Troubles with the solo discography of Brian Wilson are not the artist’s fault. Though The Beach Boys member would be far from his A-game during this period, there are still some delights from his self-titled solo album. It’s in following that up, that’s where the problems begin to reveal themselves. Sweet Insanity was scrapped for the same reasons Wilson’s first solo album is such an uncomfortable listen at times. Eugene Landy, the psychologist Wilson would put much of his trust in throughout the 1980s and 1990s, plays an even bigger part in this recording. Sweet Insanity may have been shelved, but it’s easy to find for those wanting to hear what an album where Landy fancies himself producer, songwriter, and artist on par with Wilson sounds like. Sweet Insanity wouldn’t even release and yet it irked Mike Love enough to comment on the title and the often-reported mental state of Wilson. You can hear the effect of all that here, and it’s a rough listen.
Sampling The Beach Boys’ earlier works and shunting Wilson out of the sole songwriting credit spot so Landry can have his lion’s share is a disturbing reality of Sweet Insanity. It feels like a project made with Wilson, without his input on what matters most. The title feels like a gross capitalisation on headlines of the time while the material, heavily reliant on the feel of The Beach Boys’ work, is so beyond the pale of awful at times. Someone to Love is an ambitious song for Wilson vocally, and a success at that. It’s a shame some of these songs feature some excellent vocal work from Wilson because the material is so far short of what he should be creating. Those more obvious pop and synth choices, dated as they were by the time Sweet Insanity was presented to Sire Records, feel so at odds with the vocal style Wilson has.
Just take a listen to Don’t Let Her Know She’s an Angel, a horrific piece of work because of both the instrumental duds littered throughout and the laughable lyrics. For all the mockery Smart Girls receives, it’s at least an acknowledgement of a real alternative to pop music, something only Bob Dylan would really flirt with in his own career, however briefly that may have been. Even then, there are some likeable moments amid the sampling and staggeringly poor lyrics. Do You Have Any Regrets, for instance, is an extremely likeable song. Just such a groovy piece of work that relates the fun-loving summer sound of The Beach Boys with a modern twist and adds in some lyrics of sorrow. It’s not all bad on Sweet Insanity, an album that has an uncomfortable quality appear occasionally. The would-be title track, Brian, is fairly lazy but works well enough as an inevitable reflection on Wilson as a songwriter.
The Spirit of Rock & Roll is a clear example of how Sweet Insanity could have worked had Wilson not been saddled with producer and therapist Landy. A few moments of real sincerity, the desire to be remembered through his music as he truly will be, paired with some of the clunkiest, wall of sound rock you’ll likely ever hear. Rainbow Eyes isn’t much better, but it yanks at your heartstrings so hard it’ll not be what you hear, that’s the problem. An absolute mess, but the moments that do survive this patchy period are well worth hearing. Not Smart Girls, though, sweet Lord, there’s no salvaging that one unless you want to pretend it’s cool to hear Wilson try his hand at a genre that didn’t need his efforts. So bad it loops around to being one of the best songs you’ll ever hear from Wilson, referring to himself as a former Beach Boy and how he’s on a higher plane of existence to those outside the studio. Fascinating work on Sweet Insanity, and certainly worth a listen despite its shortcomings.
