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Brian Wilson: Reassessed

Ira Robbins, salon.com, 10 April 2001

AT THE BRIAN WILSON tribute concert in New York in March, a short film explained that Wilson had lived his whole life in fear and casually mentioned his "untreated mental illness". A parade of pop music scholars – led by host Chazz Palminteri, who said that he both heard and liked the Beach Boys' records as a youth in the Bronx 'hood, and including Beatles producer Sir George Martin, '60s survivor Dennis Hopper, Rod Stewart survivor Rachel Hunter and '70s romantic Cameron Crowe – delivered familiar pieties about Wilson's groundbreaking work more than 30 years ago. Were Dean Martin roasts ever this harsh?

Total word count of piece: 1928

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