Brian Wilson Dead at 82.

[Pink Freud]

I saw this in J. C. Corcoran's Facebook feed, with him adding "With apologies to Don McLean...TODAY is "the day the music died". https://www.washingtonpost.com/obituari ... lson-dead/

[edwin drood]

Sad indeed. Easily the greatest composer (IMO) of American popular music of the 60's forward. One of my favorites, from Smile. The harmonies, dissonance, whimsy and homage to his beginnings in the do-wop era are beautiful.

https://youtu.be/ptxwWt2JeGQ?si=pkAmQDU7edwQNCY0

[12xu]

Sad to hear. I recall he was diagnosed with dementia last year, so not all that unexpected. He wrote some absolute classics - including "Good Vibrations", "God Only Knows", and "California Girls", and many others.

My favorites are this song, which was issued as a single in Brian's name only - not the Beach Boys, but later included on Pet Sounds - this is a slower, longer version which was the original mix, which was later sped up:

Caroline No
https://youtu.be/V8bg3nEg3D4?si=S-IarceScdXnqlWe

IMO this is one of the 5 most beautiful songs I have ever heard.

This one is close to it:

The Warmth of the Sun
https://youtu.be/uoDm_flnwxc?si=gL6kZ_Rx0itonUJB

RIP Brian Wilson you wonderful, talented soul

[Clark Kimble]

Last year I read this thrilling book about how SoCal news*** and entertainment shaped the American experience in the 1960s: https://books.google.com/books/about/Ev ... &q&f=false

Read this, and you'll understand Brian Wilson's numerous mental and emotional breakdowns. His father was an absolute monster, both at home and when he tried to terrorize music pros at Brian's recording studios.

I guess he just wasn't made for those times.

I miss those sunny 00s days of pedaling San Diego's Pacific Beach and Belmont Park oceanfront bikeways and L.A.'s PCH through Santa Monica and Malibu with Beach Boys songs on my headset.

***Bonus: This fabulous book traces the arc of a major news story of the early 1960s: The kidnapping of Frank Sinatra's son Frank Jr.. You'll never guess which early '60s pop idol put up the money to unknowingly finance both the caper and the kidnappers' ransom demand.

[Pink Freud]

During Jay Leno's last few years hosting the "Tonight Show", he tried to have Brian Wilson on several times to do a song. It was kind of painful to watch, since Brian, clearly no longer fully himself, merely stood behind what seemed like a prop electric piano and let the dozen or so other singers and musicians behind him carry the song.

But, geez, it was still Brian Wilson.

One of the stories I now recall from the book I mentioned in my previous post, "Everybody Had An Ocean", will remind movie buffs of the scenes in QT's "Once Upon a Time In Hollywood", where Brad Pitt's character keeps seeing that leggy hitchhiker (Margaret Qualley) trying to bum a ride with him. Pitt doesn't know until he drops her off at Spahn Movie Ranch that she's a Manson Family girl.

That's based on Dennis Wilson, who picked up such a girl hitching a ride, took her home to his home above Sunset Blvd. for the night, then left her there while he went to work, and he returned home from a recording session to see a wild party going on around his pool....hosted by Charles Manson and his dozens of (ahem) "friends" whom the hitchhiker had called from Wilson's home.

Add to that Wilson's friendship with producer Terry Melcher (Doris Day's son), who had told Manson through Dennis Wilson that he'd publish Manson's music (just to get rid of him at the Whisky-a-Go-Go) and you have the makings of the Sharon Tate massacre, since Manson tagged along behind them both to a party at Melcher's house....which Melcher and partner Candice Bergen then moved out of as Tate and Roman Polanski moved in.

In perhaps the saddest irony, Dennis Wilson --- marketed by their record label as the band's sex symbol --- was the only Beach Boy who truly surfed...and he later drowned in Marina del Rey harbor.

[Uncle John]

R.I.P.

I bet Brian is jamming with his music idol, Chuck Berry, right now!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YcDRS4xexJc

[bud white]

When younger and into other music, I didn't give the Beach Boys much attention - relegating them to mindless pop guys. But when I started getting serious about a few artists and really digging deep into their backstories, I was overwhelmed at the connective tissue that was Brian Wilson. In fact, even though I had heard bits and piece of the album via the songs that had landed on "Greatest Hits" compilations, I didn't listen to Pet Sounds in full until I was 35.

It was then that I fully appreciated Brian Wilson.

That album is not only brilliant musically, but lyrically it has moments of gut wrenching introspective (God Only Knows, Caroline No, I Know There's an Answer / Hang on to Your Ego, I Just Wasn't Made for These Times) - but then it balances out with Good Vibrations and Wouldn't It Be Nice. I can understand why Love wasn't a fan when Brian pitched the songs. A lot of the tracks are not of the Beach Boys' world. But years later - my goodness - what a piece of artistry. This work has aged so well. It truly is timeless.

I dearly hope that Brian's passing gets more people to listen to Pet Sounds. And while I hate to think that there are professional musicians who have not listened to it in full - and on repeat - I sense that there are far too many contemporary artists that haven't. And that's a shame. Pet Sounds is a master class in craftsmanship.

[Pink Freud]

When younger and into other music, I didn't give the Beach Boys much attention - relegating them to mindless pop guys. But when I started getting serious about a few artists and really digging deep into their backstories, I was overwhelmed at the connective tissue that was Brian Wilson. In fact, even though I had heard bits and piece of the album via the songs that had landed on "Greatest Hits" compilations, I didn't listen to Pet Sounds in full until I was 35.

It was then that I fully appreciated Brian Wilson.

That album is not only brilliant musically, but lyrically it has moments of gut wrenching introspective (God Only Knows, Caroline No, I Know There's an Answer / Hang on to Your Ego, I Just Wasn't Made for These Times) - but then it balances out with Good Vibrations and Wouldn't It Be Nice. I can understand why Love wasn't a fan when Brian pitched the songs. A lot of the tracks are not of the Beach Boys' world. But years later - my goodness - what a piece of artistry. This work has aged so well. It truly is timeless.

I dearly hope that Brian's passing gets more people to listen to Pet Sounds. And while I hate to think that there are professional musicians who have not listened to it in full - and on repeat - I sense that there are far too many contemporary artists that haven't. And that's a shame. Pet Sounds is a master class in craftsmanship.

That was wonderful, Bud. Thanks for posting.

I knew very little about Pet Sounds until about 25-30 years ago when there was a Gap commercial directed by the Coen Bros., with Christina Ricci and Dennis Hopper, backed by the opening....harpsichord? sleigh bells?... of "I Know There's an Answer / Hang on to Your Ego", which I only learned because I asked around "What song is that?". https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x9-bFMgsJiU

More of experimental Beach Boys: When I went to see "Almost Famous" the week it came out in theaters, I sat through the closing credits wondering what that hypnotic song playing over them was. Turns out it's "Feel Flows", about as unlike any Beach Boys fun times tune as you've ever heard.

Oh, regarding my post above about who unwittingly financed the Frank Sinatra Jr. kidnapping: It was Dean Torrance of Jan & Dean, whose old high school buddy came to him for money for supposedly an investment.