It’s official. The Beach Boys will reform with Brian Wilson for their 50th anniversary in 2012.
A 50-date international tour has been locked in place starting in April at the New Orleans Jazz Festival.
The reunion will include a brand new album from Brian Wilson with the Beach Boys. Several songs have already been recorded. It will be the first Beach Boys album to feature all original surviving members in decades. The album is being produced by Brian Wilson and executive produced by Mike Love.
“This anniversary is special to me because I miss the boys and it will be a thrill for me to make a new record and be on stage with them again,” Brian Wilson said in a statement.
The line-up for the tour and album includes all surviving founding members Mike Love and Al Jardine with long-time Beach Boy Bruce Johnstone and the Wilson’s childhood next-door neighbour David Marks, who played on their first four albums.
“We got together at Capitol Records and re-recorded ‘Do It Again.’ Brian and I wrote that song which went to number 1 in Great Britain , Australia and elsewhere some 44 years ago. Brian paid me a compliment saying, ‘How can a guy sound that great so many years later?’ Later on, while working out some harmonies on a new song Brian had written, I got a chance to return the compliment. It was a thrill to be around a piano again with Brian, Alan and Bruce and experience firsthand the brilliance of Cousin Brian’s gift for vocal arrangements. I am very much looking forward to David Marks joining us and thrilling with his surf guitar licks. Music has been the unifying and harmonizing fact of life in our family since childhood. It has been a huge blessing that we have been able to share with the world. Wouldn’t It Be Nice to Do It Again? Absolutely!”
