There are at least two stories about the Beach Boys, two seemingly contradictory stories, but which a new documentary of the same name tries to reconcile: that of the reasonably harmless band, made up of five white boys who made songs about surfing and girls and who had an immense success; and the process (of genius, madness and mental breakdown) that led Brian Wilson to create Pet sounds and then they collapse, shut down, put their arms down, retreat into an inner cocoon, and watch the band lose influence.
The first story is the one known to the general public, people who have only heard Surfin’USA either Barbara Ann; the second is usually revealed by specialized critics, who pay devotion to it Pet sounds and, as a general rule, it reduces the value of the albums that followed it (those from the late 60s and early 70s), or respects one or another of those albums, but does not place them at the same level of Pet sounds or the production of the Beatles, with whom the Beach Bpys competed for the title of most innovative band of the moment. beach boysThe documentary seeks to make these two stories one.
As is usual in professional productions, beach boys He doesn’t get the facts wrong and finds the main points of evolution in the band’s history: he focuses on the Wilson family, which is the core of the band (Brian, Carl and Dennis are brothers, Mike Love is a cousin), continues in The First Successes, marks the moment in which Brian stops playing live, reflects on the impact that Be my Babya Ronettes single, produced by Phil Spector, starring Brian Wilson, portrays the sonic turning point of Pet soundsBrian’s mental degradation, occasional returns to his father Wilson and his turbulent relationship with his children, talk of drugs, anger and legal proceedings.
[o trailer de “Beach Boys”:]
All of this is based on current interviews with living members of the band (Dennis, for example, is already dead), but also uses old images (useful, in the case of Brian Wilson, considering that he currently suffers from dementia) and even old sounds, one in particular that is painful: the sound of an argument between Brian and his father, in moments of Pet soundswhen Murry tries to control the gang and realizes that, deep down, he was jealous of his own son.
The documentary does not shy away from difficult questions, although it does not delve into any of them, because 1 hour and 50 minutes are not enough for the insane saga of the Beach Boys, a band with a much darker and sicker background than most people. Imagine: There are images, for example, of the brothers talking about Murry’s abusive nature, his violence, particularly toward Brian. Some comments (from friends, neighbors, girlfriends) emphasize the importance that Murry’s figure had in the emotional formation of his children, creating a background of insecurity in them.
But it would take several documentaries to explore the exact dynamics of this relationship and the influence it had on Brian. Here we have a boy who is the leader of a quintet (Al Jardine, a friend of the Wilsons, was the only one who had no family relationship), this quintet achieves success through songs that mix the surf-rock of the time with the doo-wop harmonies and who decides, at one point, to stop touring and continue his search to create a work that resembles a small symphony sung by angels.
Wilson didn’t just want beautiful harmonies: he wanted to achieve the purest beauty, and his obsession with vocal placement, with perfect notes, with perfect sound can’t help but be seen as a way to compensate for all the pain he suffered. must have been with him since he was little, due to the physical and verbal abuse he suffered from his father (who, as the documentary shows, remained close to his children as his agent, before he was fired and, later, , they would sell it). the rights to the songs, ruining the savings that the children could make in the future, in what was an act of indescribable cruelty and which says a lot about the nightmare that the Wilson brothers lived).
It is not easy to calculate the exact degree of neurosis involved here. In its most peaceful form, the demand for beauty created an effective band, with good (but harmless) singles, with an educated image, despite the fact that one or the other led a more rock life (Brian took drugs a lot). , Dennis became close to Charles Manson). In its extreme, this same demand led to the creation of Pet soundswhich sounds more and more, as the years go by, like an impossible work, a hallucinatory demand for love and mercy elevated to masterpiece status by Brian Wilson’s demonic effort in the studio.
It is also important not to underestimate smiling smilethe album the Beach Boys created when Brian felt unable to finish it. Smile (which should follow Pet sounds), because, although it is not a work of the size of the previous album, it still has many good things; In fact, all of the Beach Boys albums that followed were good albums, including smiling smile (1967), wild honey (1967), Friends (1968), 20/20 (1969), Sunflower (1970) and, in particular, Surf up (1971), which has nothing to do with surfing and is anything but up. This sequence of albums is, IMHO, enough for the Beach Boys to overtake the Beatles for the title of best band of the ’60s.
The documentary points out that at the end of the 60s the culture had changed and the Beach Boys had not: they were the face of the Californian dream (beaches, cars, girls in bikinis), while the Vietnam War had created a subculture of people who were angry and wanted to listen to heavy rock; created Jefferson Airplane or Jimi Hendrix. In caricature terms, the portrait is correct, but it forgets that wild honey (the song, not the album) rocked a lot, and you forget that in Surf up there was Student Demonstration Timea dirty blues about the student movements and all the social confusion of the time (which has, in the middle, a brave guitar solo, capable of making the biggest rocker jealous).
It is true that this is a documentary about the Beach Boys, but it is not very clear that there is no more talk about Dennis Wilson and his solo production: in the world of the Beach Boys, Blue Pacific Ocean (by Dennis Wilson solo) is possibly the second best album made by anyone in the family, a masterpiece of rare desolation and experimentation. Blue Pacific Ocean is yet another argument for the theory that the currents of deep sadness within the Beach Boys were much stronger than they normally care to admit (and there aren’t enough words to praise Blue Pacific Oceanwhich in its most amazing moments recalls the work of Robert Wyatt).
For those who don’t know the Beach Boys, the documentary of the same name serves as an introduction, especially because it tries to be as complete as possible, covering as many phases of the band as possible; But to those in the know, nothing here is new and the great mystery of what happened inside Brian Wilson’s head and what he could have done if he had stayed here a little longer remains as unsolvable as it always seemed.
Source: Observadora
