Album Review: The Beach Boys- Pet Sounds

An album considered way ahead of its time, with its obscure use of instruments and innovative composition.

The impact of this album on music was far greater than it was originally given merit for upon its release. It wasn’t largely success in America due to its “impressionistic orchestral-pop arrangements”,(Gehr, R. 2016). Despite this, George Martin claims that the Beatles Sgt. Pepper “never would have happened”,(Doyle, P, 2021) without Pet Sounds. Each song on the album sounds like an evolution of the previous one, which was unique in itself, having 13 songs follow a “coherent narrative”,(Waring, C, 2021). If you are the average music listener who likes their music simple, this album may disappoint you, just like it did the fans of their earlier work.

The use of bizarre instruments, including bicycle horns, vibraphones, timpani, finger cymbals, coke cans, accordions, modified 12-string mandolins, and water jugs are something very original. Its creativity is unmatched for anything of its time, the use of non-musical objects to create sound is close to the very definition of foley. The production of the album was very unique, up until this point albums were constructed with “10 or 12 songs, often hastily recorded, to accompany a single”, (Love, M. 2021). All the tracks feel like they have a purpose, but some tracks do feel like filler songs. When listening to the whole album I couldn’t tell when some songs started and others ended. The songs weren’t bad, but I wasn’t blown away by all of them, ‘Wouldn’t it Be Nice’ was a stand out track, it used a 12-string Mando guitar which was refreshing to hear, but other tracks like ‘Here Today’ and ‘Caroline No’ didn’t spike any interest.

List of References

Greene, N. (2017). 15 Fascinating Facts About Pet Sounds. https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/59457/15-facts-about-pet-sounds

Love, M. (2021). The Making of Pet Sounds. http://albumlinernotes.com/The_Making_of_Pet_Sounds.html

Tobocman, D.(2020). Rock Albums That Changed The World: Pet Sounds. (http://www.estheticlens.com/2020/07/22/rock-albums-that-changed-the-world-pet-sounds/

Waring, C. (2021). Pet Sounds: The Beach Boys’ Masterpiece Explained. https://www.udiscovermusic.com/stories/beach-boys-pet-sounds-remains-work-art/

Schwetiz, B. (2021). The Beach Boys Pet Sounds. https://www.rs500albums.com/50-1/2

Doyle, p. (2021). 500 Greatest Albums Podcast: How Brian Wilson Made Rock and Roll Grow Up With Pet Sounds. https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/brian-wilson-beach-boys-pet-sounds-500-greatest-albums-podcast-1115346/

Guriel, J. (2016). How Pet sounds Invented The Modern Pop Album. https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2016/05/how-pet-sounds-invented-the-modern-pop-album/482940/