Pet Projects: The Brian Wilson Productions [CD]

To have all these tracks gathered together in one beautifully produced package is a real treat. Some have been available on other re-issues; tracks by Sharon Marie, The Survivors and Gary Usher appeared on the fourth volume of Pebbles in 1979, and 'Guess I'm Dumb' by Glen Campbell is available on The Capitol Years double CD and several of The Honeys tracks have been available on various surf compilations. But it should be noted that all the tracks here are taken from original masters so the sound quality is a distinct improvement on previous incarnations (particularly the less than pristine sound reproduction on the Pebbles LP).

Wilson's outside productions are, as one would expect, delicious, like aural candy floss. Naturally most of the tracks were also written, or co-written, by Wilson, and many feature his vocal talents too. While none of them was a chart topping hit, which as we all know is no guarantee of quality anyway, nor by the same token does their obscurity necessarily indicate any overlooked or undiscovered masterpieces, they are never less than enjoyable in their own unpretentious way. Throwaway stuff it may be, but occasionally, with that deft Wilson touch, there's a little magic something to elevate even the most fluffy tune into something a bit special. Take The Honey's 'He's a Doll', a fizzing girl group confection, with excellent harmonies, that has a wonderful hook in the "He's so gorgeous" line in the chorus. Several of the tracks were subsequently re-worked as songs for the Beach Boys ('Thinking about you, baby' became 'Darlin' and 'Pamela Jean' as, er, 'Car Crazy Cutie') but I must say that I prefer these earlier versions.

The majority of the examples gathered here lean towards the early BBs style rather than the more ornate Pet Sounds era arrangements. Is that a problem? I don't think so, and there are some later works to balance it out. The aforementioned 'Guess I'm Dumb', for one, is practically a prototype Pet Sounds track and the B-side instrumental, 'After the Game', by The Survivors (i.e. Brian and a few friends) is also a very early pre-echo of the instrumentals from that album. The two tracks by American Spring, who evolved from The Honeys, though dating from 1972, are nice Wilson originals that show what he was capable of even in the midst of psychic meltdown. Otherwise it's joyous, frothy, simple, but never dumb, early-mid sixties surf-pop.

If you are in any way a Brian Wilson fan then this album is indispensable, and one that you may find youself playing more often than some of the BB's own offerings. One hopes that the cursed contractual wrangles will ultimately be resolved and that some time in the future more Wilson productions will be able to be released for us to enjoy.

And there's not a single track in electronically reprocessed stereo.

To justify the above remark, I must cast fans' minds back to an LP called "The Brian Wilson Productions", issued on Capitol as part of a boxed set circa 1980. All of the tracks on it were issued as mono singles; Capitol decided that this wasn't 80s enough, and duly reprocessed the tracks. They generally sounded as though they were recorded in Wilson's Bel-Air swimming pool, albeit not as cleanly, and Sharon-Marie suffered terrible sibilance. The release of this CD means an end to these distracting artefacts. Frankly, my copy of "The Brian Wilson Productions" is going in the bin.

So, what do you get for your quids? For a start, a beautiful packaging job - those guys at Ace certainly know what they're doing when it comes to packaging; even if the music was rubbish (which, by and large, it isn't), I'd recommend borrowing or buying this CD simply to read the notes and drool over the photographs.

Among the 23 tracks on this CD are the sublime "Pray For Surf" and "He's A Doll" by the Honeys, all of whose tracks are in genuine stereo, by the way - purists will moan, but it is a marked improvement on that damned Capitol compilation. The rarely-heard, couldn't-carry-a-tune-in-a-bucket Rachel & The Revolvers are present and correct with their extremely rare Dot single; both sides of the Survivors' single (with the first note clipped, as per the original release); the ubiquitous Glen Campbell with "Guess I'm Dumb", and Gary Usher's two soundalike sides (although it comes as an unexpected surprise when the strings come in on "Sacramento".)

In all, a fascinating snapshot of the extra-curricular development of one of American pop's most enigmatic (and talented) producers and arrangers. And let's face it - you're never going to be able to pick up a mint copy of any of the records contained herein for less than the cost of the CD. You owe it to yourself to get a copy.