Various Artists - An All-Star Tribute to Brian Wilson, Radio City Music Hall, New York City, 3-29-2001

Here's something that any fan of the Beach Boys will certainly enjoy. I don't know much about the backstory for this one (maybe someone else can explain?) - I'm guessing it was an anniversary of some sort. But in 2001, a bunch of great musicians got together to celebrate the music of Brian Wilson. That's basically the same thing as celebrating the music of the Beach Boys, since I think all but one of the songs performed here was originally recorded and released by the Beach Boys. (The lone exception, "Love and Mercy," is from Wilson's more hit and miss solo career.) 

In my opinion, most of these kinds of tribute concerts have more dud performances than good ones. But this one is solid pretty much all the way through. It's hard to go wrong with Beach Boys songs, for starters. But also, a lot of big names took part, such as Paul Simon, Elton John, Billy Joel, Heart, David Crosby, Aimee Mann, and many more, and it's hard to go wrong with them as well. Plus, Brian Wilson himself joined in at the end.

Most or all of the performances are unique, meaning these particular artists never did these songs before, and probably not since. They were special versions just for this show.

This concert has never been released in any kind of audio format, as far as I know. But the songs here all come from a DVD that has been released. I edited it down somewhat to remove some speeches praising Wilson. I wanted to keep it more focused on the music. (One section I removed was a talk by Beatles producer George Martin about the song "Good Vibrations.")  However, I did keep all the talking that directly preceded or followed each song that was relevant.

Unfortunately, there was a lot more to this concert that was not included on the DVD, and I can't find it anywhere else. For instance, Wilson sang lead or co-lead on five songs at the end of this album. But in the concert, he sang a few more: "Lay Down Burden," "Do It Again," "Caroline, No," and "Surfin' U.S.A." If anyone has more than I do, please let me know so I can add it in.

This album is an hour and 12 minutes long.

01 talk (Chazz Palminteri)
02 Our Prayer (Boys Choir of Harlem)
03 California Girls - Help Me, Rhonda (Ricky Martin)
04 talk (Chazz Palminteri)
05 Surfer Girl (Paul Simon)
06 Surf City (Go-Go's)
07 talk (Chazz Palminteri)
08 In My Room (David Crosby, Carly Simon & Jimmy Webb)
09 talk (David Crosby)
10 The Warmth of the Sun (Vince Gill)
11 talk (Chazz Palminteri)
12 I Get Around (Evan & Jaron)
13 talk (Chazz Palminteri)
14 God Only Knows (Elton John)
15 talk (Chazz Palminteri)
16 I Just Wasn't Made for These Times (Aimee Mann & Michael Penn)
17 talk (Chazz Palminteri & Billy Joel)
18 Don't Worry Baby (Billy Joel)
19 talk (Chazz Palminteri)
20 Sail On Sailor (Darius Rucker & Matthew Sweet)
21 talk (Chazz Palminteri & Chynna Phillips)
22 You're So Good to Me (Wilson Phillips)
23 talk (George Martin)
24 Good Vibrations (Heart)
25 talk (Chazz Palminteri)
26 Surf's Up (David Crosby, Vince Gill & Jimmy Webb)
27 talk (Chazz Palminteri & Brian Wilson)
28 Heroes and Villains (Brian Wilson)
29 talk (Elton John)
30 Wouldn't It Be Nice (Elton John & Brian Wilson)
31 talk (Brian Wilson)
32 Barbara Ann (Brian Wilson & Everyone)
33 Fun, Fun, Fun (Brian Wilson & Everyone)
34 talk (Brian Wilson)
35 Love and Mercy (Brian Wilson with the Boys Choir of Harlem)

https://www.upload.ee/files/16584567/VA-_2001AllStrTrbtetBrnWlsnRdoCtyMsicHllNwYrkC__3-29-2001_atse.zip.html

I have to admit, the cover is a bit fakey. I found a photo of Elton John, Billy Joel, and Paul Simon sharing the same microphone during a finale at this concert. But since it's a Brian Wilson tribute and he was there, I wanted him on the cover too. So I Photoshopped him in, using a photo that also comes from the finale at this concert. They were on stage together, just not this close. The lighting is pretty accurate. For instance, there's a shadow falling on his body that actually fell on someone else standing there.

Matthew Sweet & Susanna Hoffs - Under the Covers, Volume 3.5 (2013)

Note that this isn't exactly an entirely new album. Back in 2018, I posted a "1.5" album to complement "Under the Covers, Volume 1" by Matthew Sweet and Susanna Hoffs, and a "2.5" album to complement their "Under the Covers, Volume 2." But although they released a "Volume 3" in 2013, I've have more trouble making a "3.5."

