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CD Review: Brian Wilson

In the Key of Disney (Disney Pearl)

Wed, Oct 26, 2011 at 4:00 am

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Brian Wilson has gotten a free pass ever since music snobs realized that, yeah, Pet Sounds is pretty fucking amazing. That means his Christmas album, his reworking of the lost Beach Boys album Smile, and his recent dives into the Great American Songbook were all greeted with nearly universal acclaim despite their many flaws. Maybe it's that sense of invulnerability that led Wilson to make In the Key of Disney, a collection of 11 songs from the studio's classic animated movies. Some of the tracks are well known (Pinocchio's "When You Wish Upon a Star"), some aren't ("Baby Mine" from Dumbo). But whether he's rushing over the words to "You've Got a Friend in Me" or falling back on old 1960s production tricks, Wilson doesn't offer any valid reasons for doing this project other than simply he's Brian Wilson and he can. — Gallucci