Who was the most spiritual of the Beach Boys?

[rab2591]

FYI -

I have several posts on the spirituality of The Beach Boys.

https://prayforsurfblog.blogspot.com/search?q=spiritual

Phil

This is FULL of great stuff. Thanks for sharing this. Looking through 'Stephen John Kalinich ~ A Conversation' - a couple amazing things:

"“Be Still” was inspired by the Bible quote: “Be Still and KNOW that I am God.”"

I have always held a special place in my heart for this song - very cool to hear how it was inspired.

"I think there is God in their music; inspiring spirituality even in the sad ones."

It's no wonder that Pet Sounds has so much emotional/spiritual power in it, that Brian & Carl prayed a lot during that album.

[rab2591]

Obviously it's an impossible question to answer.
But if you ask me to name the most spiritual album I've ever heard, the first one that comes to mind is Pacific Ocean Blue.

I would have to say Pet Sounds, but POB is definitely up there for sure - almost nothing as soul-stirring as the outro of 'Moonshine'. I feel like 'Today!' has a lot of spirituality on it - not at all in the lyrics really, but the feel of that album is very spiritual to me - can't really explain it though.

[Don Malcolm]

So glad to see this thread resurrected, it contains commentary from some very special personages who were particularly qualified to weigh in on this subject.

Regarding spiritual elements in the BBs songs, let's note that there are other "flavors" of spirituality that dovetail with its religious manifestations, including anguish, lamentation, acceptance of loss, and redemption. Much of Dennis' work fits into these tonalities, and it gets more pronounced in the POB material, where he even touches upon a more mystical appreciation of the spiritualitv of love in "Tug of Love," which was thankfully restored to us when the double-CD collection was released (along, of course, with "Holy Man").

And there's a reason why Dennis appropriated the lyrics of Bob Burchman for "It's About Time," with their themes of redemption and spiritual growth.

The essence of love takes a mystical/sexual dimension in something like Carl's "Feel Flows," and the group found a framework for their TM leanings in "All This Is That."

The astrology lyrics that Mike supplied for "Funky Pretty" are a bit too glib to be truly "spiritual," but the elusive "Pisces lady" is called that explicitly, and its a primary aspect of the singer's attraction and love for her--which is all part of a pattern of "romantic spirituality" that permeates a string of BB love songs.