Tag Archives: Dennis Wilson Songs

Review: “Surf: The Musical” Opening Night Performance in Las Vegas

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By Jim Fusco:

Last week, my wife and I were on vacation in Las Vegas.  We were SO excited to learn that we were there on opening night of “Surf: The Musical”!  We got tickets and honestly, I didn’t know what to expect.  We went over to Planet Hollywood Resort and Casino…

Well, we were pleasantly surprised!  The show featured 30 Beach Boys songs and even had a couple of obscure ones, like Dennis Wilson’s “Be Still” (from the 1969 album “20/20”) and (slightly less obscure) “Getcha Back” (from the 1985 album “The Beach Boys”).

One of the coolest moments was after a car crash, the chorus sang “Our Prayer” (from Smile)- it was the perfect song choice.  Actually, I was surprised at how well the lyrics to all the songs fit in so well with the story.  They had to change a few lyrics (mostly gender-related), but it was done well.

Of course, the show was “Vegas-fied” with a lot of dancing, skimpier outfits than anyone would’ve worn in 1965, and there were a lot of special effects and lighting tricks.  The background was a set of three large LCD screens.  That was a great touch because the background changed with each scene- it allowed them to have different “locations” without having a ton of set props.  There was even a really cool Ferris Wheel effect that drew applause from the audience.

The singing was done pretty well- normally I can’t stand hearing people over-dramatize my favorite songs.  But, these stayed fairly true to the originals.

Overall, we had a ton of fun and I would really recommend it to any Beach Boys fan.  I hope it does well!

Editor’s note: this post was originally published before December 2015; the exact original date is uncertain.

Ranking every Beach Boys song/album: The Beach Boys Today! (by Songwriter Jim Fusco)

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By Jim Fusco:

THE BEACH BOYS TODAY!

Dance, Dance, Dance – 8
Kiss Me, Baby – 9.5
Please Let Me Wonder – 9 (I actually like the arrangement on the “Live at the Roxy” CD better- which really doesn’t fit with my stance on live versions…)
She Knows Me Too Well – 8 (What an ending! Probably one of the best endings ever)
When I Grow Up – 7 (This song is great, don’t get me wrong, but when I first learned it, I always found it to be a bit boring. But, the subject matter is amazing.)
Help Me, Ronda – 6 (I love this song, but sadly, not this version.)
Do You Wanna Dance? – 7 (Great Denny vocal here and I consider this the “standard” version of the song)
Good to My Baby – 7.5 (I love the style of this song, the great guitar riff, and the a capella vocals in the beginning)
*Dance, Dance, Dance (alternate) – 6 (Why do the unreleased alternate takes always sound so tinny?)
Don’t Hurt My Little Sister – 5 (Funny story about this song- my friends and I talk in the tune of this song! I know it sounds weird, and that’s because it is. We’ll say any line with seven syllables to the tune of this song, for instance, “Did you go buy the hot dogs?” Sing it- it fits!)
I’m So Young – 6 (This has some interesting sounds to it. Even though I like Dennis’ part at the end, it’s a bit out of his range)
*Graduation Day – 5 (Great harmonies, just not exactly “engaging”)
In the Back of My Mind – 6.5 (This is a great song with a personal message from Brian Wilson shroud in the vocals of Dennis Wilson. He really nails this and the tune is so unique that I have to give it a good rating)
*I’m So Young (alternate) – 5
Bull Session with the “Big Daddy” – 1

** This is clearly one of the Boys’ best albums of all-time. The production quality, although mixed in mono (which I’m not a fan of, growing up in the surround-sound age), is great. I do miss the Boys playing their own instruments, as they did on the Christmas album’s first side, but the song quality is so good here, that I can look far past it.

I think, without using composite song scores, but ranking albums as “albums”, that this would probably end up in the Top 5 for me. With it would be “Holland”, “Sunflower”, “Pet Sounds”, and the fifth spot is up for grabs. Of course, everyone knows by now my affinity for the ’85 album, but I do value my life, here! 🙂

As a bit of genealogy to my Beach Boys past, we actually started with Pet Sounds (after the Greatest Hits, of course), which we got in 1992. I was 8. Talk about starting with some heavy stuff! But, we hear it over and over and over and over again. My father couldn’t get enough. We listened to “God Only Knows” about three times a day for a year- I’m not exaggerating. It was like Brian Wilson listening to “Be My Baby”. We then moved on (because many of the Beach Boys albums weren’t so easy to find) to the Box Set that just came out in 1992. Now, you have an 8 year old kid listening to Smile!! But, I do think that listening to, and really getting into, such deep and complex music at the age of 8 helped me to grow into a musician and songwriter at an early age. And, thus, is the reason why Brian Wilson will always be my musical idol.

Well, enough about me- this album’s great, and it’s only gonna get better for me, as I’m such a fan of the other band members’ compositions that I can’t wait for the “Sunflower” days! **

“Lady (Fallin’ In Love)” (The Beach Boys Cover)

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By Jim Fusco

Welcome to another edition of the Laptop Sessions with Jim Fusco!  It’s been a long time since my last video blog post.  Before my new season of cover song videos begins, I decided to post a few leftover cover songs that I recorded a few months ago.  I guess I never got around to posting them!  Life can get busy…

Now that school is starting up again (my wife is a teacher, so she’s really busy 10 months out of the year)I should have a bit more time to focus on my musical endeavors.  I’m excited to bring The Laptop Sessions Acoustic Cover Songs Music Video Blog to new heights this year!  I just signed an agreement to promote my existing cover songs and I hope that these efforts will allow me to expand the website even further.

