It's pretty obvious that me and Brian Wilson have almost nothing in common with regard to the state of California. It's a big part of who Mr. Wilson is. Me, I've visited twice... and didn't like it all that much. Too congested. Too monochromatic. Too hot. Sure, this was in the extreme southern part of the state, though I suspect that Los Angeles wouldn't have been all that different for me. After a couple of days, I felt compressed. I needed to get out of there. I obviously didn't belong.

But then there's the music. When I was a kid, I didn't really care all that much for the Beach Boys. As I've stated many times before, if the music didn't sound like a greasy & sinister freight train running directly over my head, it wasn't of much interest. Multi-hued orchestrations? So what?! Fancy harmonies? Meh!

I hate to say this but I think that the first Beach Boys song I owned was on an REO Speedwagon record. Wait, no... the truth is that I thought it was a Beach Boys song. "Rock & Roll Music," which they recorded for the Nine Lives album, is by Chuck Berry. Duh!

Ahem.

So anyway, at some point I figured this stuff out, borrowed my girlfriend's copy of Endless Summer, and revelled in the pure pop goodness of it all. It was fun to listen to things like "Surfer Girl" right smack in the middle of a Maine winter, the sheer contrast being almost as interesting as the music itself.

Today there are even more contrasts. Autumn has shown up in a big way around here. Trees are beginning to proudly show their blaze of colors and the days are having a tough time pushing the temperature up from the overnight's chill (which is why our steam radiators are making their happy creaking noises this morning). Up against this traditional New England backdrop I have Brian Wilson's latest tribute to California, That Lucky Old Sun.

In addition to the obvious California love being presented (with all of the usual brilliant sonic elements), we have the additional contrast of the lyrics of Wilson vs. Van Dyke Parks. Parks co-wrote four narratives, which are spoken by Wilson. There's an innocence that comes from Wilson that just wouldn't play well with almost any other artist, which is why I really dig "He'd like to go out on the pier/To hear the reedy carousel/It's got a melody that sets you free" set against "I got a notion, we come from the ocean."

Colored leaves are blowing across the road, the morning sun shoots light crystals off the dew-soaked fields, and Brian Wilson is singing about Venice Beach. Perfect.