That Lucky Old Sun is the eighth studio album by Brian Wilson

Brian Wilson

Brian Douglas Wilson is an American musician, best known as the leader and chief songwriter of the group The Beach Boys. Within the band, Wilson played bass and keyboards, also providing part-time lead vocals and, more often, backing vocals, harmonizing in falsetto with the group...

, released on CD

Compact Disc

The Compact Disc is an optical disc used to store digital data. It was originally developed to store and playback sound recordings exclusively, but later expanded to encompass data storage , write-once audio and data storage , rewritable media , Video Compact Discs , Super Video Compact Discs ,...

 and LP

LP record

The LP, or long-playing microgroove record, is a format for phonograph records, an analog sound storage medium. Introduced by Columbia Records in 1948, it was soon adopted as a new standard by the entire record industry...

 on September 2, 2008 by Capitol Records

Capitol Records

Capitol Records is a major United States based record label, formerly located in Los Angeles, but operating in New York City as part of Capitol Music Group. Its former headquarters building, the Capitol Tower, is a major landmark near the corner of Hollywood and Vine...

. Originally commissioned by the Southbank Centre for its 2007 opening season, the work was debuted in a series of concerts at the Royal Festival Hall

Royal Festival Hall

The Royal Festival Hall is a 2,900-seat concert, dance and talks venue within Southbank Centre in London. It is situated on the South Bank of the River Thames, not far from Hungerford Bridge. It is a Grade I listed building - the first post-war building to become so protected...

 in London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 during September 2007. In January 2008 it was also performed at the State Theatre

State Theatre (Sydney)

The State Theatre is a heritage-listed theatre, located in Market Street, in the city centre of Sydney, Australia.The Sydney Film Festival is hosted there for two weeks each June, and has been there since 1974.-Description and history:...

 in Sydney

Sydney

Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...

, Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

 for the Sydney Festival

Sydney Festival

Sydney Festival is Australia's largest and most attended annual cultural event running every January since it was first held in 1977. Its program features around 80 events including contemporary and classical music, dance, circus, drama, visual arts and artist talks...

.

The album was written in collaboration with Van Dyke Parks

Van Dyke Parks

Van Dyke Parks is an American composer, arranger, producer, musician, singer, author and actor. Parks is perhaps best known for his contributions as a lyricist on the Beach Boys album Smile....

 (previous collaborator on Smile

Smile (Brian Wilson album)

Smile, sometimes typeset with the idiosyncratic partial capitalization SMiLE, or referred to as Brian Wilson Presents Smile is a solo album by Brian Wilson, with lyrics by Van Dyke Parks released on September 28, 2004 on CD and two-disc vinyl LP...

) and Wilson bandmate Scott Bennett. Wilson describes the album as "consisting of five 'rounds', with interspersed spoken word". Its main theme is celebration of life in Southern California

Southern California

Southern California is a megaregion, or megapolitan area, in the southern area of the U.S. state of California. Large urban areas include Greater Los Angeles and Greater San Diego. The urban area stretches along the coast from Ventura through the Southland and Inland Empire to San Diego...

, harking back to the themes of Wilson's earlier work with The Beach Boys

The Beach Boys

The Beach Boys are an American rock band, formed in 1961 in Hawthorne, California. The group was initially composed of brothers Brian, Dennis and Carl Wilson, their cousin Mike Love, and friend Al Jardine. Managed by the Wilsons' father Murry, The Beach Boys signed to Capitol Records in 1962...

. "California Role" and numerous spoken interludes such as "Cinco de Mayo" and "Between Pictures" celebrate the unique culture of Venice Beach, the Los Angeles

Los Ángeles

Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...

 film industry

Film industry

The film industry consists of the technological and commercial institutions of filmmaking: i.e. film production companies, film studios, cinematography, film production, screenwriting, pre-production, post production, film festivals, distribution; and actors, film directors and other film crew...

 and numerous Californian landmarks including the Capitol Tower

Capitol Records Building

The Capitol Records Building, also known as the Capitol Records Tower, Hollywood Boulevard Commercial and Entertainment District, located in Hollywood, Los Angeles is a thirteen story tower designed by Welton Becket – and one of the city's landmarks...

 and Hollywood Bowl

Hollywood Bowl

The Hollywood Bowl is a modern amphitheater in the Hollywood area of Los Angeles, California, United States that is used primarily for music performances...

