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BY BOBBY McMAHON

FOR THE FREE LANCE-STAR

In the pantheon of modern musicians, few compare to Brian Wilson.

With the Beach Boys, Wilson composed some of the most enduring songs of the 1960s, penning hits like "I Get Around" and "California Girls"--and, in the process, creating a soundtrack for the surf-crazed California of that era.

He peaked creatively in 1966 with the Beach Boys' release of "Pet Sounds." Featuring classics like "Wouldn't It Be Nice" and "God Only Knows," the album is arguably the finest in the history of pop music.

After splitting with the Beach Boys, Wilson withdrew from the public eye in the decades that followed-- largely because of his well-documented struggles with drugs and mental illness, as well as just plain erratic behavior (including moving his piano into a sandbox).

His recent work as a solo artist, however, has brought him renewed acclaim, particularly with the completion of his once-unfinished magnum opus, "SMiLE," in 2004.

Wilson released his latest album, "That Lucky Old Sun," in August and will appear with his band at Washington's Warner Theatre next Tuesday.

For the new project, Wilson, now 66, found inspiration in an old American standard and went about creating an album with that as it center.

"I found Louie Armstrong's version of 'That Lucky Old Sun,'" he said in a recent phone interview. "I learned it and taught it to the band. Then I wrote 10 really good original songs."

The resulting album is a whimsical joyride through a sun-kissed day in Los Angeles. Rather than simply being a collection of tracks, it plays through as a unified piece of music, a delicately arranged composition complete with instrumental interludes and narration of "poetic images of L.A." that were written by longtime collaborator Van Dyke Parks.

Decades since his time with the Beach Boys, California continues to be a major source of inspiration for Wilson. "Of course I love the beaches and the restaurants--the record stores and stuff like that," he said. "I love L.A."