Album: Wilson Phillips

California, COLUMBIA

Andy Gill
Friday 06 August 2004 00:00 BST
Comments

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

Astonishingly, it has been 12 years since Wilson Phillips scored their couple of multi-platinum album successes, the last of which, Shadows and Light, saw them moving into Fleetwood Mac-style AOR territory just as that market effectively dried up. Produced by West Coast Svengali Peter Asher, this comeback album finds the girls tackling a series of emblematic California anthems, from their own parents' "Monday Monday", "Dance Dance Dance" and "In My Room", to such staples of David Geffen's 1970s SoCal empire as The Eagles' "Already Gone", Jackson Browne's "Doctor My Eyes" and Joni Mitchell's "California". The latter is the album's most challenging piece, and sadly, Wendy Wilson doesn't really animate the song. The Browne and Eagles numbers are much better suited to their callow charms, as is The Youngbloods hit "Get Together", which has just the right air of youthful optimism. Elsewhere, things generally fall short of their ambitions. Brian Wilson turns up to add piano and sombre middle-eight to his "In My Room", but the best performance here, surprisingly, is of Neil Young's "Old Man", where Carnie's lead vocal captures just the right air of premature world-weariness.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in