I am reminded of the swift passage of time having read that it was 18 years to the day that the Beach Boy Carl Wilson, the man with the voice of an angel (if there were such a thing: there aren’t) and the voice of Good Vibrations and God Only Knows shuffled off this mortal coil.
I recall reading, in 1997, that Wilson had taken a break from touring due to illness. Living on the other side of the world, I did not realise how serious that illness was. On 6 February 1998, Carl Wilson died of lung cancer and secondary brain cancer. That was the day when the Beach Boys died for me. It was not merely bad luck that Wilson was taken from us for he was a heavy smoker, not that you would ever know from his beautiful almost choir-like vocals. Having seen some of his latter performances, where he was puffed up, bloated and wearing a hairpiece as a result of his illness his voice was seemingly unaffected. He was in terrible pain and even had to sit down for most of each show – except when the band played God Only Knows – but he kept going until he was too sick to perform.
When people think of the Beach Boys, they often think just of Carl’s brother Brian and I certainly understand that. When Brian was 22 he wrote Pet Sounds, for goodness sake, and almost lost his mind creating the follow up Smile. Mental illness and excessive drug use diminished Brian’s talent for many years and Carl stepped up to, effectively, lead the band. Their best group albums – I regard Pet Sounds as a solo album on which some Beach Boys participated – were records like Surf’s Up, Holland and, my favourite, Sunflower, on which Brian barely appeared at all. To all intents and purposes, with Brian no longer touring, Carl was the creative and concert leader of the band. When Carl passed, the Beach Boys became a touring tribute band, no longer making new music but reliving the 1960s. (There is nothing wrong with this: I just prefer my favourite bands to make new music, many others just want the nostalgia, a fair enough position.)
I am not a Beach Boys fan of Surfing USA or Help Me Rhonda. Much of the earlier stuff leaves me unmoved, but take me to Surf’s Up, the Brian Wilson/Van Dyke Parks penned classic title track, and you have near musical perfection, similarly with Long Promised Road from the same record or the mighty Trader from Holland.
I didn’t think I would ever get over the passing of Carl Wilson and in many ways I haven’t. I saw the Beach Boys play without him and it was little better than a high class tribute show, if I am being honest.
That it was 18 years ago to the day that this beautiful man died rocks me to the core. Time really does wait for no man or woman and the older I get the faster it passes.
