Pet Sounds

God only knows is possibly the most romantic song of all time

Bet good

The Good: We get to listen to pets making sounds!
The Bad: Odd pets to have… didn’t hear a single bark, or miauw, or chirp…
The Ugly: Getting punched by one of the pets after I threw a stick and expected it to bring it back…

My brain is starting to play tricks on me.
When this album presented itself I thought to myself that I had already listened to it… just like I did with another album 5 odd days ago.

I have listened to the album 4 times in the past 24 hours… not because I love it, but more because a) it has very generous play length of only 37 minutes, which makes it ideal for repeats b) I have constantly gotten interrupted by work making me miss a song or two c) at times there too many similarities between songs that you think you’ve heard it all before…

One can not deny the great harmonies on this album… nor the fact that there are one too many iconic songs on here… and one song which is considered, by many a great critic or uber music snob, as the greatest song ever to have been recorded… nay, not greatest, perfect… that’s it: perfection.

Anyway, I refuse to give this album a 5* rating, because I would not want to argue to death the greatness of this album… so 4* it is, God Only Knows that this is enough!

Another wildly overrated album that's always inexplicably at the top of the all time great lists. Brian Wilson is a composer applying his talents to pop, and it's more complicated (and thus impressive?) than when just regular guitar guys write/arrange songs. Ok, it represents a significant shift in the Beach Boys sound, from bubblegum surf pop about cruising to the burger stand with your best girl (actually pretty good) to something more mature with lush orchestral arrangements and more staid songwriting. But so what? Who cares? There are some great hooks and harmonies, but it's mostly boring, schmaltzy, and overworked. I guess it represents a milestone in the adoption of emergent studio/recording/production technologies in pop. Ok, fine. I guess it's influential and inspired a whole bunch of other 60s bands to try their hand at bloated concept albums - great, thanks guys.

I’ve been a bit apathetic about this over the years, but on close listening the production is outstanding, outweighing the at times slightly conservative lyrics

some good songs some boring

One of my all-time favorite albums, and I truly believe one of the greatest. Some of the most inventive songwriting there has ever been, creative production, beautifully sung. When people say the The Beach Boys suck, I imagine they only have heard their surf rock era, and have never really sat down with Pet Sounds. The harmonic writing is wild. The melodic writing so distinctive and winding. "God Only Knows" is one of the most elegant pieces of pop music ever made.

Every time I listen to Pet Sounds, I feel like I'm discovering it for the first time again. In fact, I can't think of a single other album that so consistently elicits this sense of wonder in me. Some things that really stood out to me this time: the bass harmonica solo on "I Know There's An Answer," the bike horn on "You Still Believe In Me," the plucky bass on "Here Today" that plays in a different key in the instrumental bridge from the rest of the band.

If I had to change one thing about the album, it would be its terrible album cover. Other than that, pure perfection. Key tracks: "God Only Knows," "Wouldn't It Be Nice," "Caroline, No".

OHHH WOULDNT IT BE

Favorite track(s): Wouldn't It Be Nice, That's Not Me, Don't Talk (Put Your Head on My Shoulder), I'm Waiting for the Day, God Only Knows, I Just Wasn't Made for These Times, Caroline No

The pinnacle of a band, a decade, and a generation. Brian Wilson was a trailblazer for soulful white boys everywhere.

Heard before
Previous rating: 10/10

Some clever soul wrote a review on the generator site explaining how each song on the album is actually about a relationship with a pet. I don’t believe it literally but it was as good a guide to the mysteries of Pet Sounds as any. What I most liked is the idea that “God Only Knows” is about a dog instead of a deity.

Why I loved that: I read somewhere that the beauty of any pet — but dogs especially — is how they allow you be alone without feeling lonely. I think that’s especially necessary for those of us who are extroverts with a heavy dose of introversion, who might need a little help settling into solitude. Dogs do that but so do a dozen Brian Wilson songs. For every “California Girls” there is an “In My Room,” but there is also a “Surfer Girl” or a “Good Vibrations” doing it more subtly.

What’s so interesting about “Pet Sounds” to me is that it does it on the song level and the album level too. There’s a lot of distance between “Wouldn’t It Be Nice” and “You Still Believe In Me.” The teenage ennui of “Sloop John B” feels like it comes from a completely different universe from “God Only Knows.” Yet put them all together and you have this feeling of warmth amid any degree of loneliness and isolation.

OK, fine. It's genius.

El shot de positivismo y dopamina que necesitaba. Me gustaron muchas canciones, como álbum entero puede llegar a ser un poco repetitivo por momentos, pero ahí es cuando se anima a probar un sonido nuevo.
Top álbumes para manifestar.

Concept

one of my hottest music takes is that the beach boys v. beatles rivalry was entirely fabricated by salty uncle sam fanboys. it is lush and pretty at times, though. 3.5

Is Pet Sounds a "concept album"? That can mean a lot of different thing, so it's a bit hard to say. (Thankfully) it doesn't feature the overwrought world-building and character lore of the classic 70s concept album. Instead, it focuses on the subtle transformations and overlapping contradictions you feel when you're completely preoccupied with love and fixated on loss. At its broadest and deepest level, I do think Brian is reflecting on the general "hero's journey" he probably experienced emerging from a garage in Hawthorn, escaping the clutches of his overbearing father, finding a powerful musical voice, and then feeling his own sanity slip away -- in this tragedy, Brian can never go home again. It's all there, obliquely, and masked by puppy love and angsty torch songs. Maybe Brian is telling a "story," or maybe not, but it doesn't totally matter because he's unlocked such a deep connection between the musical and emotional contents of what he's produced that every moment of Pet Sounds feels "whole." Nothing feels out of place, even the brief flashes of ugliness and uncouthness; remember, "baroque" is a term for an irregular, misshapen pearl.

A great sounding in general. I guess if you want a Spector sounding album you just go hire the band (Wrecking Crew). The instrumentals feel like filler.
This is also why we didn't need Surf'd Up on the list too.

I mean it’s alright

As with most of the Beach Boys discography this is terribly uneven quality wise. Ill award a star for every song that is not anywhere from crap to just ok. Granted those 3 songs are probably better than most recording artists 3 best songs over a career.

One of the few perfect pop albums.

I know giving this one 4 stars and not 5 is a hot take. I understand it’s beauty and what Brian put into it. That said, 5 stars are reserved for such a rare amount of albums that it just falls short for me.