‘Darlin’’ (1967) The Beach Boys were in decline by 1967 — in health and hipness alike. Wilson revamped a song he wrote with Mike Love (for what became Three Dog Night). Now as a rollicking horn-driven soul number (with a great vocal from Carl Wilson), it became an unexpected highlight of this era for the band.

We’re picking up sad vibrations. But how traumatized can we feel, once the first few notes of any of Brian Wilson’s most classic songs hits our tympanic membrane? Even his most sorrowful songs — and there were plenty of those,

The musical world lost a giant with news Wednesday that Brian Wilson, the Beach Boys’ visionary and fragile leader, had died. He was 82. Attempting to distill Wilson's talent and influence in a few short songs is an impossibility;