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Wouldn't It Be Nice
You Still Believe in Me
That's Not Me
Don't Talk (Put Your Head on My Shoulder)
I'm Waiting for the Day
Let's Go Away for Awhile
Sloop John B
God Only Knows
I Know There's an Answer
Here Today
I Just Wasn't Made for These Times
Pet Sounds
Caroline, No
Historically, Pet Sounds has never been taken quite as seriously as the other biog albums from 1966, Bob Dylan’s Blonde On Blonde or The Beatles’ Revolver. Perhaps this is down to the fact that The Beach Boys lacked the countercultural edge of Bob Dylan and The Beatles, or maybe it had something to do with its literal, artless front cover.
But that was then. Today, Pet Sounds is regarded not only as the equal of those records but, in some quarters, their superior. Certainly, together with the equally groundbreaking single Good Vibrations, which followed it five months later, it drew up an ambitious road map for rock’s future.
Brian Wilson's songs – Wouldn’t It Be Nice, Don’t Talk (Put Your Head On My Shoulder), I’m Waiting For The Day, God Only Knows, I Just Wasn’t Made For These Times, Caroline, No – were perfect miniatures of hymnal wonder, which expressed with devotional clarity the anxieties and longings of an adolescent poised on the cusp of agonising maturity.
If the role of the rest of The Beach Boys was diminished on a musical level, Pet Sounds was still a triumph of vocal layering. It certainly wouldn’t have been possible without the input of Wilson’s brothers Dennis and Carl, cousin Mike Love, Al Jardine and new member Bruce Johnston.
Every week, Album of the Week Club listens to and discusses the album in question, votes on how good it is, and publishes our findings, with the aim of giving people reliable reviews and the wider rock community the chance to contribute.
Other albums released in May 1966
- Everybody Loves a Nut - Johnny Cash
- Small Faces - Small Faces
- Midnight Ride - Paul Revere & the Raiders
- Try Too Hard - Dave Clark Five
- Go with the Ventures! - The Ventures
What they said...
"It's often said that this is more of a Brian Wilson album than a Beach Boys recording (session musicians played most of the parts), but it should be noted that the harmonies are pure Beach Boys (and some of their best). Massively influential upon its release (although it was a relatively low seller compared to their previous LPs), it immediately vaulted the band into the top level of rock innovators among the intelligentsia, especially in Britain, where it was a much bigger hit." (AllMusic)
"Not many people can wield musical magic quite like Wilson. He can establish more feeling in a single chord change than some artists can manage in a lifetime’s work. To create such a stirring sensation in pop music is, quite simply, monumental. Whilst I don’t consider Pet Sounds to be a masterpiece, I’d be hard pressed to think of a single album that has impacted modern music to the same extent. It’s essential listening for all." (Audioxide)
"Regardless of the passage of time, Pet Sounds remains a cohesive classic. Every single song is so powerfully cohesive that it is simply impossible to even describe. It is the immaculate precision of the genius Brian Wilson, who has so much precision and control yet is explosive when the song calls for it. Even better is each member’s vocal ability, which is so dynamic, neat, and full of variation that it’s likely someone is giving lectures about it right now." (Spill Magazine)
What you said...
Chris Elliott: The problem with Pet Sounds is the Production methods, the cross over between songwriting and producing to craft a song that was new and unique back in 1966 has long become commonplace, so part of the impact is lost. Equally being influential isn't something tangible.
However, it's still a little gem of an album. Around half the tracks are moments of pure magic - little nuggets of pop perfection that leave earworms ringing in your head. The rest may not be so strong, but equally, not one's a real clunker.
An album that grew on me over time - bought in a sale because it's an album I "should" hear - at the time I liked it but not much more. As time has passed I've grown to really appreciate it as an album rather than some great songs.
Frank Moe: Five outstanding songs and the rest filler does not a GOAT album make.
Adam Ranger: I thought I was going to be shouted at as a heretic for my view of this album, but, reading many comments, it seems I am not alone. Rated by Rolling Stone as one of the greatest albums of all time. You would expect a little more wow factor.
Now, I get that in 1966 things were different and we didn't have the benefit of all the production tricks and polish we have today. So, when this came out it was a bit different perhaps to the norm, but this is not even the greatest album of 1966, let alone all time.
Some lovely tracks. Well, two, really. God Only Knows and Wouldn't It Be Nice. Perfect 60s pop. I never liked Sloop John B. I must have had a bad experience as a kid listening to this as it really annoys me. The rest of the album is mainly syrupy shmulz to me. Love some of the harmonies, but not the songs they're in.
