I concede the point, but there's no need to go all fanboy on me. "The general tenor of the lyrics was often [Brian's], however the actual choice of words was usually mine. I was really just his interpreter." [Tony Asher, co-author of most songs on Pet Sounds.] I would still maintain that the sensibility is 100%…

That's a good observation, and the comparison with Daniel Johnston is very apt. Many of the Beatles lyrics are certainly clever and/or tell a good story, but there's nothing quite so "heart-on-sleeve" unless you want to include some of Lennon's later primal scream lyrics with the Plastic Ono Band. For me, the…

Pet Sounds is obviously filtered through Brian Wilson's sensibility, so it is "of a piece," and has a consistency and emotional force which is poles apart from Sgt. Pepper. However, consistency also means predictability, and the emotional content of Wilson's lyrics always borders on the maudlin. My favorite Pet…