Pet sounds

Pet sounds
Studio album by The Beach Boys
Publication (s)	May 16, 1966
admission	July 12, 1965 - April 13, 1966
Label (s)	Capitol Records
Format (s)	LP , CD , MC , SACD , DVD-A , HDCD , BD
Genre (s)	Baroque pop , psychedelic pop
Title (number)	13
running time	36:25
occupation	Brian Wilson - organ , bass , piano , harmonium , vocals Glen Campbell - twelve string guitar Barney Kessel - guitar , mandolin Bruce Johnston - vocals Mike Love - vocals Terry Melcher - tambourine , vocals Carl Wilson - guitar , twelve-string guitar , vocals Jim Gordon - drums Hal Blaine - bongos , drums , timpani Al Jardine - vocals Carol Kaye - bass Dennis Wilson - vocals , drums Steve Douglas - clarinet , flute , saxophone
production	Brian Wilson
Studio (s)	Gold Star Studios , Los Angeles Western Recorders , Los Angeles Columbia Studios, Los Angeles Sunset Sound Recorders, Los Angeles
chronology Beach Boys' Party! (1965) Pet sounds Smiley Smile (1967)
Single releases March 7, 1966 Caroline, No. March 21, 1966 Sloop John B. July 18, 1966 Wouldn't It Be Nice / God Only Knows October 10, 1966 Let's go away for awhile

Pet Sounds is the eleventh studio album by the California rock band The Beach Boys . It was produced by Brian Wilson .

Pet Sounds was released on May 16, 1966 by Capitol Records . In addition to the instruments commonly used in rock music at the time, such as guitar, bass and drums, Wilson used French horns , theremines , piccolos, rattling spoons, Coke cans, plastic bottles, bicycle bells, horns, recordings of passing trains, barking dogs and church organs to enhance the sound . Pet Sounds is now one of the most important and influential albums in music history and represents the most important work of the Beach Boys.

The story of the album

The Beach Boys 1965

Brian Wilson, the band's songwriter, had announced at the age of 23 that he wanted to compose and produce the greatest rock album of all time. Wilson, who was deeply impressed by the Beatles album Rubber Soul , wanted to prove that he - not Lennon / McCartney - was the best songwriter of his generation. Drugs caused his creative impulse on the one hand, but also new friends. Many of these new friends were also musicians, songwriters, or had other roles in the music industry. Two of his new companions were David Anderle and Van Dyke Parks , who convinced Brian Wilson that ambition is not just madness.

The first step for his "biggest" album was to hire Tony Asher to co-author the lyrics in early 1966 . Asher had written a few songs in the early 1960s, but had specialized entirely in composing and writing advertising jingles . Wilson was specifically looking for a partner who had nothing to do with sun, beach and sea - he wanted someone who could write lyrical and expressive lyrics. Wilson did not trust his cousin Mike Love , who had previously written most of the lyrics for the Beach Boys, this task. It was the first time Wilson had deliberately looked for a partner for an entire album. The two musicians had deliberately not made the plan to create a concept album , but a complete oeuvre that, like Rubber Soul , would fit together musically and lyrically, and this togetherness resulted in a concept.

When the rest of the band, which had been performing for a long time without Brian Wilson, returned from a tour of Japan, he presented them with finished songs that they had to sing. Several months were spent on it. For the instrumentation, however, Brian Wilson mainly relied on a group of excellent studio musicians known as " The Wrecking Crew " and inducted into the Musicians Hall of Fame in 2007. As an autodidact, Wilson had precise ideas about the arrangements of the pieces, but he usually left the notation of the individual instruments to one of his studio musicians. As preserved tapes of the recordings show, he was open to suggestions from his musicians and also accepted obvious mistakes when they served a piece and made it more interesting.

The songs by Pet Sounds deal with adult emotions with partly autobiographical content. The album should deal with childhood and the loss of innocence. Part symphony , part rhapsody , part prayer, each piece expresses an emotion and a certain mood, Wilson's most intimate feelings were revealed; likewise his desires, dreams and fears, put into words by Asher. A deeply felt homelessness in time and place became visible as well as the thought that people define themselves by how they affect other people and how they can realize themselves in love. The search for happiness is finally defined in a single line: "God only knows what I'd be without you ..." ( English : "God only knows what I would be without you ...").

