Al Jardine was a big folk music fan. He listened to the Kingston Trio's version of this traditional folk song and thought it would be a good song for the band to do. When he suggested it to Brian the idea was rejected at first. Brian didn't like folk music and thought of it as just another old folk song. Al slightly modified it and showed Brian how it would sound and Brian caved in and decided to do it. For me it's one of their very best. We had this 45 when I was five years old and I loved it, still brings back those wonderful memories. As always with The Beach Boys the vocals and the vocal arrangement are incredible, as is the production and musicianship.
Great reaction video! Listening to their 4 part harmonies is what made their sound very unique. You can hear their music, but if you listen to their music like you did, they are two completely different things. The extra bass sound you heard was the bass saxophone. Brian Wilson was experimenting with all kinds of different sounds, and put it together so well! Ironically, Brian was 90% deaf in his right ear, and here he’s able to put all of these different sounds together not only on this record, but on every song he wrote. He’s an absolute musical genius. There was no auto tune back then, he used his trained ear to get that perfect sound, and he got it with his 2 brother’s, Dennis and Carl, his cousin Mike Love, and his friend Al Jardine. I don’t think in today’s computerized world of auto tune that anyone could ever replicate the beautiful sound of what Brian Wilson and The Beach Boys did many years ago. Computerized sounds can not compare to actual human sounds.
Really interesting comments about the mono mix (that you should definitely check out): Brian Wilson, who was definitely the "auteur" member of the Beach Boys and the driving force behind this album in particular, was deaf in one ear, and so had a strong preference for mono mixes, which had the natural side effect of strengthening the wall of sound effect, especially with so many layers in the mix as this album does.
Not sure if it's on this track but the Danoelectric Bass VI (sort of 6 string guitar but with strings an octave down like a regular bass) was used on a lot of Beach Boys recordings as well as Fender P Bass. There is a double bass on this song as well as the electric one (as well as Bass sax). Definitely recommend the rest of Pet Sounds and the Smile Sessions that followed as a starter to the more complicated songs of the Beach Boys.
I think the bassline for most of the song is electric and acoustic bass being played in unison, and then at the end they add bass saxophone as well. And yes, mono was the "canonical" format at that time. Stereo was seen as a novelty and the stereo mixing techniques of the time were very primitive - generally speaking, any recording old enough to be available in mono was intended primarily to be heard in mono. A true stereo mix of Pet Sounds wasn't created until the 90s.
Thanks for the info. I gave myself a crash course on that info earlier this week so hearing that the info I got was correct gives me a breath of relief. I don't mind being wrong but I try not to spread incorrect info. Interesting info about the basses, though it lines up perfectly with what I know about the wall of sound production technique. Just laying on similar timbres to make a sound unique and large.
Really appreciated you giving all that historical context for wall of sound. Puts a whole new light on both the beach boys and the more modern tracks checked out this week.
Honestly I included it to curb comments about how "this isn't wall of sound" but in hindsight I'm glad I added it because of it's importance to understanding how we got to the modern stuff.
Pet Sounds is one of those albums (like Sgt. Pepper and Dark Side of the Moon) that everyone who loves music needs to hear at least once. It's essentially a perfect album with a handful of the greatest pop songs ever written. It had an immense, incalculable influence on the course of rock and pop music, if only considering it influenced The Beatles' Revolver and Sgt. Pepper (funny considering Brian Wilson was influenced by The Beatles' Rubber Soul himself). This particular song isn't one of my personal favorites, but it's still pretty great and, really, you're spoiled for choices of favorites on this album. Despite its popularity, God Only Knows is one of my all-time favorite songs. Talk about beautiful melancholy! This particular song is, indeed, an adaptation of a Bahamnian folk song. Like most of the songs on the album it's just brilliantly scored with such a gorgeous mix of instruments and sound coming together to make this bright, chiming, twinkling tonality. There's also, as you mention, the bittersweetness with the darker lyrics against that music, which I happen to love. This is really the very beginnings of rock/pop music as art, and personally I think it sounds just as miraculous today. The kind of music I can imagine people 100 years from now listening to the way some still listen to Beethoven.
I should compile a list of the big influential albums across a few genres and dive into that stuff. I don't know how much I'll enjoy it all but I think being able to make these connections between music over time is important from a historical perspective.
@@CriticalReactions DigitalDreamDoor's music lists are great for that kind of thing. Just check out their Top 100 Albums in every genre and maybe take note of the top 5-10 in each.
Great reaction. I enjoy when you anticipate something musically within a song, something that is pleasing to the ear and it happens. You seem pleased that it hit the way you wanted it to
For sure. There's a certain kind of joy in having a song set up an idea and then deliver on it with it's full capacity. I certainly find joy in completely unexpected composition as well but that's a more difficult line to walk. It's very easy to make something incomprehensible rather than unexpected.
