The first Beach Boys album I bought was a compilation - Endless Summer. It’s a collection of songs about cars, girls, surfing, and other things summer. I inherited Summer Days (and Summer Nights) from my brother. That musical vision of the California dream sold well, but then the Beatles hit. Right around that time Brian had his first nervous breakdown. There was pressure - he wrote the songs, he arranged and produced the records, and touring all the time didn't help. That's a lot of pressure for a 22-year old. In December 1964 he was flying to Houston when he had his meltdown. He played the show, but it was to be his last for some time. He eventually got home, but his touring days were done. Glen Campbell filled in for him temporarily, then Bruce Johnston. When the band was on the road Brian stayed home and created music.
As the band were on the road, playing the songs about cars, girls, and surf, Brian was creating music the band couldn't play. The Beach Boys Today! [1965] was a musical departure with more sophisticated arrangements played by the best studio musicians in Los Angeles (the “Wrecking Crew - a name Carol Kaye hates to this day). The influence of Phil Spector’s “Wall of Sound” can't be understated. The songs were introspective, personalized, and semi-autobiographical, the tempos were slower, and the arrangements significantly more complex. This was the start of the “studio as instrument” phase. Brian himself said his marijuana usage changed the way he heard arrangements in his head. To wit, his ability to hear combinations of certain instruments was uncanny. How did he come up with all those chords and voices? His approach continued on Summer Days (and Summer Nights) [1965] and reached its peak on Pet Sounds [1966].
Brian thought of himself as being in competition with the Beatles. He said that Pet Sounds was his response to Rubber Soul, as Paul McCartney has said Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band was the Beatles’ response to Pet Sounds. Bruce Springsteen has probably the best description of Pet Sounds that I have heard or read anywhere - “dealing with oncoming adulthood, loss of innocence, reckoning with the adult world and the terrible heartache that comes along with it. The beauty of Pet Sounds carries with it a sense of joyfulness even in the pain of living. The joyfulness of an emotional life.” I’ve seen documentaries of Pet Sounds that have footage of Brian “conducting” (for lack of a better word) the musicians. Knowing which instrument goes where reminded me of the movie Amadeus. As Salieri was helping Mozart finish his last work, Mozart dictated which instruments would play which specific piece of the music. To me, that is how one defines musical genius. “Genius” is a word that is perhaps overused, but it defines Brian Wilson. Don Was said “I’ve been making music for 40-some years, and I don't know how you do this.” He’s a good producer in his own right, and if he is dumbfounded about Brian Wilson's genius, what hope is there for lay people like me to define it or describe it?
As great as Pet Sounds is, the commercial and critical response was lukewarm. Mike Love wasn't thrilled with it either. He is said to have uttered the phrase “don't fuck with the formula.” He was more than happy to sing about cars and girls for the rest of his life. Given the response to his magnum opus, Brian lost his confidence. How does one follow-up a masterpiece? The Eagles tried and couldn't follow Hotel California - The Long Run broke them. Fleetwood Mac couldn't follow Rumours, so they didn't try, coming up with Tusk instead. In trying to follow-up Pet Sounds, Brian began working with Van Dyke Parks on a concept called Smile, which Brian called a “teenage symphony to God.” Brian was also dropping acid more regularly.
Smile was a bridge too far for Brian. Van Dyke Parks wrote lyrics that were so impenetrable that, when asked by Mike Love to explain them, he couldn't. Smile was supposed to be bigger, better and more cosmic than Pet Sounds, but Brian got bogged down in the recording process. He recorded music in bits and pieces and then assembled them like a jigsaw puzzle. In the 1960s this process would involve physically splicing pieces of tape together. Pro Tools would have made this much easier, but it wouldn't be invented until the late 1980s. Brian envisioned something avant garde, both musically and lyrically. The problem with avant garde is it's oftentimes “hard to get.” John Lennon is reported to have said “Avant garde is French for bullshit” (and since he was a purveyor of avant garde, he would know). Brian “lost the plot,” and his mind was going off the deep end. He already had schizoaffective disorder and mild bipolar disorder. Copious amounts of LSD and other substances didn't help. Brian abandoned Smile, opting for a simpler approach. Some songs were completed and found their way into subsequent albums - Our Prayer, Cabinessence, Surf’s Up, and Heroes and Villains. Smile became the mythical “lost masterpiece.” Brian gradually decreased his participation in the Beach Boys, becoming a drug-addled recluse.
