Paul McCartney once called "God Only Knows" "The greatest song ever written." Others have echoed that sentiment: Pharrell, Elton John, Lorde and more sing 'God Only Knows.

My wife and I have always been Beach Boy fans. Before the two of us met, their music served as a soundtrack for us both. That said, this weekend we decided to go see the new film about Brian Wilson, “Love & Mercy.” We almost, didn’t go. It was all but sold out. Every time I tried purchasing the tickets online the site would crash. The only seats were at the back of the theatre. But eventually we did and it was a revelation. After the film Brian Wilson and his wife, the director, producer and actor Paul Dano did a Q and A with the audience. There was Brian. Still standing. More alive and vibrant than he’d seemed in years.

The film is remarkable, revealing much of the pain, terror and anguish that Brian went through as well as revealing the magic of his music.

In the film both Dano and John Cusack both give remarkable performances as Wilson. Dano capturing him during the recording of “Pet Sounds” and Cusack in the 1980s, a lost, heavily medicated, frightened man-child under continual scrutiny of the cruel, dangerous Svengali-like psychotherapist, Eugene Landy, terrifyingly played by Paul Giamatti. Elizabeth Banks plays Melinda Ledbetter who, along with his incredibly brave housekeeper, would go on to help free him from Landy and eventually become Wilson's second wife.

It’s no surprise that Brian Wilson would fall under the spell of a man like Landy. Wilson’s father was cruel and controlling. It is believed that the reason Wilson is partially deaf in one ear is due to the repeated beatings his father dished out.

It’s forever confused me why so many people missed what seemed so strikingly obvious. Brian Wilson is a musical wonder.

I’ve thought so since I was a teenager, long before I started working as a rock journalist. I grew up to the sounds of the Doors, the Stones, the Velvet Underground, Leonard Cohen, Hendrix, Neil Young, the Kinks, etc. But the only band I was given grief for following were the Beach Boys. Once the British invasion came and was then followed by the Woodstock generation, they just weren’t cool enough.

Where in truth, Brian Wilson was always the most ambitious musician out there continually pushing the boundaries, bringing a rarely equaled sophistication to the world of rock.

“You actually listen to the Beach Boys?” people would ask in a mocking tone.

“Religiously,” I’d reply.

To which they’d laugh and shake their heads.

They were the ones who were poorer for it.

In time, I think he’ll no longer simply be categorized simply as a rock musician but as an American master along the lines of George Gershwin, Cole Porter, and Irving Berlin.

I was and remain an unabashed Beach Boy fan and not simply a post-“Pet Sounds” fan, but one from their earliest songs when they evoked a place and time then existed for very few who heard their music but was made real through the music.

But “Pet Sounds” was ground breaking and Wilson’s masterpiece. Although the album was not initially well received in the U.S. It was a huge hit in England, was a critical success and is now considered one of the most influential compositions in popular music and by many the most perfect rock album ever recorded.

It is an elegant sophisticated composition that is musically complex and precise. For example, to quote music critic Jim Fusilli: “["You Still Believe in Me"] begins in B major, a key rarely used in pop, and remains in B major. The G# major chord below the first, and only, time the word "love" is invoked in the song is particularly striking; on the second pass, the G# major chord hits below the word "fail." In a rare example of the bassist emphasizing the root in a Brian Wilson arrangement, Carol Kaye hits the G# in both instances. It's as if Brian wanted there to be no confusion for the listener: in his mind, at least in this song, love equals failure.”

Before “Pet Sounds” was released in England, the Who’s Keith Moon (who was a rabid Beach Boy fan) met with John Lennon and Paul McCartney to play it for them. As the story goes, they listen to the album twice in succession. Soon after Lennon and McCartney began to work on “Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.” According to Beatles producer George Martin, "Without “Pet Sounds,” “Sgt. Pepper” never would have happened....Pepper was an attempt to equal “Pet Sounds."

“Pet Sounds” includes "Wouldn't It Be Nice" "You Still Believe in Me"   the remarkable "Caroline, No" and “Sloop John B” But perhaps the most remarkable song in the album is “God Only Knows.”

Wilson used a number of unorthodox instruments, including the harpsichord and French horns that are heard in the song’s famous introduction. Although now a classic, it only managed to break the top-40 in the United States. It was released as a B-side partly because the label feared that radio stations would not play a song with “God” in the title. The song also begins with the words “I may not always love you,” which is unusual to say the least for a rock love song.

It would be a challenge to do a follow up to “Pet Sounds” and “Smile,” was set to be it. The work remained unreleased for decades. It was eventually released as the “Smile Sessions,” a compilation album and box set released in 2011. It is an approximation of what the completed “Smile” album might have sounded like. It included “Good Vibrations” and the ambitious “Surfs Up,” with lyrics by Van Dyke Parks.

So what does this have to do with public relations?

Well, if this can help drive people to the “Love & Mercy,” see this as my personal PR campaign for a man who so greatly influenced my life, creating the soundtrack for much of it. Brian Wilson literally lived through hell. He went through the fires and remains standing. In a strange twist, the Wilson brother who was considered the most fragile, is the only one still with us.

He continues to compose and perform.

He has impacted contemporary music in ways that are all but undefinable.

For many, he made the world a better place.

So, to quote the Beach Boys: Sail on Sailor.

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