How to respond nicely to someone who says Pet Sounds is the most over-rated album in the world?

Tell them there is no such thing as overrated, there is only you not liking something that many, many like. But, besides that it’s a critique of the audience and not the art.

 

I'm very close to think so.

 

It's a good album but it's one of several good Beach Boys albums of the period. It is popular mainly because it has really down to earth lyrics that still stand up today.

 

I'm one of the few people not that keen on the production style of Pet Sounds, except the obvious 'Good Vibrations' which is a production masterwork!

The thing that lets it down for me, is the predominance of the bass harmonica and the exotic orchestration which I know is a major appeal for the album, but that low buzzy sound juxtaposed with everything else is something I wish I could just mute and just hear some guys playing guitars and singing along.

The songs are good ('God Only Knows' of course is a classic) but the clutter and clanky sound of the percussion/drums make it a challenging listen for me. And yet that's what people love about it. Oh well, go figure!

 

Why so sensitive? There are lots of idiots out there. And every idiot is entitled to his opinion, whether you share that opinion or not. It's not worth the time to persuade those idiots. Break off the conversation (politely if possible) and move on. Your particular idiot sounds like a youngun who's a little too caught up in his hot take mentality and not all that into nuanced thought.

That idiot, however, is not entitled to his own facts. So if he tries to tell you that Charles Manson sang on Good Vibrations, feel free to correct him (mercifully if possible). "Uh, that's Mike Love, not the guy who did Mechanical Man."

 

I owned the Mono 45rpm version for awhile.
I dig The Beach Boys- heard how great this album is- but just could not get into it after “wouldn’t it be nice”
It’s slow and plodding. Put me to sleep. Boring.
Sorry.

 

This is such a weird statement. Not only is "Good Vibrations"not on Pet Sounds, but the production style of "Good Vibrations"-- Brian's so-called "modular technique -- does not feature on Pet Sounds at all.

 

I don't get it. Carl sings lead on "Good Vibrations." Mike does sing on it too.

To me, if someone says they don't like Pet Sounds (and one cannot have a conversation online about Pet Sounds without numerous people deciding to crap on it this way: see this thread for evidence) it's best just to shrug: who cares what these nobodies think? The album has a secure place in history, and that's that.

 

I would respond by saying I disagree. Yes it's one of the most overrated albums ever but not the most overrated.

 

Not all singing on Beach Boys records is the lead vocal. I'm aware that Carl sings the lead. To clarify: I was imagining listening to GV with this person and having to explain to him that the "I'm picking up good vibrations...." part is Love and not Manson.

 

Ah, I gotcha. Since I had never heard that rumor before, the clarification was necessary for me.

 

I hadn't either. I made it up as an example of something ridiculously false.

 

We got a fold down of that duophonic mix in the UK as our original mono pressing. It's not good but I still kind of enjoy it. A second hand copy of that was my first Pet Sounds and how I got into it. Such a shame that a wonderful album and recording got treat so shoddily at the time and for years afterwards though.

 

Haha! Ok.

 

I gotta laugh at this because I think I said this very thing to a guy I worked with a million years ago. I was a 19-year-old punk and he was a 35-year-old Brian Wilson fanatic. I guess it would have been more accurate to say "Pet Sounds is the most overrated album in this office."

 

It's a good record that I like for the most part, but I think a lot of the over the top groveling about it from critics and Hollywooders is due to a PR effort in the 90s to clean up Brian's image from his publicized drama off and on during the 70s and 80s.

 

I think we may have just discovered the “obscure hurt” (Henry James) that determined and sealed your fate as a future mastering engineer….

 

Say: "it is"

 

A slightly mild variant on The Emperor's New Clothes criticism.

 

so what pepper is though?

 

Fold down of duophonic. That is bad.

But, that album did a lot better there than here. Never heard a UK mono, so I guess there's yet another different cut of the album that I don't have. Thanks for the indirect tip. Wasn't aware of that.

 

It's listenable, but no better. I still play it every now and then, but more because of the attachment I have to it and what it is (thinking of it as a 56 year old first pressing of a classic rather than a mediocre sounding record!). It's still the only vinyl Pet Sounds I own. If anything, it looks great with a very nice laminated sleeve, the same as Beatles originals. The 45s taken from Pet Sounds, which were big UK hits, don't sound very good either along with the God Only Knows EP. I'm guessing they used the same source for it all.

 

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I read years ago that Brian is deaf in one ear. I guess that compromises his ability to do a stereo mix justice.