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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.

128x128bdp24
roxy54's avatar
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.
pjr801's avatar
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

bdp24's avatar
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.
bdp24's avatar
bdp24 OP
9,821 posts
 

Right @tablejockey, The Beach Boys appeared during the era of the Girl Groups, The Four Seasons, the teen idol Pop singers, instrumental Surf music (I loved The Ventures), Paul Revere & The Raiders, etc., and they continued to be associated with that era after the British Invasion killed the careers of almost all those American entertainers.

But Brian Wilson was no mere entertainer, as everyone in the music business knew. He was progressing musically at light speed, and his Pet Sounds compositions and production (unlike The Beatles, who relied upon George Martin, Brian did it all himself while the other Beach Boys were on the road) took everyone by surprise, especially Paul McCartney. But I was just a 14-year old kid, oblivious to all of that.

The British Invasion groups were much "tougher" sounding than the angelic Beach Boys, Brian’s falsetto vocals harkening back to the sounds of the early-60’s. The All Summer Long album was the last of theirs I bought, ignoring the Today and Summer Days (And Summer Nights) albums. I was listening to The Yardbirds, The Animals, Manfred Mann, etc. and of course The Beatles and Stones.

As far as I was concerned, The Beach Boys were history, no longer of interest. The new American bands---The Byrds, The Lovin’ Spoonful, The Paul Butterfield Blues Band, Buffalo Springfield, Moby Grape, The Airplane, etc.---and then Cream, Hendrix, and Procol Harum---are who I was listening to when "Good Vibrations" appeared on the radio. I dug it, but didn’t even consider buying the album it was on. I considered The Beach Boys a singles Pop group, not a Rock band.

Then in early-’68 a guy I knew at school gave me copies of the Smiley Smile and Wild Honey albums. I got high and listened to them, and couldn’t believe what I was hearing! I later read the article about the Smile album in Crawdaddy Magazine, written by Paul Williams (not the singer-songwriter), and thus began my obsession with Brian Wilson. That 2-part Smile article by Williams later appeared as two chapters in his great book Outlaw Blues, a must read.

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