The problem was that Sweet and Hoffs obviously are big fans of 1960s and 1970s music, but much less so for 1980s music. Their "Volume 3" was all 1980s music, and while that album was fine, they didn't have that many extra 1980s covers, either as a duo or done solo. However, I realized I'd missed three bonus tracks to the "Volume 3." I also discovered a 2017 version of a 1980s Prince song done by Hoffs. Plus, two more songs actually squeak into the 1980s, being released in the year 1980: "Teacher, Teacher" and "The Tide Is High."

Still, that wasn't enough material for all 1980s covers material. In order to make up for that, I've moved a bunch of songs from my previous 2.5 album here with originals that date from the late 1970s. Specifically, I moved everything from 1977 or after to here. 1977 was a pivotal year, with punk and new wave becoming new musical trends, while disco became super dominant that year as well.

I bunched the late 1970s at the start, before the 1980s ones. However, I end this album with "Marquee Moon," a late 1970s song, since it's a ten-minute long guitar workout, and that seems like a fitting closing song to me.

01 Dreaming (Matthew Sweet & Susanna Hoffs)
02 I Wanna Be Sedated (Matthew Sweet & Susanna Hoffs)
03 You Say You Don't Love Me (Matthew Sweet & Susanna Hoffs)
04 American Girl (Matthew Sweet)
05 Magnet and Steel (Matthew Sweet with Lindsey Buckingham)
06 Train in Vain [Stand by Me] (Matthew Sweet & Susanna Hoffs)
07 The Tide Is High (Matthew Sweet)
08 Teacher, Teacher (Matthew Sweet & Susanna Hoffs)
09 I Would Die 4 U (Matthew Sweet & Susanna Hoffs)
10 You're My Favorite Waste of Time (Matthew Sweet & Susanna Hoffs)
11 Take Me with U (Susanna Hoffs)
12 Marquee Moon (Matthew Sweet & Susanna Hoffs)

https://www.upload.ee/files/15263815/MattSwtSusH_2013_UndrCovrsVolme3.5_atse.zip.html

The cover art photo was taken backstage at a concert at the Roxy in Los Angeles in 2007. There were two photos, and one was good except Hoffs looked dead serious. In the other one, she was smiling. So I used Photoshop to add her smile to the other photo.

Matthew Sweet & Susanna Hoffs - Under the Covers, Volume 2.5 (2009)

A few days ago, I posted my companion album to "Under the Covers, Volume 1," by Matthew Sweet and Susanna Hoffs. I called it "Under the Covers, Volume 1.5," because it covered the same 1960s material. Here's the exact same thing, except this is "Under the Covers, Volume 2.5," covering 1970s material.

For "Volume 1," Sweet and Hoffs officially released three bonus tracks. For "Volume 2," they released an entire bonus disc that contains ten songs. So my work is done already, right? Not exactly, because there are plenty of other occasions when Sweet and/or Hoffs recorded 1970s songs. That's especially true for Sweet.

Most of the songs on this album are from the 2000s, but two of the Sweet songs are from the 1990s. Plus, for one Hoffs song, I had to reach all the way back to 1991 and her cover of "Feel like Makin' Love." This cover deserves special mention. For one thing, her version is great musically. But I highly, highly recommend you watch the YouTube video, because it's a real hoot. Here's the link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ol4MaEPayv0

As a male, I must say, this is one of the sexiest and most arousing music videos I've ever seen! Hoffs gets so into grooving to the song that I think she would make most professional pole dancers envious of her moves!

A couple other songs deserve special mention. I found a live version of Sweet and Hoffs doing "In the Long Run" together, which seems to be the only time they did this song. Note that this isn't the Eagles song "The Long Run," but instead is a song from the soundtrack to the 1970 cult classic movie "Beyond the Valley of the Dolls."

One song here, the "I've Seen All Good People - Your Move" medley, is merely a bonus track. That's because it also appears on "Volume 2." But this version is worthy of inclusion at least as a bonus track because it's done in a very different style, with just Sweet and Hoffs on acoustic guitars. (Plus, it's really just the "Your Move" part of the medley, while the official version has the full medley.) Additionally, the recording of this version (done for rollingstone.com) was poorly miked, with Sweet's vocals much, much louder than Hoff's. So, using a music editor, I carefully lowered all of Sweet's vocals so they wouldn't stand out. I think it worked. You can find the unedited version at YouTube if you're curious to see the difference.

