Never been much of a Beach Boys fan but was intrigued by all of the praise that has been given to that album over the last thirty years or so. Picked up the cd and its pretty much all that I have listened to for the last few days. Not your “bushy bushy blond hairdo” stuff by any means. Any other non Beach Boys fans who have this in their collection?
Apologies if this has been adressed before.
It is my only BB album. I like it, but have never understood why it is considered one of the great albums of all time. Hard to beat “Sloop John B” though for some nice harmony work. It’s a great album, but I wouldn’t take it to a desert island, if you know what I mean.
I don’t think it’s the greatest music ever or anything but I like it a lot and understand all the enthusiasm about it.
Rhum Runner summed up my opinion of it perfectly. When VH-1 did a “greatest albums of all time” countdown a while ago, the top two were Revolver by the Beatles and Pet Sounds. I’d never heard of the album before, but Revolver is probably my favorite album, so I figured I should check it out.
I like “Sloop John B” and “Hang on to your Ego” a lot, and don’t mind “God Only Knows” or “Wouldn’t it be Nice.” It’s a perfectly fine album, but not one of my favorites. I got the impression that it was more influential than anything else; Paul McCartney claims there wouldn’t have been a Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band without Pet Sounds coming first.
At the time of it’s release, it was a very, very radical departure from the trademark Beach Boys albums, which before Pet Sounds had been filled with songs that were mainly about girls, summer, surfing, etc.
Also, by this time Brian Wilson had stopped touring and was spending all of his time in the studio, and the other Beach Boys would only come in to do the vocal tracks.
Because it wasn’t what people had come to expect from the Beach Boys the album didn’t sell well, and that really bruised Brian Wilson’s ego and psyche.
'Course the fact that he was doing acid and smoking pot like there was no tommorrow wasn’t helping him either.
For it’s time period, it was a radical album and it took rock off in a new direction.
Pet Sounds came out before Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. Brian Wilson was working on a even more sophisticated version of the stuff he had done in Pet Sounds that was to be called Smile. It was all going to be as complicated as “Good Vibrations,” which was an incredibly complex song for its time. Then he heard Sgt. Pepper’s Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band and said, “Oh, no, I’ve got to beat that.” Eventually he decided he couldn’t beat it and shelved the album.
Sort of.
Wilson ended up having a nervous breakdown, partly due to his drug use, and partly due to the stress in the recording studio.
Pet Sounds was originally in mono because Wilson is deaf in one ear, & his idol P. Spector hated stereo. In the stereo cut, Love sings the bridge on “Wouldn’t It Be Nice.” Also, the stereo allows you to hear Love terribly off key on “It’s Not ME.”