Brian Wilson, former Beach Boy and the mastermind behind the group's legendary album, "Pet Sounds," has released a follow-up to his critically acclaimed 2004 release, "Smile."
Wilson's new album, "That Lucky Old Sun" can be summed up in a single word, garbage.
Perhaps that is too strong, but after listening to this album and realizing that maybe one or two tracks are decent one cannot help but feel that "Smile" should have been Wilson's last hurrah.
Maybe it is has been because he has been called a musical genius since his early twenties, but there is quite the difference between creative and hubris. This album is nothing but Wilson's ego showing he can release anything and the critics will worship it.
The track, "Morning Beat" seems like some awful track Wilson wrote back in the 1960s. It rehashes the Beach Boys' typical sound prior to "Pet Sounds" and the chorus feels like pins stabbing the brain.
"Good Kind of Love" also suffers from the same problems as "Morning Beat" in that it sounds like something fans have heard on obscure Beach Boys albums from the '60s and '70s.
"Southern California" would have been decent, but here the problem falls into overproduction and Wilson's incredibly awful vocals. He can stay in key, but that means nothing when one's voice sounds like it has been scrambled in a digital blender.
Wilson also narrates throughout the record, telling a story for this concept record. If the music hadn't been recycled surf music and the vocals and lyrics had more meaning to them, figuring out the story would have been a pleasure.
Instead, the narratives become mere background noise and a migraine inducing job instead of an enjoyable experience.
Another issue if the Pro-Tooling of Wilson's voice to attempt to make him sound like he did in the 60s. It comes off as cheap, plastic and non-sincere to the fans.
The track, "Oxygen to the Brain" starts promising, but the chorus is so awful and a chalk-board scratching insult to the ears that one wonders whether Wilson had enough oxygen to his own noggin to even justify putting this on the record.
One can admire the musically talented aspects of this record, but being blinded by such aspects only encourages people like Wilson, Paul McCartney and other dinosaur rockers to keep on putting out album after album of terrible audio sounds they call music.
Though there are moments on this record that are good. "Midnight's Another Day" is a good tune in that it does not rely on studio trickery to work. A simple piano ballad, this song stands out because sometimes simpler is better.
Wilson is too reliant on slick production. In the digital age he can take out all the scratches, scars and grit from the record. This is not always a good thing because the production makes the album rather uninteresting.
Unlike "Smile," this album lacks the creative ambition of that album. Granted it took Wilson around 30-plus years and a few nervous breakdowns to finish, that does not justify liking any follow-up to that on such a basis.
Frankly, "That Lucky Old Sun" is a Beach Boys album minus the Beach Boys. Even worse, not even a good Beach Boys album.
Considering Carl and Dennis Wilson are dead and the current Beach Boys line-up contains only one original member, one would think this would be a great chance to hear what a new Beach Boys album would be.
They would be incredibly disappointed.
If you enjoyed Wilson's work in the past and are completely enthralled with him, you will probably enjoy this. For the casual fans, avoid it and pick up the re-issue of Dennis Wilson's solo album.
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