An album by
Brian Wilson released in 1998.
This was Brian Wilson's first (released) album of new material since his 1988 eponymous solo album, and pre-release reports were mixed. Some, like Sean Lennon and Peter Buck, raved about the album, while most were cautious, remembering that co-producer Joe Thomas had worked on the pretty poor Stars & Stripes Vol 1 album with the Beach Boys.
In the event, both schools of thought had an element of truth to them. The production on the album is dire - the worst 80s AOR sound imaginable. And the collaborators Thomas inflicted on Wilson on some songs are an odd bunch - Jimmy Buffett, Carole Bayer Sager and Jim Peterik (writer of Eye Of The Tiger for Survivor). But Wilson's vocals are his best in decades, and there are at least five songs on here that rank with his best - Your Imagination, She Says That She Needs Me, Lay Down Burden (dedicated to the memory of Carl Wilson who died shortly before the album was completed), Sunshine and Happy Days.
But even then, She Says... was a rewrite of Sherri She Needs Me, an unreleased track from the 70s (the unreleased version is better) and Happy Days, while a 'new' song, contained sections from an unreleased SMiLE instrumental, an unreleased song called My Solution, and the old vaudeville song Happy Days Are Here Again. This, plus the inclusion of two remakes of old Beach Boys songs (insisted on by Thomas) led some to speculate that Wilson was suffering writer's block. It seems more likely in fact that he merely wasn't very interested in the album (a belief borne out by the much more interesting demos he recorded with Andy Paley shortly before work on the album started.
Tracklist:
- Your Imagination
- She Says That She Needs Me
- South American
- Where Has Love Been?
- Keep An Eye On Summer
- Dream Angel
- Cry
- Lay Down Burden
- Let Him Run Wild
- Sunshine
- Happy Days
The album was released in 1998 on Giant Records