Good Vibrations – California (ft. Les Fradkin) (reviewed by Dave Franklin)

With the recent passing of one of the few actual geniuses in popular music, the name Brian Wilson is on everyone’s lips, and we are all struggling to put into words what he meant to us and how his music shaped our lives. Millions of words have already been written, videos and photographs shared, metaphorical wreaths laid, but Les Fradkin’s natural musical inclinations have led him to pay tribute in a more fitting way.

The duo, fittingly enough called California, featuring Les Fradkin, and Loretta Pieper Fradkin, celebrate his life and music with their recording of perhaps one of the Beach Boys‘ best-loved and most recognizable songs, “Good Vibrations.”

And like all good covers, it’s a blend of the new and the old, adding something to the song’s ongoing story while staying true to its sonic spirit. New instrumentation weaves around those familiar banks of harmonies that were the band’s hallmarks, and the music revels in the trippy, sun-soaked, psychedelic experimentation that bridged the immortal Pet Sounds and Wilson’s more avant-garde next chapter.

“Good Vibrations” was always designed to be a “pocket symphony,” and this new recording, a tribute, and recognition of the man’s genius —a word thrown around far too liberally these days —is a fitting salute to someone whose like will not be seen again.