Adult/Child

Adult Child
A saturated image of Brian Wilson in a fire hat on with the words "Adult Child" written in a pink box next to him
Cover of a 1985 bootleg
Studio album (unreleased) by
the Beach Boys
RecordedAugust 1969 – October 1976 (older recordings)
February 9, 1977 – June 3, 1977 (album sessions)
Studio
Genre
Length30:25
ProducerBrian Wilson
The Beach Boys recording chronology
The Beach Boys Love You
(1977) 		Adult Child
(1977) 		M.I.U. Album
(1978)
Alternative cover
A cartoon drawing of a man with cane and a cigar wit the words "Adult Child" written above it. The cover has an orange background
Bootleg from an unknown year

Adult Child is an unreleased studio album by the American rock band the Beach Boys that was produced in early 1977. Similar to the release it was meant to follow, The Beach Boys Love You, the album is essentially a semi-autobiographical solo effort by the band's chief songwriter and producer, Brian Wilson. The title refers to a theory that one's personality can be split into "adult" and "child" modes of thinking.

Characterized as outsider music, Adult Child consists of seven new songs, four of which feature orchestral arrangements by Dick Reynolds, along with five older tracks that had been outtakes from earlier albums. Its subject matter ranges from healthy diets and exercise to shaving a tomboy's legs and waiting at a movie theater queue. Some of the tracks, including "It's Over Now" and "Still I Dream of It", were originally written to be recorded by a singer such as Frank Sinatra.

Initially planned for issue in September 1977, the release was vetoed by Wilson's bandmates Mike Love and Al Jardine, who had felt that the record was too strange to sell.[3] Instead, the group delivered M.I.U. Album, which included one song in common with Adult Child, "Hey Little Tomboy", albeit in a rerecorded form. A few more Adult Child tracks saw release on the 1993 box set Good Vibrations.

Commentators have described Adult Child as a poignant reflection of Wilson's troubled personal life, although it has also elicited praise for its humorous and idiosyncratic quality. The full album remains unreleased, but circulates widely on bootlegs and unauthorized YouTube uploads.

  1. ^ Enos, Morgan (May 10, 2018). "The Beach Boys Ready Philharmonic Orchestra Album: 5 of Their Genre-Crossing Moments". Billboard. Retrieved March 25, 2022.
  2. ^ Dayton 2004.
  3. ^ Carlin 2006, pp. 222–223.