At the start of Going Home — a documentary about the making of Brian Wilson’s 2008 album That Lucky Old Sun that had its world premiere at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival last week — former-Monkee Mickey Dolenz recalls a party that a bathrobed Wilson rushed to after learning John Lennon was there. At the party Wilson started repeating four bars of groovy music on a Moog synthesizer, and continued playing this over and over to the point that an impatient Lennon said, “all right Brian, we got that part. Let’s go on to the bridge.”
This story nicely illustrates Wilson’s eccentricity and perfectionism, traits that combined with his innate musical genius to make the Beach Boys’ canon of songs about surf, sun, hot rods and girls among the most beloved in rock ‘n’ roll.
The album That Lucky Old Sun has a strong Beach Boys vibe, appropriate for Wilson “going home” to Capitol Records, the label that released all of the early Beach Boys records. It should be mentioned that the film was premiered at the Lobero Theatre, site of Wilson’s brilliant concert that included a full performance of That Lucky Old Sun last September.
It was fascinating to see footage from the recording studio showing how the music was put together. Wilson is very active in the recording process, working closely with his band members to capture the arrangement that is amazingly already figured out in his head. Every note matters to Wilson, and he’ll point out if, for example, a chord being played isn’t the Bbm7b5 he wants. (This is a real chord, by the way — the documentary notes that this particular chord shows up in “God Only Knows,” and that this is probably one of the few rock ‘n’ roll songs which uses it.)
The documentary also shows interview clips from the ultra-talented current Brian Wilson Band members, Wilson’s brother Carl’s brother-in-law Billy Hinsche, fan Billy Bob Thornton, Pet Sounds lyricist Tony Asher, surf legend Robert August, Robin Pecknold from Beach-Boys-influenced band Fleet Foxes, and, of course, Wilson himself. All, except the rather modest Wilson, profusely praise his musical genius.
Perhaps the most perceptive point made in the film was that often it is an outsider who can best capture the essence of something. As recalled in the Q&A session after the film, Wilson only surfed once, years after the 1960s Beach Boys hits were recorded. However, despite his outsider status, his music was hugely responsible for spreading surfing culture and defining the California experience throughout the world.
The Q&A session after the film featured director George Dougherty and band member (and Santa Barbaran) Jeff Foskett. Wilson was eager to attend, but sadly had to cancel his scheduled appearance because of the flu.
Foskett recounted meeting Wilson for the first time, a longtime dream of his. While a student at UCSB, Foskett and a friend drove around Bel Air until they spotted the stained-glass window shown on the cover of the Beach Boys album, Wild Honey. He rang the bell at the gate, and to his surprise Wilson buzzed him in, and to his even greater surprise Foskett ended up spending a few hours as a guest at Wilson’s house. Foskett revealed that he now gets about five phone calls from Wilson every day, which is seemingly part of Wilson’s routine. These phone calls mostly concern music, the Los Angeles Lakers, or lunch.
We also learned that Foskett’s (and Wilson’s) favorite Brian Wilson song is “God Only Knows,” and that when the band is traveling Wilson always looks for The Bucket List on the hotel television. Foskett also mentioned that Wilson credits the vocal arrangements by Dick Reynolds with the Four Freshman as a huge inspiration.
The only mild criticism I have of the film is that it ultimately came across as an extended, well-produced fan letter. We’re all happy that Wilson has conquered his personal demons and is performing and writing brilliant music again. However, one imagines that some stress and struggles must inevitably have been present in the 120 or so hours of footage shot for the documentary. Showing this would have provided some needed balance. As it is, the film is a masterful testament to Wilson’s musical genius.
— Noozhawk contributor Jeff Moehlis is an associate professor of mechanical engineering at UCSB.
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