Music can be a spellbinding thing. With closed eyes and the right song on, the listener can be transported to a very specific place and time – to one’s first kiss, a time of euphoria or tragedy. Answering a fan-submitted question on his website, Paul McCartney has listed his three favorite albums, citing their ability to recall particular moments in his life as his reasons for choosing them.
“My partner and I have recently been discussing the albums and songs that have soundtracked our lives,” McCartney fan, Alex, writes. “Are there any albums that take you back to certain periods in your life? And does performing your own music evoke similar memories?”
The Beatle, who has recently reunited with his iconic Hofner bass after it went missing for half a century, was forthcoming with his answer, listing his three favorite records, but falling short of sharing the times, places, and emotions they bring flooding back.
“My favourite albums by other people,” he says, “tend to be: Music from Big Pink by the Band, Pet Sounds by the Beach Boys, and Harvest by Neil Young. They are the three classics that I love to listen to, and they all remind me of certain times in my life.”
Brian Wilson wrote 1966 album Pet Sounds after his crippling stage fright saw him retire from the road and seek solace in the studio. Rich with timeless classics including “God Only Knows,” and “Wouldn’t It Be Nice,” it established the guitarist and vocalist as one of his generation's finest pop arrangers.
Naturally, in the eyes of some, that puts at Beatles and the Beach Boys at odds with one another. Behind the scenes, there was a deep-rooted admiration and respect for one another. Pet Sounds proves why it ran so deep. Wilson wasn’t just a great composer; as the figurehead of the Beach Boys and a songwriter for countless other artists, he was a leader who got the most out of the players he worked with.
“That was the most fun I've ever had in the music business,” Billy Strange remembered of the recording sessions. “Glen [Campbell] and I played on the country-funk side of rock and roll, and that was the new sound in the studio.
“I’d get the call for a session, grab my Telecaster and my Fender Twin, give somebody the eight-bar solo they needed, and then pack up and hit the next session.
“We all came up through the studio ranks as sidemen, and we played with everybody,” he expands. “But there was never a time at a Beach Boys session when Brian didn't come up with something that was just absolutely amazing. He was a killer.”
“The Weight,” the only single released from the Band’s 1968 Music from Big Pink nearly didn’t make the record. Guitarist Robbie Robertson reveals one chord change saved it from the cutting room floor.
“Of course, at the time we had no idea how big it was going to become,” he tells Guitar Player in retrospect. “We were just doing our best to make music that had rhythm and soul.”
Young, meanwhile, has proven a loyalist to two prize pieces of gear for the best part of 60 years: a 1959 tweed Fender Deluxe 5E3, and Old Black, a modified 1953 Gibson Les Paul. The amp, especially, was an instant hit; even if it was luck of the draw.
“All Fender amps are different, made with different amounts of metal and windings, all these things,” he explains to GP. “The transformers are all different powered. Everything used to be loose, y'know, so every combination of specs was different.
“I got mine for $50 at Saul Bettman's Music on Larchmont in L.A. in 1967. Took it home, plugged in this Gretsch guitar, and immediately the entire room started to vibrate.
“The guitar started vibrating, and I went, ‘Holy shit!’ I turned it halfway down before it stopped feeding back.”
McCartney has also taken to Instagram to pen a touching tribute to the late Brian Wilson, expanding on the importance of his music in his life.
“Brian had that mysterious sense of musical genius that made his songs so achingly special,” he wrote. “The notes he heard in his head and passed to us were simple and brilliant at the same time. I loved him, and I was privileged to be around his bright shining light for a little while.
“How we will continue without Brian Wilson, ‘God Only Knows’.”
Despite the Beatles and the Beach Boys being at the heart of a musical rivalry, the pair never saw things like that. Years later, their friendship was compounded on the 2004 track “A Friend Like You.” Featured on Wilson's solo album, Gettin' In Over My Head, it marked the only time they recorded together, but iced a relationship that went far deeper.
Responding to McCartney's post, Carnie Wilson, Brian's daughter, commented, “Thank you for your friendship. He absolutely adored you. You know that.”
