It’s been said that Brian Wilson wrote sad songs about being sad, and sad songs about being happy, and nowhere is that more true than on his 1966 masterpiece, Pet Sounds, an album regularly named by other musicians as the greatest record ever made.
It was far more of a Brian Wilson album than a Beach Boys album, with Brian writing and recording the backing before bringing the rest of the group in to dub their vocal parts on top.
Unpopular in the US on its release, many fans and critics were confused by this new direction the band had taken – where they were used to sun, sea and girls, there was now introspection, anxiety and self-doubt.
In the UK, the reception was very different, with musicians, fans and critics alike all heaping praise on the record. Today, some 60 years on, it is regularly cited as one of the finest albums ever produced.
So to mark its birthday, we’ve been through the album track-by-track, exploring some of our favourite elements of what is a deeply personal album. And just for fun, we’ve ranked each track from worst to best. Or, perhaps more accurately, from brilliant to divine.
Pet Sounds tracks ranked
13. 'Pet Sounds'
One of two instrumentals on Pet Sounds, the title track is deceptive – it feels at first like an interlude, a bog-standard (if fabulous) piece of laid-back surf guitar cool. But over two-and-a-half minutes it grows into a kaleidoscopic tropical paradise set to music.
Curiously, Brian had originally approached it with the idea of making music for a movie: "We were going to try and get it to the James Bond people. But we thought it would never happen, so we put it on the album."
12. 'That's Not Me'
The sparse instrumentation here highlights Brian’s expert ability to combine sounds and textures – organ, fat bass, 12-string guitar and neat percussion underpin Mike Love’s forceful delivery on this gem of a song.
The song tackles the confusion of coming of age – the need to strike out on your own and be the person you think you should be, versus the yearning to go back home for safety and security.
To discover who you really are and live that life is common to the modern human condition and, as such, easy to identify with.
11. 'Let's Go Away For Awhile'
This complex instrumental feels almost symphonic with its different sections encompassing different moods, and the way Brian plays around with the various phrases.
In 1967, Brian called it "The most satisfying piece of music I’ve ever made," and it’s easy to see why, compositionally, he would feel that way.
The chord sequence is particularly clever, as the descending bass dictates the chords on the second part in particular, gently taking the listener deeper. Brian once replied to a question about how he made it by saying "Try to hum it" – it’s a good shout!
10. 'I'm Waiting For The Day'
‘I’m Waiting For The Day’ explodes into life with timpani and snares, but immediately cuts back to a delicious cor anglais part, the contrasting dynamics being a theme of the song.
A co-write between Brian Wilson and Mike Love that dates back to 1964, it shares similarities with Wilson-Love credits from previous albums, and as such, goes some way to dispel the persisting notion that Love disliked Pet Sounds.
The instrumental bridge before the final repeated coda is a particular treat and shows Brian’s attention to detail, allowing the song to meander off into a daydream momentarily.
9. 'Here Today'
The here today, gone tomorrow ephemeral nature of young love is explored with a wry smile on ‘Here Today’ – "You know I hate to be a downer/But I’m the guy she left before you found her." Made up of various sections stitched together, sonically ‘Here Today’ is a clear influence on The Beatles Sgt Pepper’s album, which would follow a year later.
The rasping bass trombones and baritone saxophones contrast with electric bass guitar played staccato high on the fretboard in a far more melodic manner than standard bass playing.
The instrumental middle section is one of the album’s highlights from a compositional point of view, as the (largely) orchestral instruments lead each other on the same merry dance being described in the song’s lyrics.
8. 'Sloop John B'
When Al Jardine suggested a cover of this classic Bahamian folk song, Brian instantly saw the appeal and pulled out all the stops on one of his finest arrangements. Although critics in the past have highlighted this a weak moment in the album, closer inspection actually shows how it makes a lot of sense as a companion piece to ‘That’s Not Me’.
The themes are the same – in ‘Sloop John B’, the lead character heads out on a journey of discover but meets all kinds of problems, and repeatedly pleads "I wanna go home." After Brian’s recent and unpleasant experiences with LSD, the lines "Why don't they let me go home?/ This is the worst trip I've ever been on" is particularly poignant.
Vocally, Brian builds the backing vocals expertly, adding layers with every round until it reaches a towering crescendo by the end, almost as though he was using singers as his playthings. The way he cuts the backing track completely to create an a capella break was incredibly inventive and effective on a song where the dynamics are just blissful.
7. 'You Still Believe In Me'
The second song on the album opens with a delightful musical motif that sounds like something Mozart could have written, and is used repeatedly throughout the piece in different ways to great effect – a comical bicycle horn seems to be added towards the end just to prevent the song taking itself too seriously.
It’s the first time on the album that we begin looking inwards, with Brian singing about his shortcomings as a person, opening up to the world in a way that would ordinarily only be shared with someone very close. The vulnerability is palpable, and the overall effect endearing.
