How Pet Sounds Changed My Life
A life-changing experience? Maybe this is a ridiculous statement, but it's pretty much true. Like most people, when a song by The Beach Boys came on the radio, I listened for a bit and then turned the station. They had a radio-friendly sound for the 1960s, but beyond that, they didn't do much for me. In 1998, based on the recommendation from a friend, I purchased a "Best of" CD by The Beach Boys and rarely, if ever, played it. The same can be said about quite a few of the CDs I own. My daughter Ava was born in 2001 and infants love music - I witnessed firsthand the soothing powers of music on a crying baby. I remember pulling out The Beach Boys CD and she loved the upbeat tempos and the beautiful harmonies. Just as with the Barney and Elmo vidoes, I was now spending several hours a week with The Beach Boys.
I liked the "surf" songs OK, but two songs on the Best of CD really caught my attention - Wouldn't It Be Nice and God Only Knows. These weren't surf songs. The production was amazing and the melodies and harmonies were ethereal. I also noticed from the liner notes that these two songs were from their 1966 record, Pet Sounds. I went on the Internet and read up a bit on Pet Sounds and went ahead and purchased it, even though I did not recognize any of the other song titles. This was December 2002. The CD hasn't been more than a foot away from my CD player since.
The first time I played Pet Sounds, I got it. Brian Wilson, the songwriter, singer and producer of The Beach Boys, poured out all of his passion for this record. The lyrics flawlessly match the perfection achieved by the top LA-based recording musicians of the day. Each song speaks volumes of the angst Wilson was probably going through as young man, recently married, and leader of the day's top pop group. I highly recommend reading the new Catch a Wave: The Rise, Fall, and Redemption of the Beach Boys' Brian Wilson, as well as the Eugene Landy-scripted 1991 "autobiography", Wouldn't It Be Nice?: My Own Story. Both of these books shed light on this once reclusive musical genius.
The album was remastered and re-mixed in stereo in the 1990s (I prefer the separation of the instruments and vocals in the stereo version). The Pet Sounds Sessions box set (see link below) is a worthwhile purchase as each song is broken down into two versions: just the music, and just the singing - simply amazing to hear them broken up that way. You hear things going on in each version that your brain couldn't make out when it's all together, but you would know if it was missing. There's also different takes of the songs and versions with different lyrics. Definitely a great insight into Pet Sounds.
Highlights for me on the CD are:
~The whole experience of the bridge in Wouldn't It Be Nice - "You know it's gonna make it that much better/When we can say goodnight and stay together"
~Everything about Don't Talk (Put Your Head On My Shoulder) - Especially the instrumental break in the middle when the strings come in... it absolutely kills me each time I hear it...
~Both instrumentals - Let's Go Away For Awhile and Pet Sounds... I played Let's Go Away For Awhile for a friend and he thought it was the Stone Temple Pilots...
~The staccato passage in God Only Knows - the break immediately following this features some great harmonies which glide seamlessly into the last verse...
~The bass harmonica solo in I Know There's An Answer...
~The tension between the verse and chorus on Here Today...
~The trippy chorus in I Just Wasn't Made For These Times...
~The train and barking dogs at the end of Caroline No, a truly beautiful recording...
For some people, getting past this being "a Beach Boys album" is too difficult. Maybe because I play an instrument, I appreciate it a little more - who knows? Sure, there's hardly any guitar on the record, but the songwriting is close to perfection. Musicians often compare Wilson to other musical geniuses like Beethoven and Bach. It's been said that Pet Sounds is the greatest pop album of the 20th century, and based on my short lifetime of listening to music, I totally agree. It's my favorite CD. I can't seem to go more then 2-3 days at a time without listening to it. It soothes me by taking me to a different place and time when life was a little easier. It's a combination of the music, the harmonies, and the lyrics. Like I said, I get it.
To complete the Pet Sounds experience, indulge in these other media:
For more on-line information about Pet Sounds, check out:
petsounds.com
beachboysfanclub.com
timepieces.nl
Pet Sounds@Wikipedia.org
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