In December 1965, The Beatles released Rubber Soul, an album which enthralled Brian Wilson. Until then, each Beach Boys album (like most rock albums) contained a few “filler tracks” like cover songs or even stitched-together comedy bits. Wilson found Rubber Soul filled with all-original songs and, more importantly, all good ones, none of them filler. Inspired, he rushed to his wife and proclaimed: “Marilyn, I’m gonna make the greatest album! The greatest rock album ever made!”
The result was Pet Sounds (1966), where Wilson’s growing mastery of studio recording and his increasingly sophisticated songs and complex arrangements would reach a creative peak. Influenced by psychedelic drugs, Brian Wilson turned his attention inward and probed his deep-seated self-doubts and emotional longings. The Beach Boys didn’t look at the problems in the world around them, unlike other psychedelic rock groups. The album’s meticulously layered harmonies and inventive instrumentation (performed by the cream of Los Angeles session musicians known as The Wrecking Crew) set a new standard for pop and rock music. In it, Brian wove elaborate layers of vocal harmonies, coupled with sound effects and unconventional instruments such as bicycle bells, buzzing organs, harpsichords, flutes, Electro-Theremin, dog whistles, trains, Hawaiian-sounding string instruments, Coca-Cola cans and barking dogs, along with the more usual keyboards and guitars.
It remains one of the most evocative releases of the decade, with distinctive strains of lushness, melancholy, and nostalgia for youth. The tracks “Wouldn’t It Be Nice” and “God Only Knows”, showcased Wilson’s growing mastery as a composer, arranger, and producer.
Despite the critical praise it received, Pet Sounds was indifferently promoted by Capitol, and failed to become the major hit Wilson had hoped it would be. Its failure to gain wider recognition hurt him deeply. Although it only reached number 10 in the US, it was a much better seller in the UK.
In the end, Pet Sounds has been credited as one of the most important albums of its time, reaching #10 on the American Billboard 200. A heralding album in the emerging psychedelic rock style, Pet Sounds has been championed and emulated for its dramatic and revolutionary baroque instrumentation. It has been ranked at #1 in several music magazines’ lists of greatest albums of all time, including New Musical Express, The Times and Mojo Magazine. It was ranked #2 in Rolling Stone’s 500 Greatest Albums of All Time list.
Source: Wikipedia.org
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NDfH_J4MAUQ
