Does Brian Wilsons current touring hurt or help his legacy?
I think it’s good that Brian is back, to a degree. And people now know who he is versus what the Beach Boys became in the years after Pet Sounds. They know those great songs were written and arranged and, in many cases, sung by Brian Wilson. So, I’d say it’s helped. I’ve seen him several times. Some nights he’s on, others he’s not. But his band is terrific and people love the songs. At forty-five years old, Pet Sounds is one of a very few albums that can still make this critic cry. Does it have the same significance/relevance to you today as when you first heard it? Is it more or less powerful now? Well, when I was younger, it was the album that pulled back the curtain and showed me, at the same time, a new world and the truth of myself. But now I’m astonished by the wisdom of it, the depth, the quality. As a person, I guess it had its greatest impact back when I was young. Now that I’m a novelist who tries to work at a high level within a popular genre, I’m inspired by what he achieve
