That Lucky Old Sun Brian Wilson

Old favourite gives Wilson new inspiration

Brian Wilson was a founding member of The Beach Boys, one of the most celebrated bands of all time. His latest project sees him reworking the most famous songs of his songwriting heroes George and Ira Gershwin, while also preparing for a UK tour in September. The troubled genius talks to Andy Welch about the album and his past.

For a musician so obsessed with the recording process for most of his career, it's quite fitting that Brian Wilson is anxious about our interview being captured.

"Is it working?" he says numerous times to the Dictaphone in front of him. "Make sure it's recording. Is it working?"

You can't begrudge him having an eye for such details, though. Imagine if he'd forgotten to check if the little red light was on in 1966 when the Beach Boys recorded Pet Sounds, to many one of the very finest albums of all time.

The Brian Wilson of 2011 cuts a very different image from the one who carved out such glorious, sun-kissed music in those halcyon days of the mid-Sixties when he, along with younger brothers Dennis and Carl, cousin Mike Love and school friend Al Jardine (among other band members that came and went) took the sounds of America's West Coast and their heavenly harmonies around the world.

During the latter part of that decade, the serious mental health problems that still plague Wilson began, brought on by his Herculean drug intake and exacerbated by the pressure the band were under at the height of their Beatle-rivalling fame. Add to that rumours of a stroke at some point and he's not in the best shape.

That said, with the help of just mild anti-depressants Wilson has been more stable for the past 10 years than he'd been for the previous 20.

He's not the easiest interviewee, granted, offering short, often one-word answers to most questions. Lose eye contact for a split second and his attention his lost.

Wilson, who celebrates his 69th birthday on June 20, is trying to co-operate the best he can. He isn't trying to be difficult or obstructive, he just doesn't have the words or concentration for anything more.

One subject that does illuminate him more than most, however, is the music of George Gershwin.

Gershwin was born in New York in 1898 and died just 38 years later. In that short time, however, he wrote some of the most important music of all time, and together with lyricist brother Ira contributed some of the finest works in what's now known as the Great American Songbook: S'Wonderful, They Can't Take That Away From Me, Embraceable You, Someone To Watch Over Me and Summertime, to name just a few of their standards.

Win Limited Edition That Lucky Old Sun Book! - Competitions - Mojo

Readers of our new MOJO '60s special edition will know that thanks to the lovely people at Genesis Publications , we've acquired a copy of That Lucky Old Sun - a mammoth tome limited to just 1,000 copies and signed by Brian Wilson and Peter Blake .

The book features interviews with Wilson, 12 new artworks, and fascimiles of Wilson's handwritten lyrics and sheet music to Midnight's Another Day.

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Brian Wilson Albums, Smile, Brian Wilson, That Lucky Old Sun, Imagination, Live at the Roxy Theatre, I Just Wasn't Made for These Times

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