Brian Wilson of The Beach Boys has done some of the greatest music of all time.
Pet Sounds, Good Vibrations, Heroes and Villains, the entire side 2 of The Beach Boys Today.
Here's what makes his music genius!
First of all, the complete package.
Not only all-around musical and lyrical excellence, but how it all fits together so, so well as a complete package- including the lyrics.
Second, his underrated talent for creating lyrics. Pet Sounds is, lyrically, the greatest coming-of-age novel ever written.
Third, his musical storytelling and poetry.
Telling intimate musical stories, painting musical pictures.
The musical equivalent of great literature.
Finally, three specific musical elements that Brian does on such a high level of genius.
The first one you will have to take the word of the other experts, because I am not very good at hearing harmony.
And that is Brian's harmony, and especially the voicing of that harmony.
The other are two things that I myself hear in Brian's music so, so strongly.
One is arrangement and orchestration.
The final one is counterpoint.
Counterpoint that is as much counterrhythm as countermelody, and fundamentally, really a combination of the two.
Layer upon layer of counterpoint elements that are a combination of melody and rhythm, layered on top of each other gloriously.
And this is what makes Brian Wilson's music genius!
To hear it, listen to Pet Sounds, Good Vibrations, what was completed of SMiLE, and side 2 of Beach Boys Today!
To hear what he created in collaboration with his brothers and bandmates, listen to every Beach Boys album from Wild Honey to Holland, especially Wild Honey, Friends, Sunflower, Surf's Up, Holland, and the track All This is That.
The talent for lyrics, the talent for the complete package, and the talent for musical storytelling and picture-painting is a huge part of what Brian passed on to Carl, Dennis, and the Beach Boys as a songwriting and producing collective. Brian himself did fine work in this period, with the support of Carl, Al, and the group. Dennis himself had simply an extrordinary gift for harmony, while Al Jardine and Carl were brilliant natural musical team players and Al Jardine had a nice sense of directness and beautiful simplicity. What characterizes Carl's musical talent is harder for me to pin down, aside from the fact that all his four major compositions (Long Promised Road, Feel Flows, The Trader, and All This is That) are incredible musical grooves.
Also check out Dennis Wilson's solo album Pacific Ocean Blue. Dennis and Carl, Brian's brothers, were his prize pupils.
God loves you!
Sincerely,
David S. Annderson