Artist: The Beach Boys
Release Date: May 16th, 1966
RS 500 Greatest Albums of All Time Ranking: #2
Songs You'll Know: Wouldn't It Be Nice, God Only Knows
Songs You May Have Missed: You Still Believe in Me
A Little History/Why This Album is Famous: Imagine a world where a band that is mostly famous for songs about surfing, cars, and girls drops a staggering album that dares to explore the complications of man coming to terms with himself and the world around him. Now add a thoroughly rich and complex instrumentation not quite like anything human ears have heard before in popular music. These are the elements that made Pet Sounds a special album. This album boasts some of the greatest songs written in American history, inspired countless other bands' and artists' sounds, and showed the world that the surf-rock band known as the Beach Boys had more to say. The jury is out on whether or not this was an intentional concept album, but the fact remains that it is an extraordinarily thematic piece of art. The amount of care that went into every note and lyric of this album is the reason why it was so groundbreaking.
Comments: *UNPOPULAR OPINION ALERT!* I am not a huge fan of this album. There, I said it. I understand and fully acknowledge its place in popular music history. I see its merits and would never argue with someone who champions it as one of the greatest albums of all time. It's just not my cup of tea. Something about the tone of the album hits my ears wrong; I don't know if it's too sad or if I have not reached a point in my life where I can fully appreciate the sadness. Whenever I listen to this album, I find myself wishing for a change of pace. Most of the tracks fall on a medium-slow tempo and that leaves me wishing for something to break it up a little bit.
Unsurprisingly, my two favorite tracks from Pet Sounds are the two most upbeat: Wouldn't It Be Nice and Sloop John B. Wouldn't It Be Nice is a masterfully written song that will get stuck in your head for days. It's thoroughly creative and toes the line between simple and complex effortlessly. Sloop John B is just a fun little ditty. It also really encapsulates the "Wall of Sound" production method created by Phil Spektor and popular at the time.
Though Pet Sounds is not a favorite album of mine, I do feel is it a necessary part of any music lover's collection especially if the history of popular music intrigues you. About once a year, I take the time to give it a listen to see if it hits me any differently. Surprisingly, I have never personally met anyone who loves this album. That is most likely due to my age and the fact that most of the people I know fall into my same age group. If you LOVE this album (regardless of age, but I'd be doubly interested if you're in your late 20s!) leave me a comment and let me know! What about Pet Sounds grabs you? What are you favorite tracks? Do you think this album should be in the #1 slot?
That's all for now. Next up is the Beatles' Revolver.
Arugalater!
Laura
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