Pet Sounds by The Beach Boys

Prior to the recording of Pet Sounds, the Beach Boys image was one of happy-go lucky surfers and a Southern California, close harmony, beach life style. Nothing too complicated or demanding, just plain old good feeling, good vibeing music. When Brian Wilson (one of the three original brothers) starting taking a more forward role in the writing and composing process that later became the Beach boys claim to fame, everything seemed to rise uphill.

Before Brian Wilson had the inspiration to create Pet Sounds, the Beatles released their album, Rubber Soul, with all original songs, no covers and no fillers. Upon listening to Rubber Soul, Brian Wilson was struck with an amazing amount of inspiration and ran to his wife and told her that we was going to write the greatest rock album ever made.

One of the reasons Pet Sounds was set apart from other popular recordings of the mid 1960s was its use of instruments. Brain Wilson had the idea to not only use the classic instruments to make an album (ex. Piano, guitar, bass, and drums) but also the use of things you wouldn’t normally consider to be instruments (ex. soda cans, bicycle bells, dog whistles, a Theremin, buzzing organs, and barking dogs). Another reason Pet Sounds was so much different than anything out at that time was it’s use of a technique that Phil Spector created called the “Wall of Sound”, with most of the backing recordings being mixed live while taping. And probably the strangest and best things that set Pet Sounds apart was the mixing of all the final versions of the songs in mono, not stereo.

Before doing the research and really learning the background of Pet Sounds I just simply sang along with the songs I knew and enjoyed the others without much thought. Now with the knowledge I have gained, when I go to take a listen back to the tracks of the album there will be a different impression on me, one of serious musicianship that lies behind some of the catchiest songs I know. Learning that they were all done in mono and were only able to be stereo tracks when digital recording became available, is unbelievable to me. In my opinion this only shows that what we are doing now, in ten years, it could be so different. It also makes me believe in taking chances. If Brian hadn’t fought for this album and for some of the things he believed in we would not have experienced such an amazing musical masterpiece.