The Beach Boys: Pet Sounds: 40th Anniversary CD Track Listing

A list by checkmate

The Beach Boys Pet Sounds: 40th Anniversary (2006)
Pet Sounds (40th Anniversary Limited Edition CD+DVD)\n\nOriginally Released on May 16, 1966\nCD Edition Released 1990\nGold CD Released March 23, 1993\nNon-HDCD Remastered Stereo+Mono Edition Released July 13, 1999\nHDCD Remastered Stereo+Mono Edition Released February 5, 2001\nDVD-Audio Edition Released July 22, 2003\n40th Anniversary CD+DVD Edition Released August 29, 2006\n\n\nAMG EXPERT REVIEW: The best Beach Boys album, and one of the best of the 1960s. The group here reached a whole new level in terms of both composition and production, layering tracks upon tracks of vocals and instruments to create a richly symphonic sound. Conventional keyboards and guitars were combined with exotic touches of orchestrated strings, bicycle bells, buzzing organs, harpsichords, flutes, the Theremin, Hawaiian-sounding string instruments, Coca-Cola cans, barking dogs, and more. It wouldn't have been a classic without great songs, and this has some of the group's most stunning melodies, as well as lyrical themes which evoke both the intensity of newly-born love affairs and the disappointment of failed romance (add in some general statements about loss of innocence and modern-day confusion as well). The spiritual quality of the material is enhanced by some of the most gorgeous upper-register male vocals (especially by Brian and Carl Wilson) ever heard on a rock record. "Wouldn't It Be Nice," "God Only Knows," "Caroline No," and "Sloop John B" (the last of which wasn't originally intended to go on the album) are the well-known hits, but equally worthy are such cuts as "You Still Believe in Me," "Don't Talk," "I Know There's an Answer," and "I Just Wasn't Made for These Times." 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 vaunted the band into the top level of rock innovators among the intelligentsia, especially in Britain, where it was a much bigger hit. The 1990 CD reissue added a few interesting but inessential outtakes, and a 1999 reissue added a new stereo version of the entire album to the original mono program. [The 40th Anniversary Limited Edition of Pet Sounds was a two-disc edition of the program that contained one CD and one DVD. The CD portion included both mono and stereo versions of the original program (plus the bonus track "Hang on to Your Ego"), just as an earlier CD issue had. The DVD featured both video and audio material. The video portion included a new edit of the 1997 film The Making of Pet Sounds with some new footage; interview material from Brian Wilson's 2003 DVD Pet Sounds Live in London; a segment from BBC-TV with George Martin and Wilson in the studio; original promo films for three songs (including some previously unreleased "firehouse" footage for "Good Vibrations"; and a photo gallery. The audio portion of the DVD featured the original program in both PCM Stereo and 5.1 Surround Sound, as well as "Hang on to Your Ego" in PCM Mono.] -- Richie Unterberger\n\nAmazon.com essential recording \nIf you need some pointy-headed pundit to sell you on the merits of Pet Sounds, your money might be better spent on an ear specialist. Brian Wilson's gift to 20th-century music elevated this pop album into a beguiling musical and emotional cogency that still operates outside pop culture's fickle space-time continuum--and limited critical lexicon. There's never been another record to compare (Rubber Soul, its inspiration, is close; Sgt. Pepper's, its response, misses the point), and certainly no album has been as dissected, overanalyzed, and predigested for public consumption. In 1997 Capitol Records devoted an entire four-disc box set, The Pet Sounds Sessions, to its thorough deconstruction. The techno-marvel centerpiece of that project--the album's first true stereo mix, painstakingly conjured out of multitape session sources by producer-engineer Mark Linett (under Wilson's supervision)--was at once heresy and revelation. Now the label has gratifyingly seen fit to offer both mixes on a single disc (along with alternate versions of "Hang On to Your Ego," the original title of "I Know There's An Answer"), an idea that should please the orthodox and heretics alike. And while the album has always clearly been The Brian Wilson Show featuring the Beach Boys, biographer Brad Elliott's concise new notes attempt to be more inclusive of a wider band perspective. The result (three of the five band members claim credit for the album title) sometimes resembles Rashomon. If Pet Sounds forever crystallized the band's various creative (in)differences, it also became Wilson's grand karmic joke on his band mates; its burgeoning reputation (Mojo magazine's panel of pop experts once elected it greatest album of all time) guaranteed they would sing its songs--and praises--until the end. And if putting two different versions of the same album on one disc seems like overkill, look at the bright side: it's a perfect excuse to listen to the glorious Pet Sounds twice.