Various Artists - MusiCares Tribute to Paul Simon, Century Plaza Hotel, Los Angeles, CA, 2-15-2001

The good news is, I have another MusiCares tribute concert to post. The bad news is, this is the last one I can find. Hopefully, some others will show up eventually. But in the meantime, here's a tribute to Paul Simon, from 2001.

Before I say anything about this album, I want to mention the MusiCares tributes I still can't find (or don't exist). With this one included, I've posted nine of them. But there are 23 more that I would still love to hear. Here's the list of the missing ones:

2025: Grateful Dead    
2023: Berry Gordy & Smokey Robinson
2022: Joni Mitchell
2020: Aerosmith
2018: Fleetwood Mac    
2017: Tom Petty    
2015: Bob Dylan
2009: Neil Diamond    
2008: Aretha Franklin
2007: Don Henley    
2004: Sting    
2003: Bono
2002: Billy Joel    
2000: Elton John
1999: Stevie Wonder
1998: Luciano Pavarotti
1997: Phil Collins
1996: Quincy Jones    
1995: Tony Bennett
1994: Gloria Estefan
1993: Natalie Cole
1992: Bonnie Raitt
1991: David Crosby 

Getting back to this concert, this actually has an audience bootleg source. All the other MusiCares concerts I've posted come from DVDs or TV. But don't worry much about the source issue. This is an unusually good sounding audience boot. Plus, I made some big improvements. I used the MVSEP program to get rid of all the audience noise during songs while keeping the audience cheering at the ends of songs. Then I ran all the songs through MVSEP again, boosting the lead vocals relative to the instruments. In my opinion, the end result is this sounds nearly as good as the other MusiCares concerts.

This followed the same formula as typical tribute concerts, with various guest stars singing cover versions, then an acceptance speech by Simon, and finally Simon played a couple of songs. But one thing that's a bit different is that Simon is friends with some professional comedians, so there was more comedy than normal for this kind of concert. In addition to Chevy Chase and Michael McKean acting as emcees, Steve Martin did about a five minute comedy routine while introducing Simon.

This unreleased album is an hour and 11 minutes long. 

01 talk (Chevy Chase)
02 You Can Call Me Al (Macy Gray)
03 talk (Chevy Chase)
04 Born in Puerto Rico (Ruben Blades & Danny Rivera)
05 talk (Chevy Chase & Gloria Estefan)
06 Bridge Over Troubled Water (Gloria Estefan)
07 talk (Chevy Chase)
08 Mother and Child Reunion (Ziggy Marley)
09 talk (Chevy Chase)
10 American Tune (Shawn Colvin)
11 talk (Chevy Chase & Stevie Wonder)
12 Loves Me like a Rock (Stevie Wonder & the Dixie Hummingbirds)
13 talk (Michael McKean)
14 Tenderness (Shelby Lynne)
15 talk (Michael McKean & Brian Wilson)
16 The Sound of Silence (Brian Wilson)
17 talk (Michael McKean)
18 Homeward Bound (Joan Osborne & the Chieftans)
19 talk (Steve Martin)
20 Graceland (Paul Simon)
21 Late in the Evening (Paul Simon)
22 talk (Paul Simon)
23 The Boxer (Paul Simon)
24 talk (Paul Simon)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/LydU3Q4g

alternate:

https://bestfile.io/EE3jBlACedR3V1o/file

The cover photo is from this exact event, though I think it was from backstage before or after the concert. There was some distracting stuff in the background, so I replaced that with blackness in Photoshop. From right to left: Tony Bennett, Paul Simon, Stevie Wonder, Brian Wilson, and Shelby Lynne.

Various Artists - MusiCares Tribute to Brian Wilson, Hollywood Palladium, Hollywood, CA, 2-11-2005

As I mentioned in my last post, Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys died a few days ago as I write this, on June 11, 2025. He's such an important musical figure that I considered it a must to post something in his memory. I did a little Internet browsing, and came across mentions of this tribute concert. However, I could only find a few songs from it, far from the whole thing. But luckily I've recently been getting some assistance from Fabio from Rio, who is a big Brian Wilson / Beach Boys fan. It turned out he had the DVD of this. He then figured out how to convert it to audio format, and sent it to me. So here you are. Earlier today, I posted an album that pays tribute to Brian Wilson created by Fabio, but two tribute albums is better than one.

