Beach Boys' "Pet Sounds"

During the earlier era of the Beach Boys their sound embodied the fun and carefree feeling of surfer rock made famous by the legendary Dick Dale. This surf sound was typical of the Beach Boys in the early 1960’s.  After signing with Capitol records in mid 1962 the surf rock vibe was at the heart of more than two dozen Top 40 hits until “Pet Sounds” was released in May of 1966.

Brian Wilson, who wrote and co-wrote all of the Beach Boys material, was a big fan of vocal harmonies that are used throughout most all of their songs.  Brian, one of three brothers in the band, served as the driving force behind the shift to the psychedelic sound heard on “Pet Sounds”.   With this album, Brian attempted to achieve success for all of the songs on the album as a collective whole rather than a few hit singles with filler songs shoved in between as previous albums had been. This was primarily brought about after Brian listened to the Beatles “Rubber Soul” album that had just been released.  He felt that the Beatles had created an album with continuity that was a piece of art in itself.

Having taken a break from touring with the band, Brian was able to focus on writing “Pet Sounds” and studio production.  This, combined with his new perspective he found while studying the Beatles “Rubber Soul” album, lead him to experiment with new instruments and new studio production and arrangement techniques.  In addition to the Theremin, Brian used the likes of dog whistles, Hawaiian sounding instruments, Coca-Cola cans and barking dogs.  Brian, after having shadowed his idol and rival Phil Spector, had also acquired the skill of using the studio as an instrument in itself.   Along with the doubling of instruments another studio technique was Brian’s spectacular layering of vocal harmony. Brian incorporated the use of echo and reverberation techniques to widen the vocal orchestration heard throughout the “Pet Sounds” album.

In listening to the album I am impressed by the continuity of it and its singleness of the overall feeling it evokes. “Pet Sounds” transports me to a beach-laden coastline where I feel as if I am floating in a California sunset. The instrumentation seems to be balanced perfectly as well as the mix itself is quite flawless.  I would definitely agree with many other reviews that “Pet Sounds” is one of the finest rock and roll albums of all time.