Heretic and a philistine? Maybe. But I am underwhelmed by this album
Mark Herrington: The Beach Boys captured summer and surf in their sound like no other band before or since.
However, the historical background of how they recorded and its influence pass most people by, as it’s their music that speaks volumes.
Pet Sounds is certainly an influential album, and has some great tracks. Sloop John B, although a cover, is my favourite here. God Only Knows and Wouldn’t It Be Nice are also sun-drenched classics. There is a fair bit of the album that I tend to skip, though, and it doesn’t grab me in the same way as those iconic tracks.
One of those bands where the Greatest Hits is my go to album, with focus on all their well-loved classics.
John Davidson: Sometimes classic albums that push the genre forward are eclipsed by what comes after. That's how it seems to me in the case of Pet Sounds.
I'm sure that in 1966 it was a revelation, but 59 years later it sounds pretty ordinary. There are some nice pop songs on it, and the orchestration is well executed, but there's nothing on here that really speaks to me.
God Only Knows is a lovely tune, but beyond that it all kind of blends into one.
Hard to rate, but I'm going with my usual. One or two good songs gets a 6, but maybe a bonus point for being groundbreaking.
Andrew Cumming: Having been born after Pet Sounds was released it's only possible to look at it retrospectively. And I suspect that makes a massive difference. People talk about Pet Sounds using production techniques for the first time. The beautiful harmonies were still largely unique to the Beach Boys. And there's no doubt some of the songs are absolute killers. So I can imagine the experience of hearing the album in 1966 being extraordinary.
Coming to it 20 years later, I tend to think of it like an old James Bond film. It feels of a time, and you can imagine how it was fantastic at the time. But unlike, say, Sgt Pepper, I'm not sure the album has quite the same enduring quality. It's still fantastic in many ways. But it's obviously unfinished (the instrumentals were apparently supposed to have lyrics but they timed out). And there's definitely albums from around the same time that have endured better (shall we start with Revolver and Let It Bleed).
The Beach Boys at their best were truly wonderful. And there's a number of examples of that here (God Only Knows, Sloop John B, Wouldn't It Be Nice etc). But just as James Bond foils the villain in From Russia With Love because he chose red wine with his fish, I suspect if you weren't around at the time, it's hard to quite get it.
Will Vella: Pet Sounds is a genuine 10/10 album. There’s a reason it’s regarded as one of the greatest of all time and it absolutely without a doubt deserves that recognition.
After Brian Wilson stopped touring with the band in late 1965, he stayed behind and created a masterpiece. By the time the Beach Boys returned, he had already recorded Pet Sounds with the legendary Wrecking Crew.
No one quite knew what to make of it. The album departed from the usual Beach Boys formula of fun, sun, girls, and cars, shifting instead to themes of pain, heartache, love, and broken dreams. It’s a teenage diary set to music, filled with some of the most beautiful melodies and harmonies ever captured on tape.
Paul McCartney was right! You can’t be truly musically educated until you’ve heard Pet Sounds. Whether in mono, stereo, or Atmos, there’s no excuse not to.
Brian Wilson was simply a genius.
Gus Schultz: While being a highly regarded album among their peers and fans, I find the album a little bland and slow. I do like the obvious Sloop John B and Wouldn't It Be Nice, but beyond that, it doesn't catch my attention.
Brian Wilson definitely set a standard for pop/ rock to come, but it seems to more like a Brian Wilson solo record than a Beach Boys' album, with so many session players on it. Is he a genius? Probably, but I also think he was greatly helped along with psychedelics and other factors in his life.
I enjoy some of the albums after Pet Sounds such as Wild Honey, Smiley Smile, Sunflower and Surf's Up. I also enjoy a lot of the older surf music as well because it's such feel-good music and brings back great childhood memories. Nonetheless, it's a good album for a lazy afternoon on the couch with some headphones drifting in and out of sleep.
Bryan Aguilar: This and Today! Are the only two Beach Boys albums I like. Today! is great but this one is excellent.
Ryan Webb: I can’t believe that in the last week I’ve realized how many people don’t like The Beach Boys! Everyone apparently thinks Pet Sounds is overrated. I’m amazed! I have quite a few of their albums and I think they are fantastic and rank as one of the best, if not the best, American bands ever. Pet Sounds is definitely my favourite of theirs as well.
Neil Immerz: I used to own this on CD. I bought it because of a track-by-track analysis in a Rolling Stone book I got free with the subscription. To be honest, I never liked it. I thought it was too polished in terms of the production and the songs themselves really weren’t rock'n'roll to me. Overall, it's just a collection of sad songs. The version I had, had two mixes of the album - one mono, one stereo. I couldn’t tell the difference really. Then with regular play, it got boring. No tracks stood out for me, like, “Hey, that’s really innovative” or “that one’s pushing the envelope.”
