Mr Wilson, Mr Cool

Of one thing there is no doubt: Brian Wilson is the greatest composer/ arranger of the modern music age. From early "fun in the sun" anthems to the awesome Pet Sounds through to the unreleased masterpiece Smile and on to Surf's Up in the 1970s, Wilson is responsible for a canon of work that has as many imitators as it has admirers. With Wilson, you spell the word "genius" in big block capitals.

You could bang on for a very long time about his neo-classical chord progressions, his innovative key transpositions, the resonant lyrical expression and the pioneering of new recording techniques, but the over-riding impression of Wilson's work is the sky-scraping harmonies and utter pop melodies. No wonder Pet Sounds still manages to top most of the "best album of all time" polls - or that the only album which could threaten it is another Wilson album, the never-released Smile.

The music is, sadly, only one facet of Wilson's life - for many a year now he has been mentally unstable. He once believed his songs were capable of starting fires, and that Phil Spector was out to murder him; after doing a massive array of drugs, he decided in the 1970s to stay in bed for a whole three years (like you do). Basically he went into involuntary retirement after the release of Holland in the mid-1970s, but there was a comeback of sorts with his eponymously-titled first solo album in 1988 - which is handy listening if you want to find out where The Boo Radleys got the inspiration for their Find The Answer Within single. Since then there's been nothing, as he slowly spent his time releasing himself from the grip of his controversial personal "psychotherapist" Eugene Landy, but he did make a significant contribution to Van Dyke Parks's (he was the lyricist on Smile) Orange Crate Art album three years ago. And now for IT]Imagination, his new solo album and his most impressive work since Surf's Up. There should have been a handy, local reference to this album as ex-Microdisney guitarist and current High Llama leader, Sean O'Hagan, was supposed to produce it as a new Beach Boys album - but having failed to bring all surviving members to the negotiating table (as they say) he gave up and Wilson decided to do the album as a solo effort. Recorded in Chicago, far away from Wilson's traditional Californian surrounds, all the elaborate vocal harmonies and sumptuous melodies are still in place, as evinced by the opening track and first single, My Imagination where Wilson's lyric "I take a trip through the past when summer's way out of reach, another bucket of sand, another wave at the pier/I miss the way that I used to call the shots around here" is eerily reminiscent of the lyric to Heroes and Villains - the centrepiece of the Smile album.

Down through the salsa pop of South America and the magnificent elegy to his dead brother Carl that is Lay Down Bur- den and finishing with the sublime minor-key Happy Days, this is as good as it gets chez Wilson these days. Beach Boy completists will also be glad to know that the album also contains two reworkings of Beach Boy tracks in Keep An Eye On Summer and Let Him Run Wild. Most impressive, though, are the vocals, with Wilson filling up as many as 96 audio tracks to nail down his trademark harmonies. And all of his legendary arranging skills are present and correct, with some amazing clarinet and horn stuff going on between the grooves. From crescendo to crescendo, he piles it on just like it was the good ol' days all over again. The only quibble, though, is the production - all the songs are drenched with faux Eurovision-type flourishes which drag them perilously close to AOR-land. You get a clue as to why this is when you find out that the president of the record label on which the album is released, Irving Azoff, used to manage Steely Dan and, horror of horrors, The Eagles: "It's been shown," says Azoff, "that if you produce music that's true to who you were at the time of your greatest success, with 1990s production values, there's going to be a huge audience for it". It's also true, Mr Azoff, that if you produce music that's true to who you are now without a thought for the AM radio dollar, that Imagination could have been a "classic" as opposed to being "a welcome return".

The same record company attitude is also much in evidence with the choice of musical collaborators - out go the oblique talents of Tony Asher and Van Dyke Parks and in come AOR stalwarts Carole Bayer Sager and Jimmy Buffett. It's hard, though, to get too worked up about these flaws (except the grating production), for it's somewhat of a minor miracle that Brian Wilson is still composing and recording music. Rejoice then that he's back - but regret what could have been if Sean O'Hagan was involved. Wouldn't it be nice?

Imagination by Brian Wilson is out now on the Giant label.