Various Artists: Harmony In My Head - The Music That Inspired The Genius Of Brian Wilson, 3CD Edition
In stock
el records
CAT No
ACME3CD385
6th November 2026
• Brian Wilson of The Beach Boys was one of the greatest songwriters and arrangers of all time.
• He was inspired in his art by the music of The Four Freshmen, George Gershwin and Johann Sebastian Bach.
• Wilson deployed these forces to create one of the most significant albums of the 60s, 'Pet Sounds'.
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Description
• Brian Wilson of The Beach Boys was one of the greatest songwriters and arrangers of all time.
• He was inspired in his art by the music of The Four Freshmen, George Gershwin and Johann Sebastian Bach.
• Wilson deployed these forces to create one of the most significant albums of the 60s, 'Pet Sounds'.
By the mid-1960s, the more adventurous pop groups on both sides of the Atlantic were gravitating from singles to albums as the natural format of expression; the LP offering the ideal medium for pushing commercial and creative limits. The key release of 1966 was The Beach Boys' 'Pet Sounds', a lush homage to Californian adolescence, consciously created by leader Brian Wilson as a riposte to The Beatles' 'Rubber Soul'. The Beatles were deeply impressed. Declaring 'Pet Sounds' to be "the album of all time", Paul McCartney conceded that they would need to surpass anything they had previously done to equal it artistically.
Late in 1964, Wilson had announced a retreat from public performance. He remained at home in order to craft a more poetic, ambitious style of songwriting and production, determined as he was to advance to (and surpass) 'Rubber Soul's deeper, more eclectic sound world.
Wilson saw 'Pet Sounds' not as a collection of tracks, but as a song cycle, an entity in itself. Its creation would necessarily be influenced by the music with which Brian had become enthralled; the innovative vocal harmonies of the Four Freshmen that he had studied intently in his early teens; the panoramic style of George Gershwin, who in the 1920s had embodied the new sophistication of American popular song; and the musical universe of Johann Sebastian Bach, master of counterpoint, whose vast body of work contained the technical prowess and emotional depth which Brian aspired to.
The art of The Four Freshmen, Gershwin and Bach that captivated Brian is presented here, the first music he remembers hearing: 'Rhapsody In Blue' that epitomises New York City in the jazz age; his introduction to the Four Freshmen, 'Day By Day, heard on his mother's car radio, and, in its entirety, Brian's first LP purchase 'The Four Freshmen And Five Trombones'; along with such Bach works as the cantata 'Jesu, Joy Of Man's Desiring', that inspired 'California Girls'.
