‘Music From Love & Mercy’

Aug 14 2015

Capitol Records is pleased to announce plans for the global digital and CD release of ‘Music From LOVE & MERCY,’ the official soundtrack to Lionsgate/Roadside Attractions/River Road’s acclaimed Brian Wilson biopic starring John Cusack and Paul Dano. Produced by Wilson, the film’s Oscar®-winning score composer Atticus Ross, and the film’s producer and director, Bill Pohlad, ‘Music From LOVE & MERCY’’s 13 tracks include “One Kind of Love,” a ballad written and recorded by Brian Wilson specifically for the film, original Beach Boys classics, Paul Dano’s stirring performance of “God Only Knows” from the film, and original score pieces by Ross. The soundtrack will be released digitally tomorrow, Friday, August 14, with the CD release to follow on Friday, September 18.

“Atticus’ musical work with the film was absolutely brilliant,” says Wilson. “Through the score he was able to tastefully capture some of the most joyful and dark moments of my life.”

“It was a great privilege to be part of the team that brought ‘LOVE & MERCY’ to life,” says Ross. “Beyond the beautiful and tragic events in Brian Wilson’s life, the film is an uncompromising exploration into the creative process of undoubtedly one of the most inventive and sophisticated musical creators to have ever recorded. Bill Pohlad’s unique vision celebrates that process with an insight and energy that inspired us all to reach for the best of our own creative abilities. In terms of the musical story telling it seemed essential to keep Brian ever-present and it’s a testament to both his generosity and ongoing imagination that he allowed unprecedented access to his archive to achieve that goal.”

“Mr. Pohlad’s deft narrative sense and careful visual style are complemented by the work of Atticus Ross, whose sonic collages – ‘score’ doesn’t quite do justice to his achievement – take us deeper inside a musical mind than we might have thought possible. ‘LOVE & MERCY’ doesn’t claim to solve the mystery of Brian Wilson, but it succeeds beyond all expectation in making you hear where he was coming from.” – A.O. Scott, The New York Times (June 4, 2015)

Hailed by critics as a triumph of the biopic film genre, ‘LOVE & MERCY’ presents an unconventional portrait of Wilson, the legendary singer, songwriter, producer and co-founder of one of the world’s most successful and beloved bands of all-time, The Beach Boys. Set against the era-defining catalog of Wilson’s music, the film intimately examines the personal voyage and ultimate salvation of the icon, whose success came at extraordinary personal cost. ‘LOVE & MERCY’ stars Cusack and Dano as Wilson at different points of his life and career, with co-stars Paul Giamatti as Dr. Eugene Landy and Elizabeth Banks as Wilson’s wife, Melinda.

Brian Wilson is one of popular music’s most deeply revered figures, a legendary writer, producer, arranger and performer of some of the most cherished music in pop music history. For more than half a century, fans have marveled at the sheer beauty of the music that springs forth from his imagination into glorious song. Wilson brings this ingenious vision to his own compositions, as well as to those for which he has collaborated, weaving a lush, vibrant tapestry of intricately nuanced vocal harmonies and instrumental arrangements for himself, his bandmates and others.

Wilson began his career as a teenaged founding member of The Beach Boys, who signed with Capitol Records in July 1962 and released their first album, Surfin’ Safari, that same year. The band’s initial surf-rock focus was soon broadened to include other themes, and 1966’s Pet Sounds is universally hailed as one of the greatest albums of all time. Wilson’s innovative vocal and instrumental arrangements for major hits including “I Get Around,” “California Girls,” “Wouldn’t It Be Nice,” “God Only Knows,” and the No. 1 smash “Good Vibrations” made The Beach Boys America’s preeminent band of the 1960s.

Wilson has also achieved great solo success with 11 of his own albums to date, including his acclaimed ‘No Pier Pressure,’ released by Capitol Records in April. Wilson’s 2004 completion of an album he first began recording in the 1960s, Brian Wilson Presents… SMiLE, earned his first GRAMMY® for a recording, which was followed by his second GRAMMY® win for producing The Beach Boys’ universally hailed 2011 release, The SMiLE Sessions. With his own band, Wilson has performed major, sold-out international tours in recent years, and he celebrated The Beach Boys’ 50^th anniversary in 2012 with an international tour and acclaimed studio album, That’s Why God Made The Radio.

Brian Wilson is a Kennedy Center Honors recipient, a Songwriters Hall of Fame inductee, and a U.K. Music Hall of Fame inductee. As a member of The Beach Boys, Wilson was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1988 and honored with The Recording Academy’s Lifetime Achievement Award in 2001.

‘Music From LOVE & MERCY’ [digital; CD]

1. The Black Hole – Atticus Ross

2. Don’t Worry Baby – The Beach Boys

3. Silhouette – Atticus Ross

4. God Only Knows – Paul Dano

5. God Only Knows – The Beach Boys

6. Believe – Atticus Ross

7. Good Vibrations – The Beach Boys

8. Losing It – Atticus Ross

9. I’m Right Here – Atticus Ross

10. The Bed Montage – Atticus Ross, The Beach Boys, The Four Freshmen

11. Intersection – Atticus Ross