Beach Boys - Pet Sounds (1966)

If ever there was a definitive album by any band-- this is it. Pet Sounds is the creative pinnacle of the Beach Boys illustrious career.

With not a weak track on the entire album this album is what a classic pop album should sound like.

On a standard pop album, you'd get about eight catchy or fun songs with a ballad or two tossed in for good measure. Pet Sounds on the other hand is like an art museum for your ears-- each song is an aural painting. Much like in a museum of fine art the more you look at paintings the more you notice things that you might not have noticed at first glance-- with every listen of this classic album, you're more than likely to hear things you hadn't heard on any of your previous listens.

While most casual listeners will know Wouldn't It Be Nice, Sloop John B, and God Only Knows-- those songs are but a mere glimpse at the sheer beautiful splendor of the album as a whole. From the romantic Don't Talk (Put Your Head On My Shoulder) to the oddly upbeat I'm Waiting For the Day with it's melancholy lyrics and upbeat music, to the emotive song of lost innocence, Caroline, No.

This is an album best enjoyed in a single sitting, listening start to finish without interruption as each song only augments the rest of the album. The album which was originally mixed and released in mono has been remastered and rereleased in stereo. The first fourteen tracks contain the original mono mix, at which point the album repeats itself in its remastered full stereo sound. But when all is said and done, whether you listen to this masterpiece in mono or stereo you can't escape its musical brilliance.

Related Links
Brian Wilson Smile review
Wouldn't it Be Nice



Sloop John B


God Only Knows

"What if?" unreleased albums

Over the years, due to personnel changes, record label resistance, or any myriad of other reasons there have been albums which were either never finished, or finished but never released-- at least not in their original form. These are some of my favorite rock and roll album "what ifs?":

Beach Boys Smile (1966): While Brian Wilson did finally realize his musical vision in 2004, and over the years the Beach Boys did release various tracks that were supposed to be on this-- "teenage symphony for God." I do wonder how the Beach Boys would stack up next to the Beatles today had this musical vision been realized at the time of Wilson's initial creative inception.

REO Speedwagon Ridin' the Storm Out (1973): The album was almost finished, the cover art had even been completed when lead vocalist Kevin Cronin opted to leave the band to pursue a solo career. All tracks were re-recorded with new lead vocalist, Mike Murphy, and Cronin's face was airbrushed out of the cover art and replaced with Murphy's face. One track from the original Kevin Cronin sessions was released on REO's A Decade of Rock & Roll: 1970-1980 (Son of a Poor Man), but as of now the rest of the material from the original Kevin Cronin sessions remains unreleased. Incidentally 3 years and 3 albums later, Mike Murphy left the band and was replaced by... Kevin Cronin, whose "successful" solo career had never materialized.

Toto Isolation (1985): Bobby Kimball has said in interviews this album was almost done when he was fired for drug abuse in 1984. Fergie Frederiksen was hired to replace Kimball and the album was re-recorded with a bit of a different track listing. As much as I love Frederiksen's soaring falsetto, I'd still love to hear what Isolation would have sounded like had Kimball never been fired. A few of the tracks that were recorded for the original Kimball-ized version of Isolation did show up on Toto's 20th anniversary rarities collection XX, it has been rumored from time to time that with Kimball back in the band (after a 14 year "vacation") the band may actually release Isolation as it was originally intended-- with Bobby Kimball on lead vocals.

Chicago Stone of Sisyphus (1994)*: Unlike the other "unreleased" albums mentioned, bootleg copies of SoS were leaked out to fans and have been circulating for years. So I have actually heard it in its entirety. This is easily Chicago's best material since the departure of Peter Cetera-- possibly even their best since the untimely passing of Terry Kath in 1978. The record label absolutely hated it and it was inevitably shelved. For the full story, you can read my review of Stone of Sisyphus. This album has been the source of tremendous fan frustration-- not just due to the fact it's still unreleased, but because next to the recently released XXX it is a masterpiece. Where XXX is sterile and vapid, Stone of Sisyphus, had balls. Where XXX is evidence of a band going through the motions making music in a vain attempt in a less than half-hearted effort to score another hit and "preserve their legacy", SoS is a band firing on all cylinders, making music they believe in for the sake of the music-- not the sake of their "legacy." And the sad thing is, if the band had put even half as much heart into XXX as they put into SoS they might still have a legacy worthy of preservation.

