I thought I’d read every book and seen every documentary about the Beach Boy’s Brian Wilson. We know the images by heart – close your eyes and you see the black and white TV show footage of the Boys in their matching striped shirts. Or the 70s clips of Wilson tinkling on the piano inside a sand box that is inside his house.
The new documentary ‘Brian Wilson: Long Promised Road’ uses a different (ahem) vehicle to tell his story: a car. Wilson and Rolling Stone magazine editor Jason Fine ride around Los Angeles, visiting old haunts, listening to songs on the car stereo, and going g into the studio to record some new stuff.
The premise is that Wilson gets too nervous in formal interview settings, but by riding along, looking out the window, he is able to relax.
Fine is deferential to the point of almost sounding like he’s patronizing a child at times, and that is not an insult. Indeed, Wilson’s lifelong mental illness and former drug abuse have left him a shuffling man-child who doesn’t always have ready nuggets of wisdom to drop. The truth is that some of the conversation is, like:
Fine: “That must have been exciting.”
Wilson: “It was. It was a trip.”
Okay, not exactly enlightening, but Fine’s patience and gentle hand-holding (literal hand-holding in some cases) occasionally draws out an unguarded moment of spontaneity from Wilson.
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The ride-along is augmented by notable interview bits from Elton John and Bruce Springsteen, which really help to add perspective. The inclusion of folks like Nick Jonas and Taylor Hawkins from Foo Fighters seem less relevant.
The new recording studio footage is worth the price of admission, if only to witness the complete transformation – Wilson is in command and still in his element there. He knows what he likes and what he doesn’t, and his leadership is definitive and certainly heeded by the other musicians in the studio. A new song co-written by Jim James was composed for the film.
For us completeist fans, the film is a must-see. Wilson is 79 years old- we take what we can get.
‘Brian Wilson: Long Promised Road’ is in theaters and on-demand. Ticket Info: here