Two of music’s powerful visionaries died this week. The songs they meticulously constructed offered an escape their makers struggled to realize in their own lives.

Sometimes there are strange symmetries in death, as in life. The twin passings of Sly Stone and Brian Wilson this week brought that into sharp relief.Both were

Based in San Francisco, Sly and the Family Stone was responsible for some of the biggest anthems of the late ’60s and early ’70s, including “Everyday People,” “Hot Fun in the Summertime,” and the double A-side release “Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)” and “Everybody Is a Star.”