*three different versions of Stone of Sisyphus (in 3 different states of completion) are temporarily available for download here

Dennis Wilson - Pacific Ocean Blue (1977)

Brian had the production and songwriting talent, Carl had the angelic voice-- with a family as talented as the Wilsons, it's no wonder Dennis got lost in the mix. It was to the Beach Boys and the listening public's detriment that he was so often-overlooked.

Dennis was a mediocre drummer at best. On many of the Beach Boys albums it was actually Hal Blaine playing drums, not Dennis. But what his brothers and bandmates didn't realize was that Dennis had something to say and if Pacific Ocean Blue is any indication, in the Beach Boys, Dennis was 2nd only to big brother, Brian, when it came to songwriting prowess.

Hiding the perceived "lesser-talented" brother behind a drum kit was perhaps one of the Beach Boys greater fallacies. While, they were generally correct about his sub-par drumming, assuming that lack of talent also translated to vocals and songwriting is where the Beach Boys went wrong.

Over the course of the seventies, Wilson had stockpiled quite a repertoire of songs, a handful of which ended up on Pacific Ocean Blue and another albums worth that were to have been his 2nd solo album, Bamboo. These songs show a much different side of this Beach Boy-- and truthfully, none of this material would have sounded quite "right" within the confines of the Beach Boys tight vocal harmonies. There's a rawness and an urgency to Dennis' solo material that was conspicuously absent on much of the Beach Boys seventies material.

There are no standout tracks, as this whole album is a stand-out album. All of the songs on the album are equally impressive and worth listening to. And while brother Brian's influence is obvious on several tracks, Dennis certainly makes this material his own. From the catchy groove of Dreamer to the wistful melancholy of the ballad Thoughts of You, or the vastly underrated album opening River Song. This album is a delicious slice of seventies California rock/pop.

Unfortunately, this album is long out of print-- if there's any justice in the world, Brian will use his recent resurgence in popularity to help campaign for this album's re-release. This album tops the list of long out of print albums that NEED to be re-released (It is an essential album for any collector of great classic rock. It's also an excellent candidate for being remastered for 5.1 Dolby Surround DVD Audio release).

Brian Wilson - Smile (2004)

There's a bit of a hullabaloo be bandied about regarding the release of Smile yesterday. The album was supposed to have been released by the Beach Boys back in 1967 and was rumored to have had the potential to impact the music industry just as much as (if not more than) Sgt. Peppers.

That being said this is a Brian Wilson, not a Beach Boys release-- this was Brian's baby- his brainchild, his teenage symphony for God.

The Beatles and Beach Boys both started out making simple bubble gum pop and shifted with major groundbreaking releases, The Beatles had their Sgt. Peppers and White Album-- the Beach Boys had Pet Sounds. The Beatles were able to re-invent themselves and change their image, but-- for whatever reason, it seems the Beach Boys were never able to shake the "bubblegum pop" mentality they had thumbprinted on the American psyche.

I'm left wondering if Smile had been released by the Beach Boys back in 1967 as originally planned if they might have shaken off the wholesome "Be True to Your School"/surfing/girls/cars image which had made them so popular initially. I wonder if their successes might have eventually surpassed that of The Beatles.

Instead, we're left wondering "what if" and given a glimpse inside the mind of a modern musical genius. Despite having entered the twilight of his life, Brian Wilson's music still exhibits a child-like awe of the world around him. I think his music speaks to so many people, because deep down inside, most of us miss our childhood and both envy and relate to a man who never lost that youthful idealism, a man who is able to make music that is at the same time-- simple, complex, and absolutely beautiful.