1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die - #61. The Beach Boys - Pet Sounds (1966)

The Beach Boys - Pet Sounds (1966)

Label – Capitol
Producer – Brian Wilson
Art Direction – George Jerman
Nationality - USA
Running Time – 36:19

Track Listing (standout tracks listed in bold)

1. Wouldn't It Be Nice
2. You Still Believe
3. That's Not Me
4. Don't Talk (Put Your Head on My Shoulder)
5. I'm Waiting for the Day
6. Let's Go Away for Awhile
7. Sloop John B.
8. God Only Knows
9. I Know There's an Answer
10. Here Today
11. I Just Wan't Made for Times Like These
12. Pet Sounds
13. Caroline, No

To many, this is considered THE best Beach Boys album, and one of THE best records to come out of the 1960’s. The group reached a whole new level in terms of both composition and production, layering tracks upon tracks of vocals and instruments to create an almost ‘symphonic’ sound. Conventional keyboards and guitars were combined with orchestrated strings, bicycle bells, buzzing organs, harpsichords, flutes, theremin, Hawaiian-sounding string instruments, Coca-Cola cans, barking dogs, and more. Everything but the kitchen sink – which actually MAY be in there somewhere. The problem is – it’s just not very good!
Paul McCartney spoke often about the album's influence on The Beatles and how it led to their next masterpiece “Sgt. Peppers” and Rolling Stones manager Andrew Loog Oldham even went as far as placing unsolicited advertisements lauding the album in British music papers. I’ve always thought perhaps it was the drugs they were doing as they listened to the record. No offense to Sir McCartney, but the record is just really hard to listen to.
There are the upper-register male vocals (especially by Brian and Carl Wilson) that defined the Beach Boys sound on the two standout tracks "Wouldn't It Be Nice," and "God Only Knows," but the rest of the album is just a mess. It’s disjointed, with no flow to the tracks. It's often said that this is more of a Brian Wilson solo record than a Beach Boys recording (and in fact session musicians played most of the parts). Not helping matters was that "Caroline, No," released as the first single from the record was credited to Brian Wilson solo, leading to speculation that Wilson was considering leaving the band. Brian was on the border of being labelled ‘crazy’ around this time. What others call an advance in recording and an artist stretching to create new and original sounds, I call just dreadful.
On the charts, “Caroline, No” reached #32 in the United States. "Sloop John B" was extremely successful, scoring a #3 hit in the U.S. and #2 in Great Britain. "Wouldn't It Be Nice" reached #8 in the U.S. Its flip side, "God Only Knows," was another #2 single in Britain, but reached only #39 in the States. The LP broke into the Top Ten in the U.S., belying its reputation as a commercial failure there. ‘Pet Sounds’ greatest success was in the UK, where it reached #2 in the LP charts. It failed to reach gold status on its initial release, which disappointed Brian deeply. It eventually went gold in 2000.
For all the things it WASN’T to me perhaps George Martin, the Beatles producer, sums it up the best when he said "Without ‘Pet Sounds’, ‘Sgt. Pepper’ wouldn't have happened... Pepper was an attempt to equal Pet Sounds." That alone makes it’s existence ok – BUT I do not recommend it.


You can purchase the CD here.

ABSOLUTE ROCK BIRTHDAYS FOR FEBRUARY 11
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