Jimi Hendrix had a message on Third Stone from the Sun - “You will never hear surf music again.”
When he was 21, Brian began hearing voices in his head, and they weren't nice to him. That same thing happened to Carol as she descended into Alzheimer's - it's not pleasant to deal with. Nobody knew then how to treat it. It wasn't until he was in his fifties that he finally got the help he needed. The right therapy and medication helped him cope better with the voices, but they never went away. The hell that he went through for so long is unimaginable. That he came out the other side is miraculous. Even more unimaginable than his recovery (such as it was), he began a solo career. As always, he made the music he wanted to make without the pressure of churning out “hits.” He did an album of Gershwin music, an album of Disney tunes, and a concept album about Southern California called That Lucky Old Sun. The biggest surprise was that he finished Smile.
While Brian took care of some finished business, the new Smile is interesting, but it isn't the mythical masterpiece of legend. Taking their cue from Brian's version of Smile, Capitol Records compiled as close an approximation of the original Smile as they could with what the Beach Boys recorded in 1966-67. Bits of it are very good, other bits are just weird. Any claims that Smile would have been better than Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band are wishful thinking.
Brian regrouped with the Beach Boys in 2012 to record a
slab of nostalgia called That's Why God Made the Radio. Released
to coincide with the band’s 50th anniversary, it's not bad, but it isn't
memorable either. The final four-song suite, a nostalgic look at the Southern
California of old, saves the album from mediocrity. Brian wanted to record a
follow-up, but the reunion flamed out before that could happen. No Pier
Pressure (2015) has the feel of a Beach Boys album, But like That's
Why God Made the Radio, it's hit or miss. If you combine the good
elements of both albums you have a pretty good album, albeit an adult
contemporary one.
This is where I stop and get to the playlist. For the most part, my “sweet spot” for Brian Wilson's music was 1965-67. Some songs came before, some came after, but the meat of what appeals to me comes between The Beach Boys Today! and Smile/Smiley Smile period.
Wouldn't It Be Nice [Pet Sounds, 1966]
Sloop John B [Pet Sounds, 1966]
God Only Knows [Pet Sounds, 1966]
Good Vibrations [single, 1966]
Heroes and Villains [Smiley Smile, 1967]
California Girls [Summer Days (and Summer
Nights, 1965]
The Little Girl I Once Knew [single, 1965]
Please Let Me Wonder [The Beach Boys Now!,
1965]
Girl Don't Tell Me [Summer Days (and Summer
Nights, 1965]
Let Him Run Wild [Summer Days (and Summer
Nights, 1965]
You're So Good To Me [Summer Days (and
Summer Nights, 1965]
Kiss Me Baby [The Beach Boys Now!, 1965]
She Knows Me Too Well [The Beach Boys Now!,
1965]
The Warmth of the Sun [Shut Down, Vol. 2,
1964]
Don't Worry Baby [Shut Down, Vol. 2, 1964]
You Still Believe in Me [Pet Sounds, 1966]
I Know There's an Answer [Pet Sounds, 1966]
I Just Wasn't Made for These Times [Pet
Sounds, 1966]
Caroline, No [Pet Sounds, 1966]
Do It Again [20/20, 1969]
Sail On, Sailor [Holland, 1973]
Wild Honey [Wild Honey, 1967]
Our Prayer [20/20, 1969]
Cabinessence [20/20, 1969]
Surf’s Up [Surf's Up, 1971]
‘Til I Die [Surf”s Up, 1971]
Good Timin’ [L.A. (Light Album), 1979]
Sail On, Sailor [Live: The 50th Anniversary
Tour, 2013] - Brian sings!
Love & Mercy [The Bridge School Collection, Vol. 2, 2006]
I had this dream
Singing with my brothers
In harmony
Supporting each other
Tailwinds, rear spin
Down the Pacific coast
Surfing on the end
Heard those voices again… Brian Wilson, Southern California
[2008]
Brian Wilson was set free on June 11, 2025. Somewhere in
the cosmos he’s singing with his brothers again.
