I had heard reference to Pet Sounds many times over the years and knew it to be considered by many prominent modern artists to be a formative influence and perhaps the greatest popular music album of all time. However, I somehow never got round to actually finding this out for myself. Firstly, although I had heard and loved some of the well-known Beach Boys classic hits, I never considered them to be worthy of ‘all time greatest’ material (except perhaps ‘God Only Knows’ and ‘Good Vibrations’, one of which is actually on Pet Sounds and the other of which is from the same era). Secondly, the fact that it was mixed in mono also put me off. I would love to say I am sufficiently discerning to appreciate a mono mix for pure musical content alone. But the truth of the matter is I like the quick audio fix that stereo gives – I am very much into swirling vistas of moving sound.
So, it was with great anticipation, and some apprehension at being let down, that I first listened to this Pet Sounds release. I skipped the mono tracks and jumped straight to the stereo re-mixes. I couldn’t quite believe what I was hearing, so I played it back again… and again. It is now two weeks on and I haven’t stopped playing it, back to back, time after time. And although I will no doubt listen to other music again at some point soon, I know I will be able to revisit Pet Sounds any time at all for the rest of my life. It really is eternal.
There will be classical purists who will snort with derision at comparisons between Brian Wilson and the great classical composers such as Mozart and Beethoven. I love classical music too, especially getting to know a new symphony or concerto properly, understanding more with each listen until I almost feel as though I am inside the composer’s head. And I can honestly say that I feel the same way about Pet Sounds too. Although there are many other pop albums which I have taken a while to get into, there are none which I have got into immediately, and then again, and again in so many different, progressively deeper ways. There is just so much going on in these songs! How did he do this with the tools available at the time? In fact, how could anyone do anything like this ever again, even with all the wizardry which can happen in a modern studio?
I could never before appreciate how bands such as The Beatles, Screamadelica and REM cited the Beach Boys as a major influence. Listening to Pet Sounds, it is now so clear. It seems like a distillation of the best bits of many different modern classic albums. And then I have to remind myself that actually this was the pre-cursor to them all. I’m still trying to get to grips with the fact that Brian Wilson did this in 1966!
And this brings me on to the mono mixes. I have seen reviews of this release slating the stereo remixes as being nothing like the original and being a trashing of Brian Wilson’s legacy. However, although I do appreciate that there are differences they are quite clearly the same songs, drawn from the same cuts. And on the contrary, I have found both the stereo and mono mixes to be very complimentary. There are so many moving, flowing melodies in there that often a part which is obscured in one mix jumps out in the other. And then you can appreciate the part in the context of either mix. (So much for me thinking I was not able to appreciate a mono mix – I now know that I could have bought and loved Pet Sounds in mono many years ago.)
So, what more can I say? You might buy and not like it, but if you’re curious and are reading Amazon reviews of Pet Sounds because you’ve heard about it like I did and think it’s your kind of thing, then you’re already on the right track and buy it, buy it, buy it! And even if you’ve stumbled upon this by complete chance, buy it anyway, because although it might not click with you, if it does, then truly you will have found something rarely, profoundly, achingly, joyfully moving.
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