The most exciting music Brian Wilson has made in the past two years, however, is neither Orange Crate Art nor the Don Was-masterminded documentary soundtrack I Just Wasn’t Made For These Times. In Andy Paley’s tiny, airless office at Elektra Records in Beverly Hills, the lights switched off, a tape is playing that would stun any Beach Boys fan: dozens of songs, recorded with Paley, that are quite simply the most consistent and inspiring music Brian has made for at least 25 years. For any elder statesman of rock, they would be shockingly good. For a man allegedly a gibbering wreck, they’re nothing short of revelatory.

Paley, who worked in the mid-‘70s with Phil Spector, has helped rebuild the surging, intricate wall of sound that characterised the greatest Beach Boys records. No synthesisers have been used on these practically completed recordings, funded by Wilson himself. Paley nods and sings along proudly, claiming every period of The Beach Boys’ career is reflected in the music: raw, ‘Surfin’ USA’-style rockers like ‘I’m Broke’ and ‘Desert Drive’; anguished, glimmering ballads like ‘It’s Not Easy Being Me’; the authentically staggering ‘Getting In Over My Head’; Smile-like sound-pictures such as ‘Saturday Morning In The City’; and driving, awesomely inventive cascades of beautiful sound like ‘Chain Reaction Of Love’.

There’s one song on the tape, though, that throws up a completely different set of possibilities. In February, Wilson and Paley were coerced into recording — with The Beach Boys — one piece, ‘Dancin’ The Night Away’ for a new TV series, Baywatch Nights. Camera crews were present for the reunion. Brian and Mike Love posed happily together. But only the vocals for the bridge were completed — Carl Wilson singing lead in his still-perfect falsetto — before the session broke up acrimoniously.

“I think Brian’s gotta make up his mind if he wants to make a Beach Boys record or a Brian Wilson record,” explains Paley, clearly and understandably frustrated, “ ‘cos he changes his mind about that all the time. Half the time he’s into it, half the time he’s not. You never know what he’s gonna say about it…”

“But I’ll tell you, really I don’t think that’s gonna happen, because Brian and I had a meeting with Mike Love and he listened to everything and Brian really stuck up for these songs and told him he didn’t want them changed in any way. I know he’s so anxious for this music to come out, and I know I am too.”