Favorite Music of 2010 - Brian Wilson Reimagines Gershwin

courtesy of my blog: http://cjferrara.blogspot.com/

Yale Whiffenpoofs, the Persuasions, The King's Singers, Rockapella... They're all great, and important to the history of a cappella music. Ranked right up there with all of them are the Beach Boys; and they don't often get credit for being one of the great a cappella groups of the 20th century. Probably because they're so well known for their surf music, it's easy to forget the huge leap forward they helped to make in the progression of vocal harmony. And it had EVERYTHING to do with one man... Brian Wilson. The man was, and still is, a musical genius; blending traditional barbershop harmony with doo-wop in a combination that in the 1960s was unlike any sound on earth.

So, when I saw that his new album was called, "Brian Wilson Reimagines Gershwin" and that it was being put out by Disney Records, I knew one thing: whether or not this is a complete cheesefest will depend on Wilson. Has he still got it? The first track, an a cappella rendition of a theme from Rhapsody in Blue, in that signature Beach Boys harmony, quelled my concerns immediately. The album then went on to become everything you'd expect from such a combination. Great songs by Gershwin given the Brian Wilson treatment. And this is "Pet Sounds" Wilson, not "Surfin' USA" Wilson.

The decision to either give each song a traditional jazz interpretation, such as with "Summertime;" or a kinda of Beach Boys retro rock feel, such as with "I Got Rhythm;" clearly was determined by the needs of the song, and not from Wilson's ego. A feature is a little mini-medley of songs from Porgy and Bess, and as awkward as it is to hear Brian Wilson sing "I Loves You Porgy," the arrangement is amazing, and flows into a Harmonica driven "I Got Plenty of Nuttin'," and the outstanding rendition of "Ain't Necessarily So." He even gets to recreate two seldom heard Gershwin songs, "The Like in I Love You," and "Nothing But Love."

"BWRG" should be a standard in everybody's library, right alongside Pet Sounds and Sgt. Pepper.