Tag: Brian Wilson

I’m compelled to write about Sly and Brian. Coincidentally, when I was writing for the ABC Wednesday meme, I created a series of family-related band posts in 2014. It included Sly and the Family Stone -Sly Stone and his siblings, Rose and Freddie; and the Beach Boys – Brian Wilson, his brothers, Dennis and Carl, plus their cousin Mike Love. The posts were only two weeks apart. They are chockablock with musical links. 

Check out Coverville 1537: Sly Stone and Brian Wilson Tributes.

Sylvester Stewart (March 15, 1943- June 9, 2025)

The first time I heard of the Family Stone was when I listened to their hit single, Dance to the Music, but I didn’t have any of their albums. My sister got the album Stand! It was a revelation, with the title song, Everyday People, Higher, and others.

I REALLY got Sly and the Family Stone when a bunch of my friends and I went to a cinema in 1970 and watched the movie Woodstock. They were mesmerizing, especially Sly. I seem to recall that when the group was on stage, the projector emitted a purple glow. And then, in those days, the theaters didn’t seem to care – we all watched the movie a second time. (This video is much longer than what was used in the film.)

Soon, I bought the greatest hits album, which has some of the wonderful songs not on a previous album (Hot Fun In The Summertime, Thank You).

Every time I played There’s A Riot Going On, I felt… stoned, and I didn’t even have to smoke. I followed Sly’s various travails. It was great to see the 2021 movie Summer of Soul, featuring the group in 1969, the same year as Woodstock. I’m looking forward to seeing the new documentary ‘Sly Lives!’ as Questlove sets out to answer one question: What is Black Genius?

Long before I’d heard of the Family Stone, Sly produced an album by young Billy Preston, which I own.

Stuck in my head: Sing A Simple Song (the chorus always starts on the first beat of a 4/4 measure, then, at the end, crazily comes in a beat early), Thank You, and Family Affair. Here’s the NYT obit.

Brian Wilson (June 20, 1942- June 11, 2025)

I may have written more about Brian Wilson than any other non-Beatle musician. Surely, I  noted that when The Beach Boys first came out , I found them pleasant enough, but I felt no compulsion to buy any of their albums.

Still, I was very aware of them because The Beatles and The Beach Boys were both on Capitol Records, so the inner sleeve of my Beatles LPs listed all the Beach Boys’ albums. I did have two Beach Boys songs from a compilation album.

My first Beach Boys album I purchased was Pet Sounds. I belonged to the Capitol Records Club and never set back the negative option card. Surprisingly, I loved it, and it led me to buy many Beach Boys albums at a time when the group was becoming generally less popular. There are some great songs from that era.

Then Capitol, in its capitalist wisdom, released a collection of their old songs called Spirit of America. I bought that and suddenly became a full-fledged Beach Boys fan. I’ve also purchased several Brian solo albums.

I gave my friend Donna a boxed set of Beach Boys CDs in the late 1990s. Before she died of cancer in the early 2000s, she wanted her friends to divvy up her books and music; I took the boxed set. 

I knew that

The New York Times article about Brian contained about 95% of the information that I already knew, including the Beatles/Beach Boys competition. You should see the movie Love & Mercy. I worried about Brian’s well-being after his second wife, Melinda, died in 2024.

I was madly in love with the 2014 BBC cover of God Only Knows by a variety of musicians, including Brian. You can watch the December 2007 Kennedy Center Honor Tribute, part 1 and part 2.

 The three songs floating in my head are God Only Knows – effectively used at the end of the movie Love, Actually – ‘Til I Die, and Our Prayer.