The Beach Boys created a total work of art that would prove to be both artistically and commercially successful. They consolidated the economic importance of rock music and underlined its validity as a separate art form. They challenged the conventions to which artists in the music business of the time were subjected and ultimately overturned them. However, they could not completely escape the mechanisms: The record company not only made arbitrary decisions about the single releases, but brought the album onto the market without Wilson's approval before what he believed to be the most important song, Good Vibrations , was finished. Capitol Records had initially even completely refused to release the album. The record company wanted to ensure that the Beach Boys remained true to their “beach themes”.

Success, however, proved Wilson right. Just three weeks after its release, Pet Sounds was considered a collector's item. Brian Wilson wanted to release God Only Knows as a single, but the record company didn't realize it. Without further ado, the Beach Boys signed a contract with EMI to publish the title in Great Britain . God Only Knows came in at number 2 on the charts. Pet Sounds was also sold outside of the US via EMI and finally made the Beach Boys global stars. It is considered one of the most important rock albums today. The album reached number 10 on the US Billboard charts and number 2 on the UK charts. It was in the top 10 worldwide. According to Paul McCartney ("I don't think anyone really knows anything about music until they've heard this album") and producer George Martin , Pet Sounds inspired the Beatles to create Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band .

Pet Sounds was released in the early stages of the "golden era of rock" (around 1966 to 1972). This was the time when creative artists tried to exhaust the ever-improving studio technology. In 1966, which was rich in major albums, Pet Sounds became the most influential alongside Revolver by the Beatles. It was one of the first albums to be created out of the belief that this music would be heard and appreciated for generations later.

It was not until the end of 1999, over 33 years after the record was released, that Columbia Records applied to the RIAA for the album to be awarded a gold record . After this was initially rejected due to allegedly unclear sales figures, the record company had over 670,000 copies sold since 1986. As a result, Pet Sounds was awarded gold status on February 11, 2000. However, since the figures presented do not prove the 20 years before, it can be assumed that the total number is significantly higher.

Track list

With the exception of the marked exceptions, all songs are written by Brian Wilson and Tony Asher .

page A

1. Wouldn't It Be Nice (Brian Wilson, Tony Asher, Mike Love ) - 2:22

2. You Still Believe in Me - 2:33

3. That's Not Me - 2:27

4. Don't Talk (Put Your Head on My Shoulder) - 2:52

5. I'm Waiting for the Day (Brian Wilson, Mike Love) - 3:01 am

6. Let's Go Away for Awhile (Brian Wilson) - 2:18

7. Sloop John B (Traditional / Arranged by Brian Wilson) - 2:57

Side B

8. God Only Knows - 2:46

9. I Know There's an Answer (Brian Wilson, Terry Stuff) - 3:10

10. Here Today - 2:38

11. I Just Wasn't Made for These Times - 3:21

12. Pet Sounds (Brian Wilson) - 2:20

13. Caroline, No - 2:16

The singles

• Sloop John B b / w You're So Good to Me reached # 3 in the US and # 2 in Great Britain. It was also a # 1 hit in Germany , New Zealand , the Netherlands and Norway . This title was published by the Beach Boys back in 1965.
• Wouldn't It Be Nice (in the US with God Only Knows as B-side , God Only Knows ranked 39th in the US) reached rank 8 in the US and rank 2 in Australia . Brian Wilson wanted to release the B-side, God Only Knows , as an independent single, which the record company did not agree with. He was only able to implement this plan in Europe, where this song became a hit. During the 1990s, Mike Love was awarded a court co-credit on the piece. At the end of the piece he had added the words “Good night my baby, stay tonight”.
• God Only Knows (with Wouldn't It Be Nice as B-side) reached 2nd place in Great Britain, 6th in Norway, 11th in the Netherlands and 22nd in Germany. The song was not included in the program lists of the American radio stations because it contained the word "God" in the title.
• Caroline, No b / w New Summer Means New Love was released as Brian Wilson's solo single. The song was originally called Carol, I Know , although Wilson must have misheard when his lyricist Tony Asher dictated the lyrics to him. The song reached number 32 in the US.

