Beach Boys legend Brian Wilson's 10 most iconic songs
1966: Wouldn't It Be Nice, The Beach Boys
Wilson's voice is the first one heard on the Beach Boys' unimpeachable Pet Sounds. 'Wouldn't it be nice if we were older? / Then we wouldn't have to wait so long,' he sings sweetly on the album's opener. 'And wouldn't it be nice to live together / In the kind of world where we belong?' Optimism and innocence are the name of the game, and the listener is the winner.
1966: God Only Knows, The Beach Boys
If Wilson must be known for one thing, let it be his inimitable sense of harmony, perfected across his craft and completely unignorable on God Only Knows, a masterclass in vocals, love, emotional depth, harpsichord and the intersection of all such forces.
God Only Knows is also one of Paul McCartney's favourite songs of all time, one known to bring him to tears.
1967: Good Vibrations, The Beach Boys
What kind of vibrations? Good, good, GOOD vibrations. And at a cost. As the story goes, one of the Beach Boys' best-known hits – and, arguably, one of the most immediately recognisable songs in rock'n'roll history – was recorded over seven months, in four different studios, reportedly costing up to $75,000. And it is an absolute masterpiece of theremin, cello, harmonica and so much more. Pop music has never been so ambitious – and successful.
1967: Heroes and Villains, The Beach Boys
Heroes and Villains might be one of the most complex songs in the Beach Boys' discography, and with good reason. It is the opener of Smile, what Wilson called a 'teenage symphony to God', a whimsical cycle of songs on nature and American folklore written with lyricist Van Dyke Parks. It was delayed, then cancelled, then rerecorded and issued in September 1967 on Smiley Smile, dismissed by Carl Wilson as a 'bunt instead of a grand slam'. In moments, Heroes and Villains is psychedelic; at other times, it embodies an otherworldly barbershop quartet. It is off-kilter and clever, as Wilson's band so often proved to be.
1967: Darlin ', The Beach Boys
The late '60s are an under-celebrated time in Wilson's creative oeuvre – no doubt an effect of his declining mental health – but there are many rich songs to dig into. Particularly the soulful, R&B, Motown-esque harmonies of Darlin '.
2004: Don't Let Her Know She's an Angel, Brian Wilson
As the story goes, Don't Let Her Know She's an Angel was originally recorded for his 1991 unreleased album Sweet Insanity but did not officially appear until it was rerecorded for his 2004 album Gettin' in Over My Head. The song features a bunch of programming, synths and percussion, which might strike Beach Boys fans as odd. But trust us, it works here.
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The Advertiser
3 days ago
- The Advertiser
Bride Hard tried hard...and failed to raise many laughs
Bride Hard (M, 105 minutes) 2 stars My mother would say if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all, and so maybe I need you to look away and read something else, so that I can still make my mother proud. Because I tried hard to find nice things to say about this new Simon West directed comedy, but that was a struggle. Maybe Tried Hard is a better title for this film, because it did try, hard, to put all the ingredients in place for a good, funny, engaging comedy. But like the time I misread "salt" for "sugar" when making a pineapple upside-down cake, I was not smiling at the end result. What I found intolerable about this film was the almost complete absence of laughs, in a comedy. I say almost, because I did get a good laugh from a joke Wilson makes about her awkward top-knot hairdo which exists for practical reasons, so that her hair falls conveniently over her face when they switch between the actress and her stunt double. It's a funny acknowledgement of the practical machinery of filmmaking, and I will say that Wilson and her stunt partners do get the film's action scenes right. Rebel Wilson is a surprising leading lady, given that her line deliveries always sound like she hasn't read the script and is tossing dialogue out like she's struggling to remember it. I think that's part of her charm, actually, a rough unpolished kind of Hollywood star, and I do want to root for this girl from Sydney's western suburbs to have a long and lucrative career. Wilson plays Sam, invited to join the wedding party of her childhood best friend Betsy (Anna Camp), but struggling to multitask as the hen's night in Paris is happening at the same time as a sting operation Sam is supposed to be working on. Because Sam is actually a secret agent, something her friends are completely unaware of, but she's not a great multitasker, because she kinda blows both things at once. While she goes rogue on her spy agency colleagues which does lead to an arrest but also multiple injuries, she also lets down the bride-to-be with her hair-holding and shot-buying maid-of-honour duties. And so Betsy fires Sam from her duties and appoints her humourless and uptight future sister-in-law Virginia (Anna Chlumsky) instead. Sam might be unaware of her firing as she heads to Betsy's destination wedding. But her presence and secret agent skills are eventually appreciated when a team of international bad guys (led by Stephen Dorff who should have been a bigger star, frankly) crash the wedding looking to