December 8, 2009

• Music of My Life (Pet Sounds)

  

  OK some of you may not have been expecting this album choice but it is honestly one of my all time favorites.  I can remember when I was a little child and my dad would pull out his vinyl copy and listen to it on the old console stereo.  There is just something so special about the Beach Boys and this album in particular.  "Pet Sounds" may be the greatest album ever produced by a band from America.  This is the only Beach Boys studio album I own.  Most of my other Beach Boys music are compilations.

  "Pet Sounds" was the 11th studio album produced by the Beach Boys.  Brian Wilson had stepped aside from touring with the Beach Boys so he could focus on composition and recording.  This was also during his struggle with narcotics and this struggle would influence the music.  Most of the material was written in December of 1965 and January of 1966.  The rest of the band had been touring the Far East and when they returned Brian Wilson played the rough idea of the album.  The band was shocked because up until that time most of their songs had been about fast cars, cute girls, surfing, and beaches.  "Pet Sounds" was a revolutionary sound for the band.

  The drug references on the album were numerous.  Brian Wilson had been experimenting with LSD and the slang about the drug was that it would take away your ego.  Well one song was called "Hang on to Your Ego".  Then the most controversial drug reference and one that ruined the song for a dear friend was the song "God Only Knows".  When you hear it sounds like the perfect love song; a guy telling his girl that only God knows what his life would be like without her because the guy couldn't imagine it without her.  Well it is actually Brian Wilson was opining for the doctor that supplied him prescription drugs.  Also the band was breaking ground because no pop group up until that point had a hit with a song that mentioned "God".  Brian Wilson also intended that the title track "Pet Sounds" would be featured in a James Bond film so it was originally titled "Run, James, Run".  God only knows, what the success of this album would have been if that was the name.

  The recording process for "Pet Sounds" was one of the most intensive processes up until that point.  The band took 4 months to record all the tracks.  One of the things that I find most amazing about this album is that the original version is in mono.  Brian Wilson did that for all the band's albums because TVs, radios, and car stereos were all monophonic at the time so it didn't make sense to issue it in stereo.  Subsequent re-releases have been issued in stereo.  I have a copy that contains the original mono and the upgraded stereo.  Listening to "Pet Sounds" in stereo is an experience.  It's also incredible to thing that this album was only recorded on 8-track recording devices.

  The Beach Boys went to the San Diego Zoo in February of 1966 and had photos taken of them playing with goats making a play on the title of the album.  The title actually didn't come until after the photos were taken.  "Pet Sounds" was a tribute to Phil Spector, notice the initials.  Spector was Brian Wilson's mentor and Wilson followed the "Wall of Sound" style of recording for "Pet Sounds".  The name also meant that these were Brian's favorite sounds. 

  "Pet Sounds" wasn't a huge seller for the band but it left a legacy to the world of music.  Paul McCartney says that "Pet Sounds" is his favorite album of all time and claims that it inspired "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band".  This is a funny circle since Brian Wilson was heavily influenced by The Beatles' "Rubber Soul" during the writing process of "Pet Sounds".  McCartney says: "It was "Pet Sounds" that blew me out of the water. I love the album so much. I've just bought my kids each a copy of it for their education in life ... I figure no one is educated musically 'til they've heard that album."  The Beatles' producer George Martin has said of "Pet Sounds": "Without "Pet Sounds", "Sgt. Pepper" wouldn't have happened...Pepper was an attempt to equal "Pet Sounds"."  So many other artists have said that "Pet Sounds" greatly influenced them:  Eric Clapton, Elton John, and Bob Dylan.  Bob Dylan once said of Brian Wilson's ability to harmonize and make music, "That ear — I mean, Jesus, he's got to will that to the Smithsonian."  "Pet Sounds" has been included in so many lists of the all-time greatest albums.  Time Magazine put it as the number one album of all time and Rolling Stone listed "Pet Sounds" as #2 in their 500 Greatest Albums; "Sgt. Pepper's" was #1.  In 2004 "Pet Sounds" was chosen by the Library of Congress to be added to the National Recording Registry.