MusiCares is a non-profit charity that is connected to the organization that runs the yearly Grammy music awards. Since 1991, they've been giving out a yearly award, MusiCares Person of the Year. They have a benefit concert celebrate the music of that person. It takes place in the same town and week as the Grammy awards, so lots of music stars are there to perform on stage or at least attend. The money raised from the benefit concert (and other activities) goes to an organization that helps struggling musicians, for instance those who are having medical trouble or drug addiction and can't afford treatment.

It seems that bootlegs of these yearly MusiCares concerts are basically non-existent. The audiences are relatively small and are mostly made up of music industry insiders who aren't likely to secretly tape record the show and then share that with the public. However, a handful of the concerts have been officially released on DVD. These are generally rare and already out of print. But I've managed to find most of them, concerts for: Paul Simon, James Taylor, Neil Young, Paul McCartney, and Bruce Springsteen (plus this one). I plan on posting all of those here eventually. I know of two more that exist: Barbra Streisand and Carole King. I'm not that interested in the Streisand one, but I'd be very interested in the King one, if anyone has that. (Or, heck, if anyone has any of the other concerts not on DVD!)

For this album, I don't feel I need to explain what happened in the concert, because I found not one, but two, articles that give good summaries. Here they are (with the second one from Rolling Stone): 

MusiCares Celebrates Brian Wilson As Person Of The Year | RECORDINGACADEMY.com 

Musicians Serenade Brian Wilson at MusiCares Gala 

I do want to mention though that I'm very disappointed this isn't the complete concert. Almost complete, but a couple of songs are missing, at least. One song that got left off the DVD, and thus left off this album, is a performance by Neil Young of the Beach Boys classic "In My Room." It seems to be the one and only time Young ever publicly performed this song, so it's a real loss. Another one that wasn't included is a duet between India.Arie and Brian Wilson on the even greater classic "God Only Knows." If anyone has either or both of those, please let me know so I can add them in.

Thanks again to Fabio from Rio. I looked everywhere and couldn't find this, so I was very pleasantly surprised to find he had it. After he sent it to me, I broke the audio into mp3s. So I think it's a safe bet that this is the first time this full concert is being shared in an audio format. 

This album is an hour and nine minutes long. 

01 talk (Red Hot Chili Peppers)
02 I Get Around (Red Hot Chili Peppers)
03 talk (Richie Sambora)
04 City Blues (Richie Sambora)
05 Sail On, Sailor (Jamie Cullum)
06 talk (Barenaked Ladies)
07 Brian Wilson - 'Til I Die (Barenaked Ladies)
08 talk (John Legend)
09 I Just Wasn't Made for These Times (John Legend)
10 talk (Backstreet Boys)
11 When I Grow Up [To Be a Man] (Backstreet Boys)
12 talk (Shelby Lynne)
13 Surfer Girl (Shelby Lynne)
14 talk (Michael McDonald & Billy Preston)
15 Don't Worry Baby (Michael McDonald & Billy Preston)
16 Surf's Up [Instrumental Version] (Jeff Beck)
17 Surfin' U.S.A. (Jeff Beck)
18 talk (Earth, Wind & Fire)
19 Don't Talk [Put Your Head on My Shoulder] (Earth, Wind & Fire)
20 talk (Darlene Love)
21 Wouldn't It Be Nice (Darlene Love)
22 Pet Sounds [Instrumental] (Brian Wilson Band)
23 talk (Neil Portnow & Brian Wilson)
24 Our Prayer - Heroes and Villains (Brian Wilson)
25 Good Vibrations (Brian Wilson)
26 Fun, Fun, Fun (Brian Wilson)
27 Love and Mercy (Brian Wilson)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/gzQuD2sf

alternate: 

https://bestfile.io/en/6nJGwuHSdbQCB1H/file

The cover photo is from this exact concert. That's India.Arie with Brian Wilson. 

