And sadly I've been watching it die since 1966. That fabulous line from last track Caroline, No was unfortunately obscured by narration but to me it sums up Brian Wilson's short career as a songwriting genius before he went supernova. I could never understand why the BBC chose to obscure it in this otherwise excellent documentary concentrating on the landmark LP Pet Sounds.
The career of the Beach Boys from their beginnings as harmonic surfer boys in 1961 is outlined, showing the influences on them from Dad Murry Wilson to the Four Freshmen and basically from where the album sprang – Brian Wilson's then fertile imagination. He took pop music to a new higher level with Pet Sounds, one it's seldom reached since. It prompted the Beatles to produce Sgt. Pepper one year later, which was their attempt to go one better and often voted the "Best Ever" album over Pet Sounds. In the '70's it took me six attempts to consider Captain Beefheart's Trout Mask Replica as merely one of the Best Ever but it took me over thirty years to finally consider Pet Sounds as the Best Ever over Pepper. Roll over Rolling Stone, you're just wrong! It's a collection of glorious tunes and harmonies with simple open-hearted lyrics, full of youthful love and introspection that I can still play over and over again even in middle age. Wouldn't it have been nice if Wilson's vein of inspiration could have been mined for a few more years but the documentary does a good job in placing what we've got in context and explaining its relevance even if lighter on the recording details. Songs for any age indeed; if it doesn't get to you at twenty here's hoping it will at fifty. Listen!
The career of the Beach Boys from their beginnings as harmonic surfer boys in 1961 is outlined, showing the influences on them from Dad Murry Wilson to the Four Freshmen and basically from where the album sprang – Brian Wilson's then fertile imagination. He took pop music to a new higher level with Pet Sounds, one it's seldom reached since. It prompted the Beatles to produce Sgt. Pepper one year later, which was their attempt to go one better and often voted the "Best Ever" album over Pet Sounds. In the '70's it took me six attempts to consider Captain Beefheart's Trout Mask Replica as merely one of the Best Ever but it took me over thirty years to finally consider Pet Sounds as the Best Ever over Pepper. Roll over Rolling Stone, you're just wrong! It's a collection of glorious tunes and harmonies with simple open-hearted lyrics, full of youthful love and introspection that I can still play over and over again even in middle age. Wouldn't it have been nice if Wilson's vein of inspiration could have been mined for a few more years but the documentary does a good job in placing what we've got in context and explaining its relevance even if lighter on the recording details. Songs for any age indeed; if it doesn't get to you at twenty here's hoping it will at fifty. Listen!
