Portrait: Brian Wilson

The next portrait my series, this is Brian Wilson, 

creative genius of the Beach Boys, and sometimes 

friend of Charles Manson. He was the force behind 

the album Pet Sounds, one of the most influential 

bits of recorded music committed to vinyl, Pet Sounds 

is a monumentally joyous celebration of life, which 

contrasts deeply with the personality of its creator; a 

troubled, reclusive, drug addled mind, Wilson slowly 

slipped into obscurity for the better part of 30 years 

when his follow up to Pet Sounds and would-be opus, 

the album Smile, became too much of an undertaking 

for his fragile ego. He would leave the album in pieces 

and unfinished until he returned to it in 2004, and 

finishing a version of the fabled recording.