The Beach Boys - "Pet Sounds"

Prior to “Pet Sounds”, The Beach Boys sound was not nearly as full, nor as experimental. The songs had a simple message, most of which were derived from the lifestyle of southern California during the 1950s, yet had vocal harmonic genius that of the do-wop groups from the late 1940s. The surfer, beach life was definitely portrayed through these young Californians (even though only one of them knew how to actually surf) with tunes like “409” and “Surfin’ USA”. The creativity behind The Beach Boys and all of their hits was due to their founder, producer, composer and engineer Brian Wilson, the oldest of the three Wilson boys. It was from listening to groups like The Four Freshmen that inspired Brian to start a vocal group. His fascination with recording made him one of the first engineers to use “overdubbing”.  Just as Brian and The Beach Boys got their start on this revolutionary style of rock n’ roll, the British invasion hit America with bands like The Beatles. It turns out that Brian Wilson would be so enlightened by The Beatles record “Rubber Soul” that it set his inspiration for the most famous record by The Beach Boys, and maybe of all time. The record “Pet Sounds” was a collaboration of Brian Wilson and Tony Asher, an ad-man who barely knew Brian. Brian Wilson used methods he learned from Phil Spector to record the album, giving it a fuller sound and using the natural room reverb from the studio. The musical arrangement was spectacular, and the vocal harmonies were majestic. Instruments like string section, horn section, bicycle horns/bells and the use of the theremin complimented songs such as “Wouldn’t It Be Nice” and the beautiful “God Only Knows”. “Pet Sounds” was one of the first albums to use an actual theme and story in their album, the sense of growing from childhood to adulthood.  These techniques and use of instrumentation were revolutionary during this time period. This album set the bar for so many genres such as psychodelic-rock and other forms of rock n’ roll.

As a lover of music, I feel that “Pet Sounds”, in my eyes, has all the right elements for the music that was being produced back in that day. Having the capability to compose an orchestra and add the most unique instruments are reasons why Brian Wilson will go down in history as one of the greatest producers of all time.  I have learned a lot of good recording techniques just by listening and researching this album.