loot the family's safe. Look, the set-up for this film is terrific, smashing the Die Hard and Bridesmaids concepts together; it should be a sure-fire hit. Certainly they get the casting right, with the likes of Da'Vine Joy Randolph in the bridal party with the always high energy Anna Camp. But the film's writing lets it down, with first time at the plate Shaina Steinberg's script just not being consistent with its characters or letting them exist for single jokes. Anna Chlumsky is particularly let down as one of America's finest comedic actresses, as she proved across multiple seasons of the caustic comedy Veep. The inconsistency continues throughout, under-servicing character's like Justin Hartley's best man, and trying to give dialogue and moments to too many characters for any of them to have resonance. There is a good film in here somewhere, but the mix between comedy and action film isn't quite right as well. Some good fight and stunt work being undermined by the filmmakers also trying to make the characters funny or ridiculous at the same time. Perhaps the concept would have worked better as a dark comedy action film. I've certainly known a few bridal parties that have turned dark and violent - I used to be a champagne waiter on a hen's night bus tour. Those women scared the heck out of me. Bride Hard (M, 105 minutes) 2 stars My mother would say if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all, and so maybe I need you to look away and read something else, so that I can still make my mother proud. Because I tried hard to find nice things to say about this new Simon West directed comedy, but that was a struggle. Maybe Tried Hard is a better title for this film, because it did try, hard, to put all the ingredients in place for a good, funny, engaging comedy. But like the time I misread "salt" for "sugar" when making a pineapple upside-down cake, I was not smiling at the end result. What I found intolerable about this film was the almost complete absence of laughs, in a comedy. I say almost, because I did get a good laugh from a joke Wilson makes about her awkward top-knot hairdo which exists for practical reasons, so that her hair falls conveniently over her face when they switch between the actress and her stunt double. It's a funny acknowledgement of the practical machinery of filmmaking, and I will say that Wilson and her stunt partners do get the film's action scenes right. Rebel Wilson is a surprising leading lady, given that her line deliveries always sound like she hasn't read the script and is tossing dialogue out like she's struggling to remember it. I think that's part of her charm, actually, a rough unpolished kind of Hollywood star, and I do want to root for this girl from Sydney's western suburbs to have a long and lucrative career. Wilson plays Sam, invited to join the wedding party of her childhood best friend Betsy (Anna Camp), but struggling to multitask as the hen's night in Paris is happening at the same time as a sting operation Sam is supposed to be working on. Because Sam is actually a secret agent, something her friends are completely unaware of, but she's not a great multitasker, because she kinda blows both things at once. While she goes rogue on her spy agency colleagues which does lead to an arrest but also multiple injuries, she also lets down the bride-to-be with her hair-holding and shot-buying maid-of-honour duties. And so Betsy fires Sam from her duties and appoints her humourless and uptight future sister-in-law Virginia (Anna Chlumsky) instead. Sam might be unaware of her firing as she heads to Betsy's destination wedding. But her presence and secret agent skills are eventually appreciated when a team of international bad guys (led by Stephen Dorff who should have been a bigger star, frankly) crash the wedding looking to loot the family's safe. Look, the set-up for this film is terrific, smashing the Die Hard and Bridesmaids concepts together; it should be a sure-fire hit. Certainly they get the casting right, with the likes of Da'Vine Joy Randolph in the bridal party with the always high energy Anna Camp. But the film's writing lets it down, with first time at the plate Shaina Steinberg's script just not being consistent with its characters or letting them exist for single jokes. Anna Chlumsky is particularly let down as one of America's finest comedic actresses, as she proved across multiple seasons of the caustic comedy Veep. The inconsistency continues throughout, under-servicing character's like Justin Hartley's best man, and trying to give dialogue and moments to too many characters for any of them to have resonance. There is a good film in here somewhere, but the mix between comedy and action film isn't quite right as well. Some good fight and stunt work being undermined by the filmmakers also trying to make the characters funny or ridiculous at the same time. Perhaps the concept would have worked better as a dark comedy action film. I've certainly known a few bridal parties that have turned dark and violent - I used to be a champagne waiter on a hen's night bus tour. Those women scared the heck out of me. Bride Hard (M, 105 minutes) 2 stars My mother would say if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all, and so maybe I need you to look away and read something else, so that I can still make my