Various Artists - Songs in the Key of Brian - Remembering Brian Wilson (1975-2021) (A Fabio from Rio Guest Post)

One of the all-time great musical geniuses, Brian Wilson, died a few days ago, on June 11, 2025. He was 82 years old. I wanted to post something to mark his passing. Luckily, I've recently been collaborating with a new musical friend, who goes by the name Fabio from Rio. He's a big fan of Brian Wilson and the Beach Boys, and came up with the idea of creating an album consisting entirely of songs about Brian Wilson. So that's what this is. I gave him free reign, and only helped him some with suggestions on song selection.

I would have never come up with the idea for this album, because I had no idea that there would be enough songs about Brian Wilson to make up an entire album. I knew of the song "Brian Wilson" by Barenaked Ladies, since that was a hit back in the 1990s, but that was about it. But Fabio must be a really big fan, because he found so many songs that we had to cut some out to keep the album from getting too long.

The album starts with a rare demo written and sung by Wilson himself. It also ends with two more written and sung by him, including a rare live version of "Love and Mercy." Fabio explained the reasoning for this in an email, which I liked. I'll just paste in his explanation here:

"The Wilson tunes are bookends, as they serve to introduce and close the 'main event' (all the tracks written to him or about him) while bringing a personal Brian touch to the collection. The first song, a 1975, demo works as a prelude (acknowledging Brian's fragility and strength both simultaneously contained in his voice), 'The Last Song' is the epilogue, and 'Love and Mercy' is a coda." 

Regarding the rest of the songs, what Fabio calls the "main event," tracks 2 through 13, are basically divided into two parts. Tracks 2 through 8 are direct tributes to Brian. That's obvious by their titles, but it's not just that: the lyrics and musical style ooze reference and admiration for the man. That's followed by tracks 9 through 13, which are indirect tributes to Brian, or direct tributes to things related to him (the Beach Boys, his health shop, girls, his genius, family), all mentioning him either in the title or lyrics.

So, a big thanks to Fabio from Rio for coming up with the idea for this album and then finding and selecting the songs. As you could guess from the name, he's Brazilian, and hopefully in the future he'll be able to assist in sharing more music from Brazil. I like a lot of music from Brazil, despite not speaking Portuguese at all. I haven't really shared any music from Brazil until now, because I don't have worthy rarities. But he does, so look forward to that in the future. He also has some other plans, including creating one or more albums as a further tribute to Wilson that will consist of songs in a Beach Boys style composed by other musical acts. 

Fabio has also taped a great number of concerts in Brazil. You can find some of them on his YouTube page, here: 

https://www.youtube.com/@musicadequalidade2020/videos

This album is 58 minutes long.

01 In the Back of My Mind [Demo] (Brian Wilson)
02 The Love Songs of B. Douglas Wilson (Splitsville)
03 Mr. Wilson (Hormones)
04 Dear Brian (Chris Rainbow)
05 Brian Wilson Said (Tears for Fears)
06 Brian Wilson (Barenaked Ladies)
07 Mr. Wilson (John Cale)
08 Brian Wilson (Queers)
09 Crazy = Genius (Panic at the Disco)
10 Radiant Radish (Pearl & the Oysters)
11 Brian Wilson Is My Dad (Breakup Shoes)
12 Minnesota Girls (Shackletons)
13 Since God Invented Girls (Elton John)
14 The Last Song (Brian Wilson)
15 Love and Mercy (Brian Wilson)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/Kn42WH9u

alternate: 

https://bestfile.io/en/EMCkcQ343EW7g0m/file

The cover photo shows Wilson in 2007. I added the font colors and type to match those used on the cover of the Beach Boys' "Pet Sounds" album.

Brian Wilson - PBS Soundstage, Palazzo Theatre, Venetian Hotel, Las Vegas, NV, 12-11-2014

Here's another episode of the TV Show "PBS Soundstage." This one stars Brian Wilson, the genius songwriter behind most of the hits by the Beach Boys.

