Pet Sounds

 

(Note from Marty: I'm freelancing for a company and my hours are going to get turned around. I worked late tonight and tomorrow I'm working from 7PM till around 6 or 7AM. So that's why this post is going up so early in the morning, I'll be sleeping in and didn't want everyone to wonder where the post was. The freelance job should last at least three weeks and may turn into a full time position (I hope.) So what does this mean as far as TWM is concerned? Fuck, I don't know, I'm just winging it as usual, I hope you stay tuned, it could be a little rocky here for a while, but that's what makes it fun! Okay on to today's video entry.)

In April The Beach Boys started a 50th anniversary tour that will carry on into July of this summer. I’ve always loved The Beach Boys (even though I think Mike Love is a complete assbag on broken wheels) and my favorite Beach Boys album is, “Pet Sounds,” which is, in my humble opinion one of the best albums of all time. It was produced and written by Brian Wilson (with Tony Asher supplying the bulk of the lyrics) while the Beach Boys were out on tour in Japan (photos from the tour were featured on the back cover of Pet Sounds). They came back, sang their parts and Pet Sounds was brought to life and it came out in 1966. Below are some videos and songs from the album.

The album wasn’t welcomed with open arms by Capitol records or Mike Love. Both thought that Brian should stick to the sun, surf and fun formula from the past. Mike Love openly criticized the music as, “Brian’s ego music.” I have a feeling that when it came out, the music probably confused a lot of the old time fans. And this quirky, oddball promotional clip probably didn’t help things, but I think it’s pretty funny!

“Sloop John B” was the first single issued from the album and the only song on the record not written by Brian Wilson. The song is a traditional folk song and was suggested by Beach Boy Al Jardine to record it. Brian arranged the folk song to a Beach Boys style song and he and Mike Love sang lead on it. They made this promotional film to go along with it.

Bruce Johnston joined the Beach boys in 1965. He replaced Glen Campbell who took over bass and vocal duties when Brian Wislon stopped touring with the band in 1964 to concentrate on producing and songwriting. When Pet Sounds came out he personally took the album to England to play it for Beach Boy fans, John Lennon and Paul McCartney. Here he talks about that trip and how the Amercan arm of Capitol records weren’t thrilled with the album.

The title track, “Pet Sounds” was an instrumental song, originally written by Brian Wilson to be a title song for the next James Bond movie and the original title was, “Run James, Run.” The above video has the song on it after it was retitled, “Pet Sounds.” To see what it would’ve sound like over James Bond credits, click here.

Wouldn’t It Be Nice is one of the best known songs from “Pet Sounds.” It’s the first song on the album and it starts off a song cycle on a definite upbeat note, one that would ultimately end with the heartbreaking, “Caroline, No.” The song has been used in numerous movies, but I think the movie that it’s most effectively used in is “Roger & Me.” Here’s a video of the scene from that film showing the devastation of the town of Flint, Michigan after Roger Smith and GM shut down factories in that town to send the jobs overseas while they were still making record profits from the factories in Flint.

Brian Wilson was inspired to write and produce Pet Sounds after hearing Rubber Soul by the Beatles. When Pet Sounds came out, it inspired the Beatles to write and record, Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. In this video, Brian Wilson, Tony Asher, George Martin and others discuss how both bands were competitive and how they influenced each other.

Further Reading: Rolling Stone, Pitchfork and Track Notes.

Surprise link, click on it...I dare you!

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Bonus Photo From Jaws!

Jaws the Cabbie sent in this Mary Tyler Moore photo to go along with his comment. Who knew she had her own statue? Thanks, Jaws!