With the innocence of a child and the vision of a god, his craft was astonishing. From Jessica Pratt to Jim James and Biffy Clyro’s Simon Neil, top musicians explain why he was like no other
‘He taught the world how to smile’: Brian Wilson bandmates pay tribute along with Bob Dylan, Elton John and more
Twelve of Brian Wilson’s greatest songs
For all the sophistication that everyone talks about, Brian never loses the thread of the song: the emotion. They have this childlike quality. These days we’d probably say he’s on the spectrum – there’s a sort of Asperger’s type innocence. He makes the lyrics and the melody speak. It’s so welcoming and without edge; it’s not part of a cynical adult world.
I knew some of the big songs – Good Vibrations and so on – but it wasn’t until a mate put me on to Pet Sounds that the penny really dropped. What he was doing in the studio is mind-boggling given the limited technology that he had at his disposal. His ear was just stellar, so he was basically remixing the songs while he was making them. He gives you so many different textures and could shape chord structures in very sophisticated, scholarly, almost classical ways, yet you never lose the feeling. The effortless way that something like God Only Knows unfolds is remarkable to me: it’s just straight from the heart and still sounds so fresh and joyful.
