How beautifully written Nick. I feel I have wasted my life in some way missing out on so much of his music as I know only the “big” hits … what a waste … I must correct that!!!
Hi Nick I have been a fan of Brian Wilson for many years. I’ve seen him in concert many times with his own band and with Mike Love etc at the reunion. I was honoured to meet him briefly as I was friendly with his percussionist Nelson Bragg. Thank you for writing so lovingly and intelligently about this extraordinary talent. It’s so great that he appealed to younger folk and not just us boomers. All the best Lol B
"We also see the awareness, clearly apparent in Beach Boys songs from the very beginning, that such moments slip away almost as soon as they arrive. This feeling, which one could call a kind of unbearable nostalgia for the present"
Thank-you for this eloquently written tribute Nick, none others that I have read have expressed how many of us feel as well as you have. I love what you said about their harmonies only having been achievable because they were blood relatives. I have watched many documentaries about them and have never been able to articulate for myself the unique outcome of the band being predominantly family, but you have done so perfectly. Great content.
Oddly, the last two weeks involved Beach Boys deep dives, after not listening to their stuff much for a couple of years. It crossed my mind that Brian was clocking on, and given some of his lifestyle choices and events thrust upon him, he was an unlikely survivor. The Beach Boys music had that rare quality that suggested if it never existed someone would have had to invent it. The Beatles may have been the finest jingles writers in the business (as one wag put it), but Brian put a score to the terrible, wonderful and mostly misplaced yearnings of a perpetual youth.
The juxtaposition of BWs apparent California Dreaming lifestyle and his actual lifestyle made God Only Knows a sublime song, unmatched in my view by anything recorded by anybody, let alone The Beach Boys. I noted with interest Bob Dylan’s tribute to Brian Wilson today, another legend!!!
How beautifully written Nick. I feel I have wasted my life in some way missing out on so much of his music as I know only the “big” hits … what a waste … I must correct that!!!
Thanks Lynne!
Hi Nick I have been a fan of Brian Wilson for many years. I’ve seen him in concert many times with his own band and with Mike Love etc at the reunion. I was honoured to meet him briefly as I was friendly with his percussionist Nelson Bragg. Thank you for writing so lovingly and intelligently about this extraordinary talent. It’s so great that he appealed to younger folk and not just us boomers. All the best Lol B
Thank you! That's so cool. I saw him pretty much when he first returned to live work, in London, 2001.
"We also see the awareness, clearly apparent in Beach Boys songs from the very beginning, that such moments slip away almost as soon as they arrive. This feeling, which one could call a kind of unbearable nostalgia for the present"
- beautifully put Nick!
Thanks!
Thank-you for this eloquently written tribute Nick, none others that I have read have expressed how many of us feel as well as you have. I love what you said about their harmonies only having been achievable because they were blood relatives. I have watched many documentaries about them and have never been able to articulate for myself the unique outcome of the band being predominantly family, but you have done so perfectly. Great content.
Thanks Susan!
Lovely article Nick, the Love and Mercy is one of my all time favourites…
Oddly, the last two weeks involved Beach Boys deep dives, after not listening to their stuff much for a couple of years. It crossed my mind that Brian was clocking on, and given some of his lifestyle choices and events thrust upon him, he was an unlikely survivor. The Beach Boys music had that rare quality that suggested if it never existed someone would have had to invent it. The Beatles may have been the finest jingles writers in the business (as one wag put it), but Brian put a score to the terrible, wonderful and mostly misplaced yearnings of a perpetual youth.
I’m the boomer - not you!!
The juxtaposition of BWs apparent California Dreaming lifestyle and his actual lifestyle made God Only Knows a sublime song, unmatched in my view by anything recorded by anybody, let alone The Beach Boys. I noted with interest Bob Dylan’s tribute to Brian Wilson today, another legend!!!