"I think it's even better, to tell you the truth, because the guys have been practicing for years," says Brian Wilson, who is producing the as-yet-untitled album. It's scheduled for release in June.

The album and accompanying 50th anniversary reunion tour, preceded by a performance at the Grammy Awards in February, marks the first time performing together in decades for the surviving original band members, Wilson, Mike Love and Al Jardine.

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Returning Beach Boy David Marks calls Wilson a "genius arranger/writer," credits Love with hooks and word creation ("excitations" from Good Vibrations) and says Jardine is an iconic voice.

"It's all in the chemistry of the guys when they get together. It creates a bubble of creativity, and we felt that (then) and we feel it now," Marks says. The album "makes you feel like you're driving down the coast in a convertible."

Well-publicized past disputes are long resolved, they say. "That's been years and years," says Love, who had sued Wilson and Jardine. "The business part has never been the most fun part. But you have to check those things at the door if you're going to get together."

"I didn't see one speed bump," says Bruce Johnston, who joined the group in 1965. "Mike is Brian's cousin, and he adores him. Sometimes, the business side of things gets so bumpy, but the family thing doesn't go away."

The band plans to feature at least one new song, That's Why God Made the Radio, on the tour that starts Tuesday in Tucson.

"When you hear it played back in the studio, it sounds like 1965 again. Great harmonies, great arrangements and good vocals. It's very déjà vu. We sound like we sound," says Love, the album's executive producer.

That the band is producing new material this long into its run is significant, says Andy Paley, a producer/songwriter who has collaborated with Wilson on earlier work.

"If you're in an energetic mood, it doesn't matter if you're 30 or 40 years older than you were when you were writing" earlier material, he says. "You can psych yourself up to write songs that maybe sound younger than you really are."

Other album tracks include Shelter and The Private Life of Bill and Sue, both midtempo songs written by Wilson. He says the album will be all Beach Boys — no covers, no guests.

Beaches in Mind, Spring Vacation and Daybreak Over the Ocean, the last written by Love, are among the 12 to 15 songs being considered for the album, with some possibly ending up on a commemorative package, Love says. "Everybody's got a lead on at least some of the songs."

Wilson wrote "a suite that I'm just going to guess must be seven minutes long. There are beautiful strings on it," Johnston says. "You can mix up your singles with your longer art pieces. We're the Beach Boys. We can do that."

The album is "very lush, very PetSound-ing," Jardine says.

It may provide a welcome contrast to current trends, he says. "Melodies and harmonies are not so popular today in mainstream American radio. Some kind of void is being filled that maybe people really need right now."