The best that can be said about Brian Wilson’s That Lucky Old Sun is that, like ’70s Beach Boys discs 15 Big Ones and Love You, it exists as neither total embarrassment nor praiseworthy contribution to his catalog. If you like anything that captures The Beach Boys’ sound, you pull those albums out for occasional variety.

At least, Sun isn’t an embarrassment as it applies to the album’s songs; there is no word other than embarrassment to describe the heart-on-sleeve delivery by Wilson of treacly spoken-word contributions from Van Dyke Parks.

Of course, Love You had “Johnny Carson,” so even with Wilson’s childish embrace of pomposity, sentimentality and triviality here, eternal fans are on familiar ground. They can either look past the words or embrace the quirkiness of the man who once wrote love songs to vegetables. (On this disc, oxygen gets similar treatment.)

Despite—or maybe because of—its being a concept album embracing the ’60s Southern California myth (the same topic once hyperbolically exploded by Wilson on “Surf’s Up”), Sun strives for a familiar Beach Boys sound. That’s hard to do with only Wilson’s voice—deteriorated significantly from the pure sound achieved effortlessly decades ago—up front.

Still, if Beach Boys music as recreated in recent performances by Wilson and his crack band appeals to you, this could, too.

Though Wilson is clearly a shadow of his former self, that shadow remains so long that even now, there are undeniable pleasures to be found in his work, idiot lyrics and all.

The bottom line: **1/2