Pet Sounds

Perfection.

Every instrument played on here basically sounds the best it ever sounded on an album ever. The production is to die for. The songwriting emphasizes everything in such a pristine and thoughtful way. The structure perfects the album structure, flowing naturally over its 38 minute runtime with attention given to tempo, arrangement, and keeping your attention peaked. The vocals are excellent, with beautiful harmonies and trading parts layered on top of crisp strings, lovely harp and organ, and cavernous back end percussion. Listened to this two separate times in 48 hours and was amazed both times. The best album I have heard thus far without a single doubt.

Wasn't sure whether to give this a 4 or a 5, but then they hit me with a delightful instrumental at the end

5/5. A 5/5 album on my first week, how lucky! Thousands upon thousands of pages have been written on this album about why it’s so great and a landmark achievement of 60’s pop, but to me the first thing that comes to mind is beauty. This is such a beautiful sounding album. Some of the finest production of its time mixed with heavenly harmonies, it is just so nice on the ears. plus the songs are also so damn good. A lot of fun small things too like the bicycle horns on “you still believe in me.”

An all time great and it’s a shame we lost Brian Wilson last year, one of the most interesting minds in pop history.

Busy and full arrangements that feel super intentional. You can hear Brian's artistic endeavours throughout the record, specifically the slow, baroque-heavy tracks that make it sound like a modern-day orchestra. "Let's Go Away For Awhile" scratched an itch.

A lot of the themes in the song seem to continue from "Beach Boys Today!" in that they often touch on topics not common in pop music at the time (e.g. I Just Wasn't Made For These Times, I Know There's An Answer)

really needed this

First half was okay, second half was incredible

Man, what a beautiful album this is. It feels like it demands the listener's full attention at every moment, with so many subtle details packed into almost every song. Each track is so short, too, so they never give you the chance to get tired of them. Quite the opposite, even, with tracks like You Still Believe In Me that feel like they have so much to give as they come to a close.

As a big fan of layered harmonies, you can imagine how much I love the vocals on this album. Don't Talk in particular I find to be almost spellbinding in how beautifully the harmonies shift with the chord changes throughout the song. I'm getting chills just thinking about it again while writing this, if I'm honest.

Obviously there's a lot of historical significance to the album as well, though I'll not get into that as it's not a subject I'm all that knowledgable about. All I'll say is that it's incredible that such a sonically rich album was able to be created at such a relatively early point in the development of the music industry.

Favourite tracks: You Still Believe In Me, Don't Talk, Sloop John B

No se pude empezar a competir con el St. Peppers con una portada en la granja escuela. Luego el contenido tiene grandes cosas, pero creo que la competencia desapareció a partir de ese momento y no sé hasta que punto ese "pique" fue artificial de la prensa de Pop USA vs Pop UK. Venga, le doy 3 estrellas y me tengo que plantear un momento para oírlo nuevamente.

Brian Wilson truly was a genius, RIP

I mean it's Pet Sounds.

Not my personal favourite B Bois but I like it more than Sgt Peppy.

I know it's cliche, but this is genuinely a masterpiece. Definitely deserves to be on this list, but you knew that already

Ok, what is up with the horn at the end of You Still Believe In Me? I understand that Brian Wilson was obsessive about every single sound in this album, so I am picturing him sitting at the mixing console with a nearly finished track just looking for that one last thing to make a perfect track and somehow he settled on a little 'honk-honk, honk-honk'?

Anyways, on to my actual review. I stated that I don't really get the Beach Boys in my review of the Beach Boys Today. It's not really the band or their music that I don't understand, it's the lofty praise thrown around in any discussions of the Beach Boys, Brian Wilson, and Pet Sounds in particular. "Genius", "masterpiece", "redefining pop music", etc.

After three listens of Today, it was growing on me, but I still wasn't really understanding the hype. After listening to Pet Sounds, though, I'm starting to get it. Today was fine, but Pet Sounds is a great album. The tracks are finely crafted and catchy, the production is immaculate, you can feel how meticulous Brian Wilson was in putting this all together.

I'm on my second listen now and I feel like more and more of the album is revealing itself. I'm finding something new in each listen and the more I listen, the higher the rating is getting.

This is a great album, with interesting production choices. Obviously more novel at the time of its release, it’s still a fun listen. God Only Knows is one of the best songs ever written, so this is a strong 4 stars.

What an album, nice for album generator to give me a treat on a Monday morning.

Also included in my upcoming book ‘1 album to hear before you die’

We all know this is a five star album, right?

It's alright. Nothing sparked anything in me.

Potential GOAT. Definite goat on the cover too.

It's a great album, for sure. I just don't really understand how it's in the top 5 of most lists.

I think this is a solid album. The Beach Boys were great, and I will die on that hill!!

But for real, you can throw this on for a pleasant listen.