6. 'I Know There's An Answer'
Early versions of this song called ‘Let Go Of your Ego’ and ‘Hang Onto Your Ego’ referenced the supposedly ego-shattering effects of taking LSD (across the Atlantic, John Lennon was in the process of trying to destroy his ego using LSD by inflating it to such proportions that it would burst).
A quick rewrite came thanks to Mike Love, who wanted the positive message to remain unconnected to the drug-related counter-culture. It wasn’t a bad move.
The arrangement is a delight – bass and percussion engaged in a merry dance while bass harmonica and woodwinds buzz around. But it’s the directness, the confidence that comes with the lyrical assertion "I know there’s an answer" that really makes the song punch.
5. 'Don't Talk (Put Your Head On My Shoulders)'
Whereas much of Pet Sounds is from the perspective of the person needing shelter and support, on ‘Don’t Talk’, we find Brian as the one giving love. The bassline is one of Brian’s favourite parts of the record, as it matched his vocal plea to listen to his heartbeat – he meant it; that bass part is his heartbeat and he wants you to hear it.
"I felt very deeply proud about that line," he said later. "One of the sweetest songs I ever sang." It’s a beautiful, gentle song and one of the cornerstones of the album.
4. 'Wouldn't It Be Nice'
The album’s opener classic Beach Boys – dreaming of brighter days, on the surface a bright and poppy, happy-go-lucky piece of sunshine pop, but dig a little deeper and what we’re actually listening to is a fantasy of escaping the reality of the here and now.
When Brian Wilson sings of waking up when the day is new, spending it together and holding each other close the whole night through, this is a dream, a projection of a time when life is joyful. It’s not real.
The arrangement is, however, pure joy, with contrapuntal bass and guitar patterns interweaving beneath rasping brass and shimmering accordion. But it’s those dancing vocal parts that really lift this to a slice of heaven.
Isolated vocals (available on the Pet Sounds Sessions box set) reveal a complex, ever-growing series of multi-layered parts that anticipates ‘Good Vibrations’ (1966).
3. 'Caroline, No'
Closing the album is a delicate, terribly sad song in which Brian looks back at a lost love with confusion – "Where is the girl I used to know?". Brian called it his favourite song on the album, and was proud of what he called a Glenn Miller style of composition: "That song was probably the best I’ve ever written," he said in 1995.
Brian is the only Beach Boy on the track (it was even issued as a single credited to Brian Wilson, rather than The Beach Boys) although his dogs, Banana and Louie, can be heard barking.
A simple sparse arrangement fails to lift the spirits – ‘Caroline, No’ is the sound of defeat and there’s no silver lining, only an understanding that what was once so perfect has now gone and it’s not coming back.
It’s a devastating end to an album that began just 35 minutes earlier with so much hope for the future on ‘Wouldn’t It Be Nice’. How quickly spring turned to autumn.
2. 'I Just Wasn't Made For These Times'
When The Beach Boys played a 61-song set to celebrate their 50th birthday at London’s Albert Hall in 2012, the standing ovation that followed ‘I Just Wasn’t Made For These Times’ lasted longer than the song itself, as wave after wave of shared emotional outpouring showed to what level Beach Boys fans – and Brian Wilson fans in particular – love this song.
If ever Brian wrote his own epitaph, this was it. The feeling of crushed acceptance of the impossible unsuitability of time and place drips from the grooves.
Brian explained, "It’s about a guy who’s crying out because he thought that he was too advanced, and that he’d eventually have to leave people behind. All my friends thought I was crazy to do Pet Sounds."
The use of theramin (perhaps its first use on a rock record) adds a mournful, otherworldly quality to what is a relatively simple (for Pet Sounds) arrangement. The power of the words and the vocal are more than enough to carry the song.
It’s a heartbreaking listen, but one that is so relatable that it has since become an anthem for the disenfranchised, the misfits and those who live their lives feeling out of step. And it’s magnificent. Or, to quote Brian again, "That is such a good song, I can’t believe it."
1. 'God Only Knows'
Pet Sounds is an album of inspirational songs, and none more so than the divine ‘God Only Knows’, described by Paul McCartney as one of the greatest songs ever written.
Brian and Carl prayed together before Carl delivered one of the prettiest lead vocal parts ever committed to tape – his voice is nothing short of angelic. As Brian explained, "We were trying to capture spiritual love that couldn’t be found anywhere else in the world. We figured we had that love."
The way the song moves without ever really settling on a resolved position is in someways nervous and anxious, but could also be seen as buzzing with the excitement of being in love.
Musicologists have been debating for 60 years the details of its construction (opinion even remains divided over what key the song is in!) and endless essays have been written trying to uncover the secret to its magic. Brian’s view is that it comes from God, and that he was merely the vessel through which it was communicated.
One thing the entire world seems agreed upon is that McCartney was right: ‘God Only Knows’ is one of the greatest songs ever written.
All photos Getty Images
Top image Brian Wilson of The Beach Boys relaxes backstage, circa 1966