- Jerry McCulley \n\nAmazon.com Customer Review\napproaching an true work of genius, June 21, 2001 \nReviewer: Rob Damm from Brick, NJ USA \nPet Sounds is an album that is totally beyond comparison. To call it the best pop album ever is an understatement, and also a little misleading. This music is beyond categorization as "pop"-- it's simply brilliant, idiosyncratic MUSIC. That being said, there is nothing in the history of recorded music that even touches the sheer genius of this record. Every microsecond of sound is so carefully considered and perfectly arranged that the result is the most emotionally touching collection of songs you'll ever hear. It is impossible to overrate Pet Sounds. It is unlike anything that came before or after. Nothing in the Beatles' over-hyped catalog even comes close-- and anything that might be in the same general proximity is rightly credited more to George Martin's production than the "Fab Four". Remember, Pet Sounds is the work of one singular musical imagination-- Brian uses the Boys as "instruments"-- composed, arranged, produced/assembled, dreamed as a coherent whole.\n\nThis album should be heard by EVERYONE, whatever you believe your musical to be. It is one of the great works of Western Civilization for us to study, consider and enjoy. Beyond essential. \n\nThis version offers the original Mono mix as well as a new Stereo mix. Obviously,it should be heard in the original Mono to be fully appreciated, but I'll be the first to admit the Stereo is REALLY good, offering a sense of spaciousness and natural sound that is hard to criticize. It's not a substitute for the original, but a great addendum. Honestly, the best version is the DCC "gold" disc which is mastered with such attention to detail that it has an almost intangible like-like quality not even present on the original LP. But, I own about 7 different copies and versions of this album on various format, and this "two-fer" offeres excellent sound and value. \n\nAmazon.com Customer Review\nBrian Wilson's Crowning Achievement (The Beach Boys, Too!), April 22, 2001 \nReviewer: John Peterson from Marinette, WI United States \nThis CD is, without a doubt, one of the greatest pieces of music to come out of the 20th century. Brian Wilson's knowledge of the studio has never been more beneficial, his musical vision never more stronger, his communication with the session musicians (his "Wrecking Crew"), and with his lyricist Tony Asher never more open, his state of mind never more optimistic, and his confidence was unshakable, even winning over Mike Love, who not unreasonably had his doubts on some of the lyrics' pessimism.\n\nThis could be one of the first "concept" albums, dealing with the various stages of love relationships. And the instrumentation used to reflect the depth of human feelings (including empty water bottles and bicycle horns!) are very effective.\n\nThe most important instrument used was, of course, the group's vocals, never on better display as it is here. Brian's amazing knowledge of harmony structure, of which member's vocal should be used, when to use it (and just as important when NOT to use it) reenforces the fact of Brian's genius is not just an illusion. This of course applies to a number of Beach Boy songs and albums. \n\nThe one song that feels lyrically out of place is "Sloop John B" but it's such an incredible performance that this is nit-picking.\n\nWhat's great about getting both the mono and stereo versions here is that you can compare the subtle differences of the vocals (and vocalists) used. This is explained in the 32 page booklet.\n\nOf the bonus tracks included in the 1990 reissue, the only one to make it to this reissue is the "guide" vocal version of "Hang On To Your Ego" later changed to "I Know There's An Answer" to placate Mike Love.\n\nA friend of mine bought me this album 25 years ago (yikes!) on my 12th birthday. It's been a part of my life ever since, and on this version you get the best of both worlds (mono and stereo) with the best sound quality you're likely to hear. There's no excuse now not to buy this beautiful CD.\n\nBrian was inspired by The Beatles to make Pet Sounds. The Beatles were inspired by Pet Sounds to make Sgt. Pepper. What goes around comes around.