Steve Pereira: Ah, the mythical Pet Sounds. Since I first became seriously interested in music around 1970, this album (in the UK at least - I think its reputation in the US came along much later) has been hailed as one of the greatest albums ever made - sometimes cited as the greatest. Key to that claim was the promotional efforts of Derek Taylor, former press officer of The Beatles, then promotion advisor for The Beach Boys, who invented and pushed the concept that Brian Wilson was a genius. He wrote a number of articles in British music papers under assumed names in which he kept stating as fact that people were saying that Wilson was a genius.
It is notable that it was in the UK, where Taylor had most success with his "Brian Wilson is a genius" meme, that Pet Sounds was both commercially and critically successful. And it was the UK music press which first put forward the notion that Pet Sounds was one of the greatest albums ever made.
From that time until now I have listened to Pet Sounds, paying close attention to it, and wondering what it was I was missing. Nice production for sure, but considering that Wilson was aiming to emulate both Phil Spector and George Martin, he had good role models to guide him. And while the album overall does sound both good and reasonably unified, there is little about the production that really stands out. It sounds like what it is, an effective pastiche of Spector, but lacking both Spector's passion and his, uhum, genius.
The vocal harmonies are well done, but, uhum, this is The Beach Boys who are known for their harmonies. The musicianship is on point, well done, but lacking in passion - which is appropriate, as the musicians were the Wrecking Crew, an experienced bunch of session musicians who were knocking this off for money. The musicianship is there, very professional, but nothing about it makes any listener remark on how well played it all is. The musical instruments do not give any of us a thrill.
So it must be the songs that make this one of the greatest albums in the world. Hmmm. Which songs? I find the bulk of the songs on the album to be dull, plodding, dreary, and with lyrics that mostly do not touch me or my life. Where's Good Vibrations for example? Now that is arguably one of the greatest if not the greatest song by The Beach Boys. But it's not on the album. It was recorded later. If that had been on the album there might be a solid toe hold on the claim that this is a great album.
But the best song on the album is Sloop John B, a song not written by The Beach Boys, and - despite the arrangement credit being given to Wilson, it was Al Jardine who selected the song and arranged it for Wilson. It is a stone-cold classic for sure, but more despite Wilson than because of him.
Sure, the album does not lack decent songs - God Only Knows is, after Sloop John B, the best track on the album. A beautiful song. Wouldn't It Be Nice is an OK Beach Boys song. Nothing great, but on par for them. Most of the rest is middle-of-the-road soft-string pop.
What is so great about this album that makes it one of the greatest of all time? It's not even the greatest album released in 1966. A seriously overlooked album of 1966 is Fred Neil. The album wasn't promoted so most people don't know it. And a major part of the issue is that on the album is Neil's Everybody's Talkin', which was covered by Nilsson for the film Midnight Cowboy. For a moment it became the most played song on radio around the world, and when Neil got his royalty check, he gave up music and went off to form a dolphin sanctuary. The dolphins gained a friend, but the world lost a major music talent.
Also released in 1966 was the debut album of Cream. No clever promotion by a press officer needed to sell that album. A genuinely exiting and ground-breaking album that inspired the birth of hard rock and blues rock, and the use of advanced musical structures into rock music. Also released - Da Capo by Love (blows Pet Sounds out of the water), Face to Face by The Kinks (possibly the best album by The Kinks, full of brilliant songs aggressively played), Parsley, Sage, Rosemary & Thyme (beautiful songs intelligently produced), Blonde On Blonde, Freak Out, Revolver, etc. Pick your own.
In short, Pet Sounds is a pleasant well produced album of mostly maudlin songs that don't stand out. It's not a work of genius. It's not the greatest album ever made. It's not even the best album of 1966, or the best album released by The Beach Boys (that'll be Surf's Up, or Today!). But it is a pleasant, quiet album of introspection. Fair enough. I'd score this 7. Actually, considering that I don't like it or admire it or play it that much, I think 6 is a fairer score.
Henry Martinez: What can be said that hasn't been before? I will say I was late to the game in getting introduced to this landmark LP. It happened after I fell madly in love with XTC's 1989 classic Oranges And Lemons. I soon realized that Andy Partridge, Colin Moulding and company basically melded Sgt. Pepper and Pet Sounds into one glorious package.