When you went “yeah” or nodded firmly, broke a smile, it made me laugh out loud in the best way! Nice reaction first, then such great informative review. Thank you. I’m in-look forward to your other content.
To get the full force of the wall of sound production technique in the style of Phil Spector who was famous for it then you should do a reaction to Da Doo Ron Ron by the Crystals. Brian Wilson was inspired by Phil Spector when he produced Pet Sounds. It has been said that Phil Spectors Wall of Sound was based on anger whereas Brian Wilson took that production style and made it beautiful instead. For more from Pet Sounds you should do a reaction to God Only Knows where Brian is said to have had 19 musicians in the studio at the same time.
Very influential on punk rock as well. Alot of happy sounding distorted chords with distraught lyrics. Don't think the Ramones would exist without the Beach Boys.
A sea shanty song suggested by Al Jardine... who loved folk music. 4-track tape recorder... no synths... no software assistance... no sexual content... no hatred... no foul language... no pitch correction... no digital drums... no samples. Brilliant production and blending of instruments and voices. They were in a league all their own. No one tried to copy them because it wasn't possible. Brian was deaf in one ear so it was in mono. Brian idolized Phil Spector... but Spector was never involved with the Beach Boys. This sound will never happen again. The remaster puts some of the parts in stereo. It's not what Brian heard. Brian usually used an upright bass and an electric bass playing the same line. Many, many guitars playing together. 12 string, 6 strings, mandolin, and more. The production style that you discussed started with Brian. It was a departure from the wall of sound. There were 3 different guitar lines in the intro. Beautiful counter melodies. Magic
Funny you picked up on the party folk song vibes as I'm pretty positive this is their interpretation/adaptation of an old folk song. I chose this one as it's a personal favorite, and figured you'd probably already heard their most popular tracks like Good Vibrations and God Only Knows. Highly recommend checking out this album. It's considered a classic. Just checked Rolling Stone Magazine's best albums of all time just to see where it would rank for them, as I knew it would be high and I know they're considered kind of an authority on popular music, and they had it at #2.
Good Vibrations is one of those songs that I've heard a lot but never knew who it was. It's nice to put a face to a sound. I'll have to look into the history of this track though. It's interesting that it's an adaptation of an older song though. For the most part it sounds like pretty typical Beach Boys and I would never have thought it was an old folk song.
@@CriticalReactions There's even a nationally very popular Swedish version with anti-war lyrics from one of our greatest troubadours. (Actually released the same year -1966- as Pet Sounds...)
I've read that Sloop John B was requested by the studio, so the album wouldn't be 100% new, original songs but would have at least one song that people might already know. I love that Brian made it the most Beach Boys sounding version of this song possible.
@@craenor I believe that's incorrect. Rhythm guitarist Al Jardine convinced band leader Brian Wilson to do it and he re-arranged the whole track. Most of the instrumental was recorded in one session in mid July 1965 , the same day California Girls was released as a single (later it would go to #3 in the US and UK). Their previous single Help Me Rhonda was went to #1 in late May knocking Ticket To Ride off the top position after 1 week and staying there for 2 weeks. The Beach Boys were making Capitol records a lot of money and Brian could do whatever he wanted.
Wall of sound technique also was to record most of the instruments live on a single track consequently a lot of bleeding of sounds on other mics.Brian used a John Philip Sousa marching band Tuba melody line in the verses and choruses. Great arrangement and recording
The heavy bass bottom at the end is Bass Saxophone (not Baritone) in unison with upright bass and (if I recall) electric bass w pick. BB Al Jardine was a big Kingston Trio (who did a folk version of SJB) fan and asked Brian Wilson what he thought about doing a BB rendition. BWilson took the song home and within less than a week had an arrangement completed and recorded by the Wrecking Crew! The song is really out of place on Pet Sounds. It was recorded right after 1965 Summer Days and Summer Nights album (California Girls/Help Me Rhonda). Capitol Records heard Pet Sounds and didn’t like the departure from the original hits so they added Sloop John B (1965) to Pet Sounds (1966) so they could have an assumed hit with SLB. They didn’t promote the album very much. Little did Capitol know what an impact Pet Sounds would have on the world in later years. For instance the iconic Wouldn’t It Be Nice and God Only Knows. The album was very well received in the UK - England was full of Beach Boys fans. George Martin said that The Beatles paid attention to various bands during the 60s, but he stressed the point that the one band Beatles were in competition with was The Beach Boys - especially Brian Wilson.
