Brian talking about pirating records - "I'll bring it up and run off a couple monos for you" meaning record the album thru the desk to reel to reel - what a steal!
Mike, Al Jardine, Brian singing the verses coherently. I found this perfect, their voices are not distinguished from each other, they all blend into to make the perfect record.
He played on many of the Beach Boys tunes. He was part of the wrecking crew. He also covered Brian in the band before Bruce joined. Listen to Guess I'm Dumb.
Holy sh*t this is fascinating. I really appreciate you putting this together. I've never gotten to peer inside a recording session, let alone the most famous recording session there is. Count me subscribed.
I think he said “You’re not laughing”, as in Brian said it was a funny album while keeping a straight face, making it seem like the album really wasn’t that funny if he didn’t chuckle just thinking about it.
Glenn Campbell as well! Wichita Lineman’s one of my favourite songs ever recorded, I am so pleased to discover he worked with Brian Wilson and the boys
Its really quite amazing the lenths B.Wilson went to to make absolutely sure that he got the music and vocals just right.I think thats the reason Pet Sounds is so great.Never mind the songwriting.The songwriting is on another level.
It sounds beautiful because you have plenty of 'bleed' through the mics and the overdubs were very carefully dropped in to enhance and add so much colour. In fact the whole album is so full of colour. It's just perfection.
This entire collection is a gift. Brian Wilson was a brilliant composer and arranger--and the work of the Wrecking Crew brought his visions to life. Amazing to see such talent all sitting together in these sessions. Those musicians are among my heroes and I have a vast appreciation for Brian Wilson after hearing/seeing his interactions with these guys.
Brian's random comments; I love them. In between all the music his brain is still talking about other stuff. 'How to speak hip'. Laughed my arse off the first time I heard that funny guy
I watch Brian and the mastery that went behind the Pet Sounds Album as well as Good Vibrations and Heroes and Villains around the same time when Brian peeked. Then I saw him slip into deep depression, drugs, and paranoia that ruined his life. He is enjoying his career again and when he began touring way back in the 90's! Just brings a tear to my eye when I think of all the great music that could have been made if he only could have stayed healthy
A brief time, captured in eternity by pure creativity that was the sound of the authentic, pure, unique, Beach Boys. The messengers of the 'No ordinary genius' that was and is Brian Wilson. Great video upload!
Yes, everyone has heard of a 10-hole diatonic blues harmonica solo or a bass guitar solo, but yes indeed, when Tommy Morgan solo'ed away on his bass harmonica, it certainly turned heads!
The legend of the theremin being an unusual instrument to be used in a pop song on Good Vibrations is here usurped by the bass harmonica some months before GV. When I finally acquired Pet Sounds ( some 3 or 4 years after it's release, I'm ashamed to admit ) it was DIRECTLY as a result of hearing this track on Best Of Vol 3 (English version) I was mesmerised by the track as a whole, but the bass harmonica just kept me coming back for more. Having heard God Only Knows and Sloop John B in the charts in 66, I just had to get the album. My only excuse for being 3/4 years later than the rest of the civilized world would be I had no money aged 11 in 1966.
The last 30 seconds or so instrumental/harmony of “I Know There’s An Answer” is epitome Beach Boys to me. It’s just so trippy…umm..beach! You know what I mean? I could listen to that forever.
@@tonymiddlehurst8438 I seen Al and Brian in Liverpool a Pet Sounds thing, I think they have similar voice ranges, del and al, so its not sacrosanct , i couldn't choose either or one, both famous
It's hard to imagine all that was going on at the time, especially in view that they were all in their early to mid-twenties. This is my most personal Beach Boys song. I seldom listen to it because it brings back such strong, emotional memories. I'd always thought the bass harmonica was a kazoo.
It's all before I was on Earth yet it somehow makes me feel nostalgic for something I never experienced. What an amazing time it must of been with going to the Moon and then on to Mars! The Beatles creating and a new mainstream of music, the possibilities were endless. Pet Sounds is so beautiful sonically. It's like nothing before.
