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Have you ever heard "This Whole World"?

In 1970, perhaps the best Beach Boys album was released: Sunflower. By 1970, Brian Wilson was but an empty shell of his 1965-7 self. His Smile concept album had fizzled out, unfinished, in early ’67, and he had retreated to the master bedroom of his Bel-Air mansion (where I paid him a visit in ’75, a story for another time). Yet, on the Sunflower album a new song from Brian appeared, and it was a shock. It is stunningly good.

Sunflower is perhaps the best Beach Boys album of them all. Brothers Carl and Dennis had risen to take Brian’s place in directing the group. By 1970, the group was already considered a ’60’s oldies act; Hard-Rock, Blues-Rock, Acid-Rock, Country-Rock, and Progressive-Rock were what was being listened to and considered hip.

In 1971 I was in a band with a bunch of hippies, and try as I might, I could not get them to take The Beach Boys seriously. I played them the incredible "This Whole World" from the album, and sat there in absolute disbelief as the brilliance of the song appeared to go unnoticed by the band members. I quit the band.

Brian is known for his melodies and harmonies, but his brilliance starts on a deeper level: that of his chord progressions. In the first 22 bars of "This Whole World", the song modulates (changes keys) four times! At each of those junctures, the first chord of the new key contains a couple of notes also contained in the last chord of the old key. The modulation revolves around the "pivot point" of those notes. It is a technique used by J.S. Bach, Gershwin, and other superior composers, but by NONE of Brian’s contemporaries.

Another musical technique Brian is brilliant at employing is that of the inversion: having the bass (or the piano voicing) play not the tonic (root note of the chord), but the 3rd or 5th of the chord. J.S. Bach used inversions a lot. Rockers, not so much. ;-) One exception is the bass part James Jamerson (the Motown house band bassist, and Paul McCartney’s favorite on the instrument) came up with for the exquisite "What Becomes Of The Broken Hearted". Original by Jimmy Ruffin, and Joan Osborne does a great version.

There are a number of YouTube videos wherein a music teacher breaks down the chord structures of Brian’s songs: "Surfer Girl" (go ahead, laugh. The joke’s on you ;-) , "God Only Knows" and others from the Pet Sounds album (Paul McCartney’s all-time favorite album, and the impetus for Sgt. Pepper), "Surf’s Up" (Leonard Bernstein included an examination of the song in his Pop Music TV special), a number of others. Compare them to any songwriter you care to, including Lennon & McCartney. He is in an entirely different class.

Then go buy the Sunflower album. You’ll thank me.

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bdp24 OP
9,821 posts
 

@tablejockey, I listened to All Summer Long every day after it was released in July of ’64, making out with my blonde girlfriend as it played. Later that Summer we both went to the San Jose Civic Auditorium to see The Beach Boys live. When Brian sang "and she makes love to me" during "Don’t Worry Baby" (another fantastic song), every girl in the Auditorium screamed. It was at that moment I decided to become a musician. ;-)

The Foothill Club was a great one, Rockabilly and other roots music every night of the week. You remember I mentioned playing a show there with Don & Dewey? They were label mates with Little Richard on Specialty Records, and Don "Sugarcane" Harris was later in Zappa’s band for a while. After the gig Dewey came up to me and said "I like your style." This from a man who had Earl Palmer on his recordings!

@roxy54 and @three_easy_payments: Well, I tried. ;-) Allow me to encourage you to go back to YouTube, and listen to the remastered listing of "This Whole World". After that song ends, "God Only Knows" automatically comes up. That song contains not only a great melody (not to mention an astounding chord progression), but as the song slowly fades out, you will hear The Beach Boys singing what in Classical music is called a Fugue.

Recording with the songwriter I mentioned up above, I got a free introduction to music theory and composition. He was a music major at San Jose State, transferring down to The University Of California Riverside for advanced studies. The hardest thing I ever had to learn to do was sing one of the three Fugue vocal parts he wrote into one of his songs. J.S. Bach is the Fugue master, but Brian is pretty good at it himself. ;-)

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roxy54
8,012 posts
 
bdp24,
No apologies please. I'm always open to suggestions, and learning. I have also always thought that God Only Knows is a beautiful song. When I was a freshman in college in 1973, the Beachboys performed at our college for some Spring occasion in a huge oudoor tent, and it was memorable.
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pjr801
192 posts
 
Of course, I love all their early work and Pet Sounds but my favourite Beach Boys album is Holland. It’s not a Brian Album but really highlights the talent standing by him. Carls Vocal is sublime and the song should have been a big hit. Go Figure. They all were talents in their own right yes even Mike Love.Do yourself a favour and take a listen if you haven’t heard it The Trader.....thttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u3udOtr6U84

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bdp24 OP
9,821 posts
 

@pjr801, Holland also contains a pretty good song with music by Brian, "Sail On, Sailor". Lyrics by Brian’s Smile collaborator Van Dyke Parks. The title, by the way, is a play on words: Sail On = Ceylon, the ancient name for what is now Sri Lanka. That darn Van Dyke. ;-)

The bonus 45 included with the first pressing of Holland is a trip, pretty surreal.

Then there is the Carl & The Passions: So Tough album (Carl & The Passions was Brian and Mike Love’s High School band’s name), which includes a great song by Brian: "Marcella".

And be sure to give a listen to a wonderful song on the Surf’s Up album, both music and lyrics by Brian: "Til I Die". On the Bernstein TV special, the host/narrator discusses the album’s title song, and Brian is seen performing it on the grand piano in his Bel-Air living room, the piano famously sitting inside a giant sandbox. The living room also for a time had a tent pitched in it, where band "smoking sessions" and meetings were held. Ah, good ol’ LSD. ;-)

tablejockey
3,916 posts
 
bdp24-

This thread is just a reminder the Beach Boys were part of music revolution which was the early 60's, before the British Invasion.

I did a refresher course on BB history. Their earliest years are especially interesting. Imagining the music revolution without them is impossible.

Spun my  mono 63 copy of Little Deuce Coupe, this morning. Being a gear head, 409 is my favorite cut. My oldest brother had a 64,(standard) that my mom would later drive, when he got sucked up in the first wave of the draft.
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