By most critics and fans' accounts, Brian Wilson was the Beach Boys' guiding light and innovator. His influence and inspiration led the band through their heyday in the early 60s, before he fell victim to his own personal demons, and alcohol and drugs. This unauthorized documentary looks at his later years, when the band was splitting due to internal pressures, and when the explosion of the late 60s underground music scene made the upbeat, pop-oriented sound of the Beach Boys seem irrelevant and safe.
As with most of Sexy Intellectual's releases of this nature, historians, journalists, and former bandmates are interviewed, and that input, placed beside plenty of great period films and photos, makes this an eye-opening experience. It seems Wilson's more experimental needs didn't gel with other band members, who saw the group as basically an "easy money" pop vehicle, whereas Wilson wasn't happy re-visiting the past. His checkered path has been met with both skepticism and admiration, and it's great he's getting his due now. Now, if only Mike Love will let him back into the band! Hah! (Sexy Intellectual)
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