''That Lucky Old Sun'' is the seventh studio album by

Brian Wilson Brian Douglas Wilson (June 20, 1942 – June 11, 2025) was an American musician, songwriter, singer and record producer who co-founded the Beach Boys. Often Brian Wilson is a genius, called a genius for his novel approaches to pop compositio ...

, released on September 2, 2008 by

Capitol Records Capitol Records, LLC (known legally as Capitol Records, Inc. until 2007), and simply known as Capitol, is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group through its Capitol Music Group imprint. It was founded as the first West Coast-base ...

. It was written in collaboration with Wilson's bandmate Scott Bennett with

spoken word Spoken word is an oral poetic performance art that is based mainly on the poem as well as the performer's aesthetic qualities. It is a 20th-century continuation of an oral tradition, ancient oral artistic tradition that focuses on the aesthetic ...

poetry commissioned from

Van Dyke Parks Van Dyke Parks (born January 3, 1943) is an American multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, arranger, record producer, singer, and former Warner Bros. Records executive whose work encompasses orchestral pop, elaborate recording experiments, Ame ...

. As a

concept album A concept album is an album whose tracks hold a larger purpose or meaning collectively than they do individually. This is typically achieved through a single central narrative or theme, which can be instrumental, compositional, or lyrical. Som ...

, the work largely derives from the 1949 song "

That Lucky Old Sun "That Lucky Old Sun (Just Rolls Around Heaven All Day)" is a 1949 popular song with music by Beasley Smith and words by Haven Gillespie. Background Like "Ol' Man River", its lyrics contrast the toil and intense hardship of the singer's life ...

", originally recorded by

Frankie Laine Frankie Laine (born Francesco Paolo LoVecchio; March 30, 1913 – February 6, 2007) was an American singer and songwriter whose career spanned nearly 75 years, from his first concerts in 1930 with a marathon dance company to his final performa ...

Concept

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 (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and Cultural area, cultural List of regions of California, region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Its densely populated coastal reg ...

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

The Beach Boys The Beach Boys are an American Rock music, rock band formed in Hawthorne, California, in 1961. The group's original lineup consisted of brothers Brian Wilson, Brian, Dennis Wilson, Dennis, and Carl Wilson, their cousin Mike Love, and their f ...

. "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 Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

film industry The film industry or motion picture industry comprises the technological and commercial institutions of filmmaking, i.e., film production company, production companies, film studios, cinematography, animation, film production, screenwriting, pre- ...

and numerous Californian landmarks including the

Capitol Tower The Capitol Records Building, also known as the Capitol Records Tower, is a 13-story tower building in the Hollywood neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, United States. Designed by Louis Naidorf of Welton Becket Associates, it is one of th ...

and

Hollywood Bowl The Hollywood Bowl is an amphitheatre and Urban park, public park in the Hollywood Hills of Los Angeles, California. It was named one of the 10 best live music venues in the United States by ''Rolling Stone'' magazine in 2018 and was listed on ...

. ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. The magazine was first known fo ...

'' 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'' is the third studio album by the American rock band the Beach Boys, released September 16, 1963 on Capitol Records. It is largely a collection of surf songs. The LP reached number 7 in the U.S. and number 13 in the UK. Lead sin ...

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

" originally made famous by

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

overture Overture (from French ''ouverture'', "opening") is a music instrumental introduction to a ballet, opera, or oratorio in the 17th century. During the early Romantic era, composers such as Beethoven and Mendelssohn composed overtures which ...

. The album contains references to Wilson's previous work. The track "Morning Beat" borrows heavily from the 1968 outtake "

Walkin' ''Walkin'' (PRLP 7076) is a Miles Davis compilation album released in March 1957 by Prestige Records. The album compiles material previously released on two 10 inch LPs in 1954, including all of '' Miles Davis All-Star Sextet'' and most of '' M ...

", while the track "Going Home" bears musical similarity to " Ding Dang" off the Beach Boys' 1977 album ''

The Beach Boys Love You ''The Beach Boys Love You'' is the 21st studio album by American rock band the Beach Boys, released April 11, 1977, on Brother/Reprise. Sometimes called the band's "punk" or "synth-pop" album, ''Love You'' is characterized for its pioneering u ...

''. Part of a ''

20/20 Visual acuity (VA) commonly refers to the clarity of visual perception, vision, but technically rates an animal's ability to recognize small details with precision. Visual acuity depends on optical and neural factors. Optical factors of the eye ...

''-era outtake "

Can't Wait Too Long "Can't Wait Too Long" (also known as "Been Way Too Long") is a song written by Brian Wilson for the American Rock music, rock band the Beach Boys. The song dates from 1967, and remains unfinished by the group. In 2008, a newly recorded "Can't ...

" 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 the Internet. In 2009 a limited edition box set of ''That Lucky Old Sun'' was produced in England by Genesis Publications. The set was a collaboration with artist Peter Blake, and included twelve serigraphs by Blake each illustrating a song from the album as well as three facsimile sheets of music, a VIP pass and “one of the first pressings” of the ''That Lucky Old Sun'' CD.

Live performances

Originally commissioned by the

Southbank Centre Southbank Centre is an arts centre in London, England. It is adjacent to the separately owned National Theatre and BFI Southbank. It comprises the three main performance spaces – the Royal Festival Hall, Queen Elizabeth Hall, and Purcell R ...

for its 2007 opening season, the work was debuted in a series of concerts at the

Royal Festival Hall The Royal Festival Hall is a 2,700-seat concert, dance and talks venue within Southbank Centre in London, England. It is situated on the South Bank of the River Thames, not far from Hungerford Bridge, in the London Borough of Lambeth. It is a G ...

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

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

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

for the

Sydney Festival Sydney Festival is a major arts festival in Australia's largest city, Sydney, that runs for three weeks every January since it was established in 1977. The festival program features over 100 events from local and international artists and inclu ...

Reception

''That Lucky Old Sun'' entered the

UK Albums Chart The Official Albums Chart is the United Kingdom's industry-recognised national record chart for album, albums. Entries are ranked by sales and audio streaming. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the O ...

at number 37 and the ''Billboard'' 200 at number 21. The album has sold 65,000 copies in the US as of April 2015. Based on 26 reviews, it has a score of 70 out of 100 on

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

, indicating "generally favorable reviews".

Track listing

Personnel

From the album's liner notes. *

– lead vocals, keyboards, piano, producer Additional musicians

Charts

References

{{Authority control 2008 albums Albums produced by Brian Wilson Brian Wilson albums Capitol Records albums 2000s concept albums