Prior to Pet Sounds, the Beach Boys’ image was about the surfer culture, going out to the beach and having fun. There was always a grand image of this spectacular place you go where you’re on top of the world when catching some waves. There was also an underlying fear or presence of something out of place – a killer wave or a group that would otherwise ruin your fun.
A lot of the influence of this underlying theme as well as capitalizing on an explosion of surfer culture due to newer and lighter materials being available at that time to make surfboards came from Brian Wilson. He has been the sole producer up until the mid 70’s. Between his father’s controlling behavior even after firing him from being the manager of the Beach Boys in 1964 [1], and falling into a raging rivalry between the Beatles, which made him write a more expressive, more complex pieces aimed for the sole purpose of being a classic. Producer Phil Spector has been his greatest influence on the album. He had watched Phil Spector at the recording studio they shared. He learned and was inspired by him and brought this inspiration to Pet Sounds.
What he brought was a going back to a simpler time in the past. Some songs sounding straight out of 1920’s, but all with a good, hearty rhythm and the Phil Spector signature “wall of sound”. The songs take a break from the usual cheeriness found in a Beach Boy album. The arrangement of the songs takes you through a journey of matrimony from the festive beginning, to a song of “where has my love gone”. Contrasting the Beach Boys’ view from before, perhaps their teen selves have grown and project that is the inevitable progression of a relationship.
Pet Sounds was different, darker overall in comparison to the Beach Boys’ prior work. There were parts of great use of trumpets I haven’t really heard before either in that key or octave. The session musicians added their own taste and for the most part add to the Beach Boys sound. Uses of mostly orchestral instrumentation adds to the natural sound of the lyrics and adds very tastefully to the tone and timbre.
This seems to take a break from their norm and focuses on real emotions that are not necessarily happy-go-lucky ones you would expect. Perhaps that's the point in it of itself - to not fall into expectations once they are set for the public eye. Although the trick, I suppose is knowing when there is a public eye to speak of and what the expectations are.
This seems to take a break from their norm and focuses on real emotions that are not necessarily happy-go-lucky ones you would expect. Perhaps that's the point in it of itself - to not fall into expectations once they are set for the public eye. Although the trick, I suppose is knowing when there is a public eye to speak of and what the expectations are.
- Chuma
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