. Rolling Stone

Rolling Stone

Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...

called it a "musical love letter to his native Los Angeles".

A pervasive feeling of nostalgia and romance is visible in songs such as "Good Kind of Love", "Oxygen to the Brain" and "Forever She'll Be My Surfer Girl", which lyrically echoes the 1963 Beach Boys hit "Surfer Girl

Surfer Girl (song)

"Surfer Girl" is the title of a song written and sung by Brian Wilson for The Beach Boys. It was released as a single and it then appeared on the 1963 album of the same name, Surfer Girl. The B-side of the single was "Little Deuce Coupe"...

". The album also addresses Wilson's personal struggles in "Midnight's Another Day" and "Going Home". The 1940s' song "That Lucky Old Sun

That Lucky Old Sun

"That Lucky Old Sun" is a 1949 popular song with music by Beasley Smith and words by Haven Gillespie. Like "Ol' Man River", its lyrics contrast the toil and intense hardship of the singer's life with the obliviousness of the natural world.-1949 recordings:...

" originally made famous by Frankie Laine

Frankie Laine

Frankie Laine, born Francesco Paolo LoVecchio , was a successful American singer, songwriter, and actor whose career spanned 75 years, from his first concerts in 1930 with a marathon dance company to his final performance of "That's My Desire" in 2005...

 who had a number one hit with it in 1949, serves as the overture

Overture

Overture in music is the term originally applied to the instrumental introduction to an opera...

, and the Wild Honey

Wild Honey (album)

-Singles:* "Wild Honey" b/w "Wind Chimes" , 23 October 1967 US #31; UK #29* "Darlin'" b/w "Here Today" , 18 December 1967 US #19; UK #11....

-era outtake "Can't Wait Too Long

Can't Wait Too Long

"Can't Wait Too Long" is an unfinished song written by Brian Wilson for the American rock band The Beach Boys. The song dates from 1967–68, but was only officially released in September 1990 via Capitol Records.-Music and lyrics:...

" also briefly features.

Early demos of the tracks "Midnight's Another Day" and "Forever She'll Be My Surfer Girl" were released on Wilson's official website in August 2007. Live bootlegs and studio demos of the complete work also circulated on Internet filesharing networks.

That Lucky Old Sun entered the UK Album Chart at #37 and the Billboard 200

Billboard 200

The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists...

 at #21.

Track listing

1. "That Lucky Old Sun
   That Lucky Old Sun
   "That Lucky Old Sun" is a 1949 popular song with music by Beasley Smith and words by Haven Gillespie. Like "Ol' Man River", its lyrics contrast the toil and intense hardship of the singer's life with the obliviousness of the natural world.-1949 recordings:...
   
   "
2. "Morning Beat"
3. "A Room With a View" (narrative)
4. "Good Kind of Love"
5. "Forever She'll Be My Surfer Girl"
6. "Venice Beach" (narrative)
7. "Live Let Live / That Lucky Old Sun (reprise)"
8. "Mexican Girl"
9. "Cinco de Mayo" (narrative)
10. "California Role / That Lucky Old Sun (reprise)"
11. "Between Pictures" (narrative)
12. "Oxygen to the Brain"
13. "Can't Wait Too Long"
14. "Midnight’s Another Day"
15. "That Lucky Old Sun (Reprise)"
16. "Going Home"
17. "Southern California"

Bonus tracks (CD only)

1. "Oh Mi Amor" (iTunes Bonus Track)
2. "Message Man" (With Danny Hutton
   Danny Hutton
   Daniel Anthony Hutton , is an Irish-American singer, best known as one of the three lead vocalists in the band, Three Dog Night. Hutton was the head of Hanna Barbera Records from 1965-1966...
   
   ) (iTunes Bonus Track)
3. "Good Kind of Love" (With Carole King
   Carole King
   Carole King is an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. King and her former husband Gerry Goffin wrote more than two dozen chart hits for numerous artists during the 1960s, many of which have become standards. As a singer, King had an album, Tapestry, top the U.S...
   
   ) (Best Buy Bonus Track)
4. "I'm Into Something Good" (With Carole King) (Best Buy Bonus Track)
5. "Just Like Me and You" (Best Buy Bonus Track)