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Brian Wilson Reimagines Gershwin (2010)

Where the lyrics of Brian Wilson Reimagines Gershwin take you, and where it was really made.

Disney first asked Wilson for an album of his own arrangements of Disney film songs, but he first wanted to record Gershwin covers, and the label agreed to support that.

Key places

Henson Recording Studios (2010)

Recording site A&M Recording Studios — The Discogs credits list Henson Recording Studios as one of the studios where the album was recorded. The point uses the candidate coordinates for the Los Angeles studio. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Ocean Way Recording (2010)

Recording site Ocean Way Recording — The Discogs credits list Ocean Way Recording as one of the studios where the album was recorded. The point uses the candidate coordinates for the Los Angeles studio. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Album story

Overview

• Brian Wilson Reimagines Gershwin: eighth studio album by Brian Wilson
• Released August 17, 2010 by Walt Disney Records as part of the Disney Pearl Series
• Ten George and Ira Gershwin covers, bookended by passages from Rhapsody in Blue
• Two new songs completed from unfinished Gershwin fragments by Wilson and Scott Bennett
• Vinyl limited edition followed on August 24, 2010

Background

• Summer 2009: Walt Disney Records asked Wilson about recording his own arrangements of Disney film songs
• Wilson first wanted a Gershwin covers album, which the label agreed to support
• Wilson and band member Paul Mertens chose songs based on Wilson's vocal range
• Gershwin estate granted access to over 100 unfinished songs and fragments
• "Will You Remember Me" (written 1924 for Lady, Be Good) was completed as "The Like in I Love You"
• "Say My Say" (unfinished by the Gershwin brothers in 1929) was completed as "Nothing But Love"

Recording

• Recording began at the start of 2010, with Wilson as producer
• Mertens wrote out the arrangements and the linking pieces between tracks
• The backing band cut the instrumental tracks live in the studio
• The Rhapsody in Blue harmonies that bookend the album were done entirely by Wilson
• Mixing took place in spring; Al Schmitt was hired to remix the original tracks by Mark Linett

Cover

• Artwork is an homage to the cover of the 1958 jazz LP Sonny Clark Trio by Sonny Clark

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Tracklist

Sources: musicbrainz.org

Artist

Career

• Brian Douglas Wilson (1942–2025) was an American musician, singer, songwriter and record producer who co-founded the Beach Boys.
• In 1961 he began his professional career as a member of the Beach Boys, serving as songwriter, producer, co-lead vocalist, bassist, keyboardist and de facto leader.
• After signing with Capitol Records in 1962, he became the first pop musician credited for writing, arranging, producing and performing his own material.
• He wrote or co-wrote over three dozen U.S. Top 40 hits, including the number-ones "I Get Around", "Help Me, Rhonda" and "Good Vibrations".
• In 1966 he produced Pet Sounds and his first solo credited release "Caroline, No", and began the unfinished album Smile.
• Struggles with mental illness led to withdrawal from regular touring from late 1964 and a long period of reclusion.
• A psychologist-led program with Eugene Landy in the 1980s preceded the solo album Brian Wilson (1988).
• He completed Smile in 2004 as Brian Wilson Presents Smile, earning his greatest acclaim as a solo artist.
• His influence spans the California sound, art pop, psychedelia, chamber pop, progressive pop, punk and indie music.
• Honors include two Grammy Awards, Kennedy Center Honors, and induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (1988) and Songwriters Hall of Fame (2000).
• The 2014 biopic Love & Mercy dramatized his life.
• He died on June 11, 2025 at age 82.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Reception

At release

• Rolling Stone described the album as "lovely, weird, subtly psychedelic symphonic lounge music"
• The arrangements were praised for their uniqueness
• AllMusic's John Bush wrote that the production was easily the best on a Brian Wilson record since SMiLE
• "I Got Rhythm" and "They Can't Take That Away From Me" were noted for their Beach Boys influences
• Adam Gershwin, George Gershwin's great-nephew, said the songs were unlike anything he had heard before, which he expected from Wilson
• The new songs completed by Wilson and Bennett were generally well received
• GQ described "Nothing But Love" as "suitably celestial"
• Stephen Holden of The New York Times wrote that Wilson emerged as the clear loser on an album that feels like a posthumous competition
• Michael Hann of The Guardian was particularly critical of the covers, which he said were reconfigured into pastiches of past Wilson classics

Records

• Debuted at number 26 on the Billboard 200, falling to 53 in the second week
• Reached number 1 on Amazon.com and the Billboard Jazz Albums chart
• Reached number 55 on the UK chart

Sources: en.wikipedia.org · es.wikipedia.org · it.wikipedia.org

Trivia

• The Gershwin estate gave Wilson access to over 100 unfinished Gershwin songs and fragments, and he completed two of them
• The Rhapsody in Blue harmonies at the start and end of the album were sung entirely by Wilson
• Mertens said Wilson spent eight hours a day in the studio perfecting vocal tracks
• Disney's reaction to the finished album was positive, but it still hired Al Schmitt to remix the tracks recorded by Mark Linett
• The Discogs credits list Ocean Way Recording as one of the places where the album was recorded
• "The Like In I Love You" was released for streaming on Wilson's website on June 28, 2010, before the album came out

Sources: en.wikipedia.org · www.discogs.com · it.wikipedia.org

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