But the Beach Boys didn’t write “Sloop John B,” so comparison with the rest of their output has to focus on the performance and arrangement only.
“Quick Reply” my furry ass.
So who’s fault is it?
I think it’s a traditional Bahamian drinking song. But I’m not sure. Biffy, do you know?
I wonder if it was originally written in English. Maybe it’s a translation issue. The rest of the song is not so bad.
Well now, that’s interesting. Just last weekend I bought Pet Sounds and my initial impression of it was similar to what you said there. I figure to truly appreciate it I must either have the stereo blaring, or listen to it through a good pair of earphones to catch all the nuances. And that’s just concentrating on the music, not used as a backgroud music to what I’m doing.
That said, my initial answer to the OP would have been Good Vibrations with no arguments, but now I think I’ll have to relisten to Wouldn’t it be Nice.
Interesting thread.
No. You just need to listen. Pet Sounds took me several listens over a span of years to fully appreciate. I can still remember the day it all made sense to me. It was about two or three years ago, and I had been living in Budapest. Something made me borrow a friend’s copy of Pet Sounds, which had wonderful liner notes detailing the recording process and had detailed commentary on every single one of the songs. After reading the liner notes, I got back to the music and it was like an epiphany to me. All of a sudden, it all just made sense why music critics across generations hail this as one of the top three albums of all time. It was just a matter of active listening, and that’s what the liner notes helped me do. I didn’t need headphones or a blaring stereo system (although they help, but I listened on a typical cheapie $20 boom box).
Since that day, I’ve never been able to understand how I didn’t appreciate the genius of this record the first dozen times I heard it. You really need to delve into the music–behind the pop masquerade–to truly appreciate it. You can’t just listen to it as background music. You really need to pay attention.
Wouldn’t It Be Nice. No particular reason.
God Only Knows trumps both.
My vote’s for Wouldn’t It Be Nice, I think it’s sweet.
I agree with all of this 100%.
I’d have to give them both another listen to determine my favorite of the two, but I agree with all the posters who have said that “God Only Knows” beats them both.
Comparing songs on Pet Sounds is like comparing diamonds and gold bars.
BTW does anyone else think that the cover gives you not a clue as to the greatness of this album?
Wait, both songs are on Pet Sounds? And I thought I had to have it before.
YES. Well, I was only fourteen when my dad first lent it to me and told me it was great, but from the cover and the album name I was a bit scared to listen because it looked boring. Actually, I didn’t like it much then either. I came to appreciate Pet Sounds after seeing Brian Wilson last year.
So what other songs from it do people like? My other favorite besides GOK, WIBN, and SJB is That’s Not Me- at least I think that’s the one. It’s the one that has a part that goes “I once had a dream so I packed up and split for the city”.
Also, I really like Hang On To Your Ego/ I Know There’s An Answer. I don’t know which one I like better- I prefer the lyrics in Hang On To Your Ego but I think the performance of I Know There’s An Answer is a lot better.
“Wouldn’t It Be Nice” is on my list of Ten Greatest Pop Songs Ever Recorded.
“Good Vibrations,” on the other hand, often gets credit for being good when it was actually just new. I’m not saying it’s easy to do something new, but “Good Vibrations” just isn’t a great song. It had a lot of innovative instrumentation that no one had heard before, and these hooks and fluorishes formed an effective distraction from the fact that there just wasn’t much there there, to borrow from Gertrude Stein.
To answer the OP: “Wouldn’t It Be Nice,” hands down.
Sorry. I don’t know which one the Beach Boys version of GV is on, but it’s not Pet Sounds.
The new one is on Brian Wilson’s rerecording of Smile. Also, Todd Rundgren did a decent cover, though it sounds a little off to me. My dad said he almost likes it better because it doesn’t have Mike Love.
Another Beach Boys cd that’s worth getting is the one that has both of their albums from right before Pet Sounds. There’s some great stuff there.
One of their songs from it that I was surprised at how brilliant it is is You’re So Good To Me. It’s sounds like the type of crazy stuff Syd Barrett was doing two years later.
Oh no, I was responding to the other pairings. But it does beg the question that if Good Vibrations was on Pet Sounds, would the album have been the greatest of the 60’s? I would tend to think that honor would go to SP’s.
“Good Vibrations” was on Smiley Smile, the make-do album that came out when the original Smile project was abandoned.
Good Vibrations is extroverted and joyous
Wouldn’t It Be Nice is introverted and teenage-awkward
God Only Knows is mature and intimate
They’re all brilliant, but not really comparable. I find it hard to find a line more achingly accurate than WibN’s -
You know it seems the more we talk about it
It only makes it worse to live without it
But lets talk about it
but I love all three songs.
and, as I find myself doing a lot, I agree with pulykamell’s analysis - the more you listen, the more there is to listen to.
And that’s what’s great about the Beach Boys. For years, I dismissed them as vapid surfer rockers – much like the mutated neogroup that recorded Kokomo. But there’s so much more to their music just below the surface…