Is Pet Sounds really all that great?

I agree.

Brian Wilson did a lot of experimentation in the studio during the recording of this record, and other artists at the time were influenced by it. For example, The Beatles cited Pet Sounds as giving them ideas for Sgt. Pepper.

That said, some of Wilson's more navel-gazing songwriting on this album is almost cringe worthy.

Yes, it's great. You're stupid. The end.

OP, I wonder if you're in the situation of "discovering" an entity that was unbelievably seminal, but suffers because it WAS so groundbreaking, it now feels "dated."

Pet Sounds, some Beatles albums and certain classic films fall in this category because most current art is so "meta."

R4 That could be the case. But there are a lot of albums from the 60's that I enjoy. It could be the constant hype and praise set unrealistic expectations. I appreciate it was groundbreaking at the time but one of the greatest albums ever???? Feels like an overreach.

I love Pet Sounds. In fact, I own two copies it on vinyl. It’s a lot better when you’re high on pot, and of course dodging the opening track makes for better listening. “Don’t Talk” is my favorite track off the album.

The technical innovations are what makes it one of the greatest. A lot of new things that weren’t previously in mainstream pop are on that album. It was something revolutionary at its release in May 1966. Listening to it once also isn’t how you appreciate it I’ve found— around the fourth or fifth relisten you really start to get into it.

Yes. Wouldn't it Be Nice, Sloop John B, and God Only Knows are highlights for me. The other tracks don't knock my socks off but are all expertly performed with groundbreaking compositional and production techniques. Is it one of my top 10 personal favorite albums of the 1960's? No, there are many albums I would prefer to listen to. But Pet Sounds is clearly one of the most innovative and influential albums of its time and that weighs large in its legacy. Deservedly so, I think.

Sometimes you need to be there for the before and after to appreciate the influence of works. [italic]Bladerunner[/italic] is a movie that had a huge impact on editing, but if you grew up with those influences already in place, it might not look so special. Brian Wilson was experimenting with overdubbing as a teenager and a reel-to-reel recorder he'd been given. His work was influential, just ask Paul McCartney: "no one is educated musically 'til they've heard that album."

The songs just sound like all the other Beach Boys songs to me.

[quote]Sometimes you need to be there for the before and after to appreciate the influence of works. Bladerunner is a movie that had a huge impact on editing, but if you grew up with those influences already in place, it might not look so special.

This is so true. It's all about the context of what was happening before the album came out.

Listen to multiple other albums from 1963-66 especially those that were considered cutting edge at the time. Listen to nothing but those albums for several days, then listen to Pet Sounds and see if you can tell what was so revolutionary about Pet Sounds.

It’s also considered one the best albums ever just because of the beautiful music and lyrics. It’s not an album I revisit a lot but as a teenager I found the lyrics and the sweet production tugging my heart strings over and over. I am a romantic so I do enjoy sentimental tunes but I still think It’s just a terrific set of songs but admittedly with very adolescent themes. Its sweetness is sincere.

Yes, it is that great of an album

N.B. I went (several years after) to the same elementary, intermediate and high schools as the Wilson brothers. To this day, hey are worshiped as the best that community could produce…many, many stories I’ve heard about Brian, especially. He was genius as a musician.

God Only Knows is a bloody masterpiece. Live some more life and you'll see.

Maybe it was groundbreaking for its time.

If I look at the track list, I don't see any songs that I absolutely love. My favorite BB songs would be "The Warmth of the Sun" and "In My Room," which are not on Pet Sounds. I like "Don't Worry, Baby," but that's probably not cool to like that song.

[quote]God Only Knows is a bloody masterpiece.

Especially when Olivia covered it.

Who cares if it’s “cool” to like Don’t Worry Baby or not. Just like what you like.

...some worthwhile performances from this special that aired recently

Pet Sounds is one of my favorite albums of all time. You don't like it as much as I do. That's alright. There are other records thought of as the Best Album of All Time that I can't sit and listen to.

Exile on Main Street is one of them. First Stones album after a whole run I liked a lot on which I couldn't find a single song to listen to. Van Morrison's Astral Weeks is another. As much as I liked the four or five albums that came after it, I simply couldn't find anything to like in Astral Weeks. The Grateful Dead have always left me wondering what the fuss is about.

I'm not going to try to convince you to like Pet Sounds. Why would I? We don't all have to like the same music. If anyone is interested, however, I will say I like Smile, the that was supposed to come out after Smile, even more than I like Pet Sounds.

Pet sounds get me off.

Blade Runner still rocks.

If you haven't heard Pet Sounds, here it is in mono, which sounds better.

r20 have you made any real friends yet?

I listened to Pet Sounds for the first time after watching Love And Mercy a few months ago. I like Caroline No, Still Believe In Me, Let's Go Away For A While and Put Your Head On My Shoulder. But this one ⬇️ is my favourite track and relatable for lots of DLers.

My fave too - R22.

sorry, I meant r23

[quote] Let's Go Away For A While

If you liked that you'll like this a well, from a later LP.

[quote]Maybe it was groundbreaking for its time.

