Blood On The Tracks

Things are pretty calm around here at the moment, but sometimes they get a little shaky. Where are we? We're inside the mind of Brian Douglas Wilson, of course, the genius behind the Beach Boys' unprecedented masterpiece Pet Sounds. There are lots of things in here...songs, melodies, ideas...but there are also many dark corners for things to lurk in. For people to lurk in. As Brian continues to work on the band's follow-up to Pet Sounds, a so-called teenage symphony to God called Smile, the dark corners of his mind come alive. That's when the vibrations turned from good...to bad.

Before the Beach Boys began to work on Smile, Brian Wilson was already expanding his mind with the aid of LSD. The drug proved to be a point of contention with other band members, who bristled at Brian's newfound mind-altering methodology. Brian's LSD intake didn't just spark arguments between the Beach Boys. LSD made a black-and-white appear in Technicolor for the first time. It made water taste like it fell straight from heaven. It made musical notation come alive, notes and staffs just floating in the air. But LSD also brought with it a rising feeling of anxiety. The walls got bigger. Every room was suffocating. And before too long...the voices began to speak inside Brian's head.

The pressure builds in Brian's mind as he continues to work on Smile with the Beach Boys. His vision is completely out of step with what the others expect. A new collaborator butts heads with the band. His father, Murray, and his idol, famed record producer Phil Spector, haunt him. And just when things seem like they'll never get back on track, inspiration strikes in the form of a trusted advisor...but the advice Brian receives leads to another in a long line of disappointments.

Brian is haunted by the Monterey Pop Festival, John Lennon’s voice, and the disapproval of his fellow Beach Boys. He finally goes off the deep end – literally, straight into the deep end of his pool where he holds band meetings, far away from the prying eyes and ears of the people he thinks are watching him.

Brian’s troubled relationship with his controlling and abusive father comes into focus. Paul McCartney stops by a California recording studio to chew some celery into a microphone. And the tragedies of the past threaten to echo endlessly into the future.

After months of frustration, the Beach Boys abandon Smile to work on new music. But for Brian it’s not that easy. He’s quickly losing control. He’s betrayed by those meant to be closest to him. And one of his brothers is flirting with a dark and disturbing group of people living on the fringes of society…a so-called family that may or may not infiltrate the warm and sunny climes of the Beach Boys’ world.

Brian continues to lose control. And not just of his band and the music he makes. He loses self-control and becomes so dependent on drugs that he pays someone to deliver them to him. He loses control of his car and nearly kills himself in a crash. And then he loses control of himself – in front of one of the biggest rock ‘n roll stars of all time.

The Beach Boys stage an intervention to get Brian the help he needs just as he reaches what he thinks is the bottom. He’s pulled out of the darkness by a doctor – a man Brian immediately recognizes as his savior. But Brian’s vision isn’t clear. He can’t see the doctor for who he really is: not the person who will set Brian free, but rather keep him trapped in a different kind of prison.

Brian’s lost masterpiece, Smile, continues to lurk in the background. It’s there when Brian’s troubled and talented brother, Dennis, takes one last swim in the Pacific Ocean blue. It’s there as Brian claws his way out of the grip of the doctor who keeps him apart from health, love, and happiness. And it’s there as he prepares his triumphant return, not as a Beach Boy – but as someone he’s just discovering. Himself.

Sometimes you can find redemption, but you have to find it for yourself. No one is going to give it to you. You can’t find it in a movie or a song. You can only find it inside yourself. In the 21st century, decades after his pursuit of an unfinished teenage symphony to God that drove him to the edge of sanity, Brian Wilson found his redemption. But he also found something else, too: the realization of a dream that he thought had died long ago.