Pet Sounds

So I finally got into Pet Sounds by The Beach Boys.  I was always told to listen to, specifically, this album for the longest time, but never did.  When I originally thought of the Beach Boys, I would think of there old hits like Surfin’ and their appearance on the show Home Improvement.  Luckily, being assigned the album, I finally found it time to figure out what everyone was talking about.  After listening thoroughly a few times I found it to be a complete masterpiece.  I actually stuck to the mono mixes because I believe that old sound is complimented well with a single channel; because of the warmer tape sound and the fact I can’t really stand a kit panned full left… but I digress.   The Beach Boys’ story was kind of interesting to me.  Brian Wilson, in my mind, has no taken a place as a Beethoven of sorts (deaf joke), but most defiantly one of the greatest songwriters of the century.  He was the chief writer, producer, arranger, and singer of most of the Beach Boys’ discography.  His level of involvement is so beyond then that of the other ‘Boys’ that when I think the Beach Boys, I mean Brian Wilson.  After a breakdown of sorts, Wilson stopped touring with the band so he could focus on the studio and creating the albums.  This would be easy for him to stretch his creative legs, while the rest of the band could tour and only return to place vocals over the tracks and then repeat the process.  They found it strange, however, when they returned to record vocals for Pet Sounds.  The Beach Boys to this point were the all American surfing band, with rich harmonies, and lighthearted lyrics of fun in the sun.  The lyrical content of this album was a lot heavier.  Instead of lyrics of fun, they were surprisingly about isolation and ironically mirrored Wilson’s feelings, even though he didn’t write the actual lyrics.  This made the rest of the Beach Boys nervous, but saw that it may have been for the best.  Some refer to this album as a showcase to Brian Wilson and what he brought to the table.  Another example of this was the influence he took from Phil Spector and his wall of sound.  Pet Sounds was filled with some of the most amazing pop arrangements of anything from horns, to water bottles.  This with addition of the beautiful harmonies and talent of the vocals, made this album fill out more than many albums have at this time.  An example of this would be the track “God Only Knows” where they actually couldn’t fit all the musicians in the studio!  It’s the small details like this that makes this album truly a work of art.