Background and Recording
After the release of Love You, The Beach Boys fell into dispute over the direction of the band, and were close to breaking up. Brian Wilson began regressing back into drug use and mental illness. Dennis was readying his debut solo album, Pacific Ocean Blue. Intended as a follow-up to Love You, sessions and mixing for a new album called Adult/Child were completed by The Beach Boys with Brian Wilson as producer. The album was subsequently rejected by Reprise Records for not being commercially viable, although some of its tracks would reappear on later releases.
Dennis was largely unavailable for the new project, of which he and brother Carl were not in favor. The idea, by staunch Transcendental Meditation follower Mike Love, was to record another new album—initially intended as a Christmas release—at the Maharishi International University in Fairfield, Iowa, (hence the 'M.I.U.' title). Consequently, when it was time to record the album in September 1977, only Love, Jardine and the eldest Wilson showed up.
The original intention was for Brian Wilson to produce the album, but it soon became clear he was either unable or unwilling to function in that role. The production credit on the album was given to Al Jardine and songwriting partner Ron Altbach, with Brian billed as "executive producer", though the exact nature of this role was never clarified. The provisionally titled Merry Christmas from the Beach Boys was rejected by the record company, which demanded the band submit a regular studio album instead. New lyrics were overdubbed on to some of the original Christmas tracks the following spring, which, together with quickly penned new material, formed the basis of the M.I.U. Album, the band's last for Reprise Records before embarking on their CBS Records (now Sony Music) contract.
When asked about M.I.U. Album in the British press, Dennis Wilson said that he " believe in that album" and that it was "an embarrassment to life. It should self-destruct.. I hope that the karma will fuck up Mike Love’s meditation forever." Music critic Nick Kent called the album "dreadful". He said that its "pitiful content" were ignored by critics.
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