SMiLE was to be the follow-up to Pet Sounds , but its recording was apparently so arduous for The Beach Boys, the session musicians, and the increasingly unstable Brian Wilson, that he called it off in the Spring of ‘67. Driblets of the studio material were released over the years, Wilson . . . . Continue Reading »
When I hear the harpsichord in Vivaldi or Bach, if I picture anything, it would be rococo drawing rooms—George Washington asking Jane Austen for the pleasure of a dance. When I hear it in pop, perhaps thanks to Peanuts and the great Vince Guaraldi , I picture green lawns and white . . . . Continue Reading »
Man’s greatness comes from knowing he is wretched. Pascal This entry will wrap up the Songbook’s oft-interrupted series of “loneliness and individualism songs,” all from 1965-1967, which by way of review, began with The Beach Boys’ “That’s Not Me,” . . . . Continue Reading »
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