The Beach Boys Pet Sounds Album
I must admit, growing up in Mississippi through the 1980s and 1990s, I didn’t have much knowledge of The Beach Boys at all. I grew up listening to the music of my parents which included more funk groups like Earth, Wind, and Fire, Chicago, Cool and the Gang, etc., some Southern Spirituals, and also a mix of modern hip hop and pop by way of MTV, VH1, BET, etc. That being said, I’m grateful to have had the opportunity to take the time and dive deep into Pet Sounds, a legendary album from The Beach Boys and record producer Brian Wilson.
The Beach Boys were born out of a family group between three brothers, Brian, Carl and Dennis Wilson. Also part of the group was their cousin Mike Love, and a classmate named Alan Jardine who was later replaced by David Marks before rejoining. The Beach Boys’ earlier work included music that was about fun, partying, and dancing. The themes of their albums often mostly included girls, summer-time, and surfing. The signature sound, bass and guitar riffs are still virtually unmistakeable to this day. Of all the members of the group, Brian Wilson, was noted for having an exceptional ear for harmonic creativity. He was even given the nickname Dog Ears by Mike Love, because to Mike he was able to hear things that normal human beings couldn’t hear. Brian Wilson eventually went on to write and record Pet Sounds, The Beach Boy’s 12th album according toallmusic.com .
For Brian Wilson, Pet Sounds was an album that he knew had within his soul. He wrote and arranged most of the album. Brian’s thoughts of where the arrangements came from was that they came to him from out of his heart. He said music comes from the heart, the brain is used to figure out how to work the instrument. Those arrangements laid the groundwork for a timeless work of art. According to Brian, he drew many of his influences from the Beatles Revolver album as well as Rubber Soul. He spoke highly of the way the album sounded like a collection of folk songs and he wanted to do something along those same lines. Like other producers of his time, Brian experimented with new ways to record and came up with new production techniques that created interesting textures and sounds. He loved to experiment with new ways to record and manipulate sounds.
Pet Sounds was very unique as an album for a few reasons. For one, it wasn’t just a couple of hits surrounded by album filler as Capital Records may have desired. It was one complete idea and an oddity in comparison to the usual album. Brian Wilson hired the same band that Phil Spector used on his Christmas Album, A Christmas Gift For You, because he loved their sound. He was trying to achieve the Phil Spector “wall of sound” but he never intended to stop there. He continued to push the envelope and go a step beyond with a new and improved Wall of Sound. Another reason Pet Sounds was unique was it’s instrumentation and production quality. Brian played around with several different recording techniques. One technique that his dad shared with him was to speed the tape machine up by half a note. He said that it would make his song “Caroline No.” sound sweeter. After taking his father’s advice, Brian Wilson happily agreed.
As an industry professional, I found great delight in listening to how this album was recorded. Brian Wilson and The Beach Boys kept working and re-working their vocals, and instrumentation until it was just perfect. Even then, they kept going back to the drawing board until Brian ‘Dog Ears’ Wilson’s vision was realized. This is inspiring because it’s one of the few examples of full freedom of creativity where a producers’ imagination was able to be brought to life through excellence, skillful musicianship, and access to resources. The one thing that stands about most the success of this album was that, it’s not just that the music was written and arranged fantastically but that the album was meticulously crafted. Today, songs are arranged on a DAW and quickly recorded to more often than not in an effort to cut production costs. I look forward to putting just as much work in to an album as Brian Wilson did. I’d love to hear the outcome. So if you’re working on an album, do what many don’t do these days. Take your time, put some hard work into it. Real musicians and knowledgeable consumers will respect you for it and you may gain some seriously loyal fans along the way.
Resources
Anderson, J. (Director). (2003). Brian Wilson presents Pet Sounds Live in London [Motion picture on DVD]. U.S. and Canada: Sanctuary Records.
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Museum. (n.d.). The Beach Boys Biography. Retrieved March 04, 2016, fromhttp://rockhall.com/inductees/the-beach-boys/bio/