Isn't that how groundbreaking works? Something different comes along and then affects a lot of what follows.

IMO, it IS the greatest record ever made. The technology , song writing, production, musicianship and vocal were/are to this day spectacular!

That's fine. We all have "official masterpieces" that leave us cold. I love "Pet Sounds" but I couldn't care less for Robert Wyatt's "Rock Bottom" for example. I listened to it several times but never "got it", and still, it's a cult album for many.

[quote]We all have "official masterpieces" that leave us cold

Yes.

>>>

Thank you, r29. I've never heard of "Rock Bottom" before, so I'm listening to it now on YT. And I agree completely, and have WWed, r30. I cannot for the life of me figure out what is so wonderful about Astral Weeks, in spite of the fact that I liked Van Morrison's next five or six albums a lot.

I'm reading that Rock Bottom came out in 1974. I was listening to the Beach Boys then, as Pet Sounds was re-released in the spring. I had all the albums that came before it, and singles from before and after 1966, but I had never bought Pet Sounds. I believed the rock press of the era, who referred to the Beach Boys as "Doris Days on surfboards."

I loved it so much, from the very first time I put it on the turntable, I spent most of that year listening to the Beach Boys. I bought all the records that had bits and pieces of what would eventually be known as Smile. I loved parts of those albums (Smiley Smile, 20/20, Friends, Wild Honey), too.

1974, coincidentally, is the year Rock Bottom was released. It's too soon for me to know if I'm going to love it, but I'm going to listen through.

[quote]1974, coincidentally, is the year Rock Bottom was released. It's too soon for me to know if I'm going to love it, but I'm going to listen through.

Good luck with that. I picked out just one song and it's AWFUL.

Yeah, r32. I listened all the way through. I don't think I'll return for seconds.

- r31

I remember singing this song in our kitchen and I sang the last line and my mother didn't believe that could be the lyric. I guess it is kinda risqué (for 1967, at least).

Is this from the era when Brian Wilson was eating ice cream for breakfast? That’s better than psychedelics.

No. Brian was a schlocky lyricist and most were dull songs. A real genius is Frank Zappa.

I love Pet Sounds.

Dusty in Memphis is another album that is worthy of all the hype. I prefer Dusty in Memphis but Pet Sounds is gorgeous. The Beach Boys have a lot of great albums.

[quote]Brian was a schlocky lyricist

Tony Asher wrote the lyrics to most songs on Pet Sounds.

He was so bad others had to do the writing. Some genius.

r39 Brian Wilson doesn't write lyrics. He writes and arranges music; produces recordings; plays guitar, bass, and keyboards. He is a genius.

I think Wilson was on the cusp of something great. “Surf’s Up” which he wrote around that time certainly hinted to that. I think he went overboard trying to create “Smile”, and after that the magic was lost. The footage below is from 1966.

Brian didn't write the lyrics. You have no idea what you're talking about, R36. It would have been easier to say it's not your jam ad Zappa is, because the rest is just subjective trash. You'd also understand why the lyrics sound "schlocky" of you actually knew who the lyricist was.

Beach boys make me vomit

They played at my high school’s prom in 1969 (held @ the Beverly Hilton). They were on fire that night.

42, Zappa is not my jam. I just discovered him and immediately recognize genius. Brian just write a couple of really good pop songs. Sure he tried adding flugelhorn and bells but really, the songs suck.

If you want put Brian's on Zappa level. That's on you.

His genius is fabled

I've tried, and I do appreciate the novelties and care that went into it, but ultimately it still seems like a overreaching attempt by someone who lacked the emotional maturity or artistic dexterity to make it fully work. Like a brilliant teenager with Asberger's working in a loop.

R3 confuses offensive posturing with individual taste explained through sensitive sharing of an aesthetic response.

Let's take a look at what R3 is.

Interestingly, R3 usually is reasonable, if a bit of a hectoring pisspot. I have no room make a comment about that.

Since you can bet she hasn't listened to Pet Sounds in any iteration since 1972, it probably was just a matter that she passed a donut shop window the day of her post and the reflection depressed her.

On the subject of the album, Wilson's decision not to include "Good Vibrations" cost the integrity of the album.

Nah, it's on you. Basically all of music criticism disagrees with you — especially outside of the US — and you're still hurling subjective ad hominems "songs suck".

[quote]Wilson's decision not to include "Good Vibrations" cost the integrity of the album.

I'm not given so such a grand pronouncement as that, r47, but you cause me to wonder whether Brian had finished enough of GV to have included it on Pet Sounds. PS was released in May of 1966, and GV was recorded between Feb. and Sept. of that year.

I probably would have bought PS if GV had been included on it. I didn't end up getting it until 1974.

The story after time was that the other band members were disappointed that Wilson didn't include "Good Vibrations."

Yes, I overspoke, because the albums still wouldn't have been an unalloyed success even with it. Perhaps "persuasiveness" is better than "integrity." But thematically it would have added much to the work.

R48 is trying to apply the "argumentum ab auctoritate" which is fallacious and stupidly lazy.