mother proud. Because I tried hard to find nice things to say about this new Simon West directed comedy, but that was a struggle. Maybe Tried Hard is a better title for this film, because it did try, hard, to put all the ingredients in place for a good, funny, engaging comedy. But like the time I misread "salt" for "sugar" when making a pineapple upside-down cake, I was not smiling at the end result. What I found intolerable about this film was the almost complete absence of laughs, in a comedy. I say almost, because I did get a good laugh from a joke Wilson makes about her awkward top-knot hairdo which exists for practical reasons, so that her hair falls conveniently over her face when they switch between the actress and her stunt double. It's a funny acknowledgement of the practical machinery of filmmaking, and I will say that Wilson and her stunt partners do get the film's action scenes right. Rebel Wilson is a surprising leading lady, given that her line deliveries always sound like she hasn't read the script and is tossing dialogue out like she's struggling to remember it. I think that's part of her charm, actually, a rough unpolished kind of Hollywood star, and I do want to root for this girl from Sydney's western suburbs to have a long and lucrative career. Wilson plays Sam, invited to join the wedding party of her childhood best friend Betsy (Anna Camp), but struggling to multitask as the hen's night in Paris is happening at the same time as a sting operation Sam is supposed to be working on. Because Sam is actually a secret agent, something her friends are completely unaware of, but she's not a great multitasker, because she kinda blows both things at once. While she goes rogue on her spy agency colleagues which does lead to an arrest but also multiple injuries, she also lets down the bride-to-be with her hair-holding and shot-buying maid-of-honour duties. And so Betsy fires Sam from her duties and appoints her humourless and uptight future sister-in-law Virginia (Anna Chlumsky) instead. Sam might be unaware of her firing as she heads to Betsy's destination wedding. But her presence and secret agent skills are eventually appreciated when a team of international bad guys (led by Stephen Dorff who should have been a bigger star, frankly) crash the wedding looking to loot the family's safe. Look, the set-up for this film is terrific, smashing the Die Hard and Bridesmaids concepts together; it should be a sure-fire hit. Certainly they get the casting right, with the likes of Da'Vine Joy Randolph in the bridal party with the always high energy Anna Camp. But the film's writing lets it down, with first time at the plate Shaina Steinberg's script just not being consistent with its characters or letting them exist for single jokes. Anna Chlumsky is particularly let down as one of America's finest comedic actresses, as she proved across multiple seasons of the caustic comedy Veep. The inconsistency continues throughout, under-servicing character's like Justin Hartley's best man, and trying to give dialogue and moments to too many characters for any of them to have resonance. There is a good film in here somewhere, but the mix between comedy and action film isn't quite right as well. Some good fight and stunt work being undermined by the filmmakers also trying to make the characters funny or ridiculous at the same time. Perhaps the concept would have worked better as a dark comedy action film. I've certainly known a few bridal parties that have turned dark and violent - I used to be a champagne waiter on a hen's night bus tour. Those women scared the heck out of me. Bride Hard (M, 105 minutes) 2 stars My mother would say if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all, and so maybe I need you to look away and read something else, so that I can still make my mother proud. Because I tried hard to find nice things to say about this new Simon West directed comedy, but that was a struggle. Maybe Tried Hard is a better title for this film, because it did try, hard, to put all the ingredients in place for a good, funny, engaging comedy. But like the time I misread "salt" for "sugar" when making a pineapple upside-down cake, I was not smiling at the end result. What I found intolerable about this film was the almost complete absence of laughs, in a comedy. I say almost, because I did get a good laugh from a joke Wilson makes about her awkward top-knot hairdo which exists for practical reasons, so that her hair falls conveniently over her face when they switch between the actress and her stunt double. It's a funny acknowledgement of the practical machinery of filmmaking, and I will say that Wilson and her stunt partners do get the film's action scenes right. Rebel Wilson is a surprising leading lady, given that her line deliveries always sound like she hasn't read the script and is tossing dialogue out like she's struggling to remember it. I think that's part of her charm, actually, a rough unpolished kind of Hollywood star, and I do want to root for this girl from Sydney's western suburbs to have a long and lucrative career. Wilson plays Sam, invited to join the wedding party of her childhood best friend Betsy (Anna Camp), but struggling to multitask as the hen's night in Paris is happening at the same time as a sting operation Sam is supposed to be working