In Mourning on a Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Week

With apologies to author Judith Viorst for stealing her phrase, it has been a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad stretch of days in an what has been an unrelentingly godawful year thus far. Just when a momentary respite from the unending horrid, vile, appalling, sickening, disgusting, horrifying current events is desperately needed, there's the news that Sly Stone and Brian Wilson, two GIANTS, innovative composer/arranger/performer/bandeaders gifted in leading one's heart, soul and consciousness to a better place, passed within the same 48 hours. . . WHAT? THAT CAN'T BE!





At least Sly lived long enough to finish his memoirs and receive rousing recognition from music fans and prominent musicians in the last decade of his life.



Sly Stone, a brilliant musician and arranger who's on the funk Mount Rushmore with James Brown, Curtis Mayfield, George Clinton and Prince (wonder if Prince met Sly), sure made the rounds in his heydey. His importance cannot be overstated. Must buy this release of a set Sly and his first version of The Family Stone performed in my old stomping grounds, Redwood City, CA. Sly was already a bonafide Bay Area celebrity from his successful stints as a deejay on KSOL and KDIA.



Sly & The Family Stone, featuring Larry Graham (electric bass), Cynthia Robinson (trumpet), Rose Stone (keyboards, vocals), Freddie Stone (electric guitar), Greg Arrico (drums) and Jerry Martini (saxophones), were a devastating powerhouse band from the git-go.



Here's Sly with Dick Cavett.



And David Letterman. . .



Sly & The Family Stone were inducted into The Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame in 1993 at long last - and that was overdue. Sly makes an appearance at the end of the clip, following his bandmates, including the outstanding vocalist-bandleader-songwriter-bassist Larry Graham.



Can't wait until Questlove's documentary Sly Lives! aka The Burden Of Black Genius is available on Blu-ray.



As all who have seen the fantastic Summer Of Soul can attest, Questlove is a superlative documentary filmmaker.



This music aficionado's favorite Sly record? The 1973 album FRESH, which presents a stripped-down yet ingenious version of the essential sound, minimalistic and beautiful.





Another composer/pianist/arranger/bandleader of astounding abilities was Brian Wilson, the master of symphonic pop.

While I knew he was seriously ill and that Brian's wife Melinda passed last year, this still came as a shock.



Indeed, when heard on headphones, the "pocket symphonies" on the original SMILE sessions can be quite astonishing.



After The Beach Boys hit a lengthy stretch of creative stagnation following the departure of Carl Wilson and the untimely, tragic passing of Dennis Wilson, Brian quite fortunately got to enjoy an extended comeback in the 1990's and oughts, backed by The Wondermints (Darian Sahanaja, Mike D'Amico, Probyn Gregory and the late Nick Walusko), percussionist Nelson Bragg, multi-instrumentalist Paul von Mertens and the late, great Beach Boys tours veteran Geoffrey Foskett.



In this clip, Brian's pal Sir Paul McCartney inducted him into the Songwriter's Hall of Fame.



Brian worked with his fellow composer Burt Bacharach.



Much enjoy this tune Brian and Burt wrote together.



Here's a documentary, Pet Stories, about the making of Pet Sounds, which, along with the 1966-1967 Smile sessions, remains this music fan's favorite Brian Wilson/Beach Boys album.



Pet Stories could only be equalled by Brian Wilson & The Story Of Smile, David Leaf's documentary.



AND, of course, Smile itself, as performed by Brian and The Wondermints. Saw this group three times!



ALL collaborations between Brian and songwriter/arranger Van Dyke Parks, The Smile Sessions, Brian Wilson Presents Smile and Brian's appearances on Van Dyke's albums such as Orange Crate Art are must-listening!

Much enjoy the interviews in which Brian talks music!



In closing, this blogger got a chance to meet Brian and his bandmate and the aforementioned "CEO of falsetto" Geoff Foskett at a record signing in San Francisco, made sure to tell him that his music got me through tough times. Brian's response: a smile and "thanks, man!"

Unfortunately, I never got to see Sly Stone in concert - he retired right before I started seeing tons of live music performances - or meet him. Sly did occasionally do interviews, but one would imagine that due to the many bad things that happened to him and individuals who did him wrong over the decades, perhaps he'd be a tad reticent. Thankfully, Sly's three children did a great deal to assist him.

