Pet Sounds

[ALago1]

After hearing so much about this album and how many consider it to be the best of all time, I bought it when I saw it in my local music store today.

To tell you the truth, I was fairly unimpressed. Maybe it takes more than a few listens to "get it", but I think that the Beatles win this rivalry. Imo, both Revolver and Sgt. Pepper are far better than this.

That isn't to say that I didn't enjoy the album. Quite the contrary, there were some great tunes on it. "Wouldn't It Be Nice" is a great song, and I also enjoyed "I'm Waiting for the Day" and "Caroline, No". Also, I must say that I honestly think that "God Only Knows" is the greatest pop song ever written. It is so incredibly beautiful and actually made this bitter and cynical post-adolescent's eyes tear up after listening to it. I listened to this track about 8 times in a row, never tiring of it. What a great melody with great instrumentation, and beautiful lyrics. But as far as the album as a whole is concerned, it leaves much to be desired.

Perhaps it is because I was expecting so much from all the praise that has been lumped upon it. I only listened to the whole thing through once so maybe it will grow on me.

What are your thoughts on this album?

[Screaming Lord Byron]

1. Aaahh! Treachery! Treachery! BURN THE HERETIC!

Fair enough. It may take a few listens. The Smile bootleg is better

[XNASA]

2. I Just Wasn't Made For These Times is my theme song.

I love Pet Sounds, though I prefer Surf's Up.

[Richardo]

3. The hardest part is to imagine oneself in context of the times and tech

Aside from the music itself, albums like "Pet Sounds" and "Sgt Pepper" were literally unprecedented in terms of production and technology. Multi-track overdubs, sound effects, even printing the song lyrics on the cover (Sgt Pepper) had NEVER been done before.

After 30+ years of constantly improving technology and imaginative production, it's hard to imagine what these albums must have sounded like to the general public who had never heard the like in their lives.

Except for we nascent codgers who were among those that heard them when they were released and therefore don't have to rely on our imaginations. :D

[mac56]

5. That's exactly what I was about to post, Richardo!

Like so many classics, it has to be taken in the context of what was around it at the time. Actually, it wasn't much of a seller when it first came out - "Beach Boys Party!" was a bigger seller at the time. Featuring "Barbara Ann", if memory serves. Not like that proves anything, but I'm just saying.

ALago, I think it will grow on you. Do you have the version with the alternate tracks? Listen to "I Know There's An Answer" and then to "Hang On To Your Ego", the earlier version of the same song. An interesting transformation.

And I've always had a soft spot for "Sloop John B". Summer cruisin' music, but with a slight edge.

[Lefty48197]

26. Beach Boys Party!

Now that's a great album! It makes you feel like you're hangin on the beach listening to the boys jam.

[ALago1]

19. Very true

I wish I was alive for that era in history. Everything today seems so bland and sterile, corporatized even.

I wasn't made for these times...

[CanuckAmok]

4. I agree...

..I think it's a case of "the Emperor's New Clothes". X rock critic says "I know it's the Beach Boys, but...", and Y critic agrees...

The virus spreads.

It's an enjoyable album, but not a 'masterpiece'.

[emulatorloo]

6. Give it some time . . .

It took me about 10 listens to go from "this is nice" to becoming totally obsessed with it.

And later, when I was going through some hard times, this album really helped me carry on. So that made it more special.

Some of the other great songs you didn't mention that really get me going:

That's Not Me
I Know There's An Answer
I Just Wasn't Made For These Times

PS Hope you got the recent Stereo Remix

[The Sushi Bandit]

9. I just got chills while reading your thread.

Takes me back to a simpler time.

[Chomskyite]

7. This is music that can save your life

. . . written and arranged almost exclusively (he got help with the lyrics and the vocals) by Brian Wilson, a man in desperate mental pain at the time. From such pain comes transcendent art . . . that gives us all the strength to keep going.

I'm an omnivore when it comes to music. I compare this album favorably to about 6 of the Beethoven symphonies, and Beethoven was the greatest composer who has ever lived.

That tells you just a little of what I think about this album.

Also try to find the stereo version floating around on the internet if you can. It's even more overwhelming.

[emulatorloo]

12. Hope, Joy, Love, Loss, Regrets, Pain, Insecurity

and arrangements that go from a whisper to a scream and back again.

Well put, Chomskyite :toast:

The 5.1 remix is good too, and for a different perspective, Brian's recent "Pet Sounds Live" The voice is worn, older but wiser, "Don't Talk, Put Your Head On My Shoulder" takes your breath away.

[Spirochete]

24. There's a stereo version?

I didn't know that. I thought everything produced by Brian Wilson was mono, since he's deaf in one ear.

[ALago1]

25. The Cd I have has both mono & stereo

...placed on one disc. Its a special edition issue i think commemorating an anniversary of its release.

