That was basically it for Brian for almost 20 years as a functioning human being, although musically he had a brief, beautiful return to form with "Do It Again" and "I Can Hear Music" in '69, the latter exquisitely sung by Carl Wilson.
The 70s were fallow. The Beach Boys Love You was a sweet, painfully childish album. It bore no hits. It was as though Brian had rebelled against the pressure to make adolescent music by making blatantly childish music. And this was the highlight of the '70s.
The '80s were better - the Regans had them to the Whitehouse. "Getcha Back" was catchy and broke the Top 30 in 1985. Things really picked up with "Kokomo" and Brian Wilson's first solo album, both in 1988. "Kokomo" was the Beach Boys first #1 single since "Good Vibrations."
"Kokomo" revived the idea that paradise is a place that can be reached here on earth. Brian Wilson had lost his ability to write toward that paradise - he had lost his willingness to explore a myth in which he no longer believed.
"Kokomo" was written by the unlikely tetrad of Mike Love, Terry Melcher, John Phillips and Scott Mackenzie with a Beach Boys-Turtles-Mamas and the Papas-"San Francisco, put some flowers in your hair" type of sound. This hodgepodge, written for a numbskull movie, sounded more like the Beach Boys than the Brian Wilson album did.
First, it has Mike Love on lead vocals; second, it has Carl Wilson coming in with his falsetto "Ooh I wanna take you down to Kokomo, we'll get there fast and then we'll take it slow, that's where we wanna go, way down in Kokomo." Third, it has a nonsensical but great sounding chorus, "Aruba, Jamaica, ooh, I wanna take you, to Bermuda, Bahama, come on pretty momma," which is chronically adolescent, just like the Beach Boys. The thrill is there. Brian of '88 can't fight the Beach Boys of '64 and win.
There is also conceptual brilliance at work in "Kokomo" - it completes the Caribbean exploration that was begun with "Sloop John B." The Caribbean connection does many things: it allows the Beach Boys to extend the idea of paradise from Southern California to the Caribbean, a repository of many of the same pleasures as Southern California and a place to pick up new and enticing rhythms.
The Caribbean is another vision of Paradise - in some preferable to over-crowded, busy, expensive, Californa. "Kokomo" updated the Beach Boys appeal to a more exotic locale with sympathic vibrations.
It has been very nice to see the revival of Brian Wilson, ironic that he alone remains alive of three very talented brothers, brothers whose pursuit of musical Paradise will remain one of the 20th century's greatest musical legacies. And I agree with Bill Sherman's comment on the original post of this review that I underestimated the quality of the Beach Boys' '70s work, although my alibi is the focus on the hits as they appear in the collection.
Article comments
1 - Emily
Great post, Eric! FYI, California has recently granted permission to mark the childhood home of the Wilsons in Hawthorne, CA an official state landmark, even though the home was dozed over a decade ago to make way for the 105 freeway.
2 - Eric Olsen
thanks Emily, I really appreciate the kind words and that's great news about the Hawthorne home and its famous garage, which no longer exist
3 - Eric Olsen
Update - a mini-film about the making of Smile is now available above, check it out.
4 - riley moriarty
There was talk that a recording of the smiLE concert from carnegie hall 10/12 or 13 may be available through NonSuch Records. Do you have any information on that?
5 - Eric Olsen
Riley, I don't see anything about it yet on Brian's site