Once upon a time, pop and rock came together and made a baby, and its name was Pop-Rock. Very strictly speaking, Pop-Rock is a fusion genre that mixes a catchy pop style and light lyrics in its (typically) guitar-based rock songs. Other genres that bear similar traits would be Powerpop, Melodic Rock, Soft Rock, Jangle Pop, Glam Rock, New Wave, Indie Pop and of course, Rock ’n’ Roll.
Re-watched the fabulous Brian Wilson biopic, Love and Mercy recently and of course, I spent most of it with a lump in my throat. Isn’t that what Brian Wilson/The Beach Boys has always been about – the emotions? So I decided to present to you, my faithful PoP visitors, eight album tracks you should listen to in order to understand the length, breadth and depth of the ‘feels’ that the Beach Boys are capable of evoking viz. loneliness, melancholy and the usual heartbreak. *Sigh*
“The Lonely Sea”
“The Warmth of the Sun”
“Wendy”
“When I Grow Up (To Be a Man)”
“And Your Dreams Come True”
“I Just Wasn’t Made For These Times”
“Be Here in the Mornin’”
“Time to Be Alone”
Finally, a bit of a cheat – not an album deep cut but a single that the record-buying public just failed to fully appreciate but it will always be my favourite Brian Wilson/Beach Boys song.
“The Little Girl I Once Knew”
… still there’s more …