on. Because Sam is actually a secret agent, something her friends are completely unaware of, but she's not a great multitasker, because she kinda blows both things at once. While she goes rogue on her spy agency colleagues which does lead to an arrest but also multiple injuries, she also lets down the bride-to-be with her hair-holding and shot-buying maid-of-honour duties. And so Betsy fires Sam from her duties and appoints her humourless and uptight future sister-in-law Virginia (Anna Chlumsky) instead. Sam might be unaware of her firing as she heads to Betsy's destination wedding. But her presence and secret agent skills are eventually appreciated when a team of international bad guys (led by Stephen Dorff who should have been a bigger star, frankly) crash the wedding looking to loot the family's safe. Look, the set-up for this film is terrific, smashing the Die Hard and Bridesmaids concepts together; it should be a sure-fire hit. Certainly they get the casting right, with the likes of Da'Vine Joy Randolph in the bridal party with the always high energy Anna Camp. But the film's writing lets it down, with first time at the plate Shaina Steinberg's script just not being consistent with its characters or letting them exist for single jokes. Anna Chlumsky is particularly let down as one of America's finest comedic actresses, as she proved across multiple seasons of the caustic comedy Veep. The inconsistency continues throughout, under-servicing character's like Justin Hartley's best man, and trying to give dialogue and moments to too many characters for any of them to have resonance. There is a good film in here somewhere, but the mix between comedy and action film isn't quite right as well. Some good fight and stunt work being undermined by the filmmakers also trying to make the characters funny or ridiculous at the same time. Perhaps the concept would have worked better as a dark comedy action film. I've certainly known a few bridal parties that have turned dark and violent - I used to be a champagne waiter on a hen's night bus tour. Those women scared the heck out of me.
The Age
4 days ago
- The Age
This Rebel Wilson spy caper wants you to turn your brain off
BRIDE HARD ★½ (M) 105 minutes Hell hath no fury like Rebel Wilson armed with a pair of curling irons – but even if you're enticed by that image, or more broadly by the concept of a blend of spy caper and chick flick, I can't recommend Bride Hard as a fun night out. Credit where it's due, however: Wilson at this point ranks as one of Australia's more durable international movie stars, something no one could have predicted when she started out in the early 2000s as Toula in Fat Pizza. On screen, Wilson is all about making it look as if she's barely trying. Yet, her career trajectory implies relentless determination, especially the way she's graduated from supporting roles, such as Fat Amy in the Pitch Perfect films, to comic vehicles of her own. This paradox comes close to being the subject of Bride Hard, where her character Sam Doolan allows her friends to believe she makes a living designing plinths for cat shows when in fact she's a reckless but highly competent secret agent in the James Bond mould. How was she recruited into the world of espionage? We never find out, nor is it clear what motivated her to shake off her usual bored indifference for long enough to acquire the required skill set. Her Australian accent, too, remains a mystery, considering she's been friends since childhood with the all-American Betsy (Anna Camp), who's about to be married on a private island off the coast of Georgia when the nuptials are interrupted by terrorists (the plot is a riff on Die Hard, if you hadn't guessed).
Sydney Morning Herald
4 days ago
- Sydney Morning Herald
This Rebel Wilson spy caper wants you to turn your brain off
BRIDE HARD ★½ (M) 105 minutes Hell hath no fury like Rebel Wilson armed with a pair of curling irons – but even if you're enticed by that image, or more broadly by the concept of a blend of spy caper and chick flick, I can't recommend Bride Hard as a fun night out. Credit where it's due, however: Wilson at this point ranks as one of Australia's more durable international movie stars, something no one could have predicted when she started out in the early 2000s as Toula in Fat Pizza. On screen, Wilson is all about making it look as if she's barely trying. Yet, her career trajectory implies relentless determination, especially the way she's graduated from supporting roles, such as Fat Amy in the Pitch Perfect films, to comic vehicles of her own. This paradox comes close to being the subject of Bride Hard, where her character Sam Doolan allows her friends to believe she makes a living designing plinths for cat shows when in fact she's a reckless but highly competent secret agent in the James Bond mould. How was she recruited into the world of espionage? We never find out, nor is it clear what motivated her to shake off her usual bored indifference for long enough to acquire the required skill set. Her Australian accent, too, remains a mystery, considering she's been friends since childhood with the all-American Betsy (Anna Camp), who's about to be married on a private island off the coast of Georgia when the nuptials are interrupted by terrorists (the plot is a riff on Die Hard, if you hadn't guessed).
