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

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by JohnnyQuest, Jul 28, 2014.

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  1. Ayshpaysh

    Ayshpaysh Forum Resident

    Location:
    Sydney, Australia
    I borrowed it from the library and it lived on repeat for the whole month I had it. I had never heard an album like it before. It made me appreciate that albums are a whole package rather than something to pick through.

    It was also my intro into the whole Mono/ Stereo debate.
     
  2. hominy

    hominy Digital Drifter

    Location:
    Seattle-ish
    I had been listening to the hits for so many years I didn't realize that some of my favorites had all come from that album. I found it on CD maybe 6 years ago and it didn't leave much of an impression on me, but it grew. Then when I realized there was a stereo mix I checked that out and it was like a revelation. I could hear everything and it actually brought a tear to my eyes. I became addicted.
     
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  3. oshfr

    oshfr Forum Resident

    Location:
    San Francisco, CA
    Pet Sounds had no effect on my when I first heard it except God Only Knows, but I came upon it because I heard it was an amazing album. I never quite got the Beach Boys at first (but then again my first exposure to them was Getcha Back and Kokomo). I've grown to love their music and am still discovering their greatness. Pet Sounds has become and remains an enjoyable, but challenging listen 20 years since I've first heard it, and I own the surround version, and have listened to the entire box set thank to the local library. and to add to this, I came upon the album due to reading about Sgt. Pepper and the influence Pet Sound had on the Beatles.
     
  4. Michael

    Michael I LOVE WIDE S-T-E-R-E-O!

    loved it! still do...in Stereo even more.
     
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  5. Victor/Victrola

    Victor/Victrola Makng shure its write

    I couldn't have said it better myself.

    I really like the singles from the album, God Only Knows may be the best song they ever recorded, but as a whole, it doesn't do much for me. I don't hate it, but it's just meh. However, I really love Sunflower and Surf's Up. Those are brilliant.
     
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  6. oldsurferdude

    oldsurferdude Forum Resident

    Location:
    detroit, mi. 48150
    Having all the BB releases in my collection from day one and hearing God Only Knows, Wouldn't It Be Nice, and Sloop John B on the am radio, I could not wait to dig into Pet Sounds to discover even more delights. But it wasn't quite as easy as I thought it would be. These pieces in between the hits needed a different type of listening. Beautiful sounds with darker lyrics that I was not accustomed to which required more from the listener I thought. It took more time to round up these strange new sounds and words than say, Little Deuce Coupe or I Get Around. This was serious **** that was all about what I was going through at the time with my favorite group and composer getting it all down in an extremely moving way. I knew back then the sound was awful but had the sincere pleasure of hearing in all it's stereophonic glory in 1996 which was like having it happen all over again. I am forever in your debt Mr. Desper.
     
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  7. jkauff

    jkauff Senior Member

    Location:
    Akron, OH
    I was not a Beach Boys fan at all in 1968. Never had been. I listened to a lot of classical music, and my favorite bands were the Beatles and the Stones, the Byrds (especially the Byrds), the Who, the Velvet Underground, and the Mothers of Invention. The Beach Boys were totally irrelevant to me.

    One day I came across an article by Paul Williams, one of my favorite critics, where he wrote about how and why Pet Sounds was his favorite album. I bought a cheap used mono copy, and one late night put it on the turntable and played it through headphones. By the time it finished for the second time, it was my favorite album, and I already owned more than a thousand records. It was the first pop album that made me cry, and I did a couple of times that night. The music went straight from my ears to my heart, something I had experienced with classical music but never with pop/rock.

    All these years later, it's still my favorite album, although I'm much more impressed by SMiLE as a piece of music. I'll probably be buried with Steve's DCC mono version.
     
  8. Pericles

    Pericles Forum Resident

    Location:
    Edmonton
  9. GodBlessTinyTim

    GodBlessTinyTim Forum Resident

    Location:
    Ontario, Canada
    Expected to be blown away, wasn't.

    It's a solid album, but I'll never remember how the unfamiliar songs go for the life of me. Too subtle for my uncultured Phillistine ears. Suppose I expected more variety, like Sgt. Pepper's. I'd rather listen to one of their hits comps in most situations.
     
  10. wayne66

    wayne66 Forum Resident

    I got the 1990 cd and I was not impressed. Other than the big three songs, I did not get it. I was like Eh... so this is it. I eventually saw the error of my ways and now regard as quite brilliant. My favorite Beach Boy album. It is an album that needs time to grow on you. Multiple listens bring many pleasures.
     
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  11. GentleSenator

    GentleSenator what if

    Location:
    Aloha, OR
    "what is this crap?"

    no, i don't still think that.
     
  12. Atmospheric

    Atmospheric Forum Resident

    Location:
    Eugene
    Then as now: meh.

    Wouldn't It Be Nice is a cool tune. Otherwise thoroughly forgettable. It shouldn't be in the same conversation as Sgt. Peppers IMO.
     
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  13. John54

    John54 Senior Member

    Location:
    Burlington, ON
    I first heard it in full around 1973. It certainly doesn't have the variety of Sgt. Pepper or subsequent Beatles LPs. I do like the mid-'60s California sound but a whole LP of it can be excessive. Other than God Only Knows (which I was already familiar with) and my favourite track I'm Waiting For The Day, I wasn't that impressed. I did buy a CD copy though.
     
