every ten years................

[donald]

I was listening to Brian Wilson 88 just last night and appeciating what a very good album it really is. 

And I thought about something I had read where Melinda had told Brian that releasing an album every 10 years and not touring did not constitute a comeback.  This presumably led  to a return to touring in the late 90's.


Then I began to think back on Brians cycle of creativity.  About every 10 years there has been something truly exceptional and uniquely Brian.   66-67 GV/Smile,   77 Love You,   88 Brian Wilson,  98 Imagination, and  projecting ahead......07/08 The Rock and Roll Album?

Mind you, this came to me on the wings of a budwiser, late in the evening, out in the garage surrounded by americana and beach boys music.

[Roger Ryan]

Actually, I don't see "Imagination" as being "truly exceptional" or "uniquely Brian", but...

From my own experience, I remember being disappointed in "Love You" and found it significantly overshadowed by "Pacific Ocean Blue". "BW88" was, and is, a very fine achievement with "Melt Away" proof that Brian could still offer up "Pet Sounds" quality material and "Rio Grande" offering hope that "SMiLE" might one day materialize. My disappointment in the non-appearance of "Sweet Insanity" was appeased by the release of the magnificent "Orange Crate Art", while "I Just Wasn't Made For These Times" (and, more importantly, the European single release of "Do It Again" which contained "This Song Wants To Sleep With You") suggested that Brian might deliver a solid new studio album. For a brief moment, it looked like that album might be a new Beach Boys release ("the songs are both commercial and a little arty," Brian had said), but that hope was dashed to the rocks with the release of "Stars & Stripes". Everything seemed to rest on "Imagination", but that album didn't sound like Brian's heart was in it and the adult contemporary image it portrayed was ditched almost immediately as Brian took to the stage with a heavier rock sound. Brian's "Pet Sounds" tour felt like the real new beginning that resulted in a more intensive look at the back catalogue and the completion of "SMiLE" as a performance piece and an album. "Getting In Over My Head" was the trifle Brian played around with just prior to "SMiLE"; it was neither here nor there, just an album like "Wild Honey" that was a little too relaxed for its own good, but inoffensive. When no one was looking, Brian turned out a true old-school production masterwork with "What I Really Want For Christmas" which raises expectations for...

...the "Rock & Roll Album" which is starting to feel like the make-it-or-break-it career finale!

[Bubba Ho-Tep]

Yes, I've analysed "the cycle" myself. Even taking it further, he "warms up" with something lightweight just before every 10 year statement. Party, 15 Big Ones, Stars and Stipes (the proposed Beach Boy album would have been the decades masterpiece). What was the warm up for '88? Usher sessions? Not sure if this holds up under scrutiny.

It's probably coincidental. And it's not like he's wasn't widdling away quietly in the years in between.  He's been consistantly busy for the last 20 years. BB '85, Usher Sessions, '88, SI,IJWMFTT, OCA, Paley sessions, Imagination, Live shows, GIOMH, WIRWFXMAS....if all his material was released he'd be seen not as a recluse but one of the most prolific composers in rock history. He had a drought during his obese period which I guess we could say ran from 79-82. He had a creative spurt between 74-77. Prior to that, he was out of it from 71-73. So when you add it all up, he's only been inactive about 8 years out of 45....recluse? No, reckless!


.

[the captain]

Yeah, I've got to disagree with the whole premise. I don't consider any of his solo albums to be truly exceptional other than Smile, for one thing. I like bits and pieces of all of them, love bits and pieces of all of them, and hate bits and pieces of all of them. If I had to come up with his cycle, it would be:

He warms up for about 20 years;
He's consistently brilliant-to-good for about five years;
He's very good but less prolific for three or four years;
He takes a couple of years off;
He is sporadic for about 30 years;
He releases one last masterpiece; and
He does a Christmas album.

Then the cycle starts over. See you in 2026, when the next warm-up ends. 

[Ron]

I don't think the 10 year thing fits because to make the case for it, you have to ignore that he made the brilliant SMiLE 6 years after Imagination.  I think that really, truly the only 10 yearer that makes sense is that he did Love You 10 years or so after he did Pet Sounds/SMiLE, then did BW88 10 years later. He made Sweet Insanity a few years later though which was arguably similar to that album, OCA, IJWMFTT, both have to be ignored, "Imagination" wasn't that great of an album, and he's worked steady since then.

[I. Spaceman]

Every 24 hours...."Mmmmm steak! Melinda, where's my steak?".

Seriously, though, it's a good premise, as good as anyone else's, I think.

[the captain]

Every 24 hours...."Mmmmm steak! Melinda, where's my steak?".

Seriously, though, it's a good premise, as good as anyone else's, I think.

No, it's worse than mine. Mine was great.

[SG7]

I am as old as that album 

[donald]

It's just some time squandering musing on my part.  Don't mean sheeit.

But is does sort of work............if you think Imagination is a major milestone ...

Original Smile, Love You, 88, Imagination, and ......................?

[Jeff Mason]

I am as old as that album 

You must mean BW88 I assume, since you are in high school. 

And since that came out the summer I graduated high school, I officially feel like an old fart.

[MBE]

Luther is right on with minor changes
He warms up for about 19 years;
He's consistently brilliant-to-good for about six years;
He's still brilliant but slightly less prolific for five years;
He takes a couple of years off;
He is sporadic for about 30 years;
He releases one last masterpiece; and
He does a Christmas album.

[SG7]

Yeah Jeff I meant BW88





And it blows to think Kokomo was written then too