Pet Sounds - Your reaction the first time you heard it?

It was around 2010 and I remember hearing "Wouldn't it be nice?" at Johnny Rockets waiting for my chili cheese fries with a date. I didn't know who did the song so I was listening closely to the lyrics that way I could just type them in Google on my phone and find out. So the results popped up it was The Beach Boys and it was actually the intro the critically acclaimed album "Pet Sounds". (What a way to start the album!!) I figured that whole album would sound as sunny as that song but to my surprise it didn't. The Beach Boys I knew did sunshine pop songs like California Girls,Surfin USA & Barbara Ann. That's why I didn't expect anything extravagant or as complex as Pet Sounds. At first listen I was blown away by the large production, all the instruments I heard at once and the angelic vocals by the boys. It sounded so beautiful to me that I had goosebumps all over and left speechless once the album ended. (The power of music.) I never heard anything so beautiful sounding in my life. I played that every single morning from that day until now and I'm still not tired of it or will ever be. I became a fan that instant and did as much research on the band and Brian Wilson as I could. That's the album that got me into classic rock/pop. It took me away from the Hip-Hop & Hard Rock I was listening to around that time. I love it and still haven't heard anything musically that blew me away like this album. Do you recall when you first heard it and your reaction to it?

 

I first heard it on a cassette in the early or mid '80s, when I was in college... It failed to impress me and just sounded kinda schmaltzy and fluffy to me.

I've since come to recognize its brilliance!

 

Honestly... I didn't like it at all. And I still don't. The Beach Boys are a band that have never really 'done it' for me and I've tried, I really have. I totally understand their significance but, for me, it just doesn't move me like music should...

 

I thought it was depressing on first listen. So depressing I didn't pick up it up again for 5 or so years. Then I realized it wasn't as depressing as I thought.

 

Probably in 1990 when it came out on CD.

Melody, and warmth.

That's all I've got. )

 

I thought it was really good but it took playing it 3 or 4 times for it to really sink in.

 

The first time I heard Pet Sounds in it's entirety was probably about 30 years ago (picked up a used vinyl copy). Didn't think much of it at the time.

When the CD remaster came out, I bought it again. I think I like it a bit more after the decades passed, but it's not an album that speaks to me. "Wouldn't It Be Nice" and "God Only Knows", though, are killer songs -- GOK probably being the *finest* Beach Boys song ever (only close competition being "Don't Worry Baby"). Production is great, but it's not an album I go back to when I want to hear some Beach Boys (I'll usually spin up some Greatest Hits collection...)

 

I remember being completely overwhelmed by the harmonies, the arrangements, the melodies - the album seemed almost too perfect. Simple in its message and yet so complex in execution - it felt like a desperate attempt at timelessness. But the one thing it did, it spoke to my teenage sensibilities in a way no other album ever had. It just nailed me. It's never been quite the same after that, and I can see why. This is an album you have to be in a certain mood and at a certain period of your life to fully understand and appreciate.

 

It made me want to take LSD.

 

I grew up with it, the original mono copy was in my Dad's collection. I found it perplexing as a kid when comparing to the BB I knew from their greatest hits albums and reasoned it was their sellout album.

We tried unloading it several times at yard sales in the late 70s, it was the only one which never sold. It now resides in my collection with '.50' and '.25' on the cover. Only after I reached adulthood did I realize the greatness of it.

 

I was never a fan of the Beach Boys growing up. Though I liked some of the tunes, I just couldn't relate to their whole sunny style and image, but I kept hearing about Brian the mad genius and how amazing Pet Sounds was. When I first heard it in the mid 90's, I was a little non-plussed initially, unable to get past my preconceived notions about the band, but at one point a friend sat me down and forced me to really pay attention to the arrangements and the unusual chord changes and something just clicked. It wasn't long before I was completely hooked.

 

It took a few listens for me. Then what really blew my mind was the Pet Sounds Sessions box. I was in tears hearing the stereo mix and the Stack-o's.

 

Actually it was a bit "Is that it?". Familiar with singles, obviously, but after hearing so many 'best thing since sliced bread' type reviews I expected another Sgt Pepper. It isn't. It's not bad, but I'm not sure it's worth the hype. Maybe you had to be there.

 

I guess some posters on here weren't made for those times......

 

My first reaction was "Wow, the Beach Boys can actually sing about something other than girls and cars"

But overall, the sensation that "Pet Sounds" delivered was relaxing. The album feels like a slight departure from youth but an irresistable urge to stay connected to it... if that makes any sense. It's not exactly a Sgt. Pepper but it's a monumental album for them as a group.

 

I thought it was dull.
I still think its the most over-rated album ever made.

 

As a teenager I knew the singles, and I'd heard I Just Wasn't Made For These Times on some MFP compilation. I'd also read a Beach Boys biography and knew I needed to find this album as soon as possible. It was summer 81 when I finally tracked down a copy. It lived up to all my expectations. It was my soundtrack to that summer (together with "Stations Of The Crass" by Crass).

 

I was there (time-wise) and it still didn't do it for me. As I remember, I liked it, and bought it, but I wasn't hugely impressed. Maybe I was too much of a Beatles nut!

 

I felt a certain sensibility and fragileness behind these songs that moved me. Also really digged the sound and production.

 

On first glance, "California Girls" could be written off as a simple sunshine tune but I would never group it with "Surfin USA" or "Barbara Ann." Just from music composition perspective, "California Girls" is lightyears more complex than those songs. It's as musically dense as "Good Vibrations" or anything off "Pet Sounds." Another tune off the "Summer Days and Summer Nights" album along with "California Girls" that needs recognition is "Let Him Run Wild." Brian's writing was getting into unchartered territory by this point. "California Girls" tricks people into thinking it's senseless pop because of the fun overwhelmingly positivity that comes through the song but the changes, the orchestration, the arrangement and how the instrumentation and vocals swell throughout the song all suggest that something far more complex is happening than "Ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ran!"

 

I had heard a few of the tunes before (Sloop John B., Wouldn't It Be Nice, God Only Knows) and so had some idea what to expect. Still, after it being built up as one of the greatest albums of all time, my first listen was slightly disappointing, mainly because I could not get into the lyrics. After a few listens, I came to appreciate it more.

 

It was like: alright, this is classic Beach Boys, but I rather listen to Friends.

 

Around the time I was first exposed to Pet Sounds, I was listening to a few bands who were inspired by that era of the Beach Boys: Microdisney, the High Llamas, and Stereolab. When I heard Pet Sounds, I immediately noticed how these bands found inspiration in the songs' sophisticated and beautiful chord progressions and rich organ textures. I was blown away by the sophistication, the arrangements, the cavernous sound, the harmonies. Some songs moved me immediately, especially That's Not Me, Caroline No, and I Just Wasn't Made For These Times. Others took a little longer to grab me, but it eventually became a favorite album of mine.