Brian Wilson - No Pier Pressure

The fact that Brian Wilson is still making records almost a half a century since his magnum opus, Pet Sounds, is cause enough for celebration. Given his various mental and physical trials over the years that he can make decent records is the icing on the cake. Recorded on and off during the Beach Boys’ 50th anniversary tour a few years back, his 11th solo album finds him enlisting the help of a disparate group of musical friends (or peers – geddit?).
“Life goes on and on/ like your favourite song,” he sings on the harmony drenched opener, ‘This Beautiful Day’, which sets the pace. Familiar lush Californian textures backdrop ‘What Ever Happened’, which features his old Beach Boys pals Al Jardine and David Marks, who together wax nostalgic about the good old days. The pair also join him on ‘The Right Time’, a pleasant mid-tempo ballad which strongly recalls The Beach Boys’ ’70s hit ‘Lady Lynda’.
The guests keep on coming: a jaunty calypso tune, ‘On The Island’, features She and Him’s Zooey Deschanel and M. Ward, while ‘Half Moon Bay’, an instrumental, boasts an extended solo from jazz trumpeter Mark Isham. It has the aura of filler.
Elsewhere, ‘Our Special Love’ features US YouTube sensation Peter Hollens, while country star Kacey Mulgraves joins for ‘Guess You Had To Be There’, a bouncy tune with a nice texture courtesy of some twanging banjos. Jardine pops up again on ‘Tell Me Why’, which is not the Beatles tune of the same name that the Beach Boys recorded, but rather a formulaic ballad. One-time Beach Boy Blondie Chaplin contributes to ‘Sail Away’, while Wilson takes the reins on ‘One Kind Of Love’ – a definite highlight. The album comes to a close with the appropriately titled ‘The Last Song’, a poignant ballad with a lovely vocal arrangement.
No Pier Pressure: Check the sailing times.

Key Track - 'One Kind of Love'