@@MICKEYISLOWD I love 60s music but we didn't walk around thinking about how great things were any more than kids do today. I was a Beach Boys fan but the Beatles still dominated in every regard (in this case, they were on another level than anyone else). Frankly, Pet Sounds came and went without anyone hardly noticing, particularly since it didn't get a lot of radio play. I don't think people can comprehend today how important radio was in connecting the overwhelming majority of people with pop music. Anyway, the song that really seemed to shake people up was Good Vibrations. It was "introduced" by Dick Clark on American Band Stand while interviewing Brian Wilson. People didn't know what to make of it (they all stood around on TV looking at each other) and neither did Dick Clark. You certainly couldn't dance to it. Look at all of the music that came out late 1966/early 1967 and you'll understand that there was an absolute tidal wave of great music and Brian Wilson going off in a new, somewhat bizarre direction was totally overshadowed by this. In my opinion, Mike Love was correct in that Brian was ditching the formula and the result was the majority of former Beach Boy fans were left scratching their heads. While Good Vibrations was a hit, it seemed the Beach Boys all but dropped out of sight and produce only 1-2 very minor hits until 1976 (most of their music in this period didn't even break the top 100). Except of their tours singing formula songs, it was a huge dry spell for 22 years until they hit with Kokomo in 1988 (a song I detest). For most listeners, Pet Sounds being a great album and Brian Wilson being such a genius wasn't much talked about until well into the 80s. Like I said, Pet Sounds hits too close to home emotionally and I don't listen to it anymore. The album I think is Pet Sounds' equal is The Beach Boys Today! Their best harmonies by far, the Wrecking Crew knocking it out of the park, Phil Spector's strong influence. The planets were aligned on that album
I was at the Radio City Music Hall Tribute to Btian and I was surrounded by people who were in awe of Brian and his music. When this song was performed and the bass harmonica was being played, someone seated in front of me asked "what is that, a kazoo"? I got a good laugh from that. That person wasn't you, was it?
It’s wonderful hearing the decisions and talking with the players. I dont know how you put this series together but it is a lovely insight to creating. The determination needed to keep control , the awareness of every element and the beauty of the end result. Just a big thank you!
Fantastic. You're on a roll! These videos of yours were one of my earliest exposures to the Beach Boys as Pet Sounds was their first record I listened to. No wonder a few years later and I'm obsessed with them ;) - outstanding research and photos/editing in this series. You should be proud.
+szqsk8 It was a bit of a put on, he was talking the way they do on "How To Speak Hip" the spoken word LP he mentions. You can listen to that here: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-1f-9r4WFPEw.html
thank you SOOO much for listing all the personal , all the people that made Brian's 'Head Movies' come to life !I think it's important to credit all the excellent musicians that practiced 8+hours a day to hone their craft and help[ed make the music of our lives !! so cool how many hours i've spent dreaming to this record ,analyzing the sounds,trying to transcribe the harmonies out haha got to cut w/ Tommy Morgan at Capitol 'B' and he was a Gent ! really cool, funny he had to cop my upright bass line...cheers
The fact that the band questioned any of Brian’s actions after the success he had (almost singlehandedly) brought them over the preceding 4 years is baffling
All the evidence shows that the band totally supported working on Smile: they sang on probably more than one hundred sessions from May of 66 to May of 67. Once Mike asked Van Dyke what did "Over and over the crow cries 'Uncover the Cornfield'" mean (a lyric Mike was singing) and instead of explaining, Parks got defensive and said, "I don't know- they don't mean anything." Mike still sang the line, and sang it magnificently. Van Dyke abandoned the sessions because he signed a solo deal with Warners, and started working on "Song Cycle". It seems to me that Smile collapsed because of 4 main reasons: 1. Van Dyke left before he and Brian had finished writing the songs for Smile, except "Wonderful", "Surf's Up", and "Vegetables"; all the other songs were in various stages of completion, and when Van left, Brian got lost compositionally: Smile was really a collaboration of Brian's and Van Dyke's, just as Pet Sounds had been a collaboration of Brian's and Tony Asher's. In later interviews in the 70s, Brian said that the Smile album wasn't really Beach Boys material, that it was too "arty". 2. In February, Brian had some sort of crisis; I believe it was the release that month of the Beatle's "Penny Lane/Strawberry Fields" single, which was the introduction of a new sound and sensibility: it was (and is) a revolutionary single. Brian must have felt that the Beatles had released the "New Sound" first. At this time, he canceled sessions for about 2 weeks. 3. In May, the Beatles released Sgt. Pepper"; Brian canceled the remaining Smile sessions in the middle of May and abandoned the big, magnificent sound he was creating for the album. He decided instead to do something minimalistic, so he wouldn't be accused of copying the Beatles: he left the professional studios and the professional studio musicians, brought some recording equipment and engineer Jim Lockert to his house, and recorded Smiley Smile ( which is 90% Smile music) in his living room, using the empty swimming pool as an echo chamber. The instruments on all the songs on the album (except for parts of "Heroes and Villains" and "Vegetables" which are Smile tracks) are a big Baldwin organ and a bass guitar, along with the guys singing: I don't even think there are any guitars on the album.Listen to this brief radio interview from 67 with Brian, and you'll hear a totally together guy talking about the new album: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-sRFE-24ucxc.html 4. During the whole period of early 67, the Beach Boys were suing Capital records for producer royalties unpaid to Brian, who had been producing the band since their Surfer Girl album from 1963; at the same time, Brian decided to set up his own record label, Brother Records, and appointed his close friend David Anderle as president of Brother and tasked him with setting it up. Smiley Smile was originally released on Brother Records, as were the 2 singles from the album: "Heroes and Villains" and "Gettin' Hungry". All of these factors together I believe ended Smile, but ultimately it was Brian who canceled it, not the Beach Boys. Through decades of interviews, all of the Beach Boys have said in interviews that "Brian canceled Smile", not them.
