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| Featured Artist Link REALLYMUSICRADIO presentsBRIAN WILSON
He is one of rock's most deeply revered figures, a legendary writer, producer, arranger and performer of some of the most cherished music in rock history. Indeed, it is no exaggeration to call Brian Wilson one of the most influential pop composers of the last 50 years.
But as numerous books, films and television programs have recounted, success does not tell the whole story about this fascinating man. For while few artists achieve the stature that Wilson today enjoys, even fewer have been able to overcome the profound personal setbacks and professional frustrations that he has endured. Happily, Wilson has not only survived those obstacles, but today is thriving once again, making great music, performing with an ace band of seasoned sidemen and cutting-edge pop-rockers, and selling out concert halls around the world. It was a unique fusion that Wilson had been tinkering with in the family garage where, inspired by The Four Freshman and their complex vocal blends, and armed with a multi-track tape recorder, he'd spent hours exploring the intricacies of harmony and melody. By overlapping his own dynamic voice (which peaked in a soaring falsetto) and various instruments, he could create the effect of a full group. Completely on his own, and despite near-deafness in one ear, modern audio technology gave Brian Wilson the power to create something beautiful, even magical. As he envisioned it, Smile would be "a teenage symphony to God," a concept album that would top Pet Sounds, the Beatles' Revolver and Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band combined. As it turned out, Smile became the most legendary album that never was - abandoned after several intense months of work with lyricist Van Dyke Parks. Until recently, few had heard this lost masterpiece. Instead, using a number of Smile tracks and remnants from the Pet Sounds sessions, the Beach Boys released Smiley Smile (1967) featuring the freewheeling, polyphonic "Heroes and Villains" and a mega-euphoric, 3-minute-and-35-second slab of unsurpassed pop ecstasy called "Good Vibrations." This "pocket symphony," as Wilson once referred to it, has frequently been hailed (most recently by MOJO magazine) as "The Greatest Single Of All Time." |
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