  Track Listing:
  #1  Wouldn't it be Nice Brian Wilson explained that this song is "what children everywhere go through… wouldn't it be nice if we were older, or could run away and get married".  I can relate.  There was that one girl and it seemed like whenever we were together we just wanted to run away and get married.  I guess it doesn't just have to deal with relationships but just this feeling that there is something out there that you can't have but you yearn for it with all your soul.
  #2  You Still Believe in Me  This song was originally titled In My Childhood and that can be evident throughout the song when you hear bike horns and bells.  Brian Wilson's vocals are incredible on this track.
  #3  That's Not Me  This is a unique track because the Beach Boys play the instruments on the final product.  Usually for all their other songs, they would use studio musicians to play the instruments so they could focus on the vocals.  The main vocals are handled by Mike Love and he also played a 12 string guitar for this song.  The rest of the band is credited with back up vocals.  Brian Wilson played organ, Al Jardine played tambourine, Carl Wilson played guitar, and Dennis Wilson played drums.
  #4  Don't Talk (Put Your Head on my Shoulder)  This is one of 4 songs on the album in which no BEach Boys other than Brian Wilson appear.  Wilson has said that this is one of his favorite songs out of all the Beach Boys' library.  I love this song because of the whole orchestra effect. 
  #5  I'm Waiting for the Day  This song originally had vocals from all the band members but the song didn't sit well with Brian Wilson so he took out all the other members' vocals and only used his.  Of course this would lead to much tension.
  #6  Let's Go Away for Awhile  This is one of two instrumental tracks on "Pet Sounds".  It was originally titled "The Old Man and the Baby" but it was changed to this title but had more title in parentheses.  It was originally titled Let's Go Away for Awhile (and Then We'll Have World Peace).  Brian Wilson has said that Burt Bacarach inspired this song.
  #7  Sloop John B  This song is an old West Indies folk song.  Al Jardine convinced Brian Wilson that the band should cover the song.  Sloop John B refers to an actual ship called John B that made it's way around the West Indies and whose crew was notorious for being "merry" when they came to port.  When I was in high school, I attended a school about 2 hours from my home.  One time my dad picked me up and this song came on the radio.  All of us in that car sang this song and we sang the different vocal parts.  It was such a great time.  Rolling Stone has this song as #271 on their Greatest Songs of All Time list.
  #8  God Only Knows  As mentioned earlier this was the first commerical pop song to feature the word "God" in the title.  It was one of the most sophisticated pop songs ever released up to that point.  Listen for the harpsicords and French horns.  One of my favorite uses of this song was in the movie Boogie Nights.  This song comes in at #25 on Rolling Stone's list of th 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.
  #9  I Know There's an Answer  This song was originally titled "Hang on to Your Ego" and was renamed because of the LSD references.  The re-worded song focuses on how people can be so self-centered.  The opening music was once featured in a credit card commercial that was simply a voice over talking about how great the card was while a camera showed Dennis Hopper clad in a suit sitting next to a pool.  It was strange but somehow so fitting.  "Hang on to Your Ego" is on the 40th Anniversary release of the song.
  #10  Here Today  This is song is about how love can be here today and gone tomorrow.  How true is that?  In the original release there was chatter that was picked up.  It was about cameras that were capturing the recording process.
  #11  I Just Wasn't Made for These Times  This song is about a guy who thinks he is too advanced for the time in which he lived and how he wants to leave them all and go forward.  Brian Wilson says it was semi-biographical because people thought "Pet Sounds" was far too advanced for the time period.  Listen for the theremin.  Brian Wilson made a keyboard variation on the instrument and this would play a prominent role in the Beach Boys' next album specifically on the song "Good Vibrations".  I often quote this song but I am the reverse.  I sometimes think I belong in the past.
  #12  Pet Sounds  This is the second isntrumental track on the album.  Brian Wilson originally titled the song "Run, James, Run" and had intended that it should be used as a James Bond theme song.  The only member of the Beach Boys to appear on this song is Brian Wilson.
  #13  Caroline, No  This song was released as a solo single before "Pet Sounds" was released.  It was released under the Beach Boys name but only contained Brian Wilson's name and this caused quite a stir in that people thought the band was breaking up.  This song was a combination of two different loves.  One was of a girl named Carol that Brian Wilson was obsessed with in school but the love was unrequited.  The other love was about a girl whom the lyricist Tony Asher knew that went off to college and came home with short hair.  The song was originally titled Carol, I Know but there was confusion when people heard it so they changed the title to Caroline, No.

  If you want to hear some more Beach Boys songs, have at it:  Surfer Girl, In My Room, Don't Worry Baby (This song...well I sang it to a significant other.  I also can nail that guitar solo), Do You Wanna Dance (Dennis Wilson sang this one.  I'm fascinated with him and his relationship with Charles Manson.  The Manson family lived with him for months and Charles pressured Dennis to record his songs), I Get Around, California Girls, I couldn't find an mp3 but if you ever get a chance look up the song Forever.  That was one of those songs I had envisioned for my first dane at a wedding or even sung at a wedding but alas I don't see that happening any time soon.

  

  From left to right: Carl Wilson, Brian Wilson, Dennis Wilson, Mike Love, Al Jardine

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