That Lucky Old Sun, Brian Wilson’s second major thematic work, isn’t quite the third coming of SMiLE. Instead, it’s an overripe ode to the Southern California of the ’50s and ’60s that the Beach Boys constantly evoked, and although it’s polished with the peak-era production style that Wilson made famous, most of the songs are wrapped around the awkward songwriting and over-wrought pop/rock he’s revisited again and again since his first major return to form, back in 1976. As a thematic topic, “That Lucky Old Sun” is ripe for integration into Brian Wilson’s California myth-making. A Tin Pan Alley chestnut from the ’40s, it contrasts the ease of the sun’s transit each day with the hardship of human toil on earth, a sort of “Ol’ Man River” set in the sky. (Even better is the fact that it’s a professional songwriter’s account of working-class life, which dovetails perfectly with the Beach Boys’ mythic vision of Southern California and the illusionary aspects of Hollywood’s brand of reality.)

That Lucky Old Sun begins with Wilson briefly stating the theme and the intonation of a heavenly choir, but then barrels into the first song, “Morning Beat,” a turgid rocker with a set of adolescent rhymes (one example: “The sun burns a hole through the 6 a.m. haze / Turns up the volume and shows off its rays”). But wasn’t this is supposed to be a collaboration with the great lyricist Van Dyke Parks? Actually, Parks contributes only to a set of spoken narratives, delivered over-emphatically by Wilson himself, that are interspersed throughout the album and attempt to advance the California panorama from Venice Beach to East L.A. to Hollywood — as well as frequent stops along Brian Wilson’s personal timeline. (”How could I have got so low, I’m embarrassed to tell you so / I laid around this old place, I hardly ever washed my face.”) But if Brian Wilson is attempting to look back, his muscle memory for the Beach Boys’ classics appears to be fading faster than his personal memories. That Lucky Old Sun rarely approaches the subtleties of the classic Beach Boys sound. What it evokes instead is the driving ’70s productions on latter-day Beach Boys albums like 15 Big Ones and Love You — granted, with innumerable production touches that could only have come from the mind of Brian Wilson (ah, the clip-clop of wood blocks!).

It’s obvious that Wilson was at the center of some of the best and brightest productions of the ’60s, but the added assumption about being at the center is that there are integral parts radiating outward. (In Wilson’s case, those parts consisted of a superb harmony group with several great lead voices and the on-demand talents of an array of excellent musicians, plus copious engineers and studio technology.) Naturally, his solo career has positioned him at the forefront, which is a very different place than the center and one he’s proved himself unwilling and unable to embrace fully. He needs not only talented collaborators but strong lead voices to place alongside his own; an apt comparison at Wilson’s age is Burt Bacharach, who would hardly consider writing lyrics as well as music and singing every song on one of his albums. The lack of colleagues who could inform the result of this album — the lack of Van Dyke Parks in a prominent role or a Carl Wilson or even a Mike Love — is what dooms That Lucky Old Sun, which assumes a place well below SMiLE in the pantheon of Brian Wilson’s achievements.

Tilly and the Wall have announced two upcoming television appearances. First, the band will sing the “ABC” song on an upcoming episode of Sesame Street. Afterwards, they’ll ratchet up the age of their viewership by performing “Pot Kettle Black” during the the new season of 90210. [CMJ.com]

Happy birthday to Michael Jackson, who plans to celebrate his 50th birthday with his children, cake, and cartoons. [GigWise.com]

Radiohead went head-to-head with presidential hopeful Barack Obama last night. While Sen. Obama delivered his speech at the Democratic National Convention, Radiohead simultaneously issued an internet broadcast of their performance in Santa Barbara, CA. [Spinner.com]

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To me, this sums up the appeal of Awesome Color: “Drummer Allison Busch goes monkey crazy behind her kit, Derek Stanton shreds vocal chords and throws out lightning-fast, thunder heavy guitar and Michael Troutman stands in the middle of the wreckage holding it down in classic Entwistle style.” Read the rest of the painfully insightful review of the group’s second album Electric Aborigines here. Or just watch the pretty and colorful video for the poundingly awesome “Eyes of Light”….

