Head Beach Boy to perform unreleased album

Brian Wilson warmed the hearts of Beach Boys fans worldwide in 2002 when he performed the classic “Pet Sounds” album in its entirety at stops around the globe. Now, he’s trying to do it again — with an album no one has ever heard.

Wilson will return to London’s Royal Festival Hall, where he started his “Pet Sounds” tour and recorded a live album, for six nights in February. He’ll perform the album “Smile” in addition to other Beach Boys tunes and songs from his solo albums. Wilson and his longtime band will travel through the U.K. and Europe, with a handful of U.S. appearances skedded for April.

Wilson then will head into the studio to record “Smile,” which is currently in pre-production. Aim is to release it next fall.

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“Smile” was the intended followup to 1966’s “Pet Sounds,” which many have declared the finest rock album ever and which has influenced scores of musicians.

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For “Smile,” Wilson wrote songs with Van Dyke Parks dealing with love, God and life, and the early sessions yielded the single “Good Vibrations.” Wilson was heavily into hallucinogenic drugs at the time; during one session he set the studio on fire, destroying the tapes. The sessions were abandoned and members of the Beach Boys, who were wary of the material to begin with, began to separate themselves from the man who wrote all their songs.

Some of the material, which included “Heroes and Villains,” “Surf’s Up” and “Vegetables,” has shown up on other records since, and tapes of “Smile” songs have been bootlegged for decades.

Before “Smile” is released, however, Wilson and his management expect to select a label to release his latest album, which features Wilson dueting with Elton John, Paul McCartney and his late brother Carl Wilson. The Wilson camp hopes for a release in the first quarter of next year.

Meanwhile, Sanctuary Records, which has issued Wilson recordings in the U.K., will be releasing the DVD of Wilson’s 2002 “Pet Sounds Tour” later this month.

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