BRIAN WILSON reimagines gershwin

Hot off the presses of this week's Brag magazine, here's my take on Brian Wilson's take on George Gershwin...

This album is the unlikely meeting of two musical minds from different eras. First we have the spectacularly gifted, spectacularly erratic Brian Wilson, the Beach Boy who almost single-handedly invented surf pop and the legendary Pet Sounds in the 1960s. Second we have the late, great composer George Gershwin, who spliced opera, jazz, folk and classical music to conquer Broadway in the 1920s and 1930s.

As the album title suggests, this is Wilson’s interpretation of Gershwin’s formidable back catalogue. Like all the best cover versions, the tracks are not faithful copies of the originals. Wilson has tinkered with melodies and counter melodies, tying them together in a classic Beach Boys style. He’s also syncopated rhythms, deviating from the familiar beats and tempos that Gershwin fans know and love.

While purists may shudder at this, you’ve got to admire Wilson’s chutzpah. Tracks such as ‘They Can’t Take That Away From Me’ are so familiar, so frequently covered, that the only way to record them and retain any artistic integrity is to fuck about with them a little. He’s even taken fragments of two unfinished Gershwin tunes and, with lyricist Scott Bennett, fleshed them out into fully realised songs to bookend the album. 

This is Wonderful and ‘Swonderful to witness. In the three decades that followed Pet Sounds, Wilson weathered a professional and personal storm that nearly killed him. It’s good to see that, in 2010, he has rediscovered Summertime.

We’re still waiting for the day when a five star album of brand new Wilson originals will be released, but this is the next best thing.

By Andy McLean. Copyright held by author.

First published in The Brag, Sydney, September 2010.

Brian Wilson Reimagines Gershwin is available through Disney Pearl