All the thanks in the universe to all the master musicians noted in this post!

Released 45 Years Ago Today: Pet Sounds By The Beach Boys

I regard 1966 as something of a watershed year in 20th century music, across the genres. The sheer number of legendary figures from rock, blues, soul, old-school country, jazz (and those musicians who bravely cut across the genres) still at the top of their game in 1966 and recording great albums boggles the mind.

Smack dab in the middle of this feverish period of creative experimentation, on May 16, 1966, Pet Sounds, the acknowledged piece-de-resistance of Brian Wilson And The Beach Boys, was officially released by Capitol Records.



While the average teenage record consumer of the time may well have not known what to make of Pet Sounds, the music community - and especially John Lennon and Paul McCartney - knew that Brian's "orchestral pop" had set a new and most ambitious bar line.



Although Pet Sounds now stands comfortably atop this blogger's short list of absolute favorite pop albums, I must confess that the intricacy, beauty and creativity of the vocal and instrumental arrangements by maestro Brian Wilson were pretty much lost on me in my guitar hero and prog rock-obsessed youth. Perhaps influenced by the rampant over-exposure and saturation of The Beach Boys' numerous Top 40 hits, I didn't "get" Pet Sounds (and such later Beach Boys masterpieces as Sunflower) at the time for a good reason: I didn't actually sit down and listen to the album in its entirety until many years later.



It took repeated listenings to Brian Wilson's music, decades later, sparked by an inspirational viewing of Don Was' 1995 documentary I Just Wasn't Made For These Times, to convince me.



This blogger/music lover's mind was seriously blown by the following YouTube clips about the making of Pet Sounds, which illuminate Brian Wilson's role as producer-arranger-conductor-mastermind.







In 2011, I am still listening to Pet Sounds and finding sonic nuances I had never perceived before.





I still love all that amazing mid-1960's music, from the ever-tuneful Beatles and Beach Boys to the soulful blues and propulsive hard bop, right through to the audacious avantgardists (Zappa, Beefheart, Ayler, Ornette), but will always have a soft spot for the following favorite songs from Pet Sounds:









Brian Wilson produced the "Good Vibrations" single later in 1966 and had planned his "and now for something completely different" followup, SMILE, which departed even from The Beach Boys pop hitmaking formula than Pet Sounds.





With apologies to Bob Dylan, The Doors, The Kinks, The Byrds, The Zombies and The Small Faces for the sin of omission, my brief "desert island" list of pop masterpieces that never fail to be satisfying listening, preferably with headphones and without any interruptions, includes:

• The aforementioned SMILE sessions, recorded and arranged by Brian Wilson in late 1966 and early 1967
  Arthur Lee and Love's Forever Changes
• #1 Record by Big Star
• The Beatles' Revolver

Of 1950's pop, the recordings that rival the aforementioned psychedelic era chestnuts for profound, sublime artistry - and I never tire of listening to these, either - would be the ultra-atmospheric Frank Sinatra studio masterpieces (Songs For Swingin' Lovers, In The Wee Small Hours, Only The Lonely), many featuring the Nelson Riddle Orchestra. And those ravishingly beautiful albums will be grist for another blog entry.

To Brian, the boys and intrepid Hollywood Studio aces The Wrecking Crew, thanks a million for the music and the memories.


'

A Good Unfinished Idea

Since this idea for a cover by The Beach Boys of "Walk On By" was never completed (at least, not that I know of), I hesitate to select it for Burt Bacharach Day. Still, the glimmer of brilliance and originality, as Brian Wilson adapts those "Four Freshman" vocal harmonies to Bacharach's songwriting, is undeniable.

This sounds like it's from the era when the Beach Boys were experimenting with quite a few covers: when Wild Honey (1967), which also includes the "Brian meets Motown meets Bacharach" gem Aren't You Glad, was their latest album.



From the brief evidence here, it sounds like this - had it progressed beyond the germ of an idea stage - would have been a fabulous Beach Boys recording. I certainly hope this one minute bit was not all there was to it.

That said: yes, I admit it, dear readers, it's time for yours truly to join the nearest Beach Boys/ Wilson Brothers 12-step group!