Brian Wilson by Brian Wilson

Brian Wilson is the debut studio album by Brian Wilson released in July 1988 on Sire Records. It was voted one of the best albums of 1988 by NME, and as part of its acclaim, garnered the nickname "Pet Sounds '88" among some critics. The album has since been reissued on several formats with bonus tracks, and cited by some as a standout in Wilson's solo oeuvre.The album, which cost $1 million to produce, was the first written and produced by Wilson since The Beach Boys Love You (1977). Working with an array of collaborators including his therapist Eugene Landy, Wilson accordingly themed Brian Wilson around love and spirituality exemplified by its lead single "Love and Mercy". Although the album's sessions were contentious, where some participants demanded a progressive artistic statement versus conventional pop songs, nearly a quarter of the LP is devoted to "Rio Grande", a piece which was intended to rekindle Wilson's experimental drive from the mid-1960s and early 1970s.Two follow-ups were planned but ultimately discarded: Sweet Insanity (1991), co-produced with Landy, and an unfinished 1990s album, co-produced with Andy Paley. Wilson would not release a second solo album of new original material until Imagination (1998).