BEACH BOYS UPDATE

Urged on by a number of folks who follow this blog, I’ve immersed myself in the Beach Boys Pet Sounds album and I’m enjoying the experience immensely.  “God Only Knows” is still light years beyond the rest of the material on the album, with ”Wouldn’t It Be Nice” close behind (don’t know if it’s because it’s really that good or because, having grown up with this song, it’s so deep in my pop cultural DNA that I’ve been programmed to adore it), but I’ve grown extremely fond of “Here Today,” “I Know There’s an Answer,” and, what’s fast becoming my favorite, “I Just Wasn’t Made for these Times.”  It’s a wonderful collection—well, with the exception of “Sloop John B,” which I can hardly listen to, and the two instrumentals, which sound like elevator music to these ears—but, I have to be honest, my feelings about the Beach Boys coming out of the experience are pretty much the same as going in.  The music is lush, creatively daring and, on occasion, genuinely moving—but Brian Wilson’s Spectorian production, with its layers of instruments and whole universes of gorgeous harmonies, can also bury the songs:  it often gets in the way of a direct emotional connection.   (My son gave me a rehearsal tape of “God Only Knows” so simple, so stripped down to bare essentials, that it’s almost heartbreaking.  I’d love to hear more of Wilson’s music presented this way.)  



I guess it all goes back to the reason I prefer, by however slim a margin, Lennon to McCartney (and yes I know that this next sentence is a massive simplification):  McCartney is like a soothing balm, Lennon is an open vein.  I’m just more of an open vein kind of guy.  Don’t get me wrong:  getting to know Pet Sounds has been a delight and I understand why so many people adore it and, taken in context of its time, consider it one of the best rock albums ever made.  Would I put it on the same level as my favorite Beatles albums?  No.  In fact, I find it hard to compare the two bands at all since, according to what I’ve read, the PS-era Beach Boys really weren’t a band:  Pet Sounds was Brian Wilson’s vision, with dozens of musicians brought in to realize it and the other Beach Boys providing Wilson-directed vocal support.  The Beatles were the real deal:  four guys who played together, wrote together, sang together, held each other’s excesses in check while sparking each other to new creative heights.

All that said, the sublime pleasures of Pet Sounds led me to downloading the terrific Beach Boys Classics collection—”Don’t Worry Baby” is a proto-”God Only Knows” and almost as good, “Good Vibrations” is like having all of PS boiled down to one extraordinary track—and stumbling into what may be my favorite Brian Wilson song of them all:  “'Til I Die.”  Everything exceptional about Wilson’s songwriting, and the Beach Boys as vocal artists, comes together in this gorgeous, deeply sad—and profoundly moving—piece.  So please, Beach Boys fans don’t hate me for not thinking Pet Sounds is one of the most staggeringly brilliant musical creations of the past century.  Instead, allow me to thank you for turning me on to some exceptional music that I’m sure I’ll be listening to for years to come. 

© copyright 2010 J.M. DeMatteis