Brian Wilson and The Beach Boys have spent most of the last two decades as forlornly separate entities, united by history but divided by everything from lawsuits to mental health problems.
And yet throughout this time the two parties have done pretty much everything other than reunite: Brian toured much-loved Beach Boys album Pet Sounds and even re-recorded legendary lost release Smile as a solo project, while The Beach Boys lumbered on under the leadership of Mike Love, taking the perfect pop songs that a teenage Wilson wrote in the 60s to arenas around the world.
As such, it was both a relief and a worry when Wilson announced that he would be getting back with The Beach Boys for a tour and album to mark their 50th anniversary. A relief because, at the end of it all, you feel that Brian Wilson really should be at the helm of The Beach Boys, the band he formed back in 1961 and drove to imperial pop stardom.
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