Beach Boys Pet Sounds

What is there to say about Pet Sounds that hasn’t already been said? That it was the original orchestral pop album – the one which showed musicians and music-lovers alike what popular music could achieve? That it is Sir Paul McCartney’s favourite piece of vinyl? Or that it was the record which marked the Beach Boys’ transition from Californian surf-popsters to artists capable of a more sophisticated sound? There’s nothing much that rock snobs don’t already know about Pet Sounds, but for the uninitiated, here’s a taste of things to expect.

From the start the album was the brainchild of vocalist/bassist/songwriter Brian Wilson. While his bandmates were on the road, Wilson elected to stay at home and focus his energies on a new project. With lyricist Tony Asher and a huge cast of session musicians involved, all that was really required of the four remaining Beach Boys was to lay down the vocals, which Wilson arranged as scrupulously as the actual music. The band’s trademark multi-part vocals add to the texture of Pet Sounds as much as the instruments themselves, which include, aside from the standard guitars, bass and drums, cellos, baroque harpsichords, saxophones, accordions, sleigh-bells and glockenspiels.

Mad genius Wilson conceived of Pet Sounds as a single artistic statement, his aim to express emotion as intimately as possible through unique aural soundscapes, to create “sounds that would make the listener feel loved”. This is not the place to go for catchy ditties about cars and surfer girls. Instead, expect music that is evocative, luxuriant and almost spiritual; at times joyful and upbeat, at others dreamy and introspective. Expect lyrics about the youthful lust for independence and the bittersweetness of love. The radio songs – Wouldn’t It Be Nice, Sloop John B and G-d Only Knows – gain fresh appreciation from being listened to in the context of the album, and the lesser know tracks – the hymnal You Still Believe in Me, the gentle Don’t Talk and the full orchestral blast of I Know There’s An Answer – are sure to enchant the new listener.

As Pet Sounds was quite a departure from the standard Beach Boys formula, it was not embraced as eagerly by the public as by the critics on its release in 1966. However, its sales have since exceeded the million-unit mark, and it has remained an all-time favourite of rock snobs, James Hetfield and Cameron Crowe - to name a few. Indeed one could argue that the classic symphonic rock albums – The Flaming Lips’ Soft Bulletin, Queen’s A Night at the Opera, Meatloaf’s Bat Out of Hell and especially The Beatles’ Sgt Pepper – trace their origins to this lovely piece of work.

The Capitol Records CD reissue includes both the mono and studio mixes of Pet Sounds, albeit somewhat clumsily on a single disc. But that’s as good an excuse as any to listen to it twice in a row; as well as one of the great albums, it is also a great summer album – it sounds great in the car on a quiet drive to the beach or, indeed, on headphones during that bus trip to uni on a warm weekday morning. [5/5]

This review was published, with minor alterations, in the Summer School 2006 issue of Craccum.