Brian Wilson: Songwriter

I recommend highly Andrew hickeys ‘the beach boys on CD volumes 1,2 and 3’. They’re available on amazon for about 5 USd each. Excellent books and insights that will be appreciated by your fans. No financial interest.


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I about a decade ago i was talking with a friend about the cool syncopation at the beginning of "Good Vibrations", when he steered me to the masterpiece that is Pet Sounds. I was in my 40s and I had never heard it before. To this day "Don't Talk (Put Your Head on My Shoulder)" is one of my favourite pieces of music. The structure, the changes, the melody, the ethereal harmonies, the arrangement... Musical genius.

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He was up with Coltrane in that regard.

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You have to give credit to the rest of the guys who had to go out and play those songs. I saw them three times during the "Holland" era where they were trying to get their then new music heard before they decided to become an oldies act. They were amazing.

 

Thank you, Synchro, for such a well thought out analysis of Brian Wilson's work. Becoming a teenager in Southern California, the Beach Boys music had a great impact on me, and since I was singing tenor in choirs it made me appreciate their vocal harmonies all the more. To this day, the music I appreciate the most involves great harmonies. When I play/sing in a basement band with other pastors, or when I play/sing with the church praise band, I love adding the vocal harmony.

 

This is true for me, as well. Even as a kid singing along to the radio or stereo, I always sang harmonies.

 

Well, Wouldn't it Be Nice was played in the air when I walked my wife to the stage on my wedding day at Florence City Hall, Palazzo Vecchio.
Pet Sounds is one of my favorite album ever, and I just think the man is a musical genius.
I've been lucky enough to attend one of his speech (although he was on heavy medication I guess, as Van Dyke Parks was mostly answering questions for him) at SXSW in Austin on 2005. It's crazy how those people that created from scratch most of the better music ever made, just never realized the artistic value of their work. To me, he's on pair with Beethoven and his legacy.

 

My buddies were into cars in the 70s when I was into Motocross. They naturally were Beach Boys fans. I came to appreciate them much later in life. After seeing them play a benefit outdoor concert in Delaware in the mid 90s, I bought their box set. Great stuff. Surfin' USA was the perfect hula hoop song at a family bbq. I am still in awe when I listen to "Good Vibrations", it is 4 different melodies perfectly connected!

 

‘Good vibrations’ has very few peers as a piece of music. Bohemian rhapsody maybe. (More accurately March of the black Queen or the prophets song)!Good vibrations genius lies in the fact it’s not a song. Try playing it with one voice and an acoustic guitar. You just can’t. Do it. Yet it’s a remarkable single and a fantastic piece of music.


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I never was much of a Beach Boys fan. Surfing doesn't make much sense when it's 10 below zero and you're hip deep in snow. In the early '60s I was much more a STAX fan.

I know you fans will hate this, but, the Beach Boys were one of the worst groups that I ever worked. They played our theater in the mid '80s. Couldn't carry a tune in a bucket with a lid on it. I realize that it was 20 years after their heyday, but the terrible lack of harmony was really disappointing. I expected much better.

 

Charles Manson's buddy? He wrote some great tunes, but it's my understanding that he had loads of personal issues.

 

Genius, indeed. Thanks so much for your enlightening and entertaining thoughts on Brian Wilson and his music.

 

Glad to hear he's doing better. The father of the band members sounds like a Joe Jackson type, exploiting the kids' talents for money, as well as similar doctor issues. He's supposed to be taking care of his kids, not the other way around.