Review #2: Pet Sounds, The Beach Boys
#2 Pet Sounds, The Beach Boys
I’ve encountered nearly all of these songs before, but I’ve never listened to Pet Sounds all the way through — for some reason I was under the impression that the Beach Boys were extremely sophisticated and out of my league. However — this was the album that got me excited about doing this project. When “Sloop John B” came on, I just about jumped out of my car seat. “THIS SONG,” I screamed.
However, I am a Beach Boys novice; I only knew that Brian Wilson was in the Beach Boys because of that Barenaked Ladies song “Brian Wilson.” Also, for some reason I’ve always linked the Beach Boys and the Brady Bunch together in my head. Like, I kind of thought that the Beach Boys wrote the soundtrack to the Brady Bunch. Don’t ask me why, it just felt right. I’ve listened to Pet Sounds twice now and it still feels kind of right.
FAVORITE SONGS:
“Wouldn’t It Be Nice” — I always think of that movie 50 First Dates when I hear this song.
“I’m Waiting For the Day” — This song is okay but the END of this song is incredible.
“Let’s Go Away For Awhile” — At this point on my road trip I was on a prairie, and I started full-on hallucinating that I was sailing through the ocean.
“Sloop John B” — I cannot tell you how excited I was when this song came on. This is probably the catchiest song of all time; I’ve loved it for forever and I have never known the name. Imagine my joy when I first heard those jangly guitars, the phrase “I wanna go home.” Friend, there were about ten songs I listened to on these road trips that I could have gotten in a car accident to and died happy. This was one of those songs.
“God Only Knows” — I was still high off of Sloop John, so I was primed for this song to blow me down, and it did.
LEAST FAVORITE SONGS:
“Pet Sounds” — This song is a certified jam but at this point I was starting to feel crazy that I hadn’t heard any actual pet sounds yet. Didn’t Brian Wilson’s dog bark on this album or something? Maybe I’d forgotten what dogs sounded like.
“Caroline, No” — Not only was this song too slow to end on, I was enraged at hearing the pet sounds shoved to the end. I literally was straining to hear animal noises throughout the album, only to hear dogs barking at the very end. Go to hell, Brian Wilson.
IS RS FULL OF IT?
No, this album rules and I think it’s appropriately placed.
