Beach Boys Mastermind Brian Wilson to Perform ‘Pet Sounds’ at Tanglewood

Brian Wilson

Brian Wilson

(LENOX, Mass.) – Brian Wilson, the creative mastermind behind legendary American rock group the Beach Boys, will perform the landmark 1966 album “Pet Sounds” – which includes hit singles “Sloop John B,” “Wouldn’t It Be Nice,” and “God Only Knows”; is widely considered one of the greatest and most influential recordings of the rock era; and is celebrating its 50th anniversary next year – in its entirety at Tanglewood on Sunday, June 19, 2016, at 2:30 pm in the Shed. Wilson’s 2016 “Pet Sounds” tour is being called “The 50th Anniversary Celebration & Final Performance in its Entirety.”

Wilson’s band will include Beach Boys co-founder Al Jardine and Blondie Chaplin, a longtime touring member of the group, backed by the Boston Pops. The concert is expected to include other Beach Boys hits besides those on “Pet Sounds.”

Also returning to Tanglewood next summer are popular jazz trumpeter Chris Botti, with a performance on Friday, June 24, at 8pm, in Ozawa Hall, and singer-songwriter James Taylor, who returns with his All-Star Band for performances on Sunday, July 3, and Monday, July 4, each at 8pm in the Shed.

 

As leader of his family group, the Beach Boys, Brian Wilson created some of the most beloved records ever, including nine consecutive gold albums that featured such classics as “Surfer Girl,” “In My Room,” “I Get Around,” “Don’t Worry Baby,” “Fun, Fun, Fun,” “Help Me Rhonda” and “California Girls,” to name just a handful of the dozens of hits Wilson co-wrote, arranged, produced and performed on.

By the time he recorded “Pet Sounds,” Wilson was no longer touring with the Beach Boys, but instead ensconced at home and in the recording studio working on creating “Pet Sounds,” which was a Beach Boys album in name only. It was really a Brian Wilson solo album recorded with dozens of studio and orchestral musicians, the making of which was documented in the recent, critically acclaimed feature film, “Love & Mercy.” The album “Pet Sounds” picked up where the Beatles “Rubber Soul” and “Revolver” left off, and is widely seen as having pushed Paul McCartney towards the over-the-top psychedelic sound of “Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.”

In what is perhaps an unjust twist to the story, Rolling Stone magazine names “Sgt Pepper” as the greatest album of all time, with “Pet Sounds” at number two.

 

 

 

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