There aren't many Soundstage episodes that have been officially released as audio albums, but this is one of them. The album is called "Brian Wilson and Friends." Normally, I would shy from posting released episodes, since they can easily be found elsewhere. However, I'm making an exception here because it turns out a DVD version was released as well that had a bunch of extra songs. I managed to combine the CD and DVD versions to create a closer approximation of the actual concert.

In 2012, the Beach Boys had a reunion that included most of the long-time members of that band, including Brian Wilson. Wilson remained on good terms with most of the others (with the exception of Mike Love, who kept the rights to the band name). So Wilson reunited with some former Beach Boys in this concert. The main one of note is Al Jardine, who played on a bunch of songs and sang lead vocals on a few. But Blondie Chaplin and Ricky Fataar were also guests. They were members for a short time in the early 1970s.

On top of that, there were some other guest stars. Sebu Simonian, who is part of the indie pop duo Capital Cities, sang one song here. (He actually sang another one, but I thought it was a terrible attempt to mix the Beach Boys sound with the modern pop sound, so I didn't include it.) Mark Isham, who plays trumpet and keyboards and scores films, played trumpet on a couple of songs. Finally, Nate Ruess, singer-songwriter for the band fun, sang on a couple of songs.

This concert took place at the end of 2014. However, it was aired on TV around the time of the release of Wilson's next studio album, "No Pier Pressure," released in April 2015. Many of the songs come from that album. So do most of the collaborations with guest stars. That album was criticized for its use of AutoTune and other bad production choices. So it's better to hear those songs here, in my opinion.

The DVD was rather strange because the vast majority of it stuck to showing the concert, but they occasionally stuck in extra things not from the concert at all. For instance, there were a couple of songs featuring actress and singer Zooey Deschanel. But I didn't include them because they were recorded in a studio, not in this concert. I also cut out some interview segments between songs. Luckily, I managed to get rid of most of them without much trouble. But the song "Saturday Night" has "[edit]" in the name because some of the talking overlapped the start of the song. I got rid of that, as I usually do, with the UVR5 audio editing program.

I found a complete song list of the concert at setlist.fm, which you can see here:

Brian Wilson Concert Setlist at The Venetian Theatre, Las Vegas on December 12, 2014 | setlist.fm 

Both the CD and the DVD has some of the songs out of order, so I did some rearranging to get it as close to the actual concert as possible. Two more songs, "Pacific Coast Highway" and "Summer's Gone," appeared as DVD bonus tracks. When I first posted this, I couldn't find them. But a kind commenter had them and sent them to me, so I added them in. There still are some missing songs, however, including some great ones like "God Only Knows" and "Surfin' U.S.A."

This album is an hour and 22 minutes long.

01 Our Prayer (Brian Wilson)
02 Heroes and Villains (Brian Wilson)
03 Sloop John B (Brian Wilson with Al Jardine)
04 Dance, Dance, Dance (Brian Wilson)
05 Good Vibrations (Brian Wilson)
06 This Beautiful Day (Brian Wilson)
07 Don't Worry Baby (Brian Wilson with Sebu Simonian)
08 talk (Brian Wilson)
09 Marcella (Brian Wilson with Blondie Chaplin & Ricky Fataar)
10 talk (Brian Wilson with Blondie Chaplin & Ricky Fataar)
11 Wild Honey (Brian Wilson with Blondie Chaplin & Ricky Fataar)
12 Sail On, Sailor (Brian Wilson with Blondie Chaplin & Ricky Fataar)
13 Sail Away (Brian Wilson with Al Jardine, Blondie Chaplin & Ricky Fataar)
14 Half Moon Bay (Brian Wilson with Mark Isham)
15 Don't Talk [Put Your Head on My Shoulder] [Instrumental] (Brian Wilson with Mark Isham)
16 The Right Time (Brian Wilson with Al Jardine)
17 California Saga- California (Brian Wilson with Al Jardine)
18 Wouldn't It Be Nice (Brian Wilson with Al Jardine)
19 Help Me, Rhonda (Brian Wilson with Al Jardine)
20 talk (Brian Wilson)
21 Saturday Night [Edit] (Brian Wilson with Nate Ruess)
22 Hold On Dear Brother (Brian Wilson with Blondie Chaplin & Nate Ruess)
23 Darlin' (Brian Wilson)
24 Pacific Coast Highway (Brian Wilson)
25 talk (Brian Wilson)
26 Summer's Gone (Brian Wilson)
27 California Girls (Brian Wilson)
28 All Summer Long (Brian Wilson)
29 Fun, Fun, Fun (Brian Wilson)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/x22YU9ao

