A Nice Pair: Brian Wilson

It’s Sunday and we’re back with A Nice Pair – our weekly series where we match up related records and books. Today we’re pairing the book I Am Brian Wilson: A Memoir with the Beach Boys album Pet Sounds.

I Am Brian Wilson takes you behind the scenes of an iconic life. As co-founder of the hugely popular Beach Boys, Wilson created some of the most recognizable songs ever recorded over multiple decades. Unfortunately, as is the story time and again in musician memoirs, for a long period, drugs and mental health issues plagued him, but he managed to come back over and over again, persevering to overcome his demons. Looking back on an outsized life, this memoir takes you to the inside, as Wilson reveals his creative inspiration, his struggles and the extreme highs and lows from which he finally emerged on top.

Pet Sounds was the Beach Boys’ eleventh studio album. A departure from their earlier surf sound, its layered arrangements blended pop, jazz, classical and avant-garde elements. Its experimental sound combined rock instrumentation with layered vocal harmonies, found sounds and instruments that typically weren’t associated with rock at the time. While it was widely called a concept album, Wilson surmised that “it was really a production concept album.” Hits include songs such as Wouldn’t It Be Nice and God Only Knows.