Awards

• In 1993, The Times newspaper voted the album # 1 in the Top 100 Albums.
• In 1993, Pet Sounds reached # 1 in New Musical Express's 500 best albums of all time . In the magazine's latest list (2013), the album ranks 26th.
• In 1995 the British music magazine Mojo, in cooperation with the Sunday Times, named Pet Sounds the best album of all time.
• In 1997, The Guardian voted it # 6 in the Top 100 Albums.
• In 1998 the album was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame .
• In 1999, spex magazine, together with the former alternative music channel VIVA Zwei, placed the album at number 1 of the 100 albums of the century .
• In 1999 the album was to be awarded the Grammy for "Best Album of the Millennium"; the band turned down the Grammy, however, to protest against the late award.
• 2003/2012: The American music magazine Rolling Stone lists Pet Sounds at number 2 of the 500 best albums of all time .
• In 2005, Pet Sounds was added to the National Recording Registry of the Library of Congress .
• Since 2005 the album has been featured in the 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die .
• In 2006, the website Pitchfork voted God Only Knows # 1 in the Top 200 Songs of the 1960s.
• In 2010, Time magazine added sounds to its 100 most important albums.
• In 2011, God Only Knows reached # 25 in Rolling Stone's 500 Best Songs of All Time .
• In 2011 Time God Only Knows was selected for the 100 best songs.
• In 2014, God Only Knows ranked 14th in the New Musical Express's 500 Best Songs of All Time .
• In 2016, Uncut Pet Sounds magazine ranked # 1 of the 200 best albums.
• In 2017, Pitchfork voted Pet Sounds # 2 of the 200 best albums of the 1960s.
• In 2018, God Only Knows was ranked 6th of the 100 best songs of all time by the German magazine Musikexpress .

literature

• Jim Fusilli: 33 ⅓: Pet Sounds . Bloomsbury Academic, London, New York 2005, ISBN 0-8264-1670-5 .
• Charles L. Granata: Brian Wilson and the Beach Boys: the making of "Pet Sounds" . Hannibal, Höfen 2007, ISBN 978-3-85445-275-1 .

Web links

• official homepage
• Pet Sounds at Allmusic (English)
• Pet Sounds at Discogs
• Pet Sounds Review at laut.de.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Entry to the album Pet Sounds on allmusic.com
2. ↑ ^{a b} Kingsley Abbott: The Beach Boys and Brian Wilson , Hannibal, St. Andrä-Wrogen 1998, ISBN 978-3-854-45160-0
3. ↑ einestages.spiegel.de: Beach Boys project “Smile”. Accessed November 12, 2011.
4. ^ Rollingstone.com: Lost Paperwork to Blame for "Pet Sounds" Meager Sales Numbers
5. ↑ The Times - Nov - Dec 1993 - The Vultures 100 Best Albums of all Time on rocklistmusic.co.uk, accessed December 21, 2016
6. ↑ NME Best Albums Of All Time 1993 on besteveralbums.com, accessed December 21, 2016
7. ↑ The 500 Greatest Albums Of All Time: 100-1 (2013) on nme.com, accessed May 26, 2017
8. ^ Foreword by the editor . In: Kingsley Abbott: The Beach Boys and Brian Wilson , Hannibal, St. Andrä-Wrogen 1998, ISBN 978-3-854-45160-0
9. ↑ smileysmile.net: Enter the Smiley Smile 40th Anniversary Contest! ( Memento of February 17, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) , accessed February 10, 2008
10. ↑ Mojo: The 100 Greatest Albums Ever Made , August 1995, on rocklistmusic.co.uk (accessed May 7, 2019)
11. ↑ Rocklist.net ... The Guardian Best Albums Lists ... on rocklistmusic.com (accessed April 12, 2020)
12. ↑ GRAMMY Hall Of Fame on grammy.com (accessed February 17, 2019)
13. ↑ 500 Greatest Albums of All Time: The Beach Boys, 'Pet Sounds'. In: Rolling Stone. May 24, 2012, accessed April 17, 2014 . 
14. ↑ Complete National Recording Registry Listing on loc.gov (accessed February 17, 2019)
15. ↑ The 200 Best Songs of the 1960s on pitchfork.com (accessed May 4, 2018)
16. ↑ All-TIME 100 Albums on time.com (accessed February 17, 2019)
17. ↑ 500 Greatest Songs of All Time on rollingstone.com (accessed May 4, 2018)
18. ↑ All-TIME 100 Songs on time.com (accessed February 17, 2019)
19. ↑ The 500 Greatest Songs Of All Time on nme.com (accessed May 4, 2018)
20. ↑ Uncut: 200 Greatest Albums Of All Time on rocklistmusic.co.uk, accessed December 21, 2016
21. ↑ The 200 Best Albums of the 1960s on pitchfork.com (accessed May 4, 2018)
22. ↑ The 100 best songs of all time on musikexpress.de (accessed on February 17, 2019)