alternate:

https://bestfile.io/en/et3AwKg21SxqTRI/file

The cover photo is from this exact concert.

The Beach Boys - BBC In Concert, Mermaid Theatre, London, Britain, 9-24-2012

It seems that every musical act of reasonable popularity gets to perform for the BBC eventually. That's less so for American acts who don't make it over to Britain much, such as the Beach Boys. It seems they almost missed doing something special until decades after their heyday, when they did this concert in 2012. If it was just the Mike Love-led version of the band, bereft of nearly all original members, I wouldn't bother posting it. But in 2012, the Beach Boys had a legitimate reunion to celebrate their 50th anniversary as a band, putting out a very good new album called "That's Why God Made the Radio." So I'm posting this concert that took place shortly after the release of that album.

The Beach Boys were great for many years. But by 1997, founding brothers Dennis Wilson and Carl Wilson had died, and the band's genius songwriter Brian Wilson had long ago left the band for a solo career. Founding member Mike Love kept the band going with lots of touring, but it was a nostalgic oldies act that just played the same hits over and over again. So it was a surprise in 2012 when all surviving members of importance reunited for a new album and tour: Brian Wilson, Mike Love, Al Jardine, Bruce Johnston, and David Marks. It was even more surprising to me when their new album of original material was so good.

Unfortunately, the reunion didn't last long. Love was making a very good living performing concerts with his version of the band, with only Johnston of the other long-time members taking part, and he wanted to get back to that without having to share the profits with the others. Plus, there were long standing tensions between Love and Wilson in particular. Despite strong demand for more albums and touring, the reunited band only did about 75 concerts. This one was the third to last one, with the reunion ending four days later. 

It's probable that the BBC edited this unreleased concert down to fit an hour-long time slot, as the BBC often does. If so, they probably cut out songs from the band's then-new album "That's Why God Made the Radio." There's only one song here from that, "Isn't It Time."

This album is an hour long.

01 talk (Beach Boys)
02 Do It Again (Beach Boys)
03 Catch a Wave (Beach Boys)
04 Surfin' Safari (Beach Boys)
05 talk (Beach Boys)
06 Please Let Me Wonder (Beach Boys)
07 Then I Kissed Her (Beach Boys)
08 talk (Beach Boys)
09 Isn't It Time (Beach Boys)
10 talk (Beach Boys)
11 Why Do Fools Fall in Love (Beach Boys)
12 Don't Worry Baby (Beach Boys)
13 talk (Beach Boys)
14 I Get Around (Beach Boys)
15 Heroes and Villains (Beach Boys)
16 God Only Knows (Beach Boys)
17 Wouldn't It Be Nice (Beach Boys)
18 California Girls (Beach Boys)
19 Good Vibrations (Beach Boys)
20 Help Me, Rhonda (Beach Boys)
21 Rock and Roll Music (Beach Boys)
22 Surfin' U.S.A. (Beach Boys)
23 Barbara Ann (Beach Boys)
24 Fun, Fun, Fun (Beach Boys)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/qXrJ8EGX

alternate:

https://bestfile.io/vzxqoETNImuOO7N/file

The cover photo isn't from this exact concert, but it's close. It's from their next concert, at the Royal Albert Hall in London, on September 27, From left to right: Brian Wilson, David Marks, Mike Love and Al Jardine.

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.