(Credits: Far Out / Caribou Records / Public Domain)
Mon 15 December 2025 12:13, UK
Brian Wilson is a musical composer in the truest sense of the word.
As Bob Dylan once eulogised: “Jesus, that ear. He should donate it to the Smithsonian.” His lofty praise continued to hail him as a visionary, not just a natural, too. “The record I used to listen to and still love,” he said, “you can’t make a record that sounds that way. Brian Wilson, he made all his records with four tracks, but you couldn’t make his records if you had a hundred tracks today.”
And Dylan is far from alone in this line of thinking. Paul McCartney also hailed the late hero as a paragon of pop composition when he quipped: “I figure no one is educated musically ’til they’ve heard Pet Sounds. I love the orchestra, the arrangements – it may be going overboard to say it’s the classic of the century – but to me, it certainly is a total, classic record that is unbeatable in many ways. I’ve often played Pet Sounds and cried.”
As it happens, part of the reason music technology has advanced so quickly over the course of Wilson’s career is down to the man himself. Records like Pet Sounds raised the bar for stereo sound as he meddled with technology with music and produced utterly thrilling results. This achievement isn’t lost on Wilson, as in a Spin feature, he championed his Beach Boys 1966 masterpiece as one of the five records he couldn’t live without.
However, Pet Sounds wasn’t an album that fell into place with ease. As he once recalled of the recording process, “I would have the musicians keep playing over and over again till the sound made sense. I worked overtime on that; I worked hours to get it right. If the sound didn’t make any sense, then I wouldn’t know what to do – I’d be lost! It’s instinct that tells me.”
In fact, he works on ‘instinct’ to such an extent that he flooded his own living room with sound to create an atmosphere amenable to writing great music when he got behind his piano. “I have an instinct for music, or a feeling about it, and I’ll have my feelings guide my hands,” he claims, but thank god he didn’t have a landlord too.
However, there were driving forces beyond ‘instinct’ behind such drastic moves and long hours in the studio. As a trailblazing force of the 1960s, much is made of the secretly competitive spirit between the bands. The studio advancements made with Pet Sounds were furthered still when The Beatles and their producer, George Martin, picked up the mantle and crafted Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. Thereafter, the sonic space race proved so fervent that The Beach Boys’ misfire with Smiley, Smile was condemned to the ash heap of history.
Nevertheless, that hasn’t stopped Wilson from relishing in Sgt. Peppers in the sober light of day. He chose the album as one of his five favourites and opined, “It was the answer to Pet Sounds and made me push to do better.” While that push might have been a struggle that massively impacted Wilson, Paul McCartney has certainly returned the favour, declaring: “I figure no one is educated musically until they’ve heard Pet Sounds.”
Sgt. Peppers wasn’t the only Beatles album to make his list either; he also picked Revolver. While Wilson has championed Rubber Soul as The Beatles’ best album in the past, it would appear his opinion has since changed on that. “What the heck is not to love?” he said about Revolver. “It’s some of Paul’s best work. His vocals are amazing.” It’s testimony to both The Beatles and Wilson’s love of them, that the records he hails seems to chop and change with time.
The same can be said for many fans who devour Wilson’s own back catalogue. It was Randy Newman who once said, “Brian Wilson is one of the greatest creative artists in the history of popular music. Pet Sounds is a remarkable achievement.” However, this influence evidently didn’t simply run one way. When celebrating Newman’s 1971 classic Sail Away and hailing its involvement amid his five favourites, Wilson opined: “It’s the best. I love Randy, his music means a lot to me.”
Lastly, Wilson opted to go for another key 1960s band and poured praise on Between the Buttons by The Rolling Stones. “At least for today, I’m thinking about this album,” he told Spin. He then reserved special praise for one song in particular, “The song ‘My Obsession’ is, well… I’m obsessed with it.”
Once again, the feeling was mutual with Keith Richards commenting, “Brian Wilson had something. ‘In My Room’, ‘Don’t Worry Baby’. I was more interested in their B-sides, the ones he slipped in. There was no particular correlation with what we were doing so I could just listen to it on another level. I thought these are very well constructed songs.”
Beyond mere construction, it is clear from Wilson’s assortment of classic picks that the man himself also adored invention. These are not just great albums, in some way, they also changed the craft of pop songwriting.
Brian Wilson’s five favourite albums: Pet Sounds – The Beach BoysBetween the Buttons – The Rolling StonesSail Away – Randy NewmanRevolver – The BeatlesSgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band – The Beatles
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