Tonight, I bring you an obscure song from The Beach Boys.  Well, it’s not really The Beach Boys- this is a Dennis Wilson solo project put under the Beach Boys’ name.  In the early 70s, Dennis Wilson was creating music at a very fast pace.  “Sunflower”, one of the Beach Boys’ best albums, shows a large contribution from Dennis.  In my opinion, his songwriting was second to only Brian Wilson in the band and after Brian slipped away from participating in the band, Dennis filled the void the best.  I think there was a time when the band decided to push Dennis as the front man of the band.  But, Dennis’ songs didn’t catch on commercially and eventually, they went back to the Brian Wilson formula once again (before he was ready, but that’s a whole different story).  Honestly, I’m not sure if the move away from Dennis as the face of the Beach Boys was due to his songs not receiving critical acclaim, or because of Dennis’ lifestyle.  Like Brian, it’s been said that Dennis had a hard time seeing projects through to the end.  Even though he was prolific during this period, I have a feeling he would get bored with projects very quickly and either not finish them or simply get them done and move on.

“Lady (Fallin’ In Love)” is an interesting song.  Dennis had a great way of taking a simple sounding song and making it lush and beautiful.  “Lady” isn’t the hardest song to play or sing, but the string orchestration (most likely done by Daryl Dragon of Captain & Tennille fame) is breathtaking.  That’s one of the reasons, though, that I wanted to do a solo acoustic cover version of “Lady”.  I wanted to show people what the song would sound like in it’s bare-bones form.  I think it’s still a really moving song.

Dennis’ voice on the original recording is so nice- it’s such a shame that he let it deteriorate so much.  I can only imagine the songs he could’ve come out with if he didn’t allow his personal demons to overtake him.

“Lady (Fallin’ In Love)” was actually the flip side of a solo Dennis Wilson single, which is fascinating to me.  “The Sound of Free” was the A-side.  Of course, the single didn’t go anywhere, but up to that point, only Brian had released a solo single in “Caroline, No” four years earlier.  I’m glad the Beach Boys and Capitol Records finally got it together to release “Lady” on their Summer Love Songs compilation.  This song deserved a new audience.

Enjoy tonight’s Dennis Wilson/Beach Boys cover song music video here on the Laptop Sessions video blog!  Stay tuned for more videos very soon with me, Jim Fusco!

“Do You Wanna Dance?” (Beach Boys Cover)

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By Jim Fusco:

Well, do you? 🙂

Welcome to another Jim Fusco Tuesday here on the Laptop Sessions acoustic cover songs music video blog.  I can’t believe it’s been another week- here I am again to send a new cover song music video your way.

I realized I’ve only done one Beach Boys song so far in 2009 (and a quite unknown one, at that), so I decided to please the Beach Boys faithful (who’d have to be REALLY faithful to wait three months for another video) by doing a song everybody knows in “Do You Wanna Dance?”!

Originally written and recorded by Bobby Freeman in the late 50’s, the Beach Boys version is very far removed from the original recording.  Freeman’s version has a more bossonova feel to it and is a little slower-paced.  Brian Wilson, clearly budding into an ambitious producer at the time, took the song and turned it pure mid-sixties rock and roll.  It peaked on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart at Nubmer 12, and was the highest charting record with Dennis Wilson on lead vocals.

This was a great song for Denny to sing- I love the Beach Boys version so much more because Brian gave Dennis a chance to sing on it.  The production on the Beach Boys version is very Phil Spector influenced, so my acoustic cover version of it married the Beach Boys verison (in terms of style) without all the guitars, tympanies, etc.

I had to fight siging this song like Bruce Johnston of the Beach Boys, as in concert he’s the one who sings Dennis’ lead vocals.  He sings much differently than Dennis normally would, so there’s different inflection to the words.  I sing more like Bruce than Dennis, so I was inclined to sing the Bruce version- but stopped myself and tried to stay true to Denny’s original vocal style, raspy voice not included.

Right after “Do You Wanna Dance?” was released, the Beach Boys came out with one of their Number One singles in “Help Me Rhonda”, a great song.  1965 was an amazing year for music, but especially for groups like the Beach Boys, the Beatles, and Bob Dylan.  It was also the break-out year for the Byrds.  The Beach Boys’ “Today” album has to be one of the best recordings ever, especially because it combines the happiness of earlier Beach Boys albums and (some of) the production value of later recordings like “Pet Sounds”.

I hope you enjoy my version of “Do You Wanna Dance?”.  On a personal note, I’m scheduled to receive my copies of my new album, “Halfway There”, tomorrow on CD, but the release date still stands for April 7th.  I hope you’re as excited as I am!  When I get the CDs, I’m sure I’ll get ambitious and do a ton of promotion, so stay tuned!  Have a great week- I’ll try to post an original, but I’m pretty tired, so we’ll see.  Talk to you again soon!