TRACK LISTING
DISC ONE
The Four Freshmen
1. Now You Know
2. It's A Blue World
3. Poinciana
4. I'll Be Seeing You
5. I Knew You When
6. After You
7. We'll Be Together Again
8. Day By Day
9. Angel Eyes
10. Love Is Just Around The Corner
11. Mam'selle
12. Speak Low
13. The Last Time I Saw Paris
14. Somebody Loves Me
15. You Stepped Out Of A Dream
16. I Remember You
17. Love
18. Our Love Is Here To Stay
19. You Made Me Love You
20. Guilty
21. Graduation Day
22. Indian Summer
23. I'm Always Chasing Rainbows
24. I'll Remember April
25. Time Was
26. Little Girl Blue
27. Nancy (With the Laughing Face)
28. Their Hearts Were Full Of Spring
DISC TWO
George Gershwin
1. Django Reinhardt - The Man I Love
2. Leonard Bernstein - Rhapsody In Blue
3. John Coltrane - Summertime
4. Oscar Peterson Trio - I Wants To Stay Here
5. Oscar Peterson Trio - It Ain't Necessarily So
6. Oscar Peterson Trio - Oh Bess, Oh Where's My Bess?
7. Miles Davis - Prayer (Oh Doctor Jesus)
8. Miles Davis - Summertime
9. Bill Evans Trio - My Man's Gone Now
10. Mel Tormé - Our Love Is Here To Stay
11. Earl Wild / The Boston Pops - Variations on 'I Got Rhythm'
12. Ray Conniff Singers - S'Wonderful
13. Nat Adderley - I've Got A Crush On You
14. Julie London - They Can't Take That Away From Me
15. Oscar Peterson Trio - A Foggy Day (In London Town)
DISC THREE
Johann Sebastian Bach
1. The Choir of King's College, Cambridge / David Willcocks - Motet: Jesu, Priceless Treasure
2. Helmut Walcha - The Art Of Fugue In D minor, BWV 1080: Contrapunctus 1
3. Glenn Gould - Partita No. 5 in G major, BWV 829: Preambulum
4. Munich Bach Orchestra and Choir / Karl Richter - Magnificat in D major, BWV 243: Chorus: Magnificat anima mea
5. Munich Bach Orchestra and Choir / Karl Richter - Magnificat in D major, BWV 243: Trio: Suscepit Israel
6. Munich Bach Orchestra and Choir / Karl Richter - Magnificat in D major, BWV 243: Chorus: Sicut locutus est
7. Munich Bach Orchestra and Choir / Karl Richter - Magnificat in D major, BWV 243: Chorus: Gloria Patri
8-22. Marcelle Meyer - Two-Part Inventions BWV 772-786
23-36. Glenn Gould - Sinfonias (Three-Part Inventions), NOS. 2-15 BWV 788-801
37. Munich Bach Orchestra and Choir / Karl Richter - Mass in B minor, BWV232: Credo: Crucifixus
38. Munich Bach Orchestra and Choir / Karl Richter - Mass in B minor, BWV232: Gloria: Gratias agimus tibi
39. Yehudi Menuhin / The Bath Festival Orchestra - The Musical Offering, BWV 1079: Ricercar a 3 (a three-part fugue)
40. Yehudi Menuhin / The Bath Festival Orchestra - The Musical Offering, BWV 1079: Canon in Augmentation and Contrary Motion
41. Radio Orchestra Beromünster / Hermann Scherchen - The Art of Fugue in D minor, BWV 1080: 41 Contrapunctus 9, a 4. alla Duodecima
42. Leopold Stokowski Symphony Orchestra - Cantata BWV147 'Herz und Mund und Tat und Leben': 42 Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring
43. Samuil Feinberg - The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book 2 43 Prelude No. 12 in F minor, BWV 881
Additional Information
| Pre Order Date | 2026-11-06 00:00:00 |
|---|---|
| Release Date | Nov 6, 2026 |
| Pre order | 06/11/2026 |
| Artist | Various Artists |
| Barcode | 5013929338531 |
| Genre | Rock |
| Label | el records |
| Format | Box Set |
Tracklist
DISC ONE
The Four Freshmen
1. Now You Know
2. It's A Blue World
3. Poinciana
4. I'll Be Seeing You
5. I Knew You When
6. After You
7. We'll Be Together Again
8. Day By Day
9. Angel Eyes
10. Love Is Just Around The Corner
11. Mam'selle
12. Speak Low
13. The Last Time I Saw Paris
14. Somebody Loves Me
15. You Stepped Out Of A Dream
16. I Remember You
17. Love
18. Our Love Is Here To Stay
19. You Made Me Love You
20. Guilty
21. Graduation Day
22. Indian Summer
23. I'm Always Chasing Rainbows
24. I'll Remember April
25. Time Was
26. Little Girl Blue
27. Nancy (With the Laughing Face)
28. Their Hearts Were Full Of Spring
DISC TWO
George Gershwin
1. Django Reinhardt - The Man I Love
2. Leonard Bernstein - Rhapsody In Blue
3. John Coltrane - Summertime
4. Oscar Peterson Trio - I Wants To Stay Here
5. Oscar Peterson Trio - It Ain't Necessarily So
6. Oscar Peterson Trio - Oh Bess, Oh Where's My Bess?
7. Miles Davis - Prayer (Oh Doctor Jesus)
8. Miles Davis - Summertime
9. Bill Evans Trio - My Man's Gone Now
10. Mel Tormé - Our Love Is Here To Stay
11. Earl Wild / The Boston Pops - Variations on 'I Got Rhythm'
12. Ray Conniff Singers - S'Wonderful
13. Nat Adderley - I've Got A Crush On You
14. Julie London - They Can't Take That Away From Me
15. Oscar Peterson Trio - A Foggy Day (In London Town)
DISC THREE
Johann Sebastian Bach
1. The Choir of King's College, Cambridge / David Willcocks - Motet: Jesu, Priceless Treasure
2. Helmut Walcha - The Art Of Fugue In D minor, BWV 1080: Contrapunctus 1
3. Glenn Gould - Partita No. 5 in G major, BWV 829: Preambulum
4. Munich Bach Orchestra and Choir / Karl Richter - Magnificat in D major, BWV 243: Chorus: Magnificat anima mea
5. Munich Bach Orchestra and Choir / Karl Richter - Magnificat in D major, BWV 243: Trio: Suscepit Israel
6. Munich Bach Orchestra and Choir / Karl Richter - Magnificat in D major, BWV 243: Chorus: Sicut locutus est
7. Munich Bach Orchestra and Choir / Karl Richter - Magnificat in D major, BWV 243: Chorus: Gloria Patri
8-22. Marcelle Meyer - Two-Part Inventions BWV 772-786
23-36. Glenn Gould - Sinfonias (Three-Part Inventions), NOS. 2-15 BWV 788-801
37. Munich Bach Orchestra and Choir / Karl Richter - Mass in B minor, BWV232: Credo: Crucifixus
38. Munich Bach Orchestra and Choir / Karl Richter - Mass in B minor, BWV232: Gloria: Gratias agimus tibi
39. Yehudi Menuhin / The Bath Festival Orchestra - The Musical Offering, BWV 1079: Ricercar a 3 (a three-part fugue)
40. Yehudi Menuhin / The Bath Festival Orchestra - The Musical Offering, BWV 1079: Canon in Augmentation and Contrary Motion
41. Radio Orchestra Beromünster / Hermann Scherchen - The Art of Fugue in D minor, BWV 1080: 41 Contrapunctus 9, a 4. alla Duodecima
42. Leopold Stokowski Symphony Orchestra - Cantata BWV147 'Herz und Mund und Tat und Leben': 42 Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring
43. Samuil Feinberg - The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book 2 43 Prelude No. 12 in F minor, BWV 881
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