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Whether wistful or euphoric, Brian Wilson made pop’s most overwhelmingly beautiful music
He was the Beach Boys’ resident genius, seeping melancholy into even peppy teenybopper hits. Beyond all the myths about his life, that brilliance is still intoxicating
Indeed, it was so irresistible that no one seemed to notice the Beach Boys themselves bore no resemblance to the tanned teen Adonises they were singing about: the band’s heartthrob, the unreasonably handsome Dennis, was hidden away at the back of the stage behind his drumkit, leaving audiences looking at his two rather less glamorous brothers, their prematurely balding cousin Mike Love and the diminutive, jug-eared guitarist Al Jardine. Permanently ensconced in the studio, his arrangements becoming increasingly complex and demanding – outtakes reveal his extraordinary precocity, a man barely into his 20s commanding some of America’s greatest session musicians like a general – he came up with a suite of gorgeous, sighing ballads that stands both as Wilson’s first extended masterpiece and a dry run for the following year’s Pet Sounds. There’s a great deal to commend the Beach Boys’ late 60s albums – Wild Honey’s raw fusion of their trademark sound with soul is a delight; both 1968’s understated Friends and 1969’s 20/20 were liberally sprinkled with highlights, Wilson’s gorgeous Time To Get Alone and Wake the World among them; his brothers Carl and Dennis were increasingly developing as songwriters in their own right.
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