Brian Wilson - That Lucky Old Sun (CD/DVD)

A musical love letter from Southern California, That Lucky Old Sun continues the awe-inspiring concept album journey that Brian Wilson first began with The Beach Boys' 1966 classic, Pet Sounds & has continued to evolve during his solo career, highlighted by his 2004 critically-acclaimed Brian Wilson Presents SMiLE. The four transitional narratives, co-written with Van Dyke Parks and spoken by Wilson, offer cameos on life and the heartbeat of Los Angeles which propels the album's musical story. Limited Edition CD/DVD features exclusive "making of" with bonus video content. (DVD total run time: 26:00)

Bonus DVD includes:

Chapter 1: Making Of The Album 19:14

Includes interviews and behind the scenes footage

Chapter 2: Live Performances From Capitol Studio A

Good Kind Of Love 3:22

Forever She'll Be My Surfer Girl 2:54
Album Description

a postcard from Sunny California

The CD/ DVD came out one year later than the first concerts were done in London, but the vibe is the same! a journey in Southern California, and the feelings of this man, after so many troubled times. i love the cd and the DVD as a bonus is great. November 24, 2008

Brian's back!

That Lucky Old Sun is the best work, song in and song out, that Brian has created and produced since Sunflower. This is not a redux of "Gettin' In over My Head" from '05. These songs are full, as are the harmonies, the melodies are irresistable (especially "Southern California") and Brian's band, The Wondermints is well, wonderful!
Don't let me mislead you however, Brian's voice does not sound like the Sunflower era or the sixties. But what Brian has done though, is manifest his own "California myth" that he so ingeniusly created in the sixties, through his music, and with the help from his literary partner, Van Dyke Park, who crafted the narratives, has given us an updated version that makes the listener yearn for that California lifestyle.
"Morning Beat" and "Going Home" are the two best uptempo songs I can remember him creating since "Your Imagination" in '98 and before that you would have to go back to the sixties. "Morning Beat" reminds the BW fan a lot of the fun in "Do It Again" with the great rock harmonies and beat changes. Brian and the band just sound like they are having a hell of a lot of fun in "Going Home". "Midnight's Another Day" is the best ballad he has written and produced since "God Only Knows." Really, it is that good!
So is the entire record!
November 22, 2008

That Luck Old Brian WIlson Fam

For someone who has followed the Beach Boys, and specifically Brian Wilson, for forty years, I just couldn not wait for this album to arrive on my doorstep. When it arrived, I certainly was not disappointed in the least. Brian has again enchanted me with another fine product. The music and the harmonies harken back to his production techniques of days past when everything he touched turned to "gold." For anyone who appreciates fine music from one of the true genius' of Rock & Roll, this album will satisfy you immensly. Buy it! Enjoy it! And thank God that this very talented person still walks among us. October 28, 2008

Brian Wilson, without reservation

Okay, I live in Huntington Beach, California, and one of the stained glass windows in the Catholic church next to my house has a surfer in it. Really. HB, for those of you that don't know, is Surf City. Despite all claims to the contrary, HB is the place, dude.

I grew up here. I remember going to watch my older brother surf at the jetty in 1961, met Corky Carroll and Rick Griffin and even heard the incomparable Dick Dale and the Del Tones. But there were the Beach Boys.

At first, nobody considered the Beach Boys to be serious music. They sang about 'SURFIN' for God's sake, and 'GURLS'. But they hit the mark with deadly accuracy. There isn't a pop band on the charts today that will be able to duplicate the brothers wilson and company back then.

Listen to "In my room" to "409", to "Help me, Rhonda". These are pop masterpieces in their own right, good as Hoagy Carmichael, good as Cole Porter, good as Elvis.

They weren't just musical compositions, they were sound sculptures. They were evocative, they were lovely, with a style and execution not previously seen.

Then things got wierd. Living in surf town in 68 and 69 saw hippies being tear gassed, music becoming the secret language of the young (to a much greater degree than it is today) I remember Jimi playing the Golden Bear, I remember the first FM radio stations, I remember Psychedelia.

And I remember PET SOUNDS. Without losing any part of the Beach Boys sound, it moved into more adventurous territory. About this time or earlier, you started to hear rumors about Brian. He was a hermit, he had a sandbox in his living room with a piano in it, he was making a masterpiece album. You know where this goes--

Album after album came from the Boys, most only had a couple of Brian songs. They got socially conscious, musically and thematically ambitious, then went to kind of a revanchist period. Brian was a confirmed recluse, and many articles were written about the legend of the wounded Fisher King.

Last night I attended a fundraiser at the Roxy ( a rock and roll nightclub in Hollywood) for the Carl Wilson Foundation. Dick Dale The Best of Dick Dale: 15 Classics from the King of the Surf Guitar thundered out his power trio magic. The Wilson girls sang Carl songs and reminisced bout Uncle Carl. The Honeys sang, as did Alan Jardine. Dave Marks showed some serious rock and roll prowess on the Fender Custom Esquire. (all of these acts backed by the very able Adam Marsland Chaos Band) You Don't Know Me This was a big party, and the small audience was full of family members and parts of the Beach Boys organization, and the hardest core of fans (like me)

Then Brian Wilson came out on the stage and blew my mind. (as we were wont to say once upon a time) Brian has serious mileage, and is quirky and sometimes difficult to watch. But Brian's voice is stronger than it has been in years, and his material is moving, insightful, and startling.

I ran right out and bought the album (get the one with the included dvd)

Say what you want. Brian Wilson is a 24 karat honest to god musical genius, and this is his best new work in many decades. The Brian Wilson band (mostly composed of the Wondermints)Wondermints soared and sparkled and shone like the missing ghosts of Brians' absent brothers and his estranged other Beach Boys.

Drug addiction? Legal Problems? Strangeness?

All is forgiven. The Brian Wilson story has always had a full grand opera sweep to it. Many rockers espouse the trappings of a walpurgisnacht, Brian was dragged in by the heels and consumed by one.
("I took the diamond from my heart and turned it back into coal" reads one lyric from this album)

And emerges, scarred but unbroken, to do it all again.

This is the best new album I have heard in a while. From anyone. I laughed. I cried. I fell in love all over again.

Persevere, October 21, 2008

Classic Brian Wilson

Brian Wilson's "Lucky Old Sun" is a must-have for any of us who were there in the '60s and who loved Pet Sounds. I love Brian's music for his rich use of harmony with unusual progressions and his constant search for new sounds. (I still wonder just exactly what instrument I am hearing in some of the Pet Sounds songs.)
This set is about 90% brand new material presented as a concert with almost no pause between songs, and everything tied up and wrapped around a common theme, the 40's song Lucky Old Sun. Three of the songs, Forever My Surfer Girl, Midnight's Another Day, and Southern California, easily clear the bar set by Pet Sounds, while three more...Morning Beat, Good Kind Of Love, and Going Home...are just a notch under the first three mentioned, they are in the manner of "Wouldn't It Be Nice."
I've had the cd for five weeks now, and I'm still moving it from house to car and back every time I go out. After all Brian went through, it's great to hear him sound this cheerful and optimistic...with a bit of retrospect thrown in. If you're a Beach Boys/Pet Sounds fan, buy this cd. You won't regret it. October 17, 2008

More reviews at Amazon.com ...