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<\/p>\nThe Beach Boys came on the scene in 1961, straight outta Hawthorne, California. The group\u2019s songs embodied the myth of a youthful and carefree Southern California existence, one filled with surfboards, cars and pretty girls.<\/p>\n
The core group\u2014bassist and primary songwriter Brian Wilson, his brothers Carl (guitar) and Dennis (drums), singer Mike Love and guitarist Al Jardine\u2014built the music around sublime, Four Freshmen\u2013inspired vocal harmonies. As time went on, Brian Wilson retired from touring, instead concentrating his efforts in the recording studio.<\/p>\n
Inspired by Phil Spector\u2019s \u201cWall of Sound\u201d production techniques, Wilson became an innovator in the studio-as-instrument aesthetic. Deaf in one ear, he nonetheless could conceive in his head exactly what he wanted. And with the deep talent of L.A.-based session players \u2013 drummer Hal Blaine and bassist\/guitarist Carole Kaye among them \u2013 he would run the studio musicians through countless takes to realize the \u201cteenage symphonies to God\u201d he heard in his head.<\/p>\n
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Busy on the road, his fellow Beach Boys came in toward the end of sessions for \u201cGood Vibrations\u201d to layer their breathtaking vocal harmonies atop the instrumental beds. And in the end, Wilson got the recording he wanted. For his trouble, Wilson earned a #1 single; that success encouraged him to dive into an even more ambitious project, Pet Sounds<\/i>. Often cited as one of the 1960s\u2019 greatest works, that album employed a similar set of working methods, and the result set a new standard in sonic excellence: timeless songs, top-notch arrangements and a sound that held up to repeated, intense listens.<\/p>\n
The Beatles were among those who listened. Paul McCartney would go on record naming \u201cGod Only Knows\u201d as his favorite song. When the Beatles\u2019 bid to better Wilson\u2019s work yielded Sgt. Pepper\u2019s Lonely Hearts Club Band<\/i>, Wilson struck back with an even more ambitious project: SMiLE<\/i>. Working with impressionistic lyricist Van Dyke Parks, he began to craft an abstractly conceptual work of genius. But Wilson\u2019s bouts with psychedelic drugs and incipient mental illness meant that SMiLE<\/i> would be abandoned.<\/p>\n
Yet the unfinished opus achieved legendary status. Tapes would leak out, and hardcore fans collected every unfinished scrap of SMiLE<\/i> sessions they could lay hands upon. During the height of the bootleg trading era, SMiLE<\/i> bootlegs were among the most-prized. Some fans even endeavored to construct their own \u201cfinished\u201d album out of the musical puzzle pieces.<\/p>\n
Working with a new set of musicians in the 21st<\/sup> century, Brian Wilson created a new version of SMiLE<\/i>. Released in 2004, that album won praise, though fanatics felt it didn\u2019t quite measure up; how could it? Seven years later, a lavish 5CD boxed set, The SMiLE Sessions<\/i> supposedly put it all out there. Impressive and Grammy-winning as it was, though, it wasn\u2019t \u2013 and couldn\u2019t hope to be \u2013 perfect. \u201cThere are still versions on the bootlegs that I prefer to the official ones,\u201d says guitarist John Wedemeyer.<\/p>\n To varying degrees, the rest of the Beach Boys had their reservations about Wilson\u2019s studio adventures. Though the tale may be apocryphal, Mike Love allegedly warned Wilson not to \u201cfuck with the formula.\u201d In any event, once the SMiLE<\/i> project was scuttled, the Beach Boys effectively retreated from psychedelia, and their era of experimentation ended. Brian Wilson\u2019s participation within the group would become ever more sporadic; the other members took up the slack, continuing to craft new music that balanced their pop inclinations with more serious musical pursuits.<\/p>\n By the 1970s, though, popular tastes had changed, and the Beach Boys had largely fallen out of favor in the music marketplace. Albums like 1973\u2019s Holland<\/i> would be well-received in critical quarters, but sales figures were less impressive. But in 1974, Capitol Records compiled a 2LP set, Endless Summer<\/i>; that 20-song collection focused squarely on the group\u2019s early, pre-Pet Sounds<\/i> material. Endless Summer<\/i> was a runaway commercial success, albeit a two-edged sword: the album revived the Beach Boys\u2019 fortunes, but preserved them forever in their comparatively innocent, striped-shirt guise. Though new releases would continue, from that point onward, the Beach Boys would effectively operate as a nostalgia outfit, emphasizing the sun-and-fun character of those early tunes.<\/p>\n Fast forward a half century to 2024. Long estranged from the group, Brian Wilson suffers from dementia and is in the care of a conservatorship. Brothers Carl and Dennis Wilson have long since passed away. Jardine\u2014who had toured with Wilson\u2019s superb solo group\u2014is on his own. Sole remaining founding member Love helms an official configuration of the Beach Boys, including longtime member Bruce Johnston (he joined in 1965). Love is 83; Johnston is a year younger.<\/p>\n