Brian Wilson


I just read that Brian Wilson is gone.  Rest in peace.

immatthewj

it's vanishingly rare for a band to have three good songwriters--moby grape had five--and their debut will still sound great in 50 years. the artsy second album, "wow", isn't as bad as its critics claim ("motorcycle irene" is a great song) but it downplays their strength as a band (driving beat, searing layered guitars) and sounds like another misguided stab at imitating sgt. pepper. "'69" is much less ambitious, but i like it--it's one of the formative americana records. check out wilco's cover of "i am not willing".

@unclewilbur 

Girls, cars, sailboats, surfing!
Falling in love with California Girls!
Classic storys of young life!
California sunshine lifestyle!
Heartwarming harmony!
Feel good music!
Musical ingenuity!

What’s not to like?!?
If you don’t get it, you might be dead already.

 

Your phrase "songs about young life" says it all.  Sure, I "got it" when I was in my early teens. My California girl and I moved on a long time ago and we are doing just fine.  

 

@stuartk 

Obviously, not all California Girls are great!

I married one, and that turned into a divorce with an evil twist!

Oh well... leaving her was a huge relief, and that’s good!

 

@loomisjohnson: My favorite song on Wow is "Can’t Be So Bad". When I did Evan Johns’ Moontan album I was thinking of that song as we recorded "Dear Doc" (both are fast tempo double shuffles). Evan didn’t like to do more than one take of each song, so I had one shot to get a keeper!

 

https://youtu.be/Jx6w2gGchoY?si=Bzs3ug8k1JagaKSN

 

https://youtu.be/tGCr89_F38k?si=nU3gWpd1pxmQoQ6N

 

 

I cant help but feel how directly influential the Beach Boys were to the Manson murders. I mean after Dennis picked up the 2 girls of Charlies hitch hiking, then  Dennis gets to know Charlie, he gets Brion to come out to the farm so Charlie can audition, this didn’t go so well but hey at least Brion swiped a song from Charlie so it wasn’t a total waste of a trip. Does anyone else know this story?? 

I found this whole thing to be fascinating, and sad.