And now, Brian Wilson…

[Lawrence]

….Also at 82. A truly visionary writer and arranger. R.I.P.

[Geoff Grace]

Yeah, Larry, Wilson's death is another major passing. Both Sly Stone and Brian Wilson were music geniuses who shaped the musical landscape of their times.

From the innocence of his early surf music to the sophistication of Pet Sounds, the poignancy of “God Only Knows,” and elaborate production of “Good Vibrations,” Wilson may have been the most significant American recording artist of the early-to-mid 1960s.

RIP, Brian Wilson.

Best,

Geoff

[Ashermusic]

Tough week

[Piet De Ridder]

I think you can go up to 1977, more specifically the strange “Love You” album (bizarrely, a favourite of both Michael Stipe and Patti Smith, the latter who, until that album, had never any interest in, let alone appreciation for The Beach Boys), to hear the last small sparks of Brian Wilson’s remarkable talent. But after that, it’s lights out. And they never came on again. Mid-season Wilson runs roughly from 1965 to 1971.

Me, I never really liked “Love You” except for those few inspired moments here and there, but it is a strangely interesting album. Started out as a solo effort — Brian Wilson having written all the songs and playing virtually all the instruments on most of the tracks —, but was then finished with the help of the others.
The dominant instrumental timbres on “Love You” were all done with synthesizers, and this led some to say (never even remotely convincingly, in my view) that the album was very influential on the synth pop of the next decade.
Vocally, “Love You” isn’t the band at its best either: both Brian and Dennis had completely lost their angelic tenors by that time (in both cases replaced by a raw, croaky and often unstable bariton) — excessive smoking, drugs, drink and, in Brian’s case, laryngitis, will do that — and the few moments on the album where they do harmonize lack the wondrous blend, precision and sheen of their golden years, a decade earlier.
Still, the album, while never great, has an odd charm.

Anyway.

My favourite among Wilson’s work — next to the stunning “God Only Knows” — and one of the tracks I include, without hesitation, in my “Three greatest pop/rock compositions and productions of all time” list, is “Surf’s Up” (the version that closes the album of the same name). It’s one of those ultra-rare pieces of music, shatteringly beautiful, that defy analysis, that can’t be explained, that even transcend calling it perfect.

Unquestionably a monument in the history of music and of recorded music: Brian Wilson.



_

[mr anxiety]

A major loss of a truly great talent. God Only Knows and Surf's Up are indeed his finest!