Brian Wilson, the musical savant who scripted a defining Southern California soundtrack with a run of hit songs with the Beach Boys before being pulled down a rabbit hole of despair and depression when his highly anticipated masterwork was shelved unfinished,

pop music lost a pair of world builders: Sly Stone, who created visionary psychedelic rock, soul and pop that helped integrate popular music and captured harsh social realities under the guise of big...

“Pet Sounds,” the Beach Boys’ 1966 masterpiece, represents the apotheosis of Wilson’s expressive powers: the trembling anticipation he layers into “Wouldn’t It Be Nice,” the sting of betrayal in his ...