Beach Boy Brian still belting out good vibrations
Brian Wilson: No Pier Pressure (Capitol) Verdict: Perfect harmony
WHeN the five surviving original members of The Beach Boys got together to celebrate their 50th anniversary in 2012, the reunion lived up to all expectations. The group breathed fresh life into their sun-kissed Californian harmonies on a world tour, and fans were even treated to a new album, That’s why God Made The radio.
But things are never just fun, fun, fun with the outfit once known as America’s Band. Their history is littered with personality clashes and courtroom battles and, predictably, the quintet were falling apart by the time their birthday trek finished.
one bloc, headed by Mike love, continues to tour under the Beach Boys’ name. The second faction, grouped around the band’s fragile musical genius Brian wilson (love’s cousin), can be heard on this solo effort. No Pier Pressure was completed with a surprising cast of guest vocalists, and i t reiterates wilson’s gift for intricate arrangements and peerless harmonies.
on the numbers where his old Beach Boys bandmates are prominent, there is a sense of wistful nostalgia.
wilson was dismayed that the 2012 line-up didn’t continue, and his rueful tone is obvious on the ballads what ever Happened, co- starring sixties stalwarts Al Jardine and David Marks, and Tell Me why.
Much the same applies to the jazzy interludes dotted around the album. wilson has always been an experimental songwriter and he stretches himself again on cinematic opening track This Beautiful Day and the languid instrumental Half Moon Bay, featuring trumpeter Mark Isham.
But it is the collaborations with younger artists that stop No Pier Pressure from feeling too sorry for itself. Admitting that he saw ‘an opportunity to become hip with my kids’ (surely that should be ‘grandkids’?) the veteran songwriter, 72, responds favourably to being in the studio with country starlet Kacey Musgraves, Hollywood actress Zooey Deschanel and Nate ruess, of New York indie band Fun.
MusGrAves brings welcome irreverence to the goodhumoured hoedown Guess You Had To Be There, all Nashville slide guitars and banjo, while Deschanel is the epitome of cool on the bossa nova on The Island.
ruess is compared by wilson to his late brother Carl, who sang the lead vocals on Good vibrations, and he is a lively presence on saturday Night.
even more surprising is the dance-pop runaway Dancer. with bearded los Angeles hipster sebu simonian as the guest vocalist and a backing track powered by eighties-style electronics, it i s certainly a departure.
But wilson’s sadness at the Beach Boys’ latest dissolution lingers on, and it rises to the surface again on The last song, a brilliant but heartbreaking piano ballad on which he croons: ‘There’s still time for us, so let’s take it slow.’
Maybe all is not lost. wilson’s solo tour is being plugged on love’s official Beach Boys website, and there have been hints that the band may yet bury the hatchet and reunite for one last hurrah. wouldn’t it be nice?
NO PIER PRESSURE is out on Monday. Brian Wilson’s British tour starts on September 18 at the Echo Arena in Liverpool (livenation.co.uk).