The Beach Boys’ Pet Sounds

Initially, The Beach Boys were an upbeat, harmonic quartet that wrote songs about catching a wave or driving fast cars.  Band member Brian Wilson, who wrote, arranged, and produced most of the Beach Boys’ material, was still writing relatively simple arrangements with fewer instruments.  This began to change as Brian matured as a musician and the band became more popular.  (Brian Wilson Podcast)

Brian Wilson was the backbone of the Beach Boys and most of the content they created either came from or went through him.  He also preformed in all of the songs he wrote.  In a sense, Brian was more important to the Beach Boys than John Lennon was to the Beatles.  Of course the strain of writing, performing, producing, and touring with the band would pick away at Brian and caused him to sometimes act sporadically.  Nevertheless, Brian was the heart and soul of the Beach Boys and would remain so throughout the years. (Brian Wilson Podcast)

The album “Pet Sounds” was essentially Brian Wilson’s response to rising competition with the increasingly popular band, “The Beatles”.  After listening to the Beatles’ recent album “Revolver”, he decided he wanted to make an album with just as much impact.  He wanted the songs in the new album to flow well together and reduce the number of filler songs between the hits.  (Brian Wilson Podcast)

“Pet Sounds” was a unique album in many ways.  Brian Wilson began to write in more complex arrangements and layer instruments in a more complex way.  He had spent a good amount of time around Phil Spektor, whose influence can be heard throughout the album.  Phil’s experimental “Wall of Sound” is present in many of the songs and creates a unique feeling to the album.  Brian’s lyrics started to shift from surfing and fun to complicated relationships and almost psychological material.  (The Making of Pet Sounds)

To me, “Pet Sounds” gives the impression of an album that was made for a general audience.  The production choices made and the content of the lyrics live up to the standards of what a pop album should sound like.  Brian filled the arrangements much better than previous albums and created a much larger sound.  It is so big and complex that at times it can almost sound cluttered.  Regardless Brian clearly matured as a musician in the writing of “Pet Sounds” and it is arguably his best album.
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