In 1977 Brian releases the deeply personal first album: the double confessional whammy known as Brian Loves You & Adult/Child. Inspired by his psychotherapy, Brian works his feelings directly into songs. The result are honest, sometime childish but musically wonderful songs. It's a trip through a musical genius' state of mind, who, after having conquered his great white beast with Pet Sounds and SMiLE, is now like Ahab, lost and searching for meaning in his day to day life and fantasies. The double LP features vocal contributions from all Beach Boys but was released under Brian's name. Despite its moderate success, Brian Love You - Adult/Child was met with praise, and viewed as insight into the musician's psyche. Chris Shields has written that the album is "one of the most divisive" of the Beach Boys catalog, while Scott Schinder cited a "sharp divide" between fans and critics,
some of whom saw the album as a work of "eccentric genius" whereas
others "dismissed it as childish and trivial". Rolling Stone's
Billy Altman wrote a positive review, calling the album: "truly
wonderful ... [and] reminiscent of many other Beach Boys albums. Like
the best of them, it's flawed but enjoyable. Brian Wilson still isn't
singing as well as he used to, but his playing and composing talents
have certainly returned from wherever they've been the past few years." As for the Adult/Child album, musicologist Philip Lambert believes, "All of the songs from this
collection are solid efforts, but 'Still I Dream of It' and 'It's Over
Now' are particularly inspired and rank right up there with Brian's best
work," calling them "gut-wrenching ballads about romance and heartbreak. The double album peaked at number 28 in the UK and number 53 in the US, the album was a
moderate success, but weighed against the band's prior chart placements.
Brian Wilson - Brian Loves You & Adult/Child (1977)
Side A
1. Let's Put Our Hearts Together
2. Roller Skating Child
3. Mona
4. Johnny Carson
5. We Gotta Groove
6. Honkin' Down The Highway
7. Ding Dang
Side B
8. Solar System
9. The Night Was So Young
10. I'll Bet He's Nice
11. Let's Put Our Hearts Together
12. I Wanna Pick You Up
13. Airplane
14. Love Is A Woman
Side C
1. New England Waltz/Life is For The Living
2. Hey Little Tomboy
3. Deep Purple
4. Marilyn Rovell
5. It's Over Now
6. Everybody Wants To Live
Side D
7. Shortenin' Bread
8. Lines
9. On Broadway
10. Lazy Lizzie
11. It's Tryin' To Say (Baseball's On)
12. Still I Dream Of It
Tired of being left out of The Beach Boys' latest opus ("Group Therapy"), from 1976 to 1977, Dennis work tirelessly to compile his first solo album. The final release, Freckles, is a deep and dark look into the soul of the Beach Boys' drummer. The album features an brand new recording of the Beach Boys now-classic "River Song". This masterpiece founds both critical and commercial success by selling more copies than Group Therapy. It entered the US album chart at # 11, also reaching #5 in the Billboard with the single River Song in the UK.
Dennis Wilson - Freckles (1977)
Side A
1. River Song
2. What's Wrong
3. Moonshine
4. Friday Night
5. Dreamer
6. Thoughts of You
Side B
7. Variations on Thoughts of You
8. Time
9. You and I
10. Feel The Pull
11. Farewell My Friend
12. End of the Show
Meanwhile, tensions arise between the two camps. On one side, Carl and Dennis wants to continues to explore different musical paths and both Michael, Alan and Brian's vision veer toward a more "oldies" approach to the material. Leading into conflict to produce in 1978 their next album, which would be deemed by the musical press "the Wild Honey of the 70s"...
