Brian Wilson
That Lucky Old Sun
BY Paul Isaacs
September 03, 2008 15:09
Anyone expecting a follow-up to SMiLE is going to be disappointed by That Lucky Old Sun, but it’s hardly a wipeout. A song suite about Los Angeles — or at least some bizarre Eisenhower-era, only-in-Brian-Wilson’s-head version of Los Angeles — Lucky Old Sun was co-written with Scott Bennett (from the SMiLE touring band) and Van Dyke Parks, who contributes several Shatner-esque spoken-word interludes. Though none of the songs match the complexity and craft of SMiLE — it’s mostly just Beach Boys pastiche — this is still a charming, generous collection. Wilson seems in total control of the material, from the exuberantly daft exercise anthem “Oxygen to the Brain” to the doo-woppy “Live Let Live,” and his falsetto can still send shivers: the ballad “Midnight’s Another Day” might be his prettiest melody in decades.
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