A wistfulness echoes in ‘Pet Sounds’

Forget Paul McCartney. Brian Wilson is the ‘60s rock icon who’s truly wondering whether fans still need him now that he’s 64.

As it turned out, there was more than enough love for the Beach Boys leader circulating through UCLA’s Royce Hall on Wednesday as he and his endlessly resourceful band crafted a musicologically spot-on, emotionally resonant 40th anniversary performance of the quintessential California band’s 1966 watershed album, “Pet Sounds.” It’s a work that still obviously touches him and fans deeply with its insistent yearning to find safe harbor for a gentle soul in a harsh world.

This encore performance, following his presentation of “Pet Sounds” in its entirety six years ago at the Hollywood Bowl, came with two big differences: Wilson’s interceding years of confidence-building live shows and the guest appearance by the only surviving original Beach Boy he’s ever likely to share a stage with again, Al Jardine.

Both contributed to Wilson’s relaxed manner and, perhaps, to his willingness to stretch for some notes in the long-lost falsetto range of that once-magnificent voice, one of the casualties of his drug abuse and nervous breakdown in the ‘60s.

The themes he and principal lyricist Tony Asher mined in “Pet Sounds” -- in songs such as “Wouldn’t It Be Nice,” “Don’t Talk (Put Your Head on My Shoulder)” and “I Just Wasn’t Made for These Times” -- ring differently coming from a man in his 60s. The dilemma when he wrote them at age 24 grew out of the awkward move from the comforting black and white of childhood into the disillusioning complexities of adulthood. Now, they carry additional layers of melancholy and acceptance when viewed from Wilson’s perspective as a battle-scarred survivor.

The songs also gave musical testament to the spirit of freedom that, for better and worse, defined the ‘60s. Wilson threw off creative restrictions of pop song structure, easily dispensing with the guitar-bass-drums foundation of most music of that time. In “Pet Sounds,” he dramatically expanded the pop lexicon with horns, winds, percussion, strings, accordion, bass harmonica and whatever he could get his hands on, demonstrating that anything indeed was possible for the truly inspired artist.

“Pet Sounds” was the centerpiece of a 3 1/2 -hour show that included an additional 90 minutes of Beach Boys hits, several with Jardine’s still-agile voice generously given the spotlight.

It began with a disarming 30-minute set from Scritti Politti, the British band fronted by Green Gartside, a man as hampered in his day by stage fright as Wilson long had been. Gartside and his band occasionally lost their footing but never their charm during a handful of hook-filled songs that proudly paid respects to Wilson, the Beatles and other masters of hummably under-your-skin pop music.

randy.lewis@latimes.com