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Kevin Cogill, a.k.a. the blogger who leaked tracks from Guns N’ Roses’ upcoming album Chinese Democracy on his site Antiquiet.com in June, was arrested by the FBI on Wednesday on suspicion of violating federal copyright laws. The leaking of those songs could result in a “significant’ financial loss for the band, prosecutors said. [PopEater.com]

R.I.P. Replacements drummer Steve Foley, who died last weekend in Minneapolis from an accidental overdose of prescription medicine. Foley joined the band after founding drummer Chris Mars left the group shortly after the release of All Shook Down in 1990, playing on what would be the Replacements’ final tour in 1991. He also played in Tommy Stinson’s subsequent band Bash & Pop. Foley was 49. [RollingStone.com]

T.I. makes chart history with his single “Whatever You Like,” which jumped a record-setting 70 spots to top Billboard’s Hot 100. The previous biggest chart jump belonged to Maroon 5’s “Makes Me Wonder,” which leapt from 64 to 1 in May 2007. [Billboard.com]

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Absentee are London indie rockers with a knack for sharp tunes delivered with style and a sloppy, semi-drunken grace. Sort of like a Hold Steady without the over-played AOR infatuation or an Arcade Fire who were able to write a tune you could remember once the CD stops spinning. The deep and resonant vocals of Dan Michaelson are the first thing that’ll hook you, then it’s the sideways and sordid lyrics he drawls out, then it’s the incessantly melodic tunes and the alternately thrillingly raucous and tenderly restrained performances. It’s the kind of indie rock that might cause an old school Pavement/Silver Jews/Tindersticks stick in the mud type to concede that, yes, sometimes they do make them like they used to. The group has a new album out now-ish called Victory Shorts and it’s filled with songs that sound great blasting through headphones here in the chilly cubicle. Good enough to keep me hanging around until the album finishes, even … Here’s a video for one of their should-be hits, “Bitchstealer”:

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The Decoder Ring tunes in some of the best songs from the week’s releases, whether they’re brand-new albums or reissues of vintage music. It’s a hair-raiser as we recall classics by Mott The Hoople and Jeff Simmons. Then we play The Game, tussle with Tussle, get silly with V.I.C., and blare some majestic fantasy metal for a grandiose finale.

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In the 1970s, it was not unusual for the name of American composer Donald Erb to be invoked along with that of George Crumb. His 1969 Nonesuch LP Reconnaissance — never, sadly, issued on CD — represented one of the first times that a Moog synthesizer was used in conjunction with live instruments; the title work was composed in 1967. Erb was also noted for his use of graphic elements in his scores and as a teacher of renown. Born in Youngstown, Ohio in 1927, Erb made the Cleveland Institute of Music his home base for most of his career, although he also taught at Indiana University in Bloomington and at Southern Baptist University in Dallas. As a young man, Erb played trumpet in a dance band and, like many other famous American composers, studied in Paris with Nadia Boulanger. Despite his uncompromising and challenging musical style, Erb was also a huge fan of rock singer Elvis Presley; students couldn’t help but note that his office at IU was well-stocked with Elvis memorabilia. Erb, an ex-Navy man, was also an early and vocal protester against the Vietnam War, although he eventually had a falling out with the movement that supported this political view.

Sometimes Erb’s works employed witty and unconventional titles, such as Symphony of Overtures (1968), In No Strange Land (1968), …And then toward the end… (1970), Purple-Roofed Ethical Suicide Parlor (1976), and Saint Valentine’s Day Brass Quintet (1986). Erb wrote many concertos and was noted for them, one of the most famous being The Seventh Trumpet (1969), a piece that also used synthesizer in addition to a harmonica choir, wine glasses, and water filled jugs; originally given with the Dallas Symphony, it was revived by Chicago Symphony Orchestra in 1987. Erb’s early contact with jazz informed his interest in improvisation, which carried over into his classical compositions, along with the use of electronics and his preference for unusual choices of instrumentation. Donald Erb died in Cleveland Heights, Ohio on August 12; he was 81.

Stewart Dempster, trombone and four synthesized trombone tape tracks - …And Then Towards the End…

The Vedehr Trio - Sunlit Peaks and Dark Valleys

Leonard Slatkin, St. Louis Symphony Orchestra - Ritual Observances

Gary Ciepluch, University Circle Wind Ensemble - Symphony for Winds
 

After Peter Wolf ditched the J. Geils Band in 1983 because co-leader Seth Justman turned down a batch of new songs Wolf had written with Don Covay and Michael Jonzun, he made the most of it and released the great Lights Out album. Boasting a huge hit single, the bouncing, machine-funk monster title track, and a raft of catchy, candy-coated ’80s pop, the album is one of the hidden gems of the era. Wolf casts off the responsibilities of fronting an arena rock band and heads straight for the pop jugular, leaving bluesy guitar licks and harmonica bleating in his rearview mirror. With Michael Jonzun (of Jonzun Crew) producing, the album is slicker than ice and loaded with cheesy synths, electronic drums, reverb, and “sweetening.” It is also very well-arranged; the synthetic sounds never overtake Wolf’s gritty soul and personality — really a perfect balance of soul and machines that only a few artists were able to pull off in the ’80s.

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