(Credits: Far Out / Brian Wilson)
Wed 25 February 2026 22:00, UK
Even in an era that was as idyllic as the Summer of Love, no one on Earth could hold a candle to Brian Wilson.
The Beatles were showing everyone what was possible in the studio, and Bob Dylan was opening people’s minds to what could be said in a rock and roll tune, but Wilson was the one who could make pure beauty come out of every single instrument he touched when he walked into the studio. But even if the rest of The Beach Boys helped him make some of his classics, there were bound to be some unsung heroes of the band’s story that never got their due credit.
While Wilson should get the recognition for having a gifted ear for melody, it was all down to the way that the voices blended every single time they played. For all that time spent trying to emulate the Four Freshmen, the Wilson brothers had an innate vocal timbre whenever they harmonised, and even if Mike Love sounded like he had a clothespin over his nose every single time he sang, that didn’t stop the melodies from being absolutely infectious whenever a new song came out.
But Wilson couldn’t make the same surfing songs forever. He wanted the chance to stretch out a little bit more, and way before he had the idea for what would become Pet Sounds, The Beach Boys Today was already hinting at more adventurous tunes on the horizon. ‘Please Let Me Wonder’ and ‘She Knows Me Too Well’ may as well be blueprints for their later work, but the greatest decision that Wilson ever made was using the Wrecking Crew as their main band throughout the sessions.
That’s not to say that all of the Beach Boys weren’t capable musicians. Each of them made those songs shine the minute that they went out on the road, but there’s a good chance that Dennis Wilson could have never hit the drums with the same kind of intensity that Hal Blaine did at the start of ‘God Only Knows’. And as much as Brian himself had all the sounds in his head, surrendering bass duties to Carol Kaye was for the best when working on tracks like ‘Good Vibrations’.
Then again, there were some future legends hiding in plain sight on every one of those sessions. Leon Russell had started making a name for himself during those early sessions, and while Glen Campbell could play fantastic guitar lines, he left such an impression that he managed to fill in for Brian on more than a few occasions when he decided to lock himself away in the studio.
And it’s not like Wilson seemed to care. In fact, he was one of the first to say that Campbell was well beyond what he could do with his voice, saying, “He fit right in. His main forte is he’s a great guitar player, but he’s even a better singer than all the rest. He could sing higher than I could.” Anyone else would have been intimidated, but that’s exactly the kind of person Wilson needed when he started fine-tuning his masterpieces.
Some of the sounds he heard in his head would have been unthinkable if they were using the rest of the band, and if you had someone else who was willing to take risks as he did, there was no limit to what he could do. It also helps that Campbell could identify exactly what a song needed, whether that was working on one of Wilson’s tunes or even when he used a six-string bass to create one of the greatest bass solos of all time on the song ‘Wichita Lineman’.
Campbell was always destined to have his own career, but having someone like Wilson cosign you was more than just simple lip service. As far as musical ability goes, this was like being anointed by a musical god, and Campbell made sure that everyone knew what he was capable of when he started making tunes like ‘Rhinestone Cowboy’.