The stereo version is much much better than mono!

[emulatorloo]

29. VancSouthpaw, get the stereo remix if you don't have, or the 5.1 DTS mix

Brian consulted and approved; Mark Linett engineered and produced. It is simply amazing how beautiful it sounds.

[The Sushi Bandit]

8. You had to be alive when it was released.

And know where music was in its evoloution. This album was light years ahead of the rest. Also "Revolver" is in the same class.

Remember in an interview with the Beatles. they said that "Pet Sounds" was the most Ground braking album of its day.

[jeter]

10. The thing about Pet Sounds...

Is that it was released in 1966. Before Sgt. Pepper. Before anything we consider classic. Pet Sounds invented a whole new way to make music. Sgt. Pepper was inspired by Pet Sounds.

BTW, "God Only Knows" has to only be the best song ever written.

[ALago1]

18. I can absolutely appreciate the innovative aspect

The album is undoubtedly completely different than anything else that came before it. For that reason alone, it should be respected by all fans of popular music.

[Guaranteed]

11. It's not THE best, but one of the best ever.

Give it time. The guy who wrote it is (was) a genius.

[regnaD kciN]

13. "God Only Knows"...

Also, I must say that I honestly think that "God Only Knows" is the greatest pop song ever written.

Paul McCartney has said exactly the same thing.

[CanuckAmok]

14. It's certainly up there.

But I prefer the version Elvis Costello did with the Brodsky Quartet is miles better than the Beach Boys version.

[tridim]

27. Yep, it's in the "sends chills up my spine" list

of great songs. Oddly enough another "God" song does that to me, XTC's "Dear God".

[Character Assassin]

15. The Beatles listened to it before making Sgt. Pepper's.

And McCartney esp. has commented how much they were impressed by it.

[Zuni]

16. It is a fantastic album

One of my all time favorites. Revolver by the Beatles which you also mentioned, is another.
God Only Knows, Caroline No, Wouldn't it be Nice and I know there is an Answer are my favorite tracks.

[grannylib]

17. And just when I had gotten the Beach Boys OUT of my head...

I had one of their tunes running endlessly through my brain earlier in the week (Barbara Ann) and I really am not a BB fan at all, and NOW you go and bring this up...sheesh!
Better go listen to something else, quick, before the madness starts again...gaaaaaaaaghhhhhhhh!

[NightTrain]

20. Good album but way overrated

I much prefer the Beach Boys' early material ("Surfin' USA," "Little Deuce Coupe," "I Get Around," "Fun, Fun, Fun") to almost anything they did after 1965.

[jeter]

21. Listening to it right now

"God only knows, what i'd be without you..."

[Tredge]

22. Personal standpoint

I agree with the sentiment, expressed earlier in this thread by several others, that new listeners need to hear the album a few times before one begins to really appreciate it.

I remember the first few times I heard it was during work on the graveyard shift. The guy working with me bought Pet Sounds after learning how highly The Beatles regarded it. The first time through we looked at each other, shrugged our shoulders, and put on some other music. Over a couple of weeks though we listened to it a few more times, and pretty soon we began to understand what McCartney et al. meant with their praise.

I'll try to explain how I think of the album. While most albums then and now contain songs of varying quality - a standout single or two and the rest more or less "filler" material - Pet Sounds works by a different formula. The album doesn't have that standout single (though some come close, they don't announce themselves that way), and so the entire collection is able to speak clearly as a collection. So at the end of listening to the album you receive more the impression of the entire work, and not of the individual pieces. It is almost like a symphony that way - one work made of several parts that are different but work together towards one end.

And that end, the theme, stands out. It talks to that point in one's life, the early twenties perhaps, where we try to determine how we'll act in the world as adults, and the first unsteady steps we take into adulthood. There are mistakes, there is fear, there is the sense of being lost, of not knowing if we can do it or even if it is worth doing. One of Brian Wilson's defining traits then was his extreme fear (and degrading grip on his sanity) which could very well have made him the perfect messenger for this theme.

It isn't a great album because it's avant garde or especially daring. It endures because it is both accessible and simple and universal. I think many first listeners, hearing all the hype and praise about Pet Sounds, go in expecting a slog. They start by hunting for sublimity and hidden meanings, the kinds of difficulties many works of genius require. Pet Sounds isn't like that - to enjoy it you've got to be settled and relaxed, not clenched up ready for intellectual fireworks.

I'd say give it another few chances, and not to work at it. You'll never really enjoy it if you try to work at it.

[mac56]

23. Great analysis, Tredge.

Welcome to DU, by the way.

[Search Party]

28. my top 5 of all time

the Pet Sounds Sessions box set is worth every penny if you are into this record. how this record was "built" is amazing. I especially enjoy listening to Brian work in the studio with the musicians.

I never tire of it, listen to it once a month, at the least.