![\"Brian](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Brian-Wilson-Musician-The-Beatch-Boys-1977-Far-Out-Magazine-1140x855.jpg\")
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(Credits: Far Out \/ Caribou Records \/ Public Domain)<\/p>\n
Mon 15 December 2025 12:13, UK <\/p>\n
Brian Wilson<\/a> is a musical composer in the truest sense of the word.\u00a0<\/p>\n As Bob Dylan once eulogised: \u201cJesus, that ear. He should donate it to the Smithsonian.\u201d His lofty praise continued to hail him as a visionary, not just a natural, too. \u201cThe record I used to listen to and still love,\u201d he said, \u201cyou can\u2019t make a record that sounds that way. Brian Wilson, he made all his records with four tracks, but you couldn\u2019t make his records if you had a hundred tracks today.\u201d<\/p>\n 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: \u201cI figure no one is educated musically \u2019til they\u2019ve heard Pet Sounds. I love the orchestra, the arrangements \u2013 it may be going overboard to say it\u2019s the classic of the century \u2013 but to me, it certainly is a total, classic record that is unbeatable in many ways. I\u2019ve often played Pet Sounds and cried.\u201d<\/p>\n As it happens, part of the reason music technology has advanced so quickly over the course of Wilson\u2019s 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\u2019t lost on Wilson, as in a Spin<\/a> feature, he championed his Beach Boys 1966 masterpiece as one of the five records he couldn\u2019t live without.\u00a0<\/p>\n However, Pet Sounds wasn\u2019t an album that fell into place with ease. As he once recalled of the recording process, \u201cI 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\u2019t make any sense, then I wouldn\u2019t know what to do \u2013 I\u2019d be lost! It\u2019s instinct that tells me.\u201d <\/p>\n In fact, he works on \u2018instinct\u2019 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. \u201cI have an instinct for music, or a feeling about it, and I\u2019ll have my feelings guide my hands,\u201d he claims, but thank god he didn\u2019t have a landlord too.<\/p>\n However, there were driving forces beyond \u2018instinct\u2019 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\u2019s Lonely Hearts Club Band. Thereafter, the sonic space race proved so fervent that The Beach Boys\u2019 misfire with Smiley, Smile<\/a> was condemned to the ash heap of history. <\/p>\n Nevertheless, that hasn\u2019t 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, \u201cIt was the answer to Pet Sounds and made me push to do better.\u201d While that push might have been a struggle that massively impacted Wilson, Paul McCartney has certainly returned the favour, declaring: \u201cI figure no one is educated musically until they\u2019ve heard Pet Sounds.\u201d<\/p>\n