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[dream]

The idea of someone reading this thread and listening to Pet Sounds, Smile, and Lucky Old Sun for the very first time is pretty awesome.

 

[Empty]

this is wonderful. i'm not very good at breaking songs down to their component parts, so this is especially illuminating, and acts as a really great example of what a musical genius brian wilson is as if his works weren't enough.

 

[Timber]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DVUBpzlELOg#t=3m12s

cool moment. make it like a stacatto note. that's nice let's make it.

 

[Hasphat'sAnts]

This is awesome.

 

[thefro]

It's pretty amazing all the stuff he was able to do on a four-track with analog tape you had to manually splice together. So much easier these days when they'd have a different track for every single thing.

And the Beach Boys' post Pet Sounds stuff is still underrated... the band did a lot of good to great stuff from 1967-1977.

 

[Bento]

Up there as my favorite album of all time and also one of the few 60's albums that have managed to stay with me even after my teenage years, really breathtaking from start to finish and can boast with influencing so many great artist in the decades thereafter.

<3 Beach Boys.

 

[The Gaming Gamer]

I listened to these a while ago, they're brilliant. What's with only having part 1 for God Only Knows?

 

[Souldriver]

I remember reading all wikipedia articles related to the Pet Sounds album and being amazed by the creative process of making this album. One of the singles (Good vibrations?) being the most expensive song to make (at the time) because of the gigantic amount of takes and people involved. The innovation in terms of producing songs. This album being one of the first to fully take advantage of studio work and editing. ...

On a single listen of each song, all I hear is a somewhat catchy song from the '60s that reminds me of a Californian summer on the beach with surfers, the highpoint of American culture, high school, ... but musically I just heard a "catchy" song, nothing more or less. However, reading up on the making of these songs, you have to admit that it's fascinating and must've been a very important moment in pop music.

 

[Timber]

i kissed your lips when your face looked sad
it made me think about him
and that you still loved him so

best lyrics anyone has written

 

[Pristine_Condition]

I remember reading all wikipedia articles related to the Pet Sounds album and being amazed by the creative process of making this album. One of the singles (Good vibrations?) being the most expensive song to make (at the time) because of the gigantic amount of takes and people involved. The innovation in terms of producing songs. This album being one of the first to fully take advantage of studio work and editing. ...

On a single listen of each song, all I hear is a somewhat catchy song from the '60s that reminds me of a Californian summer on the beach with surfers, the highpoint of American culture, high school, ... but musically I just heard a "catchy" song, nothing more or less. However, reading up on the making of these songs, you have to admit that it's fascinating and must've been a very important moment in pop music.

"Good Vibrations" was post-Pet Sounds. The recording technique used there, vastly different from Pet Sounds, was the basis for what was to become the Smile album.

 

[show me your skeleton]

three bass guitars? madness. delightful madness!

 

[Ford Prefect]

People who really dig this oughta be sure to check out the rest of the Beach Boys career from the start through the late-70's. Pet Sounds was not a one-off, the rest is very high quality stuff. The obvious places to go next would be the second half of Beach Boys Today (heavenly pet soundsy ballads) and bootlegs of the original Smile sessions (Gershwin/Ellington level American sophistication), but most of the pre-Pet Sounds stuff (including all those hits) features comparable levels craft perfectionism to those in the youtube videos.

What's more is, contrary to popular belief, the period following the abandonment of Smile holds much of Brian's best work. The album Friends in particular has some of the most gorgeous harmonies and compositions he ever wrote, and I think in many respects it is more successful than Pet Sounds and Smile.

Spoiler

Same goes for Love You

 

[legend166]

I'm Waiting For The Day is the best song on the album.

 

[AlternativeUlster]

This is really awesome actually.

 

[Phobophile]

I've always appreciated the Beach Boys' style of psychedelia.

 

[GhostWriter24]

Magical album. One of my most listened-to of all time.

