I was having one of those weeks where you're just about to jump out of your skin due to the events being served up by life and as it often happens, I found myself being rescued by music. The venue was Half Price Books in Rocky River, a familiar favorite must-stop location any time that I am in the area (perhaps it could also be described as a financially draining rest stop on my personal path of life. Healthy? Hmmmm). The artist in question was Mr. Brian Wilson.
Like many of the past few generations, I was raised as a fan of both The Beatles and The Beach Boys, growing up listening to my dad's vinyl copies of various albums from the two groups. As I grew older, I began to buy copies of selected albums in the Beach Boys discography. Vocally, I was a Carl Wilson and Brian Wilson kind of guy and while I didn't hate the Mike Love vocal contributions (certainly, there are some classics there), there is no question that his material lacked the soul and feeling that you would get listening to Carl and Brian sing anything.
Of course I had read every Beach Boys and Brian Wilson related book that I could get my hands on and I had seen quite a few documentaries (including The Beach Boys: An American Band). So when The Beach Boys made their return to recording in 1985 (with their self-titled The Beach Boys release, which incidentally would be the band's final album of all-new material) after the very public tragedy of drummer/brother/cousin Dennis Wilson's drowning from a couple years prior, it was a really big deal. Listening to The Beach Boys and the subsequent odds and ends Still Cruisin' release that followed a few years later, I could tell that things had changed with Brian.
Without going through Wilson's output as a solo artist in the late '80s-'00s piece by piece, I'll summarize by saying that although Wilson now is a different person artistically than the Brian we knew during the golden age of The Beach Boys, the genius of Brian Wilson still burns within, although you sometimes have to search a little bit harder to find it. And as a music fan, I decided that I no longer wanted to spend that time searching. The following entry on the Burning Wood music blog really says it best, saying that Wilson has nothing left to prove to us as music fans. He writes that "if he [Brian] left us nothing but "The Warmth Of The Sun," that would have been more than enough for a lifetime."
Thankfully, Wilson has given us so much more beyond that and although I'm happy that he still wants to make new music, I've been happy to enjoy the albums and singles that came long before that. That's how I'd rather remember Brian as an artist instead of listening to his newer material and (often) hearing the glaring reminders of where Brian is now that I'd rather forget.
But then it happened (ooh, a plot twist - you knew this was coming, right?) as I stood there in Half Price Books and saw a promo copy of Brian Wilson Reimagines Gershwin out on the shelves a few days prior to street date - a definite diamond among the other more common CDs in the racks. I picked it up for a friend of mine that's a dedicated Brian Wilson devotee, and I knew that he'd appreciate the purchase (for a mere $5.99) greatly. But of course, I had to give it a brief spin to find out where Brian is at in 2010. Hey, but I thought you said that you weren't... I know, I know, but being a music fan is all about taking the chances, and this Brian Wilson album might be good. On paper, it's not exactly your typical boring covers album release, is it?
Wow, is this thing good! Listening to Brian Wilson Reimagines Gershwin, I was immediately taken back to being a kid, hearing The Beach Boys for the first time. A good album does that, it stirs those thoughts, feelings and emotions, and that's part of what made me so happy is that I had written off the chances of ever hearing an album again from Brian Wilson or The Beach Boys that would make me feel this way. As rock journalist David Wild notes in the liner notes, there's stuff on this album that sounds like it could have come off of a Beach Boys album from back in the day (he's specifically referencing the very Pet Sounds-like instrumental "I Got Plenty O' Nuttin').
It's fantastic, and more than that, Wilson himself sounds better vocally than I ever could have imagined possible. Produced by Wilson himself, Brian Wilson Reimagines Gershwin is proof that Wilson's amazing talents as a producer and arranger remain fully intact. I'm not sure how much work in the studio (and subsequent mixing magic by Al Schmitt) was required to serve up this final product, but the result is a beautiful work of art from an American treasure that will be an important addition to his catalog that people will remember over time.
14 songs, 39 minutes. And there's not a second of that time that feels wasted. If you're a Beach Boys fan, you're really going to love this.
As for me, I'm going to take a closer look at some of the Wilson material that I've missed in recent years (don't worry, I've already heard SMiLE) - first stop: That Lucky Old Sun.
- written by Matt Wardlaw
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