Instant Epiphanies: of Dennis Wilson, The Beach Boys and 'Pacific Ocean Blue'

• 18 Jun 08
• Written by Chris Ward

Three years ago, I paid the most money I've ever spent on a single gig ticket - £50, give or take - to see an insecure sixty-something with a history of mental illness play a ninety minute set of his decades-old back-catalogue, backed by a shiny young group trying to replicate exactly the sound he created almost half a century previous with his long-departed cohorts. Against all odds, it remains one of the most life-affirming nights I've ever had; probably because the insecure sixty-something with a history of mental illness was Brian Wilson, the decades-old back-catalogue was The Beach Boys' greatest hits, the shiny young group were the same musicians he'd used to finally complete his long-abandoned masterpiece SMiLE to stunning effect, the long-departed cohorts were either dead (his brothers Dennis and Carl) or such insufferable pricks that I'd gladly have paid another £50 to keep them away for the night (Al Jardine and, particularly, the reprehensible Mike Love) and, above all else, because Brian Wilson is now and ever will be an indisputable fucking genius.

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