Steven Taylor June 13th, 2025 - 4:00 PM
Photo credit: Sharon Alagna
Earlier this week, the music world was shaken by the tragic news of legendary artist Brian Wilson’s passing. The late great Beach Boy, who was 82 at the time of his passing, was often hailed as an innovator in the world of music and following the news a massive outpouring of support has begun from all sorts of artists and fans alike. Latest in this wave of respects comes two posts from the Instagram account of producer Jonathan Wilson (no relation to Brian) which, as reported by Stereogum, feature what appear to be the final recorded works by Brian.
The first post, which runs just under three minutes, features the following caption:
“This is unreleased solo Brian Wilson music that myself and Drew Erickson made here in Topanga with Brian, Joe Thomas, the Jardins, we made two amazing songs and joe and brian both were loving it, I was talking to Joe on the phone everyday as we were interpreting what they wanted (rip JT) we were on top of the world having endless freedom overdubbing all of these instruments with brian and the guys singing on top…. this album never got finished and these tracks will live on my drive in obscurity, but they’re really great, RIP to the king, BW.”
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In the following post, which runs exactly three minutes and appears to be a different recording, Jonathan wrote the following:
“Brian Wilson’s last recorded music i did here in Topanga with Drew Erickson, this was the second song we did ‘September ‘it’s BW, Joe Thomas, The Jardines and myself.. This was all part of a BW solo album that I was meant to co-produce, and after Joe passed away, it all ended up vanishing, but these 2 tracks i’m very proud of working on, regardless of! RIP BW”
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While only a small taste of the recordings, these give fans a taste of Brian Wilson’s works as they were before his ultimately passing, showing him still creating and innovating as he always has. Many fans in the comments not only paid respects and expressed joy at the release, but also shared a desire to see the tracks officially released someday, or at least properly preserved. Regardless, these tracks mark another, likely final, addition to the massive legacy Wilson leaves behind – a legacy that is unlikely to be forgotten and that cemented itself in modern music today.
