Page "Brian Wilson" Paragraph 35

In 1969 and 1970 Wilson's health temporarily stabilized.

He made concert appearances, and stood in for Mike Love during a 1970 Northwest tour when Love was convalescing from illness.

He also resumed writing and recording with the Beach Boys at a brisk pace ; seven of the twelve new songs on the 1970 album Sunflower were either written or co-written by Wilson.

Nevertheless, the album was a commercial failure in the United States, peaking at 151 during a four-week Billboard chart stay in October 1970.

Following the termination of the Capitol contract in 1969, the band's new contract with Reprise Records ( brokered by Van Dyke Parks, then employed as a multimedia executive at the company ) stipulated Brian Wilson's proactive involvement with the band in all albums — a factor that would become hugely problematic for the band in the years to come.

During this phase, Brian also wrote — with his father Murry assisting under the pseudonym of Reggie Dunbar — the autobiographical song, " Break Away ", which would become a UK hit single.

The song's lyrics explicitly allude to the depression and aural hallucinations that would hamper Wilson's health in the decade to come.

Wilson played and sang on much of the 1971 Surf's Up album and wrote or co-wrote four of the album's ten songs, including the title track, which was a Carl Wilson-produced rerecording of the legendary 1966 SMiLE track.

Carl Wilson told Michael Feeney Callan that he had personally " dug that one up from the vaults, but there was no objection Brian in our revisiting it.

" After alleged opposition to the dark lyrics of one of his contributions, the autobiographical "' Til I Die " ( a song demoed in 1969 and largely recorded in 1970 ), Wilson was reported to have lost interest in the group once more, conceding leadership of the sessions to his youngest brother.

Indeed, only one fully formed original song from Wilson emerged during the album's nominal recording sessions, the dirge-like " A Day in the Life of a Tree ".