Brian Wilson by Santa Barbara Bowl (review)

But after the Beach Boys’ “Pet Sounds,” from 1966, and The Beatles’ “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band,” from 1967, it became a kind of creative imperative, a way of eschewing the ephemerality of the single and establishing pop music as art.

—Amanda Petrusich, The New Yorker, Jan. 30, 2017; p. 67

B illed as“B rianW ilsonP resents Pet Sounds: The Final Performances,” this tour gives fans one last opportunity to experience the musical genius that is Pet Soundsand, if rumors are true, to see the great Brian Wilson give his final series of live concerts. There is no denying the high regard for Pet Soundsby music critics and music historians and by Beach Boy and Wilson fans; view any list of the ten greatest albums and, if not right at the top, Pet Soundswill be somewhere close to #1. The stories surrounding its difficult production are legion, and its initial release stunned not only long-time Beach Boy fans but also their label, Capital Records, for all the wrong reasons. Capital had so little faith in the album, they quickly released a quickie “Best Of” that included the hit single “Good Vibrations” (why that song was NOT included on Pet Soundsis a story all to itself; suffice it to say here that “Sloop John B” was a very poor second choice for inclusion on the album). While adored by most critics—especially in the UK, where it allegedly inspired Paul McCartney down the road to Sgt. Pepper—its poor commercial success (it was their lowest-charting album since their Surfin’ Safaridebut) created friction within the band, particularly with singer Mike Love, and that lack of acceptance for such a deeply personal set of songs aided, to some degree, Wilson’s descent into reclusion and abject depression (for a relatively accurate Hollywood version of Wilson’s story, I would recommend the 2014 film Love and Mercy). Years pass, Pet Soundsis elevated to canonical status, and Brian Wilson emerges in 2000 to give the very first live performances of the entire Pet Sounds. I had the opportunity to see two of those shows, and there are two very important takeaways: Pet Soundsis an incredibly intricate studio construct and Wilson had assembled a magnificent touring band capable of reproducing every song down to the smallest shake of the tambourine; and secondly, Wilson’s angelic voice, while certainly not in 1960s form, was still there, cracking at the top a little but still capable of doing justice to songs like “God Only Knows.” The tour was a massive success and certainly helped Brian return to the public eye and to the studio to record new Brian Wilson material.

I mention the 2000 shows to put this 2017 concert into its proper context. Wilson is seventeen years older, and he certainly realized the limitations of his voice and adjusted everything from the band to the set list. Longtime Beach Boy Al Jardine was brought into the fold, as was 1970s Beach Boy guitarist/vocalist Blondie Chaplin (responsible for the vocal on 1973’s “Sail On Sailor”). With these two taking over more of the vocal load, the set list became more Beach Boy-centric and less a showcase of Brian Wilson material, with the more introspective Wilson songs replaced by “rockier” Beach Boy songs (although, to the band’s credit, it was a deep dive into the catalog). Though the focus of the concert still remained the showcase middle set of the entire Pet Sounds, the composition of the band lent itself more to the older Beach Boys material, with Jardine taking many of the vocals. To accommodate Wilson’s decreased vocal load, especially on the songs that required his high range, the band executed an interesting sleight-of-hand by having the vocals transition almost seamlessly from Wilson to Jardine’s son Matt, who would then assume the vocal duties for those parts, creating a unique duet-type of song structure.

The first and third sets ran through...