Saturday, September 04, 2010

Just wrong

brian wilson gershwin You haven’t lived until you’ve heard former Beach Boy Brian Wilson singing “I loves you, Porgy…”

This memorable song from Porgy and Bess is, of course, meant to be sung by a woman. So when I heard Brian Wilson’s voice intoning it over the sound system at Barnes & Noble, it gave rise to a bit of cognitive dissonance.

As in, WTF???

So I went to Amazon.com (sorry, B&N) and did a search for “brian wilson gershwin” and discovered that there actually is an album called “Brian Wilson Reimagines Gershwin.”

Amazon.com customer reviewer S. Adler articulated my thoughts precisely:

I love Brian and I love Gershwin but I hate this album. The arrangements are cheesy and very derivative of earlier beach boys/Brian Wilson solo albums and Brian's doesn't have--and never had--the vocal skills to sing these songs with the nuance they deserve. Really painful listening to this.

But still it plays on. “Summertime” now. Aaaiiiiiiieeeeeeee! Make it stop!
It's the most unintentionally hilarious album since William Shatner's "The Transformed Man."

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