Artist: Brian Wilson Album: That Lucky Old Sun Worth Buying: Yes the whole album
You will be interested in this album if you are a fan of: The Beach Boys, Brian Wilson, Concept albums
Tell Me More: After releasing Pet Sounds in 1966, and being inspired by the new ground that the Beatles where breaking; Brian Wilson wanted to up the ante. He announced that the Beach Boys next album would be an epic entitled Smile
He described it as a "Teenage Symphony to God". The album would become legendary for never being finished as his descent into mental illness began. Many would debate if his illness was the cause of Smile's demise or if Smile's demise was one of the many triggers that began a journey into darkness that would take decades to recover from.
Brian Wilson's condition would get much worse before it got better and in interviews those close to him would say that he wouldn't even speak of the album, and that one of the songs frightened him and made him hear voices.
In 2004 after a long uphill battle to recover, "never" finally came. With his original Smile Collaborator Van Dyke Parks, He finished and released Smile. It was worth the wait, it received great crtitial acclaim. But most of all, it signaled that he had come to grips with the past. That he had come back, not just professionally.....but personally
All this would seem to be acheivement enough, but with the weight of Smile behind him (once again teaming up with lyrical collaborator Van Dyke Parks) Mr Wilson has done it again by releasing "That Lucky Old Sun".
If Smile was a teenage symphony to God, then Lucky Old Sun is an older and wiser man's symphony to Southern California. With Smile he took care of unfinished business. But with Sun he is picking up where he left off and moving forward.
If you didn't know any of what I have just written you would never think that an album this optimistic, this romantic could have been written or performed by someone who ever had to suffer a form of schizoprenia for so long. Personally I like this album better than Smile. There is a sheer ubridled joy to this album that by the 3rd listen really started to get contagious for me. Also this album seems so much more personal. No Where is this better demonstrated than on the deceptively simple lyrics of the song "Going Home". In the first verse he reflects on his long journey out of darkness, the completion of Smile and how glad he is to be recovering.
I'm going home, I'm going home Back to the place where I belong Found Peace of mind , Yeah one piece at a time I'm going home, (Sure don't know why I'm rolling around heaven) I heard my sound, and found my smile living in love, yeah it's been a while.
Lucky Old Sun is the album that really made me Smile
What if I am not ready to buy the whole album: Older fans of the Beach Boys will wonder if there are any songs that will compare to their hits? I want to say no because this is a concept album. like Smile or Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon it is broken up into separate tracks, but is meant to be listened to as one solid piece of music. But If I had to separate one track I would point out Forever She'll Be My Surfer Girl
. Which at first glance might seem like a retread of the hit "Surfer Girl". It isn't. It's an homage to the girl who inspired the song. What about the packaging? This album comes packaged in a beautiful 3 way gatefold digipak. I can only imagine how much more beautiful the packaging would have been in the vinyl album format. It also comes with a beautiful lyrics book which is good since you will want to listen to it from start to finish with the lyrics in front of you at least once.
listen to samples and buy in mp3 format here
CD Format
Deluxe version with CD and DVD
Vinyl LP Version