To this day, it sends shivers down my spine how they confidently channelled that genius. Then I listened to Pet Sounds and realized they were sipping from a glass of pure brilliance. I consider Wouldn't It Be Nice and God Only Knows as the otherworldly foundations for a stone-cold masterpiece. The never fully realised Smile quite possibly would have usurped Pet Sounds' place as the definitive Brian Wilson and Beach Boys landmark. But we'll never really know, even after digesting the unfinished work of Smile decades later. (10.0/10.0)
Ralph Gamba: God Only Knows is such a beautiful song Practically untouchable.
Philippe D'Hoeraene: Totally overrated.
Kingsley Jayasekera: Never an album I could enjoy beyond the obvious classics. One of those albums I bought because I thought I ought to, and was left underwhelmed.
Philip Qvist: Did Pet Sounds really push The Beatles to be even better as legend would have us believe?
What did the rest of The Beach Boys really think of the album when it was presented to them, especially when they realised that the Wrecking Crew would be playing the bulk of the instruments on display here? Were they happy, indifferent or totally hostile to the idea?
How did the band, and Mike Love in particular, react to Tony Asher writing most of the lyrics, and were they happy to be excluded from the songwriting process?
And most of all, is Pet Sounds really the classic album that set new boundaries - and is God Only Knows really the greatest song of the 60s?
Such is the legend surrounding Pet Sounds and the genius that was Brian Wilson, that I don't think many of us, including the band itself, can distinguish fact from fiction, and conflicting stories about what really happened at the time doesn't help either.
I do know that Mike Love had to go the legal route some 30 years later to get some songwriting credits, and that the band was unhappy with the initial reception that greeted Pet Sounds, while I'm convinced that the Beatles would have still produced a Sgt Pepper's with or without Pet Sounds.
The actual complexity of many of the songs and musicianship, not to mention the production and harmonies, must have been jaw-dropping when it was initially released - and nearly 60 years on it still doesn't fail to impress. It has great songs on it, including Wouldn't It Be Nice, God Only Knows, I Know There's An Answer, Caroline No and even the quirky Sloop John B.
But here's the thing. As impressive as Pet Sounds is, I feel that I don't like it as much as I should. While I definitely do not hate it, and it does get a regular spin on my Playlist, I can't say that I truly love it.
It will get an 8 from me because it is an astonishing album of its time, but don't expect to see it on my list of Top 200 albums of all time
Brian Hart: I can’t say The Beach Boys are a group I regularly listen to. However, you can’t deny the musicianship and infectious harmonies of Pet Sounds. They were an American institution back in the day and Pet Sounds inspired The Beatles to record Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. If it’s good enough for Sir Paul then you have to respect this album.
Mike Canoe: Immaculately produced schmaltz that earns its place in recording history for its studio and orchestral innovations but Sloop John B is the only song that I truly enjoy.
Ronan Quigley: Great harmonies, shame about the album cover.
Greg Schwepe: I’ve long known that the Beach Boys' Pet Sounds is a holy grail album for many artists and fans, one that is always talked about, mentioned as an influence, and ends up on many Best Of type lists. Also mentioned over and over is the genius of the now departed Brian Wilson.
To be honest, I’ve never had an interest in them at all. Now, here in the US they are truly considered American icons, and you know many of their surf, sail, and beach songs by osmosis. They’ve been used in commercials, TV shows, and movies. And it’s a rule that you have to have seen them at least once at some summer festival, County fair or State fair. Seems I’ve not abided by that rule.
I’m a fan of David Bowie’s somewhat maligned Tonight album, which featured a cover of God Only Knows, which I loved and would play over and over. It wasn’t until years later that I found out that it was a Beach Boys song! Oops. Even us music geeks get duped some days. “Dude, everybody knows that’s a Beach Boys song. Didn’t you?” My lack of Beach Boys interest led to that fail! But the perfection of that song shone through and stuck with me.
This was my first full listen of Pet Sounds” And the first track was one of the osmosis songs that everyone knows, Wouldn’t It Be Nice. And instantly there it is… the one thing that that sticks with you when you listen to the Beach Boys: the vocal harmonies. Whether they’re double-tracked or the band is all harmonising with each other for real, that’s the Beach Boys in a nutshell.
While I love the vocal harmonies, for much of the rest of the album, that doesn’t make the songs stick with me. I’ve got the harmonies in each song, but then there’s something missing.
Once I got past Wouldn’t It Be Nice, Sloop John B and God Only Knows, I had that “Um, what did I just listen to?” feeling when I got to the end of the album.
A lot of talent went into making this record, but after listening I didn’t have that “Wow, why didn’t I listen to this years ago?” feeling. 7 out of 10 on this one for me. For an album that has that holy grail reputation, I was hoping to like it more.
Final score: 8.37 (88 votes cast, total score 737)
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