Brian Wilson and Friends

October 7, 2002

The Carl Wilson Foundation put on their 5th ever benefit show tonight at Royce Hall, UCLA. The show was billed as “Brian Wilson and Friends” featuring the Beach Boys’ mad genius himself along with Eric Clapton, Matthew Sweet, Van Dyke Parks and others. The event was the second half of a weekend of fundraising for the foundation, with a charity walk and auction going down yesterday, with all proceeds going to charities that deal with all aspects of fighting cancer (research, patient care and one charity that helps musicians that have been diagnosed with cancer).

The first half of the benefit show was a mixed bag, featuring Matthew Sweet, Sugar Ray and a seemingly endless stream of Wilson offspring. Matthew Sweet was really great, performing a beautiful pop vocal arrangement that fit in right along with Brian Wilson’s work. When he sang along with Van Dyke Parks, Sweet absolutely beamed being able to work alongside one of his heroes.

Wendy and Carnie Wilson (formerly of Wilson Phillips) also threw out a couple of songs. It’s hard to watch Carnie without thinking about those years where she seemed hellbent on besting Brian for being the Nuttiest Wilson (broadcasting her stomach stapling surgery on the internet is about as over the top as it gets). Justin Wilson, Carl’s son, also performed with his band, In Bloom. Overall, all the Wilson kids performed well, if not spectacularly.

I’m not a huge Sugar Ray fan, and quite frankly I went into the concert quite terrified of their portion of the night. Unfortunately, I was not disappointed. It’s easy to zone out on Sugar Ray when they’re on the loudspeaker of the Gap, but it’s almost vomit inducing to actually have to watch McGrath prance around. Luckily, they only performed three songs. The members of Sugar Ray all have more money and fame than I will likely ever see, so I can only pray for some form of karmic retribution in the form of an incurable STD or something. I happily hope their tragic Behind the Music episode comes sooner than later.

After Sugar Ray there was an intermission, which was great because I got a chance to smack my head against the wall repeatedly. When the curtain opened, Eric Clapton stood there with his guitar. No fanfare, no introduction, just Eric Clapton, cutting into the beginning of Stormy Monday.

I’m no huge Eric Clapton fan, but he only performed two songs, including the full version of Layla (complete with piano outtro). That’s one of the few Clapton ditties I really enjoy, so it was fun to see it live. Clapton looked like just stepped out of the mall, in a plain button down and khakis, but there was no mistaking the playing. The signature compressed tone he gets out of his strat really is unique, and his lead playing almost lives up to all the hype he’s gotten over the years. To be fair, none of that hype is from Clapton himself, and he seemed just as happy to be part of the house band as soloing on Layla.

Brian Wilson finally came out to perform. After years of seclusion and a few complete mental and physical breakdowns, it’s surprising to see Wilson up and around and performing at all. Still, it’s pretty obvious what the years have done to him, as he really looks out of it most of the time. He stares off into space a lot and looks a bit confused the rest of the time. Only when he’s actually singing does he look happy and at peace, and even then, only just so.

The idea of a Brian Wilson “performance” is a bit silly, as mostly he sits and sings, with little emotion. At this point, stage charisma really isn’t his strong point. In fact, he sat behind a giant Yamaha keyboard and didn’t even play it once. How odd is that?

The performance was more of a testament to Wilson’s staggering songwriting and arrangement skills. When Pet Sounds released, it was light years ahead of everything else, and even now a song like God Only Knows stands far above. Few people have been able to marry the expansive sonic landscapes and arrangements with the gorgeous pop structures like Wilson.

Bouncing around from older Beach Boys numbers to the more esoteric work from the never-released SMiLe, Wilson and the house band (The Wondermints) filled Royce with heartbreakingly gorgeous melodies and harmonies. Considering Wilson’s symphonic arrangements, it’s hard to imagine a lot of the songs working live, but they seemed to pull if off effortlessly. There were about 10-12 musicians on stage at once, each one of them singing and about four of them being multi-instrumentalists, switching often. With this kind of versatility, they were able to get across Wilson’s complex song structures. The show bounced from slow to fast, before ending with huge group raveups of Good Vibrations, Barbara Ann and Surfin USA.

There’s a hugeness in the sound that’s hard to describe. It’s orchestral and symphonic without sounding “classical.” There were no strings and rare woodwind usage. Instead, Wilson goes for soft horn usage and lots of mixed percussion. Considering the relatively primitive recordings available, I’ve never heard the material sound better.

When Van Dyke Parks introduced Wilson as the Greatest American Composer of the 20th Century, he chose his words carefuly. He didn’t mean to compare him to Lennon/McCartney and Dylan, but to people like Aaron Copeland or George Gershwin.

Posted in From Blown Speakers