Crazy like a fox!
Last week, NME reported that Brian Wilson's next album will be a collaboration with Smile teammate Van Dyke Parks dubbed That Lucky Old Sun (a narrative): Wilson says the piece "will consist of five 'rounds' with interspersed spoken word". It is based on the classic 1949 song 'That Lucky Old Sun', and though the new song suite will contain elements of the tune, there will also be newly composed songs too, one of which is called 'Midnight's Another Day'.
This talk of "interspersed spoken word" jogged our memory of Wilson's contribution to the Beach Boys 1973 album Holland—a special 7" EP included as sides 3 and 4 to the vinyl LP. Mount Vernon and Fairway (the title referring to the intersection where Mike Love grew up) is a funny, sad, and sometimes creepy fairy tale that feels haphazardly thrown together—reflecting Wilson's fragile state of mind in '73. In his autobiography, Wouldn't It Be Nice, Wilson writes: Carl hated it when I played him my original track. He said a single word—"What?" I'd thought I was creating a masterpiece, a work of genius. After it got roundly criticized, I fell apart.
Below, we present Mount Vernon and Fairway ripped from the original 7" EP—which includes the instruction: "Please listen in the dark." The tale is narrated by then Beach Boys manager Jack Rieley, but Wilson makes what is undoubtedly the most bizarre recording of his career as the voice of "the Pied Piper from the faraway land of night." Give it a listen for a better understanding of the above photo. This is not to be missed.
MP3: The Beach Boys - Mount Vernon and Fairway Part I
MP3: The Beach Boys - Mount Vernon and Fairway Part II