Perhaps if she had had a decent education, or the capacity to have one, she could come up with something better than this or shitting on herself with the invocation of a "subjective ad hominem" attack, which in this case is absurd as well as ignorant, since there is no "hominem" in a song.

Oh, dear. Oh, dear. So over her head.

Ignore her, R42. She's lacking.

1969

Thanks R26

Pet Sounds is 57 years old today.

I just recently watched the Brian Wilson bio movie with John Cusack, and it really made me understand and like Pet Sounds and appreciate it more.

I haven’t bought it yet.

…Did it just come out?

Love and Mercy, the Brian Wilson/Beach Boys movie came out about 10 years ago? And Pet Sounds was a classic, the Beatles loved it. So it didn't just come out whichever you were talking about.

My Boston Terrier snores like a little freight train at night. Oddly enough I find it very soothing to hear him. He’s my moony moony and my sweetsie weetsy.

I still think Sgt. Pepper's is better

This thread is pathetic.

Beach Boys influenced The Who very much. My husband thought some of their earlier songs that I used to play were Beach Boys songs. The Kids Are Alright, Anyway Anyhow Anywhere, I Can’t Explain, Substitute. They used to cover Barbara Anne in their early days. Pete Townshend, one of the worlds biggest egotists, actual,y admitted he loved Brian Wilson and thought he was a genius.

The Beach Boys sort of sent rock music into the studio. Everyone had been writing their rock n roll songs, playing them live and cleaning them up a bit in the studio. But Pet Sounds had layering. They didn’t have any if the wiz-bang tech we have today, so voices had to be done separately, layered in harmonies, then the instrumentals, adding instruments not used in rock n roll. Pet Sounds made rock and roll music into “rock music.”

Punk rock was a reaction to the “albumfication” of rock music. Punks revered live performances, stripped down instruments and screamed like maniacs. They thought studio music was inauthentic and no longer represented youthful energy and rebellion.

I’m more of an If You Can Believe Your Eyes and Ears kind of guy.

R63, I wish more people knew the hits by The Mamas and the Papas. The ones that are not California Dreamin'.

On my laptop, I have almost three hours of different versions of Pet Sounds (in mono, the way Brian made it). I'm listening to them today. Happy Pet Sounds Day, everyone.

[quote] Punk rock was a reaction to the “albumfication” of rock music. Punks revered live performances, stripped down instruments and screamed like maniacs. They thought studio music was inauthentic and no longer represented youthful energy and rebellion.

The problem with young people is that they think in absolutes. Punk became the most dogmatic form of Rock ever.

THe Mamas and Papas couldn't exist without Cass Elliott.

Check mate!

Has anyone heard Pet Sounds in Dolby Atmos?

To me “God Only Knows” is what lifts it to a higher realm. So simple yet brilliant..

In its time it was a triumphant masterpiece of sound engineering. To this day it endures a lyrical masterpiece. I Just Wasn't Made For These Times was really so ahead of its time. God Only Knows is probably the most brilliant song on the album but I am partial to Here Today and the instrumental Let's Go Away For Awhile.

It seems like an album you need to find earlier on in life. I was a tween, late 80s, and it has some amazingly beautiful songs, and musicianship.

It's music that speaks to youth and love, and once you get older holds a good deal of nostalgia even if you didn't grow up in the 60s/70s.

I agree with the OP. I accept that that the album was groundbreaking and fantastically influential in its day, but I'd heard it talked up for years as some sort of lost masterpiece, because it was supposedly butchered before it was released, and... it ain't all that to listen to. Very good to listen to now, but not the Beach Boys' best work, and it doesn't compare with the lively and memorable songs of "Sargeant Pepper".

Still, I've always wondered what the group would have grown into, if they'd had a change to grow with the cultural changes of the late 1960s instead of imploding. I think they were on track to do what the Beatles did, change from an early sixties pop group to a late sixties psychedelic rock group, both groups fell apart, but the Beatles didn't collapse until they'd had a chance to show what they could do, and the same wasn't true of the Beach Boys.

R66 it did and it didn't. part of the scene evolved into stuff like sonic youth and swans and some of the most experimental music in the 80s came out of the post-punk scene. the hardcore punk scene specifically is the really dogmatic one, henry rollins always complained about it.

[quote]I accept that that the album was groundbreaking and fantastically influential in its day, but I'd heard it talked up for years as some sort of lost masterpiece, because it was supposedly butchered before it was released,

The "butchered" album was Smile, not Pet Sounds. It would have been released a year after Smile, but Pet Sounds didn't sell very well in 1966, and Brian was going through such a bout with mental illness in 1967 that he was unable to finish Smile (on which "Good Vibrations" ultimately appeared, btw). Google "Beach Boys Smile." Much has been written on the topic.

Here's the Beach Boys' Smile album, which was finally released in 2011. Brian Wilson recorded and released his own version in 2004. A cohesive, 30-minute version was released on Disc 2 of the Good Vibrations box set in 1993. That was my first inkling that "Heroes and Villains," which was released as a 45 in 1967, was part of a much larger piece of music. It has been one of my favorite Beach Boys songs since its release.