TS1 wanted this new CD a few weeks back when we were at Fry’s, and so you know how that goes. This morning she went off to the gym without me–the right knee’s lightly inflamed, so no workouts for a couple of weeks–and I decided to throw this in the spinner to hear the three lovelies attack the music that made their parents famous. Though it’s not, say, quite as good as a new Springsteen or Page release, I have to admit it’s catchy and enjoyable and I’ve listened to it several times while writing this up though ultimately unsatisfying due to a tendency towards the bland.
For their first album in a dozen years, Chynna Phillips, Carnie Wilson and Wendy Wilson have put together a collection of cover tunes that more or less epitomize the Southern California sounds of the mid-’60s through the mid-’70s. Chynna’s mom and dad were John and Michelle Phillips of the Mommas and Poppas and from that group we get Monday Monday, while the other two are daughters of Brian Wilson and his hits Dance Dance Dance and In My Room.
You’re No Good was made famous by Linda Ronstadt, the interesting thing on this version is a fuzzed out bassline from David Rolfe. Not sure I see the point of including Neil Young’s Old Man because it certainly doesn’t fit the overall theme nor does it suit the women’s voices.
California from Blue by Joni Mitchell is new to me but very decent. Russ Kunkel, one of the old vets of this California studio scene, played drums on both Mitchell’s original and this version. The Eagles’ Already Gone shows the threesome can really harmonize but the song’s story doesn’t play as well from an I Am Woman perspective–how many men, even in the pre-Internet days of the early ’70s wrote letters to girlfriends? Victory song, don’t think so.
Go Your Own Way, the first single, is terrible. Sorry. The Fleetwood Mac megahit used powerful instrumentation to deliver on the lyric’s emotion and the slow, ultra-harmonic vocal arrangement completely misses that. I really wonder who thought up this startlingly different vision of the song, which has a real Sting/pseudo-North African feel. Turn! Turn! Turn! has a similar percussion track to the previous tune, though at faster tempo, while the pretty, sweet harmonies, as with Old Man completely clash with the song’s intent.
Monday Monday truly succeeds with, of course, Chynna featured vocally; one has to wonder if she hears this in her sleep. The arrangement is very reminiscent of the Bangles, bouncy guitar, pleading tone and backing vocals joining in on the chorus. This would have been my first single selection.
Get Together is pretty but bland, little else to say except that no one will be forgetting the Young Rascals after hearing Wilson Phillips. Jackson Browne’s early hit Doctor My Eyes gets a more energetic reading with lead vocals from Wendy. Dance Dance Dance is a bright poppy update, switching the lyric’s gender without losing the Beach Boys’ verve and featuring a party chorus of the group’s friends and family including mama Michelle. I can see a fun, sunny video matching well with this one and certainly also a better choice for a first single.
Daddy Brian provides piano accompaniment and vocals in a fairly sweet, spare arrangement of In My Room, interesting, worthy of inclusion though this doesn’t come close to the Beach Boys’ achingly beautiful original.
Bonus/otherwise unmentioned track at the end is a simple version of Already Gone featuring the trio’s harmony and only acoustic guitar for backing, probably better than the ‘official’ take.
Kunkel is one of several recognizable names from the original recordings, along with producer Peter Asher, bassist Lee Sklar (I will never forget his huge beard from back in the day, such as the time I saw him backing James Taylor in concert at Harvard Stadium in 1978) and pedal steel guitarist Dan Dugmore. In fact Sklar played with Linda Ronstadt on several of her records though not the Heart Like a Wheel sessions that produced You’re No Good. Kunkel and Sklar both also played on Browne’s original release of Doctor My Eyes. Another featured musician on the CD is guitarist Rob Bonfiglio, who married Carnie a few years ago; Rob has his own band, called The Better Days.
Liner notes are nicely done by Mitchell Cohen, who made his name as a rock journalist back in the day but quickly moved into the money side of the world and is now a Senior A&R VP at Sony Records, explaining the way the collection of songs fit together.
BillSaysThis 