Imagination (Brian Wilson album)

Imagination
Studio album by Brian Wilson
Released	June 16, 1998
Recorded	Fall 1997 - Spring 1998
Genre	Rock/Pop
Length	39:09
Label	Giant
Producer	Brian Wilson and Joe Thomas
Brian Wilson chronology
Orange Crate Art with Van Dyke Parks (1995) Imagination (1998) Live at the Roxy Theatre (2000)

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	link
NME	link
Robert Christgau	C
This table needs to be expanded using prose. See the guideline for more information.

Imagination is Brian Wilson's fourth solo album, and his second release of new original studio material. It was issued in 1998 on Giant Records and distributed by Warner Music.

Imagination 's best-known track is "Your Imagination", an adult contemporary Top 20 hit. The second single, "South American", was cowritten by Jimmy Buffett.

Wilson covered two of his own Beach Boys songs for Imagination: "Keep an Eye on Summer" and "Let Him Run Wild". In addition, "She Says That She Needs Me" was the result of a lyric re-write by Carole Bayer Sager of an original Wilson composition in 1965 (titled "Sandy She Needs Me" and later "Sherry She Needs Me"), while the closing song, "Happy Days", featured recycled elements of an unreleased Beach Boys track, "My Solution", from 1970. Most of the album's new songs were written by Wilson and collaborator Joe Thomas.

Imagination received moderately favorable reviews upon its release, though its commercial performance was relatively weak.

Release

To promote the release of "Imagination", Brian Wilson performed a live taping for VH-1 at the St. Charles High School auditorium in St. Charles, Illinois. The live performance included guest performances from Christopher Cross, Beach Boys member Bruce Johnston, and Eagles member Timothy B. Schmit. The concert, which was later incorporated with additional interviews from Elvis Costello, Eric Clapton, Sean Lennon, Stevie Wonder, and Jimmy Buffett, was released on VHS in 1998 and DVD in 1999 but is currently out-of-print. Your Imaginination and Lay Down Burden were aired as music videos on VH1, with the album audio played over the video, and clips of Brian walking through the woods "thinking" and "day dreaming" and images of him and his brothers on the screen.

• Best Buy offered a bonus disc with the purchase of the album, which featured Sean Lennon conducting an interview with Wilson.

• Brian dedicated the album to Carl, who died of cancer the year before.

• Brian overcame his stage fright, and decided to tour after the album was released.

• Brian performed on the David Letterman show. On August, 14th, 1998, Brian performed, "Your Imagination".

Track listing

1. "Your Imagination" (Brian Wilson, Joe Thomas, Steve Dahl) – 3:38
2. "She Says That She Needs Me" (Brian Wilson, Russ Titelman, Carole Bayer Sager) – 3:59
   • Originally composed by Wilson in 1965 as "Sandy", and rerecorded in 1976 as "Sherry She Needs Me", but never released by The Beach Boys
3. "South American" (Brian Wilson, Joe Thomas, Jimmy Buffett) – 3:44
4. "Where Has Love Been?" (Brian Wilson, Andy Paley, J.D. Souther) – 2:17
5. "Keep an Eye on Summer" (Brian Wilson, Bob Norman) – 2:48
   • Originally released on The Beach Boys' Shut Down Volume 2 in 1964
6. "Dream Angel" (Brian Wilson, Joe Thomas, Jim Peterik) – 3:21
7. "Cry" (Brian Wilson) – 4:56
8. "Lay Down Burden" (Brian Wilson, Joe Thomas) – 3:44
9. "Let Him Run Wild" (Brian Wilson, Mike Love) – 2:29
   • Originally released on The Beach Boys' Summer Days (and Summer Nights!!) in 1965
10. "Sunshine" (Brian Wilson, Joe Thomas) – 3:20
11. "Happy Days" (Brian Wilson) – 4:44
    • First section originally recorded by The Beach Boys as "My Solution" in 1970, but remained unreleased

Imagination (Giant 24703) hit #88 in the US during a chart stay of 2 weeks. It reached #30 in the UK.

Sources

• AllMusicGuide.com