 

[Lionheart1827]

People who really dig this oughta be sure to check out the rest of the Beach Boys career from the start through the late-70's. Pet Sounds was not a one-off, the rest is very high quality stuff. The obvious places to go next would be the second half of Beach Boys Today (heavenly pet soundsy ballads) and bootlegs of the original Smile sessions (Gershwin/Ellington level American sophistication), but most of the pre-Pet Sounds stuff (including all those hits) features comparable levels craft perfectionism to those in the youtube videos.

What's more is, contrary to popular belief, the period following the abandonment of Smile holds much of Brian's best work. The album Friends in particular has some of the most gorgeous harmonies and compositions he ever wrote, and I think in many respects it is more successful than Pet Sounds and Smile.

Indeed. There is a TON of Beach Boys music post Pet Sounds that a lot of people never have heard due to it never ever getting radio play. You only ever hear the hits from Pet sounds and before. Surf's Up is probably my favorite Beach Boys song of all time. It was so progressive back then and was ahead of its time during the Smile sessions.

In Blue Hawaii is also amazing. The whole 2004 Smile album was just an awesome album, especially after multiple listens. Also tons of other songs from their post pet sounds catalogue were good. Sail on Sailor, Til I Die, Wild Honey, Cool Cool Water, Feel Flows, etc.

If anybody is interested in the backstory to Pet Sounds, you should read the Wikipedia on the Smile sessions. Amazing, yet, very sad stuff. But Brian Wilson redeemed himself in 2004 almost 40 years later.

From the 2004 Smile Live DVD: http://youtu.be/sJWuQV2u9ns

 

[deadbeef]

Well now I know what I'm listening to for the next week. Thanks for the reminder of this fantastic album. I should pick the box set up.

 

[SpudBud]

One of the greatest albums of all time. Brian Wilson in his prime was something special.

 

[Seraphinianus]

bump.

I've been listening to this for the first time in my life this month. This album is pretty crazy sounding...Sloop John B is my favorite right now. I've gotta get this on vinyl...

 

[Zeliard]

Great bump, just in the mood to check this out again.

 

[bsb]

The Pet Sounds Sessions box set is awesome. The liner notes have a ton of information about how it was arranged/recorded/etc.

And coming this fall, we get a sequal in the form of the SMiLE Sessions box set: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004RFYEEC/?tag=neogaf0e-20

 

[B!TCH]

It's crazy that an album like Pet Sounds recorded years and years ago can still resonate so deeply with me today. I feel that way about a lot of the music produced between the 50's and 70's. Weird.

 

[Guzim]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uGmwksFJpiY

Wouldn't It Be Nice a capella

 

[Retro]

It's crazy that an album like Pet Sounds recorded years and years ago can still resonate so deeply with me today. I feel that way about a lot of the music produced between the 50's and 70's. Weird.

Not as weird as it sounds. Driving around with my dad, family vacations, etc., we always had stuff like Frankie Valley and the Four Seasons, the Beach Boys, Elvis, etc. on the radio, I think every pre-set on our radio growing up was an oldies or classic rock station. In a lot of ways, it's the music I grew up with as a kid.

I would not be surprised to find out a lot of GAFers who previously drifted away from the stuff their parents listen to will find their way back considering the amazing quality of those groups. I listened to mostly pop when I was a teenager (it was that amazing couple of years in the mid-90s before the Boy Bands and Bubble Gum took over), but as soon as that went south I switched back to classic rock and oldies for the most part.

I don't think I've bought a CD or MP3 younger than I am in a decade.

Pet Sounds is a summer thing for me, especially in the car. I can safely toss the CD in and not take it out for months at a time as long as the weather is warm.

 

[B-B-Bomba!]

Thanks for posting these clips. I listened to Pet Sounds for the first time earlier this year, and rate it really highly.

