This blog can't let the death of the great Brian Wilson go wholly unmarked, so here are a couple of favourite tracks.
First, this one, from the greatest pop album ever made. I Just Wasn't Made for These Times is an astonishing production, featuring the electro-theremin (its first ever use), harpsichord, tack piano, bass harmonica, guitars, clarinets, piccolo, plus all six Beach Boys, layer after layer of sound...
And here, by way of contrast, is my favourite feelgood Beach Boys song (also from the annus mirabilis of 1968, but harking back to surfing days) –
The great celestial jam session will be richer than ever with Mr Wilson in the mix.
Thanks for marking this occasion, even with dangerous statements like ‘greatest pop album’! He was though one of the genuine geniuses of pop music, an often mis-applied approbation. One of the greatest gigs I ever went to was his Pet Sounds tour in Brighton in 2002; so good that I took the whole family to the Festival Hall Smile debut 2 years later. Our lives would have been so much poorer without Brian Wilson in them.
ReplyDeleteHi Ron – I'd stand by 'greatest pop album', but yes, there's a lot of competition for that accolade. Not that it matters...
ReplyDeleteA scandalously underrated album from the early 70's is 'Holland', made amid financial chaos near Amsterdam, and rated very highly by the recently deceased, and near the top by a certain Elvis Costello. Worth every penny of the under two quid I paid for the vinyl, back before I discovered Clearasil....
ReplyDeleteAh yes – I vaguely remember it. Maybe I should have another listen...
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