Music on TV - Week of 05.07.12: Brian WIlson & the Beach Boys

Brian Wilson reunites with The Beach Boys, performing on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon on Monday.

Naturally, I'd heard the rumors... but I remained skeptical -- Brian Wilson was reuniting with the Mike Love-led Beach Boys? Sure, they performed a song together for the Grammys, but it was cloaked in 50th anniversary nostalgia and their performance, like the Grammys itself, was a fairly bland offering.

But now they've started touring, and reports have come back revealing set lists that are turning my mind around on the subject. AND there are new songs on the way! One that has already made their 42 song set list is "That's Why God Made Radio," which is the first new Brian Wilson penned song for the Beach Boys in decades (and in video below). Is it their best work? Probably not, but it breezily transports us back to the late sixties, and helps ease some of the leftover aftertaste from the insipid earworm that is "Kokomo."



Picks for the week
Monday, May 7
ABC: Jimmy Kimmel Live: B.o.B.
CBS: Late Show With David Letterman: Spiritualized
NBC: The Tonight Show with Jay Leno: Snow Patrol
NBC: Late Night With Jimmy Fallon: Brian Wilson, Mike Love, The Beach Boys
NBC: Last Call With Carson Daly: Jessie Baylin
TBS: Conan: The Lumineers
Tuesday, May 8
ABC: Good Morning America: Karmin
ABC: Jimmy Kimmel Live: Silversun Pickups
CBS: Late Show With David Letterman: Macy Gray
NBC: The Today Show: Glenn Frey
NBC: The Tonight Show with Jay Leno: B.o.B.
NBC: Late Night With Jimmy Fallon: Of Monsters and Men
NBC: Last Call With Carson Daly: The White Buffalo
TBS: Conan: Ed Sheeran
SYNDICATION: The Ellen Degeneres Show: Flo Rida
Wednesday, May 9
ABC: Jimmy Kimmel Live: Glenn Frey
CBS: Late Show With David Letterman: Florence & the Machine
NBC: Late Night With Jimmy Fallon: Mick Taylor
NBC: Last Call With Carson Daly: Tennis
SYNDICATION: Live With Kelly: Karmin
TBS: Conan: Reggie Watts
Thursday, May 10
CBS: Late Show With David Letterman: Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros
NBC: Late Night With Jimmy Fallon: AWOLNATION
TBS: Conan: The Wombats
SYNDICATION: The Ellen Degeneres Show: Nicki Minaj
Friday, May 11
NBC: Late Night With Jimmy Fallon: Big K.R.I.T.
Saturday, May 12
BBCAMERICA: The Graham Norton Show: Jessie J
NBC: Saturday Night Live: Usher
PBS: Austin City Limits: The Decemberists, Gillian Welch
Sunday, May 13
HDNET: HDNET Concert Series: Slash Stoke, Ted Nugent

Mad Men "Faraway Places": Oh the places you'll go!

My name is Roger Sterling and I have taken LSD... Please Help Me!

From the start, you could tell this was going to be a different kind of Mad Men episode. Between the non-linear sequencing* and the advanced drug use (Ok... who had Roger in their pool as the first Mad Men principal to drop LSD?), "Far Away Places" represented another example of the series experimenting this season.

*Normally, breaks for commercials aren't annoying when it comes to Mad Men episodes, but it was trying in this one thanks the non-linear trick. Even forwarding through ads via DVR made it more disorienting.

Speaking of experimentation, it was certainly appropriate to hear Brian Wilson singing the Beach Boys' "I Just Wasn't Made For These Times" on the reel-to-reel*. Wilson's never fully recovered from his multiple trips, but for at least a couple years (namely Pet Sounds), the drug did wonders for his music. The drug does wonders as Roger and Jane's marriage counselor, allowing them to turn on, tune out and drop their marriage.

*I sadly didn't catch what Russian tune was playing out of Roger's vodka bottle, or what tune the Beach Boys' song melded into before cutting to Roger and Jane in their car. Anyone pick up on those?

The title of the episode refers to the various 'trips' that were taken, be it metaphoric Africa (in the referenced films of The Naked Prey and Born Free) for Peggy, Mars for concentration camp baby Michael, Roger and Jane's LSD trip, or the HoJo trip for Don and Megan. The two contrasting African films premiered in June of 1966, but aside from their settings (South Africa and Kenya, respectively), they were quite a different beast. Peggy's boyfriend wants to see The Naked Prey, but Peggy sees Born Free solo, as if her psyche processed his request for a manly adventure tale into something more akin to her emotional level -- lion cubs set free and left to fend for their own. Like Don leaving her in charge of the Heinz pitch, things could go easily go sideways.

Like Don kicking in another door (note how Don and Megan's landing on the floor parallels Roger and Jane's post-bath pose):


Previously: "Mystery Date" (Episode 5.04)

Ear on TV: Week of September 1

When Tricky plays this Wednesday on Letterman, he may need to reintroduce himself to the folks on this side of the pond. It was just twelve years ago that the Bristol born artist seemed to be everywhere. His solo debut Maxinquaye was widely considered a masterpiece for the trip-hop sound, and by the end of 1996, he delivered two more worthy followups (Nearly God and Pre-Millennium Tension) that made his star even brighter. His name became big enough, in fact, that he was sought out to play a major role in the Luc Besson directed mess that was The Fifth Element (1997). It could be said that it's been, artistically speaking, all down hill from there.