When I first posted this in 2018, I decided there wasn't enough material to make a "3.5" album to complement the "Under the Covers, Volume 3" album that consists of 1980s covers. There just weren't enough extra 1980s songs, so I put everything here. But I decided that if I move all the songs from 1977 and after to the 3.5 album, that would split the material nicely. 

Thus, all the originals here date from 1970 to 1976. I found a couple more that fit, "Let Me Be the One" and "Do Ya." That means there's more Sweet-led songs than Hoffs-led ones, but so be it. There are a couple of Hoffs songs I could have included that fit the format, but I'm saving those for some solo albums I plan on posting later.

01 [What's So Funny 'Bout] Peace, Love & Understanding (Matthew Sweet & Susanna Hoffs)
02 You Can Close Your Eyes (Matthew Sweet & Susanna Hoffs)
03 Melissa (Matthew Sweet & Susanna Hoffs)
04 A Song for You (Matthew Sweet & Susanna Hoffs)
05 Killer Queen (Matthew Sweet & Susanna Hoffs)
06 Baby Blue (Matthew Sweet & Susanna Hoffs)
07 Livin' Thing (Matthew Sweet)
08 Let Me Be the One (Matthew Sweet)
09 In the Long Run (Matthew Sweet & Susanna Hoffs)
10 The Ballad of El Goodo (Matthew Sweet)
11 Every Night (Matthew Sweet)
12 Feel like Making Love (Susanna Hoffs)
13 It Don't Matter to Me (Matthew Sweet)
14 Do Ya (Matthew Sweet)

I've Seen All Good People - Your Move [Acoustic Version] (Matthew Sweet & Susanna Hoffs)

https://www.upload.ee/files/15263891/MattSwtSusH_2009_UndrCovrsVolme2.5_atse.zip.html

I made the cover using a photo of Sweet and Hoffs, but I don't know what year it's from. I copied and pasted the text from one of the official albums to keep that distinctive font, then I changed the numbering.

Matthew Sweet & Susanna Hoffs - Under the Covers, Volume 1.5 (2006)

A few days ago, someone asked me if I was familiar with the three "Under the Covers"albums by Hoffs and Matthew Sweet. This is my way of replying yes, yes, I am. :) Those three albums contain nothing but cover versions of classic songs, done by decade. "Under the Covers, Volume 1" came out in 2006 and focused on songs from the 1960s. There were only three official bonus tracks to that. But I've used those plus other 1960s covers to make a companion album. I figured the only logical title I could give it was "Volume 1.5."

Three of the songs here are also on "Volume 1." That's because these are very different acoustic versions, done live in the studio for radio shows. All the other songs are different, and come from a variety of sources. Most of them are from 2006, but I went back to 2002 and 2004 grab two songs and forward to 2009 and 2011 to grab two others. I figure that for this type of album the year the song was recorded isn't as important as the performance and sound quality, as well as it being a 1960s cover. There were just two cases where I included a song that didn't have both Sweet and Hoffs on it ("Big Sky" and "Good Night.")

I've also included "Cinnamon Girl" as a bonus track. The reason it's only a bonus track is because that song is on "Volume 1" and this version isn't very different. (It was done live in a studio.) However, it's in excellent sound quality, so I'm throwing it on in case anyone wants it. 

UPDATE: On October 23, 2022, I updated the mp3 download file. I added one song I'd previously overlooked, "I Can See for Miles."

01 Here Comes the Sun (Matthew Sweet & Susanna Hoffs)
02 Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere (Matthew Sweet & Susanna Hoffs)
03 I See the Rain (Matthew Sweet & Susanna Hoffs)
04 Different Drum (Matthew Sweet & Susanna Hoffs)
05 To Sir with Love (Matthew Sweet & Susanna Hoffs)
06 Rain (Matthew Sweet & Susanna Hoffs)
07 I Can See for Miles (Matthew Sweet & Susanna Hoffs)
08 The Village Green Preservation Society (Matthew Sweet & Susanna Hoffs)
09 Sorry (Matthew Sweet & Susanna Hoffs)
10 On the Way Home (Matthew Sweet & Susanna Hoffs)
11 Big Sky (Matthew Sweet)
12 Got to Get You into My Life (Matthew Sweet & Susanna Hoffs)
13 I'll Keep It with Mine (Susanna Hoffs with Petra Haden)
14 Good Night (Matthew Sweet)

Cinnamon Girl (Matthew Sweet & Susanna Hoffs)

https://www.upload.ee/files/15263892/MattSwtSusH_2006_UndrCovrsVolme1.5_atse.zip.html

I made the cover using a photo of Sweet and Hoffs, but I don't know what year it's from. I copied and pasted the text from one of the official albums to keep that distinctive font, then I changed the numbering.