Sunday, February 14, 2016

"The Element of Tragedy and Failed Promise Is a Crucial Factor"

"Wilson provides the link between pop and the undisputed greatness of Tin Pan Alley songwriters like George Gershwin, whom he idolised. The miracle of Brian's melodic gifts, like those of Lennon and McCartney, even prompts comparisons with Mozart and Schubert. As Tom Petty puts it in the documentary, 'I don't know if he's a genius or not, but I know that that music is probably as good a music as you can make... as you can write.' The particular appeal of his genius lies in the fact that the Beach Boys were the very obverse of hip - the unlikeliness of these songs growing out of disposable surf pop - and in the singular naivety and ingenuousness of his personality."

In a 1995 Independent article, Barney Hoskyns ponders Brian Wilson.

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