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    The McMaster Department of Philosophy has now put together the following notice commemorating Barry: Barry Allen: A Philosophical Life Barry…

Great moments in rock ‘n’ roll memorials: Sly Stone and Brian Wilson edition

Brian Leiter

Two major figures of 1960s and 1970s rock music, Sly Stone ("Sly & the Family Stone") and Brian Wilson (primary songwriter and arranger for "The Beach Boys") both died this week.  I confess to not having been a big Beach Boys fan, but they undoubtedly had some splendid songs.  I was more partial to Sly & the Family Stone, especiall the albums from 1968 and 1969.  A few clips follow, but feel free to add links to your own favorites by either in the comments.

Here's the 1968 official music video of what is probably Sly & the Family Stone's best-known song, "Everyday People":

And here's the audio (mixed quality) of the live performance of the same song at the 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival:

And live at Woodstock, "I Want to Take You Higher" (external link, I couldn't insert it here).

And here's two classics from the Beach Boys, my personal favorites.  First, "Good Vibrations," 1966:

And from 1968, "Do It Again," live on the Ed Sullivan Show:

 

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16 responses to “Great moments in rock ‘n’ roll memorials: Sly Stone and Brian Wilson edition”

  1. Patrick S. O'Donnell

    And what about this?! The Beach Boys-Student Demonstration Time

    Reply
  2. Patrick S. O'Donnell

    And what about this?! The Beach Boys-Student Demonstration Time

    Reply
  3. Patrick S. O'Donnell

    And what about this?! The Beach Boys-Student Demonstration Time

    Reply
  4. Dean C. Rowan

    Here's a light-hearted tribute to Brian Wilson featuring covers and sound-alikes of Beach Boys tunes, including Todd Rundgren's "faithful" redo of "Good Vibrations" (the entire album is a winner), Los Lobos' solid rendition of "Sail On Sailor," and Flo & Eddie's predictably wry and awry genre-bender, "Keep It Warm" (which appears on the album depicted, Moving Targets, but not on the album the blogger ID's, Illegal, Immoral, and Fattening:

    https://digbysblog.net/author/strang3l0v3/

    I recall first connecting Sly & the Family Stone to actual product, the LP There's a Riot Goin' On (so probably 1971 or thereabouts) with the music, which I knew off the radio airwaves. It's often the case that one owes one's musical education to the older siblings of friends, in this case the older sister of twins who were my besties in elementary school and beyond.

    Reply
  5. Phil Edwards

    This comprehensively blew my 12-year-old mind:



    What fascinated me was that eighth-note bassline – steady as a rock & as such really shouldn't have been funky, and yet funky it definitely was (and is). Sly just was funky.

    Brian Wilson, God rest his troubled soul, was not funky, but he did make some unearthly music – such as this (with lyrics by Van Dyke Parks). I've no idea what it's about (probably not surfing), but it always makes me cry – perhaps especially in this stripped-down version.

    Reply
  6. s. wallerstein

    Beach Boys: Be True to Your School.

    Maybe not great art or still less a profund ethical reflection, but it sums up a very Amerikan worldview that no longer exists and that in the light of Trump, now has a certain charm.


    Reply
  7. oldster

    "Surf's Up" is one of Wilson's masterpieces. This note-for-note recreation by the Fendertones is fun because it lets you see everything that went into the studio recording. Many layers!


    Reply
  8. James Baillie

    I love Brian Wilson. As pop songwriters, only Bacharach and McCartney come close to him, but even they lack the emotional depth of Brian’s best work. Here’s something that readers might not have heard, an extraordinary extended alternate take of ‘Til I Die.

    Reply
  9. John Rapko

    The first pop concert I attended was the Beach Boys in the early-mid 1970s in Maryland. Having just discovered Van Dyke Parks I went for 'Surf's Up', which was tepidly received, but the crowd went wild for the encore of 'Surfing U.S.A.', which I had thought would be considered as passé as Frankie Laine. Around the same time the Langley Schools Project, which invariably improved on the original, covered 'In My Room' and, here, the wonderful 'God Only Knows':

    Reply
  10. Dean C. Rowan

    In another forum where discussion of Brian Wilson arose following the news I also mentioned Bacharach, so thanks for the independent corroboration. On their best days, I think Bacharach and McCartney are equals with BW. Bacharach's "Mexican Divorce" is perhaps my favorite pop song "ever." But it has to be his recording; none of the covers I've heard come close. Its emotional depth plumbs an axis perhaps orthogonal to BW's, though. There's no risk of it being judged maudlin, where "God Only Knows," as an example, surely tests the attribution.

    And thank you, John Rapko, for the shout-out to the Langley Schools Project covers, which we owe to DJ Irwin Chusid at New Jersey's WFMU, a fine radio station. (He also happens to be the executor of the Sun Ra estate, which is another tangent altogether.)

    Reply
  11. David Velleman

    Questlove's film of the 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival is available on Hulu — by itself worth the price of a subscription.

    Reply
  12. Jon Chadwich

    Sail on Brian. https://youtu.be/KJsy6OBAjMs

    Reply
  13. Doris

    For an improbable and fun cultural mash-up, Beach Boys & Grateful Dead covering The Hag's "Okie from Muskogee" in 1971:



    Reply
  14. LFC

    Re 'Student Demonstration Time': I confess to not having known that The Beach Boys did something that explicitly political.

    Reply
  15. James Baillie

    Agreed! This movie deserves all its acclaim and awards.

    Reply
  16. s. wallerstein

    Great!!! Thanks.

    The Grateful Dead were genuine freaks, as we used to say and it took a freak in 1971 to cover Okie from Muskogee.

    Reply

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