Yep, this is the truth. The group also supported Pet Sounds. Once Van Dyke left the project to do his solo album Brian lost the plot and lost someone to bounce ideas off of. He also spent a good chunk of early '67 rerecording parts of Smile that had already been recorded and trying to construct an edit of Heroes And Villains that would serve as the lead-off single...but these attempts were seemingly abandoned by March. He then worked on Vegetables through April, also abandoned. The very last session for Smile was Love To Say Da-Da in May. I honestly think he just got completely burnt out on the project and wanted to take a break and have a fresh start on something simple. He was more involved with Smiley Smile, Wild Honey and Friends than he is given credit for, but these were recorded in his home studio and are much less involved productions than what he'd been doing for years. For him, those records were a vacation from a life that had become too stressful and had put an enormous amount of pressure on him at a young age. I think it's kind of telling that Wild Honey and Friends are counted among his favorite Beach Boys albums, even if they are among the lowest selling of their career.
What a great video. Your videos have gotten better and better over the years and I've been excitedly following them since they were first posted. That was actually shortly after I got into Pet Sounds in 2006 and subsequently most of the BB's catalogue. I've shown your videos in an American Popular Music class I took in university and the prof was very impressed. I really appreciate your attention to detail and the inclusion of some many of the different over dubs and "pieces" of the song.
One of my favourite compositions by Brian. It was the use of Bass Harmonica on this and I Just Wasn't Made for These Times that made me pick one up for my own use. Your video is very insightful in showing exactly how specific some of the vocal tracking sessions were. Brian is very definite about what he wants, and I love that even when he gets it right, Al asks Brian if he's really sure he's satisfied. They really wanted to get it just perfect and they did!
This song is proof that everything in life is cyclical and eventually returns albeit 50+ years later. This would make a nice theme to counter the current opioid epidemic crisis.
The comments about pitch problems with Mike and Al, please be mindful that they are probably hearing this unique melody for the first time and they are also get loose and relaxed to nail their part. They are fooling around (especially Mike) to exercise vocal chords. When you hear the final product you can tell that they nail their parts (as usual).
Perfectionism personified. I have to hand it to him; BW could have just sung every verse himself, but he had the patience to coach Al and Love to get the vocalization effect he needed.
Throughout the early to mid 19702, but especially in 1974, I spent much time recording BB songs off of the radio. All I had was a cassette tape recorder. I wore out tapes by incessantly replaying them so I could discern which instruments were used. Brian expertly layered each instrument such that a wonderful harmony of sound was created. Yes, that 'wall of sound'. Later that summer I got the idea to set up two cassette tape recorders which were both controlled by a single rheostat. That plus wiring the recorders to eternal speakers I could then better discern each instrument. Still, I was frustrated because Brian used instruments I didn't even know about. Nonetheless, imagine my delight. This video here is excellent and I thank you for it.
Thanks for this, it's just amazing what Brian accomplished in such a short time. How do you compose songs like this? It's incredible! On top of all that he gives everyone their vocal parts which is a compositiion in itself....I'm just in awe of this guy
Hal Blaine made that point very clear to Brian. Hal said something to the effect that 'No one is taking the time and produce so deeply as you Brian. You've got them all beat.' Even though I've taking some liberty with that interaction, I believe that with Hal being such a huge part of "The Wrecking Crew" and since he'd pretty much seen it all in the LA recording scene, he was telling Brian, essentially, that there was no one doing it better in the music scene at that time. And personally, I believe that Brian Wilson was without peer writing, producing, arranging, playing and finally, singing the popular music of that time. The Beach Boys had a sound unlike any other!
Why did you never finish this series? It's one of my favorite series on RU-vid and as Brian would say it really kills my soul it was never finished. Genuinely curious. Love what we got still, thanks
@BehindTheSounds Your written commentary puts these videos neatly under the Fair Use exception. I know you know this, but gosh, what a shame Sloop John B was blocked.
@@RealUsername64 They don't exist. The series was never finished because I knew there was a good chance the rest of the videos would be blocked. I do regret not finishing them in 2011 when RU-vid was less restrictive about this sort of thing.
This is great. Thanks for posting. I wish somebody on RU-vid would post all of the sessions for this song. I have Pet Sounds Sessions, but, I think it's edited. I would like to hear every second of the sessions for this particular song.
The full tracking session for this hasn't been released in any form (not even bootlegged). Basically only the very first rehearsal take and take two has been released. Some snippets of later takes can be heard in the digest on the Pet Sounds Sessions Box Set.
