Brian Wilson

Quashing all hopes that this might be another Smile or Pet Sounds (maybe? . . . just maybe?), Brian Wilson and his karaoke-smooth backing band the Wondermints have instead given us something on par with 1970s Beach Boys — kinda bloated, kinda silly, mostly out of date, but with enough earnestness and pop intuition to be so, so, so puerile that hating it would be like hating Raffi (just try critiquing “Bananaphone”). This, uh, concept album begins with Wilson playing the role of the lucky old sun (yeah), watching over all the failed actors and writers of LA. But, through the transformative power of junior-high homophones, about halfway through the record, Wilson becomes the son while the lyrical content turns toward romantic autobiography: “At 25 I turned out the light cause I couldn’t handle the glare in my tired eyes.” The music is vintage Wilson — chugging surf rhythms laying a base for dorky five-part harmonies with plenty of “doo-doo” and “wah-wah” — but damned if the introspective piano ballad “Midnight’s Another Day” isn’t a hell of a swan song. If this is it for Wilson, it’s a pleasant enough end.

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