\n\nAnd Brian, if you're reading this (highly unlikely) I just want to thank you for opening up my 12 year old heart by baring your soul (and making me feel like a child every time I hear it)! You're the best. \n\nCD Now Review (March 7, 2001)\nTo have Paul McCartney call one of your records "the greatest album of all time" is indeed lofty praise. To have said album -- viewed as a commercial disappointment by the bean counters upon its release in 1966 -- being discovered and worshipped by new fans each day some 35 years on is truly amazing. Such is the enduring musical phenomenon that is the Beach Boys' masterwork, Pet Sounds. \n\nIt's mind-boggling that all of the strangely beautiful elements of Pet Sounds -- the ornate production and instrumentation, the tenderly crafted vocal harmonies, the innocence-found and lost odes to love and loneliness -- might not have come to fruition had Brian Wilson not suffered a nervous breakdown triggered by the rigors of being in a hit pop-music group. Upon taking himself out of the Beach Boys' touring lineup, the eldest Wilson brother left the song-and-dance routine to the rest of the group, and retreated to the recording studio in search of a muse -- and a deeper meaning to pop music. \n\nInspired by the depth and artistic vision of the Beatles' Rubber Soul, Wilson teamed up with collaborator Tony Asher to craft a record that pushed the boundaries of pop music with its sophistication and creativity. Where the Beach Boys' main source of inspiration was once sun, surf, and sand, Wilson looked to his heart, mind, and the possibilities of the studio to spark his imagination. \n\nThe album resonated with the sun-kissed innocence of previous Beach Boys sides, but Wilson's grand vision (executed by a large cast of studio musicians -- the Beach Boys would add vocals later) dressed his pop songs in sonic textures heretofore unfamiliar to the format: grown-up textures such as strings, horns, sleigh bells, train whistles, and Wilson's full-blown fascination with Phil Spector's monstrous Wall of Sound production technique. \n\n"Wouldn't It Be Nice" and "God Only Knows," with their meticulous arrangements and themes of marriage and everlasting love, were in sharp contrast to everything for which the pop world had come to know and love the Beach Boys. Though initial sales didn't reflect it, these pop suites are the reason Pet Sounds is held in such high regard 35 years after its release. -- Pat Berkery, CDNOW Editorial Staff\n\nCMJ New Music Report Exclusive Review\nSo much has and will be written about Capitol's long-awaited Beach Boys CD reissues (Pet Sounds especially) that it's difficult, if not impossible, to put these releases in some sort of objective perspective. So, why even bother? Pet Sounds is the greatest pop recording ever (there, I feel better). Released in 1966 after the Beatles' Rubber Soul, Pet Sounds is Brian Wilson's supreme triumph, a recording of awe-inspiring beauty and masterful and ingenious studio creativity, so far ahead of its time and so daringly experimental that Capitol, after previewing it, amazingly refused to even release a single (eventually, "God Only Knows" became a Top 5 hit in England, and "Wouldn't It Be Nice"/"God Only Knows" was finally issued here). While Pet Sounds influenced innumerable other bands, it practically destroyed the Beach Boys, creating such pressure that their proposed followup, Smile, never officially was released, and what eventually surfaced, Smiley Smile, was a commercial and artistic (at that time) nightmare. What makes the Beach Boys' music so fascinating are the many levels that their career and personalities work on: their obsessive and often self-destructive diligence to their craft (Brian especially); their tremendous commercial success followed by extreme failure followed by success again; their exhaustively chronicled yet still endlessly engrossing personal and group tribulations; a schizophrenically brilliant recording discography-a large percentage of which has been brusquely disregarded by so many; and a place in American popular music and social history matched only by Elvis Presley. Capitol, especially in lieu of their mediocre Beatles reissues, has done a near-flawless job with these first discs, from the extensive liner notes and track-by-track descriptions to the glorious monophonic sound just as Brian Wilson originally mixed it, hilarious band photos (Mike Love looked like an asshole even back in 1966) and original swirly orange and yellow label backdrop. Best of all, we're treated to three previously unreleased tracks (all of the Beach Boys reissues will sport similarly unreleased material): "Unreleased Backgrounds," some unused vocal harmonies for "Don't Talk... "Hang On To Your Ego" ("I Know There's An Answer" with earlier lyrics that were rejected by the band); and "Trombone Dixie," a previously undiscovered instrumental which conceptually foreshadows "Good Vibrations." Nearly 25 years after its release, Pet Sounds still astonishes. Next time: Surfin' Safari/Surf in' USA and Surfer Girl/Shut Down Volume Two. \n

Categories

Latest lists

The Beach Boys: Pet Sounds: 40th Anniversary CD Track Listing

Category

Tags

cyList

Legal