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After a tumultuous history over the past few decades that has included lawsuits and public spats, the surviving members of the Beach Boys original lineup will reunite next year to celebrate the band’s 50th anniversary. The reunion will feature a global tour, as well as a new album. A 50-date tour will kick off in April at the New Orleans Heritage and Jazz Festival, with more dates to be released in the future. Capitol Records, the Beach Boys label, also will release a new greatest-hits collection, as well as a box set. Founding members Brian Wilson, Mike Love and Al Jardine will be joined by other long-time fixtures in the Beach Boys story, Bruce Johnston and David Marks. Johnston joined the band in 1965, and Marks played with the group in 1962 and 63, as well as for many subsequent tours after the bands 1960s heyday. Original founding members Dennis and Carl Wilson (brothers to Brian) passed away in 1983 and 1998, respectively.

A press release says the group already has recorded several tracks for a currently untitled album that will be released in 2012, and will work on more tracks before the album is made available. In the press release, Brian Wilson, known as the chief songwriter on many of the Beach Boys best known releases, said he is looking forward to working with the other members after many years.

“This anniversary is special to me because I miss the boys and it will be a thrill for me to make a new record and be on stage with them again,” he said.

In other Beach Boys news, the band released The Smile Sessions last month. The box set presents the tapes of an abandoned Beach Boys record called Smile that was set to be the follow-up to 1966’s Pet Sounds, though Brian Wilson abandoned the project at the time. The album had become known as one of the long lost records of rock-n-roll, though the box set attempted to recreate the unfinished album as closely to Wilson’s original vision as possible.