Brian Wilson Presents Pet Sounds Live is a live CD and DVD by Brian Wilson. The CD, released in June 2002, consists of performances from the January 2002 Royal Festival Hall shows. The DVD adds in performances from his return to the venue in June 2002.
At the performances that were recorded for the CD, Wilson did two sets per night. The first set was a mixture of obvious hits and ultra-rarities, while the second was a performance of the complete Pet Sounds album, followed by Good Vibrations , with two encores. However only the Pet Sounds set was included for this album, slightly disappointingly. The tracklist is:
- Band introductions
- Wouldn't It Be Nice
- You Still Believe In Me
- That's Not Me
- Don't Talk (Put Your Head On My Shoulder)
- I'm Waiting For The Day
- Let's Go Away For A While
- Sloop John B
- God Only Knows
- I Know There's An Answer
- Here Today
- I Just Wasn't Made For These Times
- Pet Sounds
- Caroline, No
The Japanese version also contains the bonus tracks Friends and Meant For You. The DVD also features Good Vibrations and a documentary feature on the making of the original Pet Sounds album.
Some may see it as redundant for Wilson to be releasing a second live album so soon after 2000's Live At The Roxy, but having seen two of these shows (I was at the 28th and 29th of January shows) I can say that Wilson's band and his stage presence have increased in leaps and bounds since that album. To my mind it's just a shame that it's not a full double-CD documenting a full gig - it's a real shame to have to leave the stunning performances of rarely-played songs like Surf's Up, Til I Die, Forever, Marcella, Our Prayer, Desert Drive or Meant For You to bootleggers.
The stunning band for these shows consisted of Wilson himself, obviously, on lead vocals (plus keyboard on Surfer Girl and bass on Barbara Ann, neither of which feature on the set); former Beach Boys sideman Jeff Foskett on vocals, guitar, banjo and hand-held percussion.
From The Wondermints: Darian Sahanaja on keyboards, vibraphone and vocals, also the musical director of the band; Probyn Gregory on guitar, French horn, trumpet, keyboards, vocals and Tannerin; Nick 'Nicky Wonder' Walusko on guitar and vocals.
Regular Wilson collaborator Andy Paley on percussion, guitar and vocals; Paul Mertens of Poi Dog Pondering on woodwind instruments and harmonica; Taylor Mills on vocals; Scott Bennet on vocals, keyboards, vibraphone, quiro, bicycle horn and tambourine; and Wilson's regular rhythm section of 'The Tasty Brothers', Bob Lizik (bass) and Jim Hines (drums).
The June shows saw Paley replaced by Mikey D'Amico of the Wondermints, who had been in Wilson's band for 1999 and 2000 and remains in the band, but hadn't played in the shows in late 2001/early 2002 due to other commitments.
The shows were recorded by Mark Linnet, Wilson's regular recording engineer.
The album and DVD are both available from Sanctuary Records. A warning though - the DVD is NTSC-format only, and thus may not be viewable on older equipment outside the US.