Brian Wilson on his new disc
August 19th, 2008 by Wayne Garcia in NewsYes, he’s heavily medicated. But Beach Boys composer-genius Brian Wilson is pretty lucid when he talks about his new disc, That Lucky Old Sun, set for release on Sept. 2. This is from a piece on HuffPo, starting with a quote from Scott Bennett, a member of his band who wrote the lyrics for the tribute to LA and Cali:
“Yes, Brian had a rough time of it, with his mental health, but I would kill to have the kind of catalog he does, and tour everywhere with his brothers like he did,” says Bennett, who confirms that Wilson “is on a heavy dose of antidepressants.”
Regardless, Wilson has hit a creative stride in his life.
Inspiration comes at night when he sits down alone at his Yamaha synthesizer and grand piano in his purple-curtained music room.
“When I go to the keyboard, I feel holy, like an angel over my head. I feel very holy. When we did (the Beach Boys hit) ‘God Only Knows,’ I felt holy about that too. A godly something comes through me,” Wilson says, motioning with his hands. “I’m always thinking about melodies. The melodies come from my brain, and my keyboards. I play a really pleasant keyboard. It sounds so pleasant it makes me want to write melodies.”
I’ve heard a bootleg of the entire song cycle from the London premier last year and, for the most part, it is a great, creative work. It is no SMiLE, but it is probably the best thing he has done without his brothers, aside from maybe his first solo disc. Some of the songs are bridged by spoken-word segues written by SMiLE co-writer Van Dyke Parks. And I’ve heard the studio recording of the most amazing song on it, “Midnight’s Another Day.”
Finally, for those longing for a Beach Boys reunion (as if that could happen with Carl and Dennis gone), Wilson had this to say:
Questions about the Beach Boys’ current status get lukewarm response as well. Wilson, who also formed the band with cousin Mike Love and then-school friend Al Jardine, split with most of the group’s surviving members years ago amid legal squabbles. Love and later Beach Boys bandmate Bruce Johnston tour as the Beach Boys Band, while Jardine has his own Endless Summer Band. Wilson stresses the subject’s touchiness.
“We don’t want any publicity about me getting back with the Beach Boys, cause I don’t want to. They’re not my group anymore. That’s Mike and Bruce’s group now. I’m on my own, and I would rather do that than go back to the Beach Boys,” he says.
Bonus cuts: That Lucky Old Sun available as a stream in Gannett news sites starting Aug. 22; a promo video for the disc with Brian re-entering Capitol Records, where he had all his biggest ’60s hits.
August 19th, 2008 at 6:43 pm
This is goign to sound strange, but I have been in this state of wishful thinking lately that Brian would collaborate with Paul McCartney on a song. I mean, being medicated isn’t going to help a creative collaboration (McCartney would argue that it just depends on medicated on WHAT) but those two are the two foremost pop music icons of yore.
I don’t know if it could work — I know Lennon/McCartney pushed Brian and Brian pushed Lennon/McCartney. Now what about a single by McCartney/Wilson?
August 20th, 2008 at 2:05 pm
John F: While I can understand your desire for a Macca/Wilson collaboration, I don’t think it would work. Here’s why:
Lennon and McCartney wrote most of their songs apart, and the quality of their output owes much to the way they pushed each other as the chief songwriters of the greatest band of their era.
I don’t see Wilson and Macca having the same dynamic. Both men are peerless melodicists, so the only benefit that could possibly come from a collaboration would have to be in the lyrics department. And Brian Wilson is not the type who could push McCartney to write his best work. He’s always needed a demanding producer to do that — as with Nigel Godrich, who helmed “Chaos and Creation.”
Having said that, I think McCartney is having an artistic renaissance and is personally driven to put out his best work. So let’s say he and Wilson were to collaborate: Brian’s contribution would clearly be in melody and orchestration. But I don’t see how that would be a significant improvement over what McCartney could do on his own.