In 2002 Brian Wilson was heading to Australia to perform The Beach Boys’ Pet Sounds album in its’ entirety. Sean Sennett chatted to Wilson prior to his arrival about the show, his upcoming solo album and a chance meeting with Phil Spector. 

Brian Wilson remains one of rock’s great enigmas. Almost 40 years ago Lennon and McCartney were on the brink of putting Tin Pan Alley out of business. Across the Atlantic, Brian Wilson was starting a revolution of his own.

As the creative brain behind The Beach Boys, Brian Wilson re-wrote the rulebook on both songwriting and recording. Famed publicist Derek Taylor described ‘Good Vibrations’ as Wilson’s ‘pocket symphony’. Paul McCartney cites The Beach Boys’ 1966 release Pet Sounds as the album that inspired The Beatles to go as far as they did on Sgt. Pepper.

In 2002 Brian Wilson has climbed a few mountains. Emotional breakdowns and drug addiction behind him, the former Beach Boy is writing, recording and winning knockout live reviews around the globe. Wilson’s concerts are bookened by old favourites and Beach Boys’ hits. In the middle, his audience are treated to a ten-piece band, with Wilson out front, performing Pet Sounds in its entirety.

Brian Wilson started today like any other. He’s been “exercising… and watching some television” and tending to his eight dogs. Then he sits at the piano and usually records melody fragments on an old four-track machine. But over a quarter of a century later, Pet Sounds is still on his mind.

“I was channelling a higher love power [making that record],” he begins. “There was a lot of love in our voices. We prayed for goodness for people, and we put that in our voices and put it on Pet Sounds. People got a lot of love off it.”

Listening to Pet Sounds today is one experience. Hearing it in 1966 would have been revolutionary. The Beach Boys themselves were away on tour, with Bruce Johnson standing in for Brian, for most of the recording. Brian dreamt up the tunes and had collaborator Tony Asher come in to work on concepts and lyrics. LA’s hottest session players layered down the backing tracks, with Brian at the production helm.

Highlights on the finished album include ‘Wouldn’t It Be Nice’, ‘God Only Knows’ and the haunting paean to lost youth, ‘Caroline No’.

Paul McCartney first heard an acetate when Bruce Johnston dropped into London. Since then, the former Beatle admits to having bought each of his four children a copy of Pet Sounds as a rite of passage. He’s described ‘God Only Knows’ as ‘one of the greatest songs of all time’. Born an ocean and two days apart, Wilson is just as enamoured with McCartney’s work.

“ ‘Let It Be’, I would have loved to have written,” Wilson confirms, “but I didn’t. My favourite Beatles’ album is Let It Be. I’m kinda partial to that. I think it’s a wonderful album. My favourite Beach Boys’ album is The Beach Boys Love You. That’s my favourite. I just like ‘Ding Dang’ and ‘Let Us Go On This Way’.

“Paul and I haven’t talked about it, but I’d like to try [and write with him sometime]. He’s a fantastic person. The highlight of the Queen’s Jubilee show for me was playing ‘Hey Jude’ with Paul. It was fantastic. I’m going to have him guest on my new album.”

If all goes according to plan, Wilson hopes to finish his new work later this month. Fingers crossed, the album will see a release early in 2003.

“We did a version of ‘Proud Mary’ about ten years ago, and we’re going to use it on the album,” Wilson continues. “It’s going to have a lot of heavy rock’n’roll. There’s going to be a lot of Phil Spector style rock’n’roll. Some of the [songs] are from old times. I’ve gone back and revamped them and changed them around a little bit.”

To this day, Spector remains Wilson’s ultimate musical hero. A visionary, if any outside producer influenced the sonic scope of Pet Sound it was Phil Spector and his ‘wall of sound’.

“Of course, he’s [still] my favourite,” Wilson booms. “I love his music more than anybody else’s. I saw him about three years ago at the Staple Centre where the Los Angeles’ Lakers play. I bumped into him there, so I talked to him for a second.”

Still, when Brian Wilson wants to hear Spector or Burt Bacharach, he hits the play button in his head. He rarely drags out old records.

“No I don’t, not anymore. I used to. I don’t go back in time. I don’t wallow in the mire with the past. I try and stay in the future. You gotta forget about yesterday. Yesterday is history. Ten minutes ago is history, actually, if you wanna be technical.”

At times, Brian’s memory is a little hazy. The 1970s are a tough period to recall. Ask him about recording and touring in the decades before and after and he’s as sharp as a tack.

“I remember coming down to Australia in 1964. It was January 1964. I remember the rooftops were all red. I remember that. I remember Brisbane, Melbourne and going to Christchurch in New Zealand. I remember Roy Orbison was very popular in Australia.”

The buzz on this tour is that Brian plays what Brian wants to play. He relishes the freedom of not being in a band. Similarly, he’s unsure if there’ll be any reunion for the surviving Beach Boys.

“Yeah, I got tired of The Beach Boys… so I started my own solo career. It’s fun, because I get to be the star of my own show. It’s really quite a fun thing. I don’t know about playing with the other guys again. I might. When Carl [Wilson] died, it kind of messed things up for us, so we all went separate ways.”

Sean Sennett