If there's an abject lesson here, it's this: Brian Wilson's fragile psychological state and utter lack of support from his bandmates hamstrung him, preventing him from reaching the creative heights he might have otherwise achieved. Pet Sounds and Good Vibrations depict an artist creating music that no one had ever before imagined. In contrast the Beatles' esprit de corps was never higher than it was in 1966. The creative roll they were on throughout the following year would not have been possible had they been suffering through a similar level of dysfunction.
Robert Rodriguez in Revolver: How the Beatles Reimagined Rock 'n' Roll (p.77).
For more on this check out my post Why Wasn't Brian Wilson As Successful As Lennon and McCartney?
That is really interesting. It made me think of how Traffic's output after Dave Mason left wasn't the same because originally the band were supposed to be open to anything, but then they got "a sound" that was their own and wanted to keep that as opposed to carrying on experimenting like Dave Mason wanted to - I can't believe that the others hated Hole In My Shoe for instance.
ReplyDeleteIf they had kept that initial spark of continually trying something new then perhaps they'd have become less of The Steve Winwood backing band that they became? Personal opinion perhaps, but I still say that the albums Mr Fantasy and Traffic are the best of their career.
My only connection with Traffic is Neil's cover of HIMS so I'm not qualifies to comment! :-)
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