Pet Sounds: Brilliant Masterpiece, or Overrated Piece of Garbage?

[hobo_baggins]

Lets hear it.

[Burma Jones]

1. Something in-between

[XNASA]

2. It's a Masterpiece.

I especially like Tony Asher's lyrical contributions, "Wouldn't it Be Nice" and of course, "Caroline, No".

I realize that a lot of people love to slag off the BB's based on all the crap they released in the 80's and whatnot. But "Pet Sounds", is a true masterpiece. A slice of pop culture the like of which will never be attained again.

To think, that at one time, you could turn on your car's AM radio and hear "God Only Knows".

[hobo_baggins]

13. I have a friend who says its commercialized garbage because...

Tony Asher was a corporate jingle-man brought in to make a commercial hit...and she also says brian wilson hired his own PR men to claim he and his album were genius.

[XNASA]

14. That might be the case if Asher's lyrics were crap.

But they're not. So I can't really see that POV.

And Brian Wilson is a genius. If that's what the PR people said, then they'd be telling the truth. What's wrong with that?

[hobo_baggins]

15. very true...i love the album

theres just so much interesting stuff going on throughout the whole thing, how could one not love it?

[SouthoftheBorderPaul]

23. Did he rewrite the lyrics to Good Vibrations?

If so, balls to him. The new version on the new Smile is a far lesser version, specifically because of the lyrics, IMHO.

[Tyrone Slothrop]

3. Garbage? Probably not

There are some good tunes on there.

Overrated? Most definitely. I've listened to it several times and still don't understand why all the hype. I felt the same way after listening to Smile.

Maybe I just don't get Brian Wilson, but I don't see what's so supposedly innovative or brilliant about all of it.

[JVS]

4. Pure excrement!

Its title is an insult to flatulent housepets everywhere

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

5. Beyond brilliant

1. Phil Spector was Brian's mentor in the Wall of Sound technique. You know you're a master when you exceed your teacher on his best day. Nothing Spector did prior or after came close to Wilson's work.

2. Turning everything into an instrument of harmony, even bicycle bells.

3. Making the best use of the technology available without sounding phony.

4. No other piece in the rock genre comes close in harmonics.

5. The arrangements...so complex they really can't be duplicated.

6. It exceeded the work that inspired it in artistic brilliance.

7. The songwriting - certain songs can completely evoke and place the listener in the era in which they were written, yet still be relevant decades later.

8. The voices - top them together....try

Anyone thinking it's an over rated piece of garbage should play it over and over til they get it.

[Coventina]

6. Hey NSMA! Are you back?

Good to see you!

:hi:

[Zuni]

18. excellent post

:thumbsup:

I agree 110%

[enigmatic]

30. yep

I'll second that, and if there's a song more beautiful w/ and ending like "God Only Knows", I haven't heard it..

[LostinVA]

7. Brilliant -- the Beatles got the accolades The Beach Boys

deserved. Sorry. My opinion. So that makes it right!

[anarch]

8. An amazing album, with both ends of that spectrum included

I guess, all things considered, I'd have to go with masterpiece. I have serious trouble sitting and listening to the thing in its entirety, though.

[johnnie]

9. I agree with NSMA 100%

It took me a long time to discover what the big deal was about Brian Wilson, but even before becoming a fan I knew that Pet Sounds was something special.

[bertha katzenengel]

10. In between. Close to "overrated" but not quite "garbage." n/t

[underpants]

11. I think it suffers from our having heard all the songs a million times

they become background filler noise in the summer and in summer movies.

At the time (so my musician friends tell me) it was unlike anything else that had come before.

[no name no slogan]

12. It really was completely new at the time

Sure, pop groups had played with orchestras before, but never was the orchestra "played" as an instrument unto itself in a pop record. Brian Wilson was ahead of his time, combining instruments and noises to synthesize new sounds out of old, years before the Moog was in wide use.

Most people forget that the music on this album came from the head of one 27-year-old man. He wrote most of the songs, he orchestrated the parts, he also directed the harmonies. Pretty good for a kid from southern California who had little formal musical training.

[ALago1]

27. FYI...Brian was 23 when he made this...

Just makes it even more remarkable.

[tigereye]

20. what your friend said UP

At the time (so my musician friends tell me) it was unlike anything else that had come before.

there you have it. THere are some amazingly beautiful harmonies there. Very innovative.

[last_texas_dem]

16. Masterpiece or Near-Masterpiece, if still slightly overrated

It's brilliant, and definitely not garbage. "Wouldn't It be Nice", "God Only Knows", "Caroline, No", "Don't Talk (Put Your Head on My Shoulder)", and "Here Today" alone would make it a great album even if the rest of it were padded with filler. The great thing about it is that it's not padded with filler; almost every song on it is above-average to great. Whether it's a masterpiece or not probably depends on how you define "masterpiece", but it's definitely up there with the best rock and pop albums of the last several decades.

I think it's overrated in the sense that it's the only Beach Boys album that seems to get any attention from music critics, at the expense of several other great ones that they released in the mid- to late-sixties. I also think it's overrated by some rock critics in the sense that it's basically a pop album and these critics otherwise have nothing but disdain for pop music. What I mean is, I think it's overrated in that it's the rare sixties pop (as opposed to rock) album that gets favorable reviews from critics when almost all other pop from that era (and pretty much all other periods of the rock era) get ignored or trashed by the critics.

[no name no slogan]

26. It's cyclical, IMHO

A lot of 60s pop has been re-evaluated over the last several years. For example, Burt Bacharach has enjoyed sizable rehabilitation in the eyes of the criterati (and Elvis Costello) after being snubbed for the past few decades as little more than bubblegum purveyors.

I think what makes Brian Wilson remarkable (as opposed to Bacharach, who is just plain good) is that he went from basic three-chord good-time rock-n-roll songs to complex pop arrangements in the space of only a few years, and also at a very young age, largely on his own without much musical training/experience. That is what makes him remarkable.

[Zuni]

17. Brilliant masterpiece

one of the finest albums I have ever heard. "God Only Knows" and "Caroline No" send shivers racing up my spine.

[GalleryGod]

19. A "Soundtrack" of my life ! Brilliant!

[mvd]

21. Masterpiece

And what perfect harmonies.

[Rabrrrrrr]

22. It's neither - it's an okay, sung-in-tune interesting and kinda fun album

It's totally over-rated, but it's not a piece of garbage.

But it sure isn't "brilliant" nor is it a "masterpiece" by any stretch of the word.

[ALago1]

24. The Best. Ever.

n/t

[HughBeaumont]

25. Anyone who has an appreciation for masterful songwriting and production

can regard this ahead-of-it's time album as a watermark to both.

[musiclawyer]

28. I like...but overrated

groundbreaking production with some beautiful songs that will be played forever. But a lot of filler. Compare to, for example, Oracle and Odyssey by the Zombies, or Village Green by the Kinks or Revolver. If Pet Sounds, were a wave, it would be killer. But those others are Tsunamis

[Zomby Woof]

29. Neither

I prefer "We're Only In It For The Money" by the Mothers of Invention, from that era.

[bif]

31. Overrated, not a piece of garbage. But outdated.

That stuff is just dated.