i have loved prince and his amazing music since 1982....always thought he was and is a genius.....i have always loved the beatles music since i was 12 and regard lennon/mccartney as songwriting geniuses and in the last few years...have listened closely to stevie wonder's back catalogue and through most of the 70s....there is no doubt he was a musicial genius....

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but if i had to pick an era where i believe typifies someone who was touched by genius....it would be brian wilson from 1965 til 1967 which then lead to his nervous breakdown which he never really fully recovered....the songs that that guy was writing during this time where.....imo....among the greatest in pop history...he was writing these great songs in competition with the beatles who had two superb songwriters and against some of the beach boys who were against him writing anything outside the surf sound they had become famous for....he wanted to develop as a songwriter and while the band where away touring .....he wrote the 1966 classic 'pet sounds' album which is regarded now as one of the greatest albums ever released and included a whole host of amazing and complex songs....

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then after pet sounds was released....he started recording what he hoped would be his masterpiece which was to be called 'smile' and like the huge single released around that time 'good vibrations ' the songs on smile were to be complex and many songs had different sections but, in the end , although almost completed , the album was never released as brian's mental health became worse and he could not finish the album....but most of the amazing songs from that album have come out and are a true testement to his genius and when people say there is a thin line between genius and madness....brian wilson definately walked that line between 1965 and 1967....

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if i could recommend one album than shows his genius...then i would recommend this one...i love it....

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[Edited 9/23/10 9:04am]

The Beach Boys created some GREAT music during that period. Brian being the studio genius he became led to what happened with them. It finally broke them out of that surfing, teenybopper phase they were in. They (along with Bob Dylan) inspired the Beatles to drop the pretenses of their act. But they hardly get the credit for that.

his new cd is great btw, it's his interpretations of gershin songs, and it sounds very much like pet sounds

i've got a ton of beach boys/wilson bootlegs, there's umpteen discs of all the sessions from pet sounds and a load of smile sessions too, plus later and earlier studio stuff, it's interesting to hear some of the classics being put together. the wilson bio is also great

I understand the studio part of his genius. The guy had an incredible ear and a great mind for pushing what could be done with the equipment of the day. But I've never liked their music. I've had more friends than I can count tell me over and over how great this or that album is, but I just can't get into it.