Brian Wilson

[Bush_Eats_Beef]

Poll question: Brian Wilson

[graywarrior]

1. Everything. All of it. The entire enchilada.

[last_texas_dem]

2. "Wouldn't It Be Nice"

or "Please Let Me Wonder"... I love both of those. And several more Brian Wilson compositions, for that matter...

[ALago1]

3. Them Beach Boys sure could sing

And Brian knew how to make a record, influencing pretty much every producer that came after him.

Oh yeah, and his songs are beautiful too. A true genius, I think...

[sendero]

4. Wilson wrote so many..

.. wonderful songs, but "Don't Worry Baby" is one of my favorite love songs ever.

[madrchsod]

5. this one

[LostinVA]

6. Pet Sounds -- TOTALLY underrated album

Why the heck "Sgt. Pepper's" is talked about more than this album mystifies me. It is sheer genius.

[Bush_Eats_Beef]

9. Two songs on "Pet Sounds"...neither of them "hits"...

1). Don't Talk (Put Your Head On My Shoulder)

and

2). I Just Wasn't Made For These Times

I'm one of those "all of the above" people...I think the genius is in the catalog, not in individual songs...but those two songs from Pet Sounds are so mind-numbingly perfect..."Surf's Up" is in the same category. Brian had / has "levels" of genius (The song "Your Imagination" from his second solo album, "Imagination," is transcendent and proof that he is still capable of greatness).

On one hand he could write a perfect pop song like "Surfer Girl"...I hear those lines "In my Woody, I would take you, everywhere I go..." and think how HONEST, how REAL, how COOL.

On the other, he could document his emotions down to the last, naked, excruciating detail. There's a reason why Paul McCartney has sung this man's praises. I'm a Beatles fan, but I don't believe that Sir Paul has EVER stood that naked in his art. Lennon, maybe. McCartney...the only time I've seen his brutal, stark, beautiful honesty was in his tribute song for his dad, "Put It There"...one of McCartney's best songs, PERIOD.



:toast:

[cemaphonic]

14. Pet Sounds vexes me

One one hand, the arrangement and production is jaw-droppingly amazing, especially considering the limits of mid-sixties audio engineering, and that Wilson was self-taught as a musician. But I don't like the base songs at all. The only song I like on it is Sloop John B, which they didn't write.

[LostinVA]

7. "God Only KNows" can make me cry if I'm in a certain mood

VH-1 named it the best love song of all time... I actually agree with them on this!

[bluecrush]

8. "Surf's Up"

cause it's not for everyone.

[Bush_Eats_Beef]

11. I love the stories...

...in which the Beach Boys (minus Brian) DEMANDED that Van Dyke Parks "explain" lyrics like "Columnated ruins domino"...

Your statement could NOT BE MORE TRUE...

It wasn't "for everyone"...but it was AMAZING.

There is NOTHING in "popular music" that even comes CLOSE to this song. It was ART without APOLOGY.

:toast:

[no name no slogan]

10. All the above, plus SMILE

Still a damn fine piece of work, 37 years later.

[Bush_Eats_Beef]

12. Amazing how NO ONE trashed it....

...did it live up to the decades-long hype?

Probably not.

Was it a work of genius?

Absolutely.

:toast:

[no name no slogan]

13. My opinion exactly

Pet Sounds is still the better work, but Smile was pretty damned impressive, too! :hi:

[Magrittes Pipe]

15. Heroes and Villains

:thumbsup:

[progmom]

16. all of the above

plus much more. :thumbsup: