Imagine a young white boy in California in the 1950's with a deep-seated passion for music and harmony. Brian Wilson was this boy, and together with his two brothers Dennis and Carl, a neighbor, Carl Jardine, and. Cousin, Mike Love, their transformational rock group, The Beach Boys, helped shape the future of music in the last half of twentieth century America and in the westernized world. However, accompanying every gift is a curse, and The Beach Boys were no exception. An oppressive, overbearing father, substance abuse, and a lifetime of legal disputes plagued this band, for their lifetimes. Brian Wilson, the primary creative and driving force behind this American legend band was most affected, to this day.
In his earliest years, Brian was considered musically gifted and he recalled being particularly moved by " Rhapsody in Blue", by George Gershwin. As a boy, Brian would frequently ask friends to his home in Hawthorne, California, to obsessively create and practice intricate harmonies in the style of one of the most influential musical groups of his youth, The Four Freshman. Interestingly, Brian was partially deaf in his right ear, by some reports as a result of blows to the head inflicted by his abusive father and later meddlesome manager and father, Murray Wilson. Another early influence was the inventive rock and roller, Chuck Berry. Later he would be embroiled in a legal claim filed by Chuck Berry for utilizing his sounds in the song " Surfin’". Mr. Berry was awarded monies for this infringement. This was sign of things to come.
Brian Wilson was the primary force behind the early sound of The Beach Boys. One of their first songs introduced to the southern California surfer culture of the early 60's was "Sloop John B". It was a takeoff of the old folk song of the same name, but now imprinted with the vocal harmonies and rock beat of Brian's earliest inventive years. The significant influences of Chuck Berry and The Four Freshmen were evident. Southern Californians and an America embroiled in racial tensions were also hungry for a "white boy band" to compete with the significantly repressed but enormously popular black artists of the times such as Little Richard, The Ronnettes, Bo Diddly, Chuck Berry and Ray Charles. Elvis Presley had already made inroads in this regard.
The earliest recordings of The Pendletons, the name of Brian's initial band, were descriptive of life in southern California, particularly in the surfing scene, of which his brother, Dennis, was an active participant. This association prompted the initially unwelcome change of the band's name to The Beach Boys at the insistence of their first major record label, Capitol Records.
In a story not dissimilar to the path taken by many musical groups, the direction imposed by band members, the record label, and a misguided manager imposed enormous pressure on the creative center of the group, Brian. As a result, Brian left the band to concentrate on his creative nature at his own pace and without being encumbered by those individuals who at the time surrounded him. The result was " Pet Sounds", which has been considered by many critics to be a seminal musical creation in the history of rock and roll. Brian utilized layering different sounds, unexpected in the general world of recorded music at the time, such as unusual instrument combinations, such as cello and electric guitar, synthesizers, and barking dogs. By layering these sounds and incorporating Phil Spectre's "Wall of Sound", Brian was able to invent a new sound that particularly sounded "big" on the AM radios of the 60's. He was able to create a dynamic effect of reverb and layering not yet easily produced by the dynamic effect processing of the times. “Why Do Fools Fall in Love” is a perfect example of the Phil Spectre sound. His " Pet Sounds" album was one of the first psychedelic rock albums of the times. Both his album and the Beatles' Revolver utilized the available technology of the time to achieve extraordinary results, quite similarly to the Mercury and Apollo space missions, accomplished with slide rules and spontaneous ingenuity and risk. Of particular interest was his use of the theremin, an instrument that is played by the performer passing his or her hands in proximity of two antennae, thus producing an eerie processed sound, such as in "Good Vibrations".
Sadly, Brian Wilson continued to have addiction issues to the same drugs that may have early on given him a closer look at life, similar to the experience of The Beatles' acid trips. The highs were productive; however, the lows caused Brian to withdraw and engage in a continuum of legal battles regarding song rights and income derived from earlier hits of The Beach Boys.
Although Pet Sounds is considered a remarkable album in the development of early American rock, I am less moved as a listener when I compare this work to Revolver and Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Heart Club Band.
No question he is a musically gifted individual, but that gift alone doesn't create the legend. Early in his career he heavily emulated The Four Freshmen and Chuck Berry, even to the point of legal altercation. Later in his creative process, he began with the sound of Phil Spectre and built upon that effectively. America was in need of its own rock representatives. Elvis and The Beach Boys fit that bill. Unlike Lennon, McCartney, Harrison and Star, Brian Wilson did not have the " depth on the bench" with The Beach Boys. He was the Beach Boy. He didn't have a Sam Epstein or George Martin. He was writer, composer, arranger, and producer. Trying to do it all was too much to handle, even for Brian Wilson.
It is interesting to listen to "Pet Sounds" in mono and stereo. Ideally, I would like to listen to the mono tracks on an AM car radio in order to appreciate the technology of the time. I greatly preferred the stereo tracks on my stereo headphones, for that is how the technology is currently designed. For the 1960's, Pet Sounds was ahead of its time. Despite appreciating the album for its accomplishments, to me it will not as an entire album have the lasting impact that Revolver or Sgt. Pepper has had.
Bibliography
The Bob Edward’s Interview with Peter Ames Carlin, Author of Catch A Wave: The Rise, Fall and Redemption of the Beach Boys’ Brian Wilson, The Bob Edwards Show, Audible.com August 2009
The Beach Boys - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. (2012, January 7). Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Retrieved January 8, 2012, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Beach_Boys
Brian Wilson - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. (2011, December 26). Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Retrieved January 8, 2012, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brian_Wilson
Chuck Berry - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. (n.d.). Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Retrieved January 8, 2012, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chuck_Berry
The Four Freshmen - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. (2011, November 7). Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Retrieved January 8, 2012, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Four_Freshmen
Pet Sounds - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. (2011, January 5). Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Retrieved January 8, 2012, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pet_Sounds
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