BRIAN WILSON: IN THE KEY OF DISNEY (2011)
1) You've Got A Friend; 2) The
Bare Necessities; 3) Baby Mine; 4) Kiss The Girl; 5) Colors Of The Wind; 6) Can
You Feel The Love Tonight; 7) We Belong Together; 8) I Just Can't Wait To Be
King; 9) Stay Awake; 10) Heigh-Ho/Whistle While You Work/Yo Ho (A Pirate's Life
For Me); 11) When You Wish Upon A Star.
According to the Disney people, In The Key Of Disney was «the album
that marries the vision of two men who shaped the image of modern California».
That may be so, but it still does not
exactly explain who on Earth came up with the romantic idea of having Brian
Wilson record a bunch of Disney movie songs, and why on Earth had the decision
been approved by Walt Disney Records. Were they that out of touch with reality? Did they think it could have any
chance to become a strong seller? Or could it be true that somebody on top
there was really enchanted by what it would be like to have Brian sing ʽCan You
Feel The Love Tonightʼ — and damn the torpedoes and all? So many silly
questions, so few answers.
Anyway, one thing and one thing only is for
sure: in terms of musical arrangements, all
these songs are better than their movie counterparts (well, maybe except the
two Randy Newman ditties from Toy Story 1
and 3, because, well, Randy is
Randy). Either Brian took the job seriously, or by now he and his band are just
doing this automatically, but most of the songs are dutifully Wilsonized to
the same extent that Gershwin was — with harmonies, chimes, baroque
atmospheres, indeed, it has to be stated that there is far more Wilson vision
here than Disney vision. And yes, some of these songs were quite decent in the
first place, but it is Brian that performs here the tedious, but rewarding
task of «de-cloying» them.
The selection, as you can see, leans heavily
towards the «Disney Renaissance» era, probably because it is these songs that 21st century listeners
would seem to relate to rather than the old stuff, but then one shouldn't also
forget that Brian himself grew to some of those cartoons, and it may be assumed
that at least ʽBaby Mineʼ from Dumbo
and ʽWhen You Wish Upon A Starʼ meant something to the man long before he
became a star in his own right (in fact, ʽWhen You Wishʼ, according to Brian's
own confession, had influenced ʽSurfer Girlʼ to some degree). And out of ʽBaby
Mineʼ, at least, he managed to make a minor Wilson classic — now it is a lush,
but totally non-sappy Beach Boyish waltz with perfect harmonies. If they ever
remake Dumbo, I do hope this version
will make it to the soundtrack, especially since there will probably be nothing
else worth remembering about such a remake anyway.
Another really
pleasant surprise for me was the cover of ʽColors Of The Windʼ from Pocahontas, which probably has the
single finest vocal delivery from Brian and puts the awfully and predictably
overwrought vegasey version by Vanessa Williams to sleep — and the quiet organ,
electric guitar, and flute arrangement is as much an epitome of good taste as
the usual Disney arrangements are the epitome of cheese-a-rama. Brian's
magical talents are not quite sufficient to salvage every wreck: ʽCan You Feel
The Love Tonightʼ, unfortunately, retains its pompous power ballad core, and
ʽWhen You Wishʼ... well, people don't like tampering with that song any more
than they like tampering with ʽYesterdayʼ, and that makes the cover fairly
useless.
But the major weakness of the album, and the
one which makes it hard to recommend it to anybody except as a curio, is that
there is really no point in having Brian sing all these songs. One or two could have been nice, but they are all
character impersonations, and Brian was never much good at character
impersonation. When he can really get into it just because he knows, deep in
his heart, what that song's mood is all about (ʽBaby Mineʼ is definitely up his
alley, and I guess the naïve environmentalism of ʽColors Of The Windʼ was also
something he could heartily relate to), it works; but ʽI Just Can't Wait To Be
Kingʼ? ʽKiss That Girlʼ? ʽHeigh-Ho, To Work We Goʼ? These are comical numbers
that call for «getting into character», and it is predictable that Brian can't
do it and won't do it, so why bother? And even if he might empathize with the
message in ʽThe Bare Necessitiesʼ (not to mention that he does look a little
Baloo-like these days), the bare necessity of that song is to deliver the
message with comic precision and timing.
So, despite my sincere amazement at the intelligent and tasteful
transformation of some of the songs, the idea on the whole does not work: there
is just not enough of Disney's musical legacy for one Brian Wilson to absolve
it all. It is not quite as absurd, pointless, or sacrilegious (the latter
depending on whether you'd think Wilson desecrates Disney, or Disney desecrates
Wilson) as it may seem, but it ain't no thirty-minute miracle, either. What could be a miracle would be a Disney
(or, preferably, Pixar) cartoon about Brian Wilson, with a Brian Wilson
soundtrack — given that Brian, particularly at this point, somewhat resembles a
cartoon character himself. Come to think of it, a cartoon about The Beach Boys
could very well qualify as «family entertainment», especially if they remember
to focus on drugs, wild sex, Charlie Manson, and Mike Love's wife-beating
escapades all the way through.
The (quite humorous) final paragraph is in the wrong font.
ReplyDeleteSomehow, this album seems pretty interesting to me. The older films had far more tasteful soundtracks, imo, and like you said, Newman is Newman (and I'm not one to pass up a cover of Newman's material).
Why does this album exist? You might ask well ask why Bob Dylan albums of old standards and Christmas carols from this same time period exist. It’s simply because artists that reach this status can indulge in their (no pun intended) pet projects. This is certainly less crazy than ol’ Bob singing “Silent Night” or something.
ReplyDeleteYou do make a couple of interesting points. First, outside the context of the movies, the songs can easily come off as absolute Tin Pan Alley schmaltz. Secondly, they are frequently sung by the actors portraying the characters in the films, because they have to be acted as well. Brian is pretty much, especially at this point, good at only being himself. He’s too sincere to take on other personas, for the most part.
The two songs that are exceptions are those from “The Lion King”, because Elton made his own versions independently of the movie. Brian, I agree, doesn’t do much more with “Can You Feel the Love Tonight” besides the usual nice backing harmonies. On the other hand, adding a Bo Diddley beat to “I Just Can't Wait to Be King” is a lot of fun, and Brian’s singing isn’t nearly as campy as Elton’s.
Highlights, for me, are the Spector-esque “Kiss the Girl”; and “Stay Awhile” (once again, the harpsichord and harmonies recall “Wonderful”). Brian does add extra emotional resonance to “Baby Mine” and “When You Wish upon a Star”. The “Heigh-Ho..” medley is a cleverly done slice of fun, as well. The rest is certainly listenable.
However, the songs don’t give Brian quite enough to work with in the first place, so it was never going to be an all-out classic. There is enough here for both Brian fans and Disney fans. We should also be grateful that the album came out before the movie “Frozen”. Nobody, not even Brian Wilson, can save “Let it Go”. Nobody.