| Brian
Wilson, is arguably the greatest
American composer of popular music in
the rock era. Born and raised in
Hawthorne, CA, Wilson formed the Beach
Boys, with his two younger brothers,
cousin Mike Love, and school friend Alan
Jardine, and they became the most
successful American rock band in history
by performing his songs, which initially
combined the rock urgency of Chuck Berry
with the harmonies of the Four Freshmen.
Wilson's musical imagination expanded
during the '60s to the point of such
remarkable works as "Good Vibrations," a
chart-topping Beach Boys single of 1966.
Wilson retreated from his dominance of
the Beach Boys after 1967, as their
popularity declined. He made sporadic
contributions to their records,
returning only briefly as a songwriter
and producer in the mid-'70s.
Wilson issued a debut solo album in
1988, with a promising lead single "Love
and Mercy," but a pop crossover proved
elusive; ironically, the Beach Boys had
concurrently recorded their own comeback
around the same time, and took "Kokomo"
to the top of the charts. Wilson's
second album, Sweet Insanity, was
rejected by Sire, but in 1995, he
reunited with his mid-'60s collaborator
Van Dyke Parks for Orange Crate Art.
That same year, Wilson was the subject
of a documentary feature, I Just Wasn't
Made for These Times, which also
appeared a soundtrack album. Following
in 1998 was Imagination, which included
several throwbacks to lush Beach Boys
productions, but failed to entice a wide
commercial audience. Although Wilson was
never a standout as a live performer, he
began touring and released a pair of
live titles: Live at the Roxy Theatre
(2000) and Pet Sounds Live (2002). His
cobbled studio follow-up, 2004's Gettin'
in Over My Head, unfortunately exhibited
the same foibles as Imagination. Also,
it was overshadowed by Wilson's
preparation of the legendary Beach Boys
record SMiLE for its live debut and a
new studio recording. He debuted the new
SMiLE at the Royal Festival Hall in
London on February 20, 2004, and
recorded it in the studio that April.
Both the live and studio versions earned
rapturous reviews, and Wilson then
launched a full world tour of SMiLE. |
