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Industry Information >>Building Materials>>The outcome is a blend of uptempo pop and piano-based ballads

The outcome is a blend of uptempo pop and piano-based ballads

A lot has changed for the historically reclusive SouthernCalifornia native, who speaks with a slight slur, a result of hisdrug-abuse past and medicated journey through mental illness.
He is a second-round father at the age of 66 (musician daughtersWendy, 38, and Carnie, 40, from his first marriage, tour as TheWilsons). Following 2004's long-awaited rock opera "Smile," and a2005 Christmas release, he has a new, ambitious solo album, "ThatLucky Old Sun," due out Sept. 2. He is touring behind the material,pushing through years of stage fright.
"I think the new album is just as good as anything the Beach Boysever recorded," says Wilson. "Playing these songs live, I feelproud. You know that funny feeling you get in your stomach, like,'Oh my God, this is sounding great!'"
Two years ago, he says, he recorded 18 songs then chose 10 lastyear for Capitol Records/EMI. He came up with the album's lushorchestration and music, while 43-year-old bandmate Scott Bennettscribed the lyrics, with colorful narrative interludes by Wilson'slongtime collaborator Van Dyke Parks.
The outcome is a blend of uptempo pop and piano-based ballads. Thetitle track, a cover of Louis Armstrong's "That Lucky Old Sun,"flows into the bouncy anthem "Morning Beat," setting the album'stone.
"Van Dyke Parks, Brian and Melinda thought this should be a loveletter to Los Angeles. At this point, Brian was 65-years-old and itjust felt right to embrace his legend and be a bit nostalgic,"Bennett says.
Songs such as "Forever She'll Be My Surfer Girl" touch on BeachBoys melodies while "Mexican Girl" adds a dash of salsa flavor."Midnight's Another Day" and "Oxygen to the Brain" referenceWilson's dark days in the '70s and '80s, when he receded from thespotlight into isolation, drugs and weight gain.
Wilson calls "Midnight's Another Day," which skirts on a solitarypiano melody, his favorite song, "kind of introspective, kind ofhow I feel around people."
The album's last song, "Southern California," reminisces aboutco-founding the Beach Boys in 1961 with his late brothers Carl andDennis, and ends the album on an uplifting note. Wilson sings,"It's magical/ Living your dream."
"Yes, Brian had a rough time of it, with his mental health, but Iwould kill to have the kind of catalog he does, and tour everywherewith his brothers like he did," says Bennett, who confirms thatWilson "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 Yamahasynthesizer and grand piano in his purple-curtained music room.
"When I go to the keyboard, I feel holy, like an angel over myhead. I feel very holy. When we did (the Beach Boys hit) 'God OnlyKnows,' I felt holy about that too. A godly something comes throughme," Wilson says, motioning with his hands. "I'm always thinkingabout melodies. The melodies come from my brain, and my keyboards.I play a really pleasant keyboard. It sounds so pleasant it makesme want to write melodies."
But life as a busy dad and touring musician can be overwhelming.Wilson describes a house full of kids and dogs as "very loud" and"a madhouse." He frequently goes to a nearby park and takes walks.
"The kids make me feel a little jumpy," he says. "Sometimes I wantto get out of the house to get away from my kids but I love my kidsa lot. I love my kids. ... Quiet time comes around 10 at night whenI go to sleep. It's peace of mind. Things run smoothly at night.During the day, things are more rough."
Later on, when Ledbetter comes home with their small son Dylan --floppy-haired, barefoot and wearing a Hawaiian shirt -- Wilsonbrightens. He's quieter when it comes to daughters Wendy andCarnie, who both live less than 10 miles away.
"I don't talk to them very much. I used to. I recorded with them atone time, but I don't talk to them a lot," he says, explaining thatthe women are "really busy."
Questions about the Beach Boys' current status get lukewarmresponse as well. Wilson, who also formed the band with cousin MikeLove and then-school friend Al Jardine, split with most of thegroup's surviving members years ago amid legal squabbles. Love andlater Beach Boys bandmate Bruce Johnston tour as the Beach BoysBand, while Jardine has his own Endless Summer Band. Wilsonstresses the subject's touchiness.
"We don't want any publicity about me getting back with the BeachBoys, cause I don't want to. They're not my group anymore. That'sMike and Bruce's group now. I'm on my own, and I would rather dothat than go back to the Beach Boys," he says.
Wilson, though, clearly loves performing Beach Boys tunes as wellas his own solo work, even with nightly stage fright, which he sayshe works through by getting neck and shoulder rubs, and praying.
At a taping days later for Yahoo! Music's Live Sets, Wilson isjoined onstage by his nine-piece band, including Bennett andmembers of the Wondermints, who have played with him for 10 years.
Tentatively at first, Wilson claps his hands and directs the groupin rousing, harmony-filled versions of such Beach Boys classics as"Help Me Rhonda" and "I Get Around." Wilson later sings from thenew album.
When asked during a Q&A session his biggest regret, he doesn'tmince words.
"The drugs I took which kind of messed up my mind. The LSD, themarijuana, the cocaine," he says, to audience laughter.
Wilson isn't letting his past stop him from throwing his ambitionsforward.
After "That Lucky Old Sun," Wilson says the unreleased songs herecorded, including a slow, smooth version of "Proud Mary," willform another album. He gushes that "the only person I really wantto work with is Paul McCartney." He would also like to record "arock 'n' roll album inspired by Phil Spector's type records, areally hard rock album that really rocks, with big orchestration,the whole bit."
Yet, he also views his future gingerly, as day to day.
"I look forward to today," he tells The AP. "I never look forwardto the future because I think to myself, 'What if there's anearthquake, what if I die or someone I love dies?' I get those kindof thoughts all the time. It's 'oof' to my head."
Brian Wilson
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