“God Only Knows,” besides being one of the most beautiful ballads ever recorded, may have been the most sophisticated song on the album and was possibly pointing toward the future. Carl Wilson’s voice floats above a symphony of instrumental sounds. The layering of such instruments as French horns, strings, harpsichord, flutes, and a staccato percussion all provide a subtle background for this ethereal ballad.
Pet Sounds continues to satisfy. Paul McCartney once said, “No one is educated musically until they’ve heard Pet Sounds." In line with this quote I remember reading somewhere that the more you live, the better it gets. Pet Sounds’ legacy is that it changed the way albums were recorded and created.
Pet Sounds concludes with another beautiful ballad, this time of loss. The final sounds of “Caroline No" would echo Brian Wilson's most creative musical period. A train is coming down the track while a dog barks. The train passes and is quickly gone. Then silence.
Article comments
1 - nicereview
Nice review.
I would just like to again debunk the myth that Brian Wilson was musically silent after Smile. He wrote a lot of beautiful music after 1967.
Check out Smiley Smile (1967), Wild Honey (1967), Friends (1968), Sunflower (1970), Beach Boys Love You (1977), etc. All terrific Beach Boys albums with Brian Wilson at the helm (except for Sunflower, but he still had great music on there).
2 - zingzing
ahem. you forgot surf's up.
3 - Lynn Templeton
As a Beach Boy fanatic, and a Brian-o-phile, I have listened to Pet Sounds perhaps 200 times. I still hear new things. I still appreciate the obvious (Caroline No's echo) and the subtle (the bass in Sloop John B). The chaos of the Beach Boys collectively and of Brian individually has often overwhelmed the music. Most fans only know the "travelling juke box" of hits. But when you truly delve into this body of work, these six men (yes, even Mike) produced a bounty of pop music like no other, save for the Beatles.
4 - pet
As a Beach Boy fanatic, and a Brian-o-phile, I have listened to Pet Sounds perhaps 200 times. Most fans only know the "traveling juke box" of hits