The Depths · All albums

Pet Sounds

The Beach Boys · 1966

• Scores: Noise 1, Unease 1, Complexity 2 (each 1 to 5)
• Genre: Rock, Baroque pop, Psychedelic pop
• Mood: wistful, lush, yearning
• Sound: orchestral arrangements, layered harmonies, unusual instruments, bicycle bells and theremin, studio experimentation, introspective lyrics

Pet Sounds treats the recording studio as a compositional tool, which was new for a pop record. Brian Wilson wrote and arranged it with lyricist Tony Asher, recording most of it in 1966 with the session musicians known as the Wrecking Crew. The instrumentation is unusually broad for rock, with ukulele, accordion, French horn, vibraphone, bass harmonica, bicycle horn, Coca-Cola cans and an Electro-Theremin. Melodies are doubled across instruments, many songs avoid a fixed key or shift between keys, and “God Only Knows” has no tonal centre. Drums are used for texture and tone more than a steady backbeat, and “Caroline, No” ends with barking dogs and passing trains. Wilson mixed it in mono, and it fed into orchestral pop, psychedelia and progressive pop.

Track list

1. Wouldn’t It Be Nice (2:25)
2. You Still Believe in Me (2:31)
3. That’s Not Me (2:28)
4. Don’t Talk (Put Your Head on My Shoulder) (2:53)
5. I’m Waiting for the Day (3:05)
6. Let’s Go Away for Awhile (2:18)
7. Sloop John B (2:58)
8. God Only Knows (2:51)
9. I Know There’s an Answer (3:09)
10. Here Today (2:54)
11. I Just Wasn’t Made for These Times (3:12)
12. Pet Sounds (2:22)
13. Caroline, No (2:51)