Next week, Tricky, born Adrian Thaws, releases his new album Knowle West Boy (in Rhapsody a week early,) which does several things all at once. First thing is that it tells the story of young Adrian Thaws growing up in the Knowle West neighborhood of Bristol. It also gives the many of us who stopped listening an idea of what Tricky's been up to the past decade, as the release has been rumored to be stylistically a mishmash of the best moments of his recent string of poorly received albums. And hopefully, it will also remind us of why Tricky was such a big name those twelve years ago. It makes 2008 the comeback year for Bristol trip-hop, with Portishead's triumphant return earlier this year with the album Third.

Also making a splash on Wednesday night will be San Diego's Delta Spirit, who take their energetic stage presence to Conan. Their beautiful debut Ode to Sunshine finally got it's wide release last week, and the band's Spoon-meets-Violent Femmes sound is a treat to see live.

Finally, this week's lineup for Live from Abbey Road could very well be titled 'Daddy Issues.' Beach Boy Brian Wilson's father Murry reportedly the young genius in the head with a two-by-four. Martha Wainwright wrote a song called "Bloody Mother F**king A**hole," inspired by what she called her father Loudon Wainwright III's "sh*tty parenting." (The Wainwrights have since made up). And finally there's Teddy Thompson who... well... ok, he seems to be alright with father and legend Richard Thompson, but it's still got to be hard to fill those shoes. I guess seeing Richard and Teddy, there's hope that my boys won't write a song called "Stupid Poopy-Headed Jerk."

Playlist: Picks for the Week
Monday, September 1
ABC: Jimmy Kimmel Live: The Game (REPEAT)
CBS: Late Show With David Letterman: Randy Newman
CBS: Late Late Show With Craig Ferguson: Priscilla Ahn
NBC: The Tonight Show with Jay Leno: Conor Oberst (REPEAT)
NBC: Late Night With Conan O'Brien: Duffy (REPEAT)
NBC: Last Call With Carson Daly: Your Vegas (REPEAT)
Tuesday, September 2
ABC: Jimmy Kimmel Live: Judas Priest
FUEL: The Daily Habit: The Airborne Toxic Event
NBC: The Tonight Show with Jay Leno: Ingrid Michaelson
NBC: Late Night With Conan O'Brien: Ra Ra Riot
Wednesday, September 3
ABC: Jimmy Kimmel Live: Young Jeezy
CBS: Late Show With David Letterman: Tricky
NBC: The Tonight Show with Jay Leno: Brian Wilson
NBC: Late Night With Conan O'Brien: Delta Spirit
NBC: Last Call With Carson Daly: Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin (REPEAT)
Thursday, September 4
ABC: Jimmy Kimmel Live: Metro Station
CBS: Late Show With David Letterman: Duffy
NBC: Late Night With Conan O'Brien: Adele
NBC: Last Call With Carson Daly: Ben Harper (REPEAT)
SUNDANCE: Live From Abbey Road: Brian Wilson, Martha Wainwright, Teddy Thompson
Friday, September 5
ABC: Jimmy Kimmel Live: Black Kids
CBS: Late Show With David Letterman: Steve Earle
CBS: Late Late Show With Craig Ferguson: Jamie Lidell
FUEL: The Daily Habit: Liars
NBC: The Today Show: Joan Baez
NBC: The Tonight Show with Jay Leno: The Game

Lost finale approaches Nirvana

Jace over at Televisionary already recapped the season finale so eloquently, but I've been obsessing over it for 30 hours now and have some more to add - and naturally they include the use of music. Two songs make appearances that lend themselves to all sorts of theories, The Beach Boys' "Good Vibrations" and Nirvana's "Scentless Apprentice."

In the flash forward Jack is driving out to the funeral parlor (whose name is Hoffs/Drawlar - an anagram for 'flash forward,) he's blasting Nirvana's "Scentless Apprentice," a which lyrically is a reference to the Patrick Süskind novel Perfume. The book's tale of alienation speaks to the future hermited Jack in some degree, but really it's more parallel to Ben's character: a child who's birth helps cause the death of his mother. In an earlier flash forward sequence, though, there's another clue for the song's inclusion. When Jack reads the LA Times on the plane, it's headline is from the real life April 5 edition from this year. That is also the 13-year anniversary of Kurt Cobain's death.... coincidence?

Meanwhile, the code that Charlie has to enter in to turn off the signal jammer is set to The Beach Boys' "Good Vibrations," which is a song who's place in history has some parallels to what's going on here. When Brian Wilson recorded the song, he was already spiraling out of control, spending hours upon hours and countless rolls of tape to finish the three and a half minutes of pure bliss, all in an effort to top Pet Sounds and whatever The Beatles came up with next. The recording (and Pet Sounds) is rumored to have inspired Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, and more specifically the song "A Day in the Life" (that the album has an anniversary coming up next week, I'm certain is not lost on anyone - even Macca's tired of hearing about it.) This upped the ante for Wilson and in an attempt to top it, he descended into depression, drug use, and paranoia while trying to finish the album/project SMiLE. For the one punching the tune, the future is not so bright - I guess there won't be a Driveshaft reunion in the future afterall.

More: Who's in the coffin? Folks who frequent the Lost Screencaps and Easter Eggs blog have been pouring over the torn-out obituary, and it seems to spell out the name John Bentham, which means it's an alias, or a character we've yet to meet (or an intriguing placeholder for fans to obsess over during the offseason.) Bentham is the name of a 18th-19th century philosopher (Jeremy Bentham,) which fits in with the pattern of Lost names (Locke, Hume, Rousseau and more.) The philospher has a few interesting parallels to Lost. He was influenced by Locke and Hume, and he invented the Panopticon prison design, which allowed the guards to observe the prisoners, without them knowing - as Bentham put it "a new mode of obtaining power of mind over mind..."

Previously: Shambala, Fate and Free Will

tags: music, soundtrack, lost, nirvana, kurt cobain, brian wilson, beach boys, jeremy bentham, philosphy, rhapsody