Goodbye to Brian Wilson, wrote the most beautiful pop song ever

Brian Douglas Wilson, this is the name recorded at the Registry of English (California), of the ‘mind’ of the Beach Boys, was considered by a large part of criticism as one of the major genes of pop music. Today – 11 June, through a message from the family, news of the departure of Brian Wilson, who disappeared at the age of 82.

In the sixties, with his band, Brian was the only one (or one of the very few) to aspire to be able to be on a par with the beatles talent. We therefore pay homage to the Californian musician By republishing our review of “Pet Sounds”, one of the ‘fundamental’ albums of all time.

Together with “Sgt. Pepper’s …” of the Beatles “Pet Sounds” is frequently indicated by critics as the most significant disc in the history of rock. With “Sgt. Pepper’s …”, “Pet Sounds”, released in 1966, the title of “first concept album” is also held: even if, to be honest, what unifies the 13 songs of the disc is not a narrative concept or a structural scheme, but rather a previously unpublished sound atmospheres unit of sound atmospheres.

According to some, “Pet Sounds” is more a solo album by Brian Wilson (who is also the manufacturer) with the beach boys than a group work: if there is no doubt that the leader’s personality (also expressed through the texts of Tony Asher) emerges overwhelmingly from the furrows of the album, it is equally true, however, that the other components of the formation also contribute significantly.

With “Pet Sounds”, Brian Wilson intends to free the Beach Boys from the Name of “Surf Band” which, however, had ensured great sales successes to the group: and carried out towards introspection and melancholy, while preserving the music a freshness and radiance never equaled by other protagonists of the music scene.

If the arrangements, especially the orchestral ones, can play a little dated today (they were inspired by the Hollywood soundtracks of the time), the accuracy of the vocal harmonies and the complex, but not Greve “Wall of Sound” – Brian appreciated the productions of Phil Spector – preserves a fascinating splendor: and also songs with explicitly pop shape as “Wouldn It Be Nice “take on a depth and a value of far superior to the average of music circulating in the mid -sixties.

The album masterpiece is probably “God Only Knows” (according to Paul McCartney, “The most beautiful pop song ever written”), and if “Sloop John B.” It is the song that most refers to the “beach” style of the Beach Boys (it is a traditional song, already taken up by the Kingston Trio, which Alan Jardine had proposed as a single: it was included in the album despite not having been specifically made for “Pet Sounds”), titles such as “You Still Believe in me”, “I’m Waiting for the Day” and “Caroline not” test Greatness of a disc that-born as a creative reaction to the “Rubber Soul” of the Beatles-has the additional merit of having stimulated the Lennon-McCartney couple to try to emulate and overcome it, giving life to “Sgt. Pepper’s.”. The race to the continuous overtaking will push Brian Wilson to put his hand to a new job, “smile”, then aborted: from that effort the musician will come out mentally exhausted, on a collision course with the rest of the band.