Format Details: Jewel Case
Release Date: 27 January 2003
Label: Ace Records
Packaging Type: Jewel Case
No of Units: 1
Barcode: 029667185127
Description
When Ace asked me to tell you about their new BRIAN WILSON: PET PROJECTS CD, I thought I'd go in search of some background colour in order to gain a livelier understanding of the whole surfing genre. A trip to California was out of the question. Ace's budget wouldn't stretch that far. Instead, I was given Truro on the Cornish Riviera as a more feasible option. You'll love it there," I was assured, "it'll be virtual reality - the perfect place for re-living the 'California Myth' that Brian wrote and sang about all those years ago." Humm. Ace's 'mother hen' and doughty production manager, Carol Fawcett, made me a nice packed lunch (neatly crammed into a Tupperware container) and a flask of coffee and off I went. It only took a couple of hours by train. En route, I discovered that Carol had even slipped a couple of Wagon Wheels into the top pocket of my anorak. Yummy! Well, like old Tom Jones in the Green Green Grass Of Home, I stepped off the train but, unlike Tom, there was no-one there to meet me and I was left to make my own way down to the shore. It didn't seem at all like Huntingdon Beach. Or Waimea Bay or Pomona. Or any of the other places you heard about in those old surfing songs. I'd read about the new breed of young British surfers who seemingly flocked to these shores to 'catch a wave' but on a cold January morning, all I could see was an elderly couple walking an arthritic beagle along the deserted beach. And where was Candy Johnson or any of those other interchangeable blonde babes seen shimmying in the sand in all those Beach Party movies? My only companion was a seagull the size of an albatross making a beady-eyed play for the last of my corned beef sandwiches. By now, I was beginning to wish I'd stayed at home with a cold beer and my newly arrived copy of PET PROJECTS on the player. After all, Brian never went anywhere near a surf board except in the publicity shots. A few hours later I was salivating over the cover, which has the exact period look of one of those Capitol label Surfing/Hot Rod LPs from the mid-60s. However, as the shrink-wrap on Ace's CDs doesn't come with a peelable strip, it can take as long as five minutes to get at the contents. You can pick at the cellophane with your teeth, scratch at it, or try and to tease it apart by massaging it 'Uri Geller-style' with your thumbs. An Ace spokesperson told me "... this is a not unintentional manufacturing implementation designed to heighten to the last minute, the sense of anticipation that accompanies every new release". Blimey, talk about gimmicks! But I know what they mean - it's like opening a batch of Christmas presents once a month. And, unlike some presents, PET PROJECTS is one CD that everyone would wish to own. Once he began to receive recognition within the industry as the inspirational force behind the Beach Boys, Brian Wilson sought wider acceptance for his talent and was soon busy producing other acts on the side. He was particularly influenced by Phil
Tracklisting
Elmore James
B.B. King
B.B. King
Young Jessie
Wynonie Harris
Willie Hightower
Willie Headen
Wayne Cochran
Various Artists
Various Artists
Various Artists
Various Artists
Various Artists
Various Artists
Various Artists
Various Artists
