A Sneak Peek on a huge album...
And this time "Pet Sounds" the 11th studio album of "The Beach Boys" was released on May 16, 1966.
This is without a doubt one of Rock's greatest and most influential albums, and not for nothing it is ranked second and most respected on Rolling Stone magazine's 500 greatest albums of all time, second only to the Beatles' "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band".
On this album, the band makes a sharp turn from the saccharine pop that characterized it in the previous 10 albums and beyond to rock combined with psychedelia, jazz, classical, and avant-garde. The topics of writing also changed substantially and deviated from the almost regular topics that dealt with summer, surfing, cars, and women and became more serious and personal, and accompanied a process of maturation and disillusionment.
Although not really a concept album, in essence, it is considered by music critics as an early version of a concept album. A complete and comprehensive work that is difficult to relate to each of the songs in it on its own and detached from the overall work.
The genius Brian Wilson conceived and created this masterpiece after listening to the Beatles' "Rubber Soul". He just went crazy over the Beatles' work and decided he was going to surpass it and create the best rock album ever created.
Wilson managed in a sense to transcend the Beatles with this masterpiece, even for a short time until the Beatles' reaction came from the other side of the ocean. With many studio hours, layers of musical instruments, and production comparable to Phil Spector's "Wall Of Sound", Wilson geniusly managed to put out a work that would challenge Paul McCartney and his friends and make them bite their nails in anxiety.
This album has revolutionized the rock world. A spectacular combination of a large variety of musical instruments, effects of trains, sound recordings of animals, a mix of melodic and psychedelic melodies, and some of the most beautiful vocal harmonies recorded, all by Wilson who was assisted here mostly by Tony Asher.
It was recorded by Wilson's production between July 1965 and April 1966 (a very unusual period for the album at the time), and on an unprecedented budget at the time of $ 70,000. Wilson almost lost consciousness during the recordings. His pursuit of excellence caused certain sections of the album to be recorded dozens if not hundreds of times until his ingenious and sensitive ear was satisfied with the result.
At the time of its release, the audience was not really in a hurry to adopt the psychedelic rock and the new style of the band. The album only reached number ten in the US, although in the UK it flew straight to second place. Of "The Beatles" Paul McCartney later admitted that he and "The Beatles" were influenced by the production, idea, and performance of "Pet Sounds" when they wrote and recorded "Sgt. Pepper". John Lennon crowned it the best album and his favorite in the world.
You can listen to the masterpiece on Spotify, Apple Music