A Tower Of Songs: Sylvie Simmons' Favourite Music | Page 9 of 14 | The Quietus

Baker's Dozen

Artists discuss the 13 records that shaped their lives

8. The Beach BoysPet Sounds

Oh, the Beach Boys. That was the first concert I went to on my own, without having a parent or anything with me. The first thing I saw was Beach Boys. And I think that was at the Finsbury Park Astoria or it might have changed its name to The Rainbow, I don’t remember, but it was it was magical, because of their melancholy within a hacky band. When I was a kid and bought singles, I used to turn them over to the B-side which invariably had a sad song and I would play that on my guitar. I was drawn to the melancholy and the melancholy Beach Boys songs are mind-blowingly good. Brian Wilson isn’t just fun, fun, fun and surf safari. It really is a beautiful, beautiful record and I still put it in my top five albums of all time.

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