Nick Perovich writes:

>I think that one of the reasons there are so few covers for
>Beach Boys songs is that, unlike most pop music, the melody is
>hardly the point of most interest.

I agree with your point about the Wilson sound, but the swipe it takes at
Wilson's phenomenal melodic gifts is unnecesary.  For every song like "Good
Vibrations," which exemplifies your point, there is another in which a
magnificent tune reigns supreme.

For example, in the sub-genre of intricate/sinuous melody, to my mind the
most perfect tune ever penned is "God Only Knows" from *Pet Sounds.* The
closest competitor is the equally serpentine "Ebarme Dich" from the Matthew
Passion, or perhaps the extended and astonishing second subject of the
second movement of the Schubert Great C Major.  I mean these comparisons
in all seriousness.

The only startling intrumental touch in "God Only Knows" occurs in the
short introduction, when a French horn glissandos upwards to forshadow the
falsetto swoops of the Boys at the end.  In between, though, the tune is
It.  And what a tune.

Tom Davey/San Francisco
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