For some reason I spent most of my life thinking of Beach Boys as catchy but saccharine and shallow. On a slightly different note I used to think Bob Marley (and all reggae besides) was rubbishy nonsense, so I guess that’s why they call it growing up. But maybe it was the 60’s Californian surf kitsch that turned me off. I did hear once that all of that was really just a sales vehicle to exploit Wilson’s talent to the fullest.

Anyway I just wanted to bookend a whole other dimension on this thread by referring to the hip hop remix of Pet Sounds by deceased legend J Dilla.

Just for those who are interested....

I’m not attempting to place the two works on any kind of par, and I very much doubt that was Dilla’s intent either. It’s sensitive work, in that he’s taken sweet sweet music and used it as the raw material for his own brand of sweet sweet hip hop. It’s clear to me he loved Pet Sounds every bit as much as we all do in here, and that he himself was a proper musician.

I love what he did with it (for what it’s worth given the start of this post). He wasn’t just throwing beats behind a classic to rake in some cash; his was a creative process. Fundamentally it’s hip hop. If you’re down, and you haven’t heard this, that’s why I’m posting it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jAgYgYjqLg8&feature=related

I forgot: also, thanks to all of you recommending more Beach Boys stuff. Having started with Pet Sounds (and clearly in need of education) I haven't been sure where to go next. What research I did seemed to suggest it was a one-off and that their other albums where all on the way up to that peak or the way down from it. I appreciate getting solid tips from the heads at GAF.

 

[Retro]

I forgot: also, thanks to all of you recommending more Beach Boys stuff. Having started with Pet Sounds (and clearly in need of education) I haven't been sure where to go next. What research I did seemed to suggest it was a one-off and that their other albums where all on the way up to that peak or the way down from it. I appreciate getting solid tips from the heads at GAF.

Definitely not a one-off. Try Surf's Up next, the title track is my absolute favorite Beach Boys track; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R2_wBbS7I08

... not sure why it has Spanish subtitles... heh.

 

[bsb]

I forgot: also, thanks to all of you recommending more Beach Boys stuff. Having started with Pet Sounds (and clearly in need of education) I haven't been sure where to go next. What research I did seemed to suggest it was a one-off and that their other albums where all on the way up to that peak or the way down from it. I appreciate getting solid tips from the heads at GAF.

The two-fer cds of Today/Summer Days and Sunflower/Surf's Up would be my recommendation. The SMiLE stuff is also amazing, although it won't get an official release until November. Brian Wilson's solo album remake of Smile is a great album too.

The second side of Today is basically a warm-up session for Pet Sounds- lots of pretty, sensitive, thoughtfully arranged ballads. Good stuff.

 

[Cat Party]

Will check these out. Thanks for the bump.

 

[akira28]

God only knows always gets me verklempt.

Spoiler

RIP Freda

 

[Xun]

Indeed. There is a TON of Beach Boys music post Pet Sounds that a lot of people never have heard due to it never ever getting radio play. You only ever hear the hits from Pet sounds and before. Surf's Up is probably my favorite Beach Boys song of all time. It was so progressive back then and was ahead of its time during the Smile sessions.

In Blue Hawaii is also amazing. The whole 2004 Smile album was just an awesome album, especially after multiple listens. Also tons of other songs from their post pet sounds catalogue were good. Sail on Sailor, Til I Die, Wild Honey, Cool Cool Water, Feel Flows, etc.

If anybody is interested in the backstory to Pet Sounds, you should read the Wikipedia on the Smile sessions. Amazing, yet, very sad stuff. But Brian Wilson redeemed himself in 2004 almost 40 years later.

From the 2004 Smile Live DVD: http://youtu.be/sJWuQV2u9ns

I've been addicted to Surf's Up.

So thanks for the suggestion man! I really must venture into more of their stuff.

 

[MilesWebber]

This. Is. Amazing.

Thank you so much. I'm a huge beach Boys fan!

 

[Altazor]

Surf's Up is such a masterpiece. One of the best pop songs I've heard.