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By Greg Kot
Chicago Tribune
Published on Sunday, Sep 14, 2008
Brian Wilson, the most troubled and gifted of the Beach Boys, is working at his most prolific rate since the 1960s.
It's one of the most heartwarming stories of the last decade: an improbable return from the abyss of mental illness and a well-deserved victory lap for one of rock's legendary figures.
Obscured by the Brian-is-back love fest, however, is that his new music hasn't been particularly strong. Solo albums in 1997 (Imagination) and 2004 (Gettin' in Over My Head) sounded like robotic re-creations of past triumphs, rather than the work of a genius back on his game.
Wilson's latest release, That Lucky Old Sun, aims higher: It's an earnest attempt to create another song cycle in the tradition of '60s classics Pet Sounds and Smile, which he has been performing on the road. But the new album is not the long-awaited third part of a concept-album trilogy; instead, it's mostly a clunky and forgettable exercise in nostalgia.
The album's theme of personal renewal plays out over a day in old Los Angeles, back when the 66-year-old Wilson was a teenager. Collaborating with the multifaceted band that has been his safety net in concert, Wilson crafts a 17-song, 38-minute suite of orchestrated pop.
All the signifiers of Wilson's late '60s sound are in place, from the dense vocal harmonies to elaborate orchestrations incorporating French horn, ukulele and bells.
At the center of it all is Wilson, sounding a little worn around the edges but still bringing enthusiasm to his singing. Most of the songs are like a forced smile, a series of strained odes to ''the golden glow'' of an L.A. that no longer exists.
There are also a handful of embarrassments, including a mash note to a Mexican Girl. ''Can you picture me in your family tree?'' Wilson sings.
He also reads kooky spoken-word interludes written by his old '60s collaborator, Van Dyke Parks. These are designed to link the songs and enrich the narrative, but they're momentum-killers spackled with unintended laughs (''Are we all not actors/And the whole wide world our stage'').
In the album's closing songs, Wilson addresses the pain of his mental illness and his long road back to a semblance of stability. The best of these, Midnight's Another Day, is a melancholy piano ballad that ranks with Wilson's best and most personal work. When Wilson sings, ''All these people make me feel so alone,'' we get a brief, heartbreaking glimpse of what the singer's life must have been like the last four decades.
That he is once again recording music is no small triumph. That he is still capable of a song as moving as Midnight's Another Day is encouraging. But That Lucky Old Sun is not even close to being as great as the Wilson-directed albums that inspired it.
Brian Wilson, the most troubled and gifted of the Beach Boys, is working at his most prolific rate since the 1960s.
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