Most achingly-beautiful music


Ultimately, we listen to music to be moved, for example, to be elated, exulted, calmed or pained. Which are the 3 most affecting pieces of music do you find the most affecting?
hungryear
Bdp - your mention of the Beach Boys reminded me about "Let's Go Away For A While" from Pet Sounds.
Yeah Ghosthouse, Brian Wilson wrote quite a few songs that could be nominated, "Til I Die" and "Surf's Up" being a couple more.
Speaking of the Beach Boys, I've been on a recent binge of their music. Three of their pre Pet Sounds albums contained several really good examples of the progression of their harmonies and Brian's music chops, a real step up from the early Chuck Berry inspired riffs and the simple but lovely "In my Room" and "Surfer Girl" ballads. The first two songs off "Shut Down Volume 2" and last two from "Beach Boys Today" both recently remastered in both Stereo and mono versions. I haven't heard "Kiss me Baby" for 40 years at least, oh those teenage memories flooding back.

"Don't Worry Baby"
"The Warmth of the Sun"

"Kiss me Baby"
"Please let me Wonder"
Tubegroover---"Don't Worry Baby" is just gorgeous! My first live concert was The Beach Boys in the Summer of '64, and when Brian sang the line "and she makes love to me" in DWB, the girls in the audience went completely insane. But I didn't really know insane until seeing The Beatles the following Summer. The screaming was absolutely deafening! I hate to say it, but The Beatles live were only okay, as far as I could tell. I was pretty close to the P.A. column on John's side of The Cow Palace stage, and could sort of hear the vocals.

Things were changing so rapidly in those times. Two years later I was seeing Cream, Hendrix, The Who, and The Grateful Dead live, and sound systems had come a long way in those two years. The stacks of Marshall and HiWatt guitar and bass amps and speaker cabinets were mostly for show, 'cause there was only one mic put in front of one driver in one cabinet of each player's stack. If you were close enough to the stage at The Fillmore or Winterland, however, you could hear sound directly from all the drivers in all the cabinets. My tinnitus proves I was!