's no reason to buy this version over the original.

― lyra in seattle, Monday, 17 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

The live album is a lot better than the Jubilee gig. At the Jubilee, well lots of other acts got forced on others, not always successfully. At his own shows, Brian and his band are amazing. The bootlegs of the UK shows this year really capture how well he went down here. The official release isn't the full show, but compared to lots of other official live albums I found it good.

― wave, Tuesday, 18 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Live at the Roxy is good. The London show was great. I might get the CD, but I wish it was the whole show, as he played "Forever" which is my favourite Beach Boys song.

― jel --, Wednesday, 19 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Jel is quite right - as terrific as the Pet Sounds section of this year's live shows have been (and I'd rank last week's RFH performance a bit higher than the night I saw in January), it's the first third of the night that's worth having, if anything is, on disc.

Lots of late 60s/early 70s material - "Busy Doin' Nothing", "Our Prayer", "Friends", "Surf's Up", "Cabinessence", oh, and the 'In The Cantina' version of "Heroes and Villains" too. It would sound better than any Smile bootleg for one thing...

― Michael Jones, Wednesday, 19 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Brian's 'people' are currently posting messages on boards & emailing fans saying 'please write about the new Pet Sounds Live CD on every message board you can, saying how great it is' blah blah. Yep, the shows were extraordinary (the performances last week were even better), but this really isn't cricket.

Regarding the LP itself, I think Lyra has pretty much hit the nail on the head. At least, I assume she has; I've not actually bought the thing, having already bought the LP, a vinyl reissue, the first issue of the CD, a 2nd copy when it was stolen, and the Sessions box set.

― harvey w, Thursday, 20 June 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

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Brian Wilson presents Pet Sounds Live - new CD