Vigotone 125

23 Tracks

1. Intro

2. Turning Point (Demo)

3. Heavenly Bodies (Demo)

4. Black Widow (Demo)

5. In The Nighttime (Demo)

6. Love And Mercy (Live)

7. Walkin' The Line (Demo)

8. Melt Away (Live)

9. Baby Let Your Hair Grow Long (Alternate)

10. Little Children (Demo)

11. One For The Boys (Alternate)

12. Up In The Sky (There's So Many) (Demo)

13. Meet Me In My Dreams Tonight (Alternate)

14. He Couldn't Get His Poor Old Body To Move (Alternate)

15. Don't Let Her Know She's An Angel (Demo)

16. Someone To Love (From the first mix of "Sweet Insanity")

17. Water Builds Up (From the first mix of "Sweet Insanity")

18. Don't Let Her Know She's An Angel
(From the first mix of "Sweet Insanity")

19. Let's Get Together (From the first mix of "Sweet Insanity")

20. Smart Girls (From the first mix of "Sweet Insanity")

21. We Love You (Alternate)

22. Fantasy Is Reality / Bells Of Madness
(from Rob Wasserman's "Trios" compilation)

23. Outro

Liner Notes:

"Come Back, Brian!" compiles some of Mr. Wilson's finest work from the past decade or so, much of it unreleased in any form (and, unfortunately, destined to remain so).

Our program begins with demos for four "lost" songs. Although "Turning Point" is the best, the other three are certainly nothing to be embarrassed about (and let's get that straight, Brian has turned in some embarrassing performances. We assure you, none of them will be found on this disc!) Following the demos, we have a series of alternate versions of songs from Brian's 1988 solo album "Brian Wilson". Stripped of the technological overkill imposed on him by the record company, some of these songs really shine. "Love and Marcy" and "Melt Away" are live performances, with Brian performing along with a prerecorded backing track. His performances are nothing short of remarkable. "Walkin' The Line" is a demo, with a considerably better vocal than the released version. "Baby Let Your Hair Grow Long" and "Meet Me In My Dreams Tonight" are earlier versions, with different lyrics. "Little Children" and "There's So Many" (known at the time as "Up In The Sky") are rough demos, and "One For The Boys" has a different vocal part than the released version. "He Couldn't Get His Poor Body To Move" was released as the B-side to "Love and Mercy" (you can also find it as a bonus track on Vigotone 112, "Sweet Insanity"). This outtake has a different set of words.

Following the '88-era material we have a beautiful demo of "Don't Let Her Know She's An Angel" as a prelude to tracks from "Sweet Insanity", Brian's unreleased LP from the early '90's. There were at least two different versions of this album, both rejected (and now, with lyricist Landy out of the picture, destined to be forever unreleased). Vigotone 112 offered the complete second version. Here we have a selection of the most interesting or different songs from the first version. "Someone To Love" offers Brian's delightful response vocals which were eliminated in the second version. "Water Builds Up" has more distinctive "teapot" sounds, and "Don't Let Her Know She's An Angel" has a different set of lyrics. "Let's Get Together" was omitted entirely from the second version (as were "Save The Day" and the full "Concert Tonight", both of which were, frankly, too awful to include here). Finally, the "first version" mix of "Smart Girls", included here, is far, far superior to the mix heard on the second "Sweet Insanity".

Finally, a couple of memorable guest appearances round out our collection. Brian sings 3/4 of the vocals on a cover of The Stones' "We Love You", by Ryuichi Sakamoto (this mix is unreleased), and contributed boogie-woogie piano and backing vocals in a recent performance with daughter Carrie on "Fantasy is Reality / Bells Of Madness".

Next Year (1995) will hopefully see Brian's return with a new collaboration with Van Dyke Parks (at the moment, titled "Orange Crate Art"). Until that time, you have this fine series to keep you warm.

Piero D'Ox