Honorable mentions
W/the Beach Boys
“I Get Around” from All Summer Long, 1964. Hardly a deep cut – it was the Beach Boys' first number one hit, though the Wilson brothers’ friends Jan & Dean had gone to number one a year earlier with Brian’s song “Surf City.”
“Here Today” from Pet Sounds, 1966, and then released as the B-Side of “Darlin’” in 1967. My personal favorite Beach Boys song.
“Wild Honey” from Wild Honey, 1967. From the underrated Wild Honey album, which saw the Boys step back from the intricately produced wall of sound productions and just play some great rock and roll. Brian’s brother Carl shines on guitar and lead vocals on this one.
As a solo artist
“Happy Days” from Imagination, 1998. Wilson wrote a song called “My Solution” in 1971, but it was not released until fifty years later. For his third solo album, Brian resurrected the song as “Happy Days.” It is a better, more serious song with an excellent jazzy sax part.
“Heroes and Villains” from Brian Wilson Presents Smile, 2004. Stay with me here. Brian wrote this for Smile in 1967, and it was one of the elaborate productions that caused him to abandon that project. The Beach Boys’ version opens their truncated album Smiley Smile in 1967.
This is the full version, which Brian finished more than 25 years later. It includes an interlude referred to as “In the Cantina.” I don’t actually think it improves the original song, but I just love being able to hear Wilson’s original conception come to fruition.
“Guess You Had to Be There” from No Pier Pressure, 2015. A lovely duet with Kacey Musgraves which proved that Brian Wilson never lost the ability to write sumptuous pop.
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