  14. sons of nothing

    sons of nothing Forum Resident

    Location:
    Illinois
    Brilliant album, quite possibly the best pop album ever. Mine sits between a Bathory disc, and a Beatles disc.
     
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  15. JuanTCB

    JuanTCB Senior Member

    Location:
    Brooklyn, NY
    I bought it on cassette in the late '80s - I was around 16 or so. I'd read about it and was expecting this psychedelic masterpiece. What I got sounded like crap (I blame the format) and bored me to tears. I gave it another shot on CD when I was getting seriously into the Beach Boys in my early 20s and it finally clicked with me... but when I heard the stereo mix for the first time in '98 or so, I flipped my lid and gorged on it for years.

    I don't listen to it that much anymore but when I do, I go for the mono. Go figure.
     
  16. graystoke

    graystoke Forum Resident

    It did (and still does) nothing for me. I accept it has historical significance but musically, it will never move me. The Zombies' "Odessey And Oracle", The Stones' "Between The Buttons" and The Who's "Sell Out" are examples of other "iconic" albums I don't connect with.
     
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  17. jkauff

    jkauff Senior Member

    Location:
    Akron, OH
    You just named three others on my Desert Island list. I hope we never have to take a road trip together. :laugh:
     
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  18. graystoke

    graystoke Forum Resident

    We'll each have to have our own set of headphones!
     
  19. notesofachord

    notesofachord Riding down the river in an old canoe

    Location:
    Mojave Desert
    Yikes, I thought you posted the Eastwood meme because they'd rather rather listen to these "Friends" than Pet Sounds:
    [​IMG]

    The Beach Boys Friends album, on the other hand, is wonderful.
     
    Last edited: Jul 29, 2014
  20. notesofachord

    notesofachord Riding down the river in an old canoe

    Location:
    Mojave Desert
    Ever heard of Morrissey?
     
  21. thestereofan

    thestereofan Senior Member

    Location:
    San Jose
    Didn't like it all at first because it sounded terrible in mono. When I got the stereo CD, I really liked it. Then I got the DVD-A and wow, it is really amazing,.

    Now it is one of my favorites, but really don't like the instrumentals much and wish it included Good Vibrations, then it would be a Top 5 all time album.

    What a sweet but sad album.
     
    Last edited: Jul 29, 2014
  22. ausamerika

    ausamerika Forum Resident

    Location:
    Seattle, WA
    Some years ago, I purchased the DVD-A and was disappointed by the mix. My introduction to the album was many years earlier, and like many others, I wrote it off in favor of sand-and-surf BB music. However, I was on a forum over at another site. Someone there suggested that I check out this site, because Steve was putting out a remaster of the album.

    TL;DR - Pet Sounds brought me to this site.
     
  23. AudiophilePhil

    AudiophilePhil Senior Member

    Location:
    San Diego, CA
    Before hearing the album"Pet Sounds", I was already familiar with three of the songs from the album ("Would'nt it Be Nice", "God Only Knows" and "Sloop John B") from different compilation and from hearing the great Beach Boys cover band "Papa Doo Run Run" on the great sounding Telarc CD. When "Pet Sounds" first came out on CD in the late 80's, I hurriedly bought one copy after reading some great articles that it was the album that inspired the Beatles to record "Sgt. Pepper" album. At first listen, I was a little disappointed. After hearing the album a few more times, it grew on me little-by-little until it became one of my favourite pop albums of all time. My new favourite tracks from the album are "I Wasn't Made For This Time" and "Don't Talk Put Your Head on my Shoulder".
     
    Last edited: Jul 29, 2014
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  24. michael landes

    michael landes Forum Resident

    brian himself has stated often that he was inspired simply by the fact that this was not the conventional hits+filler, but an entire album of "good stuff".
    And he decided to try and do likewise. that's his story.
     
  25. gd0

    gd0 Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies

    Location:
    Golden Gate
    I bought it on day of release, thus no hype factor. I can imagine being underwhelmed after seeing it slobbered over on a bunch of Entertainment Tonight best-of circle jerks.

    But do note that we've been treated to a kaleidoscope of imaginative music in the last half century. There weren't nearly so many choices in 1965.

    In its day PS played strong. It went to many of the places I wanted it to go, having heard the musical progression in California Girls, She Knows Me Too Well, Little Girl I Once Knew. That growing sophistication was part of what made the 60s so memorable. The Beatles were handily doing it, AND maintaining an important guitar-driven sound in an increasingly crazed (that's a good thing!) decade. Brian took a completely different and daring tack (also a good thing!) with less rocking. This is where the album came up a little short for me, even way back then. Needed more balance, a little aggression; didn't need a Big Sunny Hit Single (been there, done that), but a coupl'a angst-ridden sucker punches on this serious album would have been welcome.

    Nonetheless I played it constantly, and appreciation for it, as is, only grew. Yes, I knew the Duophonic sounded wonky, but I'd be damned if I was gonna lay out another $3 on an old-fashioned mono.

    I like those songs well enough, but they couldn't lose those stupid striped shirts fast enough for my taste. It was the 60s, a rare arts renaissance that will never happen again. Time to grow, experiment and offer expressions that no one else thought of. Brian Wilson could be in that mix.

    The familiar and-more-of-the-same are OK for some (Creedence) but when you've got a Brian Wilson who can juggle notes, chords, arrangements, harmonies and concepts (which exceed Groovy Girls), you shoot for the stars.

    OK, PS only made it to Saturn. Smile is the coulda-woulda.
     
    Last edited: Jul 29, 2014
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