Imagination (Brian Wilson album)
| Imagination | ||||
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| Studio album by Brian Wilson | ||||
| Released | June 16, 1998 | |||
| Recorded | Fall 1997–Spring 1998 | |||
| Genre | Soft rock | |||
| Length | 39:09 | |||
| Label | Giant | |||
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| Singles from Imagination | ||||
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| Professional ratings | |
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| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   |
| Robert Christgau | C |
| Entertainment Weekly | B |
| NME | 6/10 |
| MusicHound | 3/5 |
| The Rolling Stone Album Guide | |
Imagination is the fourth studio album by Brian Wilson, and his second release of new original studio material. It was issued in 1998 on Giant Records and distributed by Warner Music Group. The album received moderately favorable reviews upon its release, though its commercial performance was relatively weak.
Its best-known track is "Your Imagination", a Top 20 hit on adult contemporary radio. The second single, "South American", was co-written by Jimmy Buffett. Wilson dedicated the song "Lay Down Burder" to his brother Carl Wilson, who died of cancer earlier in the year.
Joe Thomas worked with Wilson as the album's co-producer. He was held responsible by many critics for the album's style and production. Shortly after its release, Wilson filed a suit against Thomas, seeking damages and a declaration which freed him to work on his next album without involvement from Thomas. They would not work together again until many years later for the albums That's Why God Made the Radio (2012) and No Pier Pressure (2015).
The album's recording sessions were immediately preceded by plans for a Beach Boys reunion album of new original material. According to Sean O'Hagan of the High Llamas, he was involved at one point, but backed away once it became clear to him that the project was unlikely to happen, also expressing disapproval with the "middle of the road" style that producer and collaborator Joe Thomas was persuading Wilson toward.
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 from the mid-1960s, while the closing song, "Happy Days", featured recycled elements of an unreleased Beach Boys track, "My Solution", from 1970.
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