Catch a Wave! ; The Beach Boys at Their Best…
1963: The first full-blown evidence of Brian Wilson’s songwriting and arranging genius is released as the achingly beautiful “Surfer Girl.” The arrangement suggests that the piece has absolutely nothing to do with surfing, and everything to do with Wilson’s already disintegrating ego.
1965: “Help Me Rhonda” hits No. 1. It was stunning then. It’s stunning now.
1966: Wilson masterminds “Pet Sounds,” using a large group of studio musicians as an orchestra, and the Beach Boys as his harmony group. Drummer Dennis tells an interviewer “Brian is the Beach Boys, and we are his messengers.” Mike Love begs to differ.
1967: After literally months of recording sessions, Brian finally completes his masterwork, the “Good Vibrations” single. It hits No. 1.
2004: Brian finishes “Smile” and releases it under his own name. It’s mostly fantastic.
2008: Brian prepares “That Lucky Old Sun” for release. It’s rumored to bear the markings of his best work.
***
Wipe out!
Biggest Beach Boys blunders…
1964: The stress of writing, producing and arranging the music for the band, coupled with a grinding tour schedule, becomes too much for the fragile Brian Wilson to bear. He has a meltdown while on a flight to a gig in Houston, and leaves the tour. He’ll never be a full-time touring member of the band again.
1966: Father and band manager Murry Wilson attempts to discourage Brian from pursuing the bold new music represented by “Pet Sounds,” often by making fun of his son. Mike Love’s snarky attitude doesn’t help matters much, either.
1967: “Pet Sounds” sells poorly, and Wilson is pressured to follow it up quickly. He responds to the pressure by falling apart, gaining considerable weight, constructing a sandbox in his living room and moving his grand piano into it, and becoming a delusional paranoid alcoholic drug addict. So much for the summer of love.
1968: “Smile,” to have been the follow-up to “Pet Sounds,” is finally aborted, after being released in slipshod, incomplete form as “Smiley Smile.” Wilson spends most of the next 20 years suffering from various states of mental illness, only sporadically working with the band he founded.
2008: Mike Love continues to tour as frontman with a band he insists on calling the Beach Boys. True fans find this offensive, as they should.
-mail: jmiers@buffnews.com
(c) 2008 Buffalo News. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.