Brian Wilson’s two favourite albums by The Beatles
Following rock ‘n’ roll’s big bang in the 1950s, the swinging ’60s would prove to be a decade of runaway evolution that combined prior genres to create something entirely original. In the sunny stretches of California, Brian Wilson and his band, The Beach Boys, popularised surf rock just as The Beatles began a revolution in Britain.
These two bands were naturally set against each other as transatlantic enemies, but this was mostly confined to the media and fan-based rivalry. Despite an appropriate level of envy, The Beatles and The Beach Boys had barrow loads of mutual admiration.
Shortly after the release of The Beach Boys’ career-defining masterpiece, Pet Sounds, The Beatles famously regrouped to outmanoeuvre their Californian counterparts in the psychedelic masterpiece, Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. This friendly rivalry mirrors a similar one formed between The Beatles and The Rolling Stones around the same time. Although the contending factions were well acquainted, a competitive edge helped these groups to reach unprecedented peaks.
In 2004, Brian Wilson revealed reciprocation when speaking to Paste. The legendary songwriter described how The Beatles’ 1965 album Rubber Soul helped him shape Pet Sounds. “Rubber Soul blew my mind,” he said. “I liked the way it all went together, the way it was all one thing. It was a challenge to me to do something similar. That made me want to make Pet Sounds; I didn’t want to do the same kind of music but on the same level.”
It’s hard to determine precisely when John Lennon first became a fan of The Beach Boys, but he was undoubtedly an avid convert by 1965. Following the release of ‘The Little Girl I Once Knew’, Lennon offered a glowing review of the single in Melody Maker.
“This is the greatest! Turn it up,” he said enthusiastically as the record played. “Turn it right up. It’s GOT to be a hit. It’s the greatest record I’ve heard for weeks. It’s fantastic. I hope it will be a hit. It’s all Brian Wilson. He just uses the voices as instruments. He never tours or anything.”
“He just sits at home thinking up fantastic arrangements out of his head,” the Beatle added enthusiastically. “Doesn’t even read music. You keep waiting for the fabulous breaks. Great arrangement. It goes on and on with all different things. I hope it’s a hit so I can hear it all the time.”
Speaking to Uncut in 2015, Wilson returned the praise to the late Beatle when tasked with picking out his favourite Lennon creation. “My favourite Lennon song is ‘Across The Universe’,” Wilson picked out. “It had a great guitar sound. It flipped me out when I first heard it. And I thought his voice was especially good”.
“He must have either taken some drugs or really concentrated hard because he got a very special vocal sound on that one,” he added. “The other thing was the lyrics. They were so heavenly [sings the chorus]. And they were most likely drug-inspired. I thought they were really great. People say that song reminds them of The Beach Boys, but not to me. It’s unique.”
Although Wilson admired much of The Beatles’ oeuvre, there were two albums that stood out most. In 2021, the Beach Boy named the five albums he couldn’t live without in a feature with Spin. Intriguingly, Rubber Soul didn’t appear on the list; instead, Wilson reserved spaces for its two psychedelic follow-ups, Revolver and Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.
However, these two records were ranked fourth and fifth, with Pet Sounds and The Rolling Stones’ Between the Buttons in first and second, respectively. Perhaps some of that ’60s rivalry prevails.
Listen to ‘A Day in the Life’, the closing song from Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, below.
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