Brian Wilson - Orange Crate Art (25th Anniversary Expanded Edition) (Remastered) (1995/2020)

Even the most ardent Beach Boys completist might have missed Orange Crate Art. Released in 1995, the album was a collection of songs written and produced by Van Dyke Parks with Brian Wilson multi-tracking the majority of both lead and backing vocals. It would be the most significant collaboration between the two massive talents since their work together on Wilson's long-obscured Beach Boys masterwork SMiLE 30 years earlier. Parks approached Wilson in 1992, and they spent the next three years slowly sculpting this album of wistful, pastel-hued odes to California. Wilson plays a largely surface role on Orange Crate Art, fleshing out some vocal arrangements but mainly serving as a mouthpiece for Parks' slippery, dreamy, and comical lyrics. Nowhere near as ambitious as SMiLE, Orange Crate Art is pleasant and less weighty, falling more in line with the off-beat quirks of post-Pet Sounds Beach Boys albums like Friends or Love You. The mid-'90s production doesn't hold up exceptionally well, with dated drum sounds and twinkly MIDI synth tones sometimes distracting from the songwriting. Recorded just a few years after a Wilson-free lineup of the Beach Boys scored a number one hit with their hokey island pop tune "Kokomo," there are hints of a similarly stifled faux-calypso style on Orange Crate Art's lesser songs. "Summer in Monterey" is tourist-trap schmaltz, and "San Francisco" is a confusing melee of canned hard rock clichés. The weakest songs sound customized for the soundtracks of early-'90s "made for TV" movies and theme park rides. Among the cornier moments, however, are some undeniably beautiful performances. The jubilant "Wings of a Dove" has the kind of flowing, elastic melody that Wilson's voice is perfect for. It's a soaring and lovely song, tapping into the innocence and wonder at the core of Wilson's artistry. "This Town Goes Down at Sunset" is a kindhearted portrait of small-town life, reveling in nostalgia and the idealized, simplistic view of the world that both Wilson and Parks often returned to in their music. While sometimes saccharine, Orange Crate Art is an interesting and often overlooked piece of Beach Boys history.