Pet Sounds (The Beach Boys, 1966)

May as well start with a big one, eh? Pet Sounds is a hugely famous and important album, cited by no lesser names than the Beatles as an influence, and frequently thought of as the Beach Boys' best album. I'm not sure how I never managed to hear it until now, but that's one oversight I can easily correct.

Track Listing

1. "Wouldn't It Be Nice"
2. "You Still Believe in Me"
3. "That's Not Me"
4. "Don't Talk (Put Your Head on My Shoulder)"
5. "I'm Waiting for the Day"
6. "Let's Go Away for Awhile"
7. "Sloop John B"
8. "God Only Knows"
9. "I Know There's an Answer"
10. "Here Today"
11. "I Just Wasn't Made for These Times"
12. "Pet Sounds"
13. "Caroline, No"
14. "Hang on to Your Ego" (not on the original album, but was on the version I found on Spotify)

First Impressions

I'd heard "Wouldn't It Be Nice" before, of course, but it really is a great way to start an album. A twinkly little riff launches straight into gorgeous vocal harmonies, setting the tone for the rest of the songs. The lyrics do much the same, actually — in some ways they're simplistic to the point of childlike naïvete ("we could be married / and then we'd be happy"), but they're constantly intertwined with the acknowledgement that no, things aren't that simple ("You know it seems the more we talk about it / It only makes it worse to live without it"). That tension, between pure joy and sunshine on the one hand and cold harsh reality on the other, is seen throughout the whole record, and goes some way to explaining why the album doesn't feel anywhere near as sun-drenched as most of the other Beach Boys stuff I've heard.

Analysis

Pet Sounds is apparently famous for its unconventional use of instruments, such as bicycle bells, car horns and Coke cans, but I have to say I found their use more annoying than anything. The four songs after the opener, although certainly not bad, really didn't grab me at all, and sprinkling a few weird noises throughout them didn't help a lot. Presumably Brian Wilson had some great artistic reasons to honk a horn during "You Still Believe In Me", but frankly it just throws off the general feel of the music for me, and serves little more purpose than just a shout of "are you still listening to me?" Similar things happen much later on, with the electrotheremin bursting into "I Just Wasn't Made For These Times". Worked on "Good Vibrations", not so much here.

In fact, the first song that jumped out at me and reminded me of just how good the Beach Boys really could be was towards the end of the first side, when I heard the all-instrumental "Let's Go Away For A While". It's a beautiful meandering tune where the unconventional sounds work fantastically well, unidentifiable string instruments and deep rumbles and strange clacking noises working with rather than against the string accompaniment to produce something at once familiar and unique. And that sets the stage for the strongest two songs on the album, "Sloop John B" and "God Only Knows".

"Sloop John B" is a Beach-Boy-ified traditional West Indies folk song, and like much folk music it is extremely simple (entirely playable on practically any instrument with just three chords). It is astounding, therefore, just how much the Boys manage to do with it, building from a gentle twinkly piece to a rapid bass-driven song at the end, with the stylistic progression almost seamless and keeping the listener's interest throughout. And once it's built up to its climax, it just stops, fading out immediately. Of course, it was entirely normal for pop songs in the '60s to last only a couple of minutes, but looking at an entire album where the longest track doesn't make it to 3 and a half minutes is very unusual to my ears. I quite like it, though, as you never get a chance to become bored.

On we go, then to the wildly different "God Only Knows". From the searingly honest opening ("I may not always love you..."), through the rhythmic shifts, odd drum fills and vocal approximations of brass instruments, to the complicated call-and-response fadeout, this is a fantastic and complex bit of music from start to end. Also, I may lose Man Points for admitting this, but "God Only Knows" is one of the most heartbreakingly romantic songs I know.

Sadly, the rest of the album doesn't live up to this glorious peak. There are still some good songs — I particularly liked "Here Today", a surprisingly mature song that sounds like your older brother sitting you down and talking you through all the potential dangers and pitfalls of the relationship you've just embarked on — but even the atmosphere of the album's title track (basically what a Dracula movie theme would sound like if it was set on the beach in Hawaii) and some gorgeous crackly woodwind sounds on "Hang On To Your Ego" can't stop the album from fizzling out a bit.

High Point

The "Sloop John B"/"God Only Knows" double whammy in the middle.

Low Point

The sound effects, reminding us that LSD use in the '60s had its bad side as well.

Summary

A flawed masterpiece, centred around a glittering peak of pop music but with a little too much that fails to support it. I'm glad I've heard it, and it's worth a re-listen, but I won't be buying it.

Listen to Pet Sounds on Grooveshark or Spotify.

Track One: Play.

So, what have we here?

Well, it all starts with my realisation that although I listen to plenty of music, my music variety consists largely of a few artists I enjoyed during my teenage years, and a few oddities that I came across in other people's collections since then. There are literally hundreds of artists and thousands of albums out there that are considered important or influential in some way, and I've heard so few of them (and own even fewer).

With that in mind, this blog serves three purposes. One, to make me broaden my musical horizons a little, and actually listen to some of these key albums in music. Two, to share my thoughts about them and hopefully inspire others to have a listen as well. And three, (and this gives the blog its name), to celebrate the album as a concept. Don't get me wrong, I use the Shuffle function as much as anyone when I don't know what to listen to, but it's a terrible shame that our short-attention-span culture has meant that the very idea of an album, of having songs that work together into a coherent whole, doesn't seem to be a commercial priority any more. So I'll be looking at each album both as a collection of songs and as a piece of art in its own right, and judging how well it works as such.

The criteria for an album appearing here are as follows: it must be one that I've never heard in its entirety (having heard the odd song is fine), it (or its creator) must have had significant influence on music in general, and it must be designed as an album rather than as a collection - so no "greatest hits" or compilations. Oh, and it must be available for listening on Spotify and/or Grooveshark, as I don't have that much money to throw around!

So, welcome to Unshuffled. Hope you enjoy it.