Oh wow. Where do I begin? I guess with the easy part: As a musician and/or producer, or even just a fan in general, you are doing yourself a criminal disservice not to educate yourself on older music. I was born December of 87 but I live on music mostly from the 70s and earlier. It was just better and more interesting in those days. Ok, let's start from the beginning and have a very brief overview of some key points Lester Polsfus better known as Les Paul was a Jazz Guitarist and musical tinkerer. He was the inventor of Multi-Track Recording (MTR). But nobody really knew what to do with it yet. Les Paul also developed an early prototype for an electric guitar, and then Gibson slapped his name on their flagship solid body electric. But that's a story for another comments section. It was Phil Spektor who really began to harness MTR and the Wall Of Sound. In the early days, music was more like organized noise with snippets of ok listen to the string section. Ok now listen to the horns. Etc. Mixing was accomplished almost entirely by the proximity of the instruments to the microphone. Primitive MTR would utilize multiple recordings of smaller groups of instruments and then volume mixing engineers wearing labcoats would play back these separate recordings and adjust the knobs while re-recording the final mix down. When it was introduced, MTR was almost a gimmick. But as I said, Phil Spektor pioneered the techniques that everybody would learn going forward. If we jump to early Beach Boys music, Brian Wilson as band leader and producer started to use double tracked lead vocals almost immediately. Whomever in the band was laying down the lead vocal (mostly Mike Love with lots of Brian) would have to give two great performances and then these would be mixed down to a single track It makes the vocal wider thicker fuller fatter but, in the case of TBB, it also helps the lead vocal to cut through the harmonies as well. Brian would study what Phil Spektor was doing. Mostly by hearing it on the radio or on records, but he was able to sit in on a couple of sessions and then later he would begin to hire Spektor's studio musicians known as The Wrecking Crew and he would talk with them to confirm his theories and fill in the gaps about how Spektor got those sounds. And so Brian built off of and expanded on what he had learned. And it was Brian who pioneered the idea that the very studio itself was an instrument. He would very famously cancel recording sessions with everybody there ready and waiting because he felt that the energy and vibration of the room itself was off. And even though all of the studios in the area during that time all pretty much had the same equipment, Brian would move between several studios even to record different sections within the same song. Most notably Western Recorders and Gold Star Studios. Of course, he was beggining to lose his grip on reality and lose his sanity so, it would be difficult to figure out how much of the difference in studios was real versus imagined. On another note, I personally have always maintained the belief that if Brian didn't have massive hearing damage to his right ear, and if he could perceive stereophonic sound, then he would have created true magic within the stereo field. Tricks and techniques that we can't imagine. There's a hell of a lot more to it and I really haven't begun to scratch the surface. I hope I was able to at least give you a desire to go out and really dig in to some research
Although Brian Wilson admired and used Phil Spector's Wall of Sound, Sloop John B has much more separation of voices and instruments than his or Spector's Wall of Sound. Both of their typical Wall of Sound records "melds" sources a lot more than Sloop John B. If you want to hear a Wall of Sound by the Beach Boys that comes the closest to a total "Tone," check out 19569's I Can Hear Music, produced by Carl Wilson.
The one song on Pet Sounds that shouldn't be on there. It wasn't original -- only the brilliant production/arrangement was. Listen to PET SOUNDS (minus SLOOP JOHN B) and you will be blown away.
In one sense, this is absolutely correct. SJB was recorded only a few months before the rest of the album. But Brian Wilson's ridiculously astronomic growth as a producer in '65-'67 was utterly unreal, and even a few months removed, the relatively primitive SJB is completely out of step. But Capitol records insisted an already proven 45-only hit be included for marketing. The compromise was placing it at the very end of side 1. I like to think of it as kind of dream-sequence in the way the songs flow. Doesn't fit, but still very enjoyable.
![Full Time Musician Reacts To The Beach Boys [ANALYSIS]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/3nhvHzbNarU/mqdefault.jpg)
Beach Boys vocal harmonies are LIFE!! Brian Wilson was a genius.
He's still alive my dude.
And until the past few years, still writing and producing some GREAT music!
He IS a genius*
Al Jardine was a big folk music fan. He listened to the Kingston Trio's version of this traditional folk song and thought it would be a good song for the band to do. When he suggested it to Brian the idea was rejected at first. Brian didn't like folk music and thought of it as just another old folk song. Al slightly modified it and showed Brian how it would sound and Brian caved in and decided to do it. For me it's one of their very best. We had this 45 when I was five years old and I loved it, still brings back those wonderful memories. As always with The Beach Boys the vocals and the vocal arrangement are incredible, as is the production and musicianship.
Sloop John B was an old folk tune which Brian Wilson, the Beach Boys arranger, refashioned into this great rock tune. Thanks for the review.
Pet Sounds is one of those perfect start to finish albums. On vinyl, preferably, if you have the ability, in my opinion
Great reaction video! Listening to their 4 part harmonies is what made their sound very unique. You can hear their music, but if you listen to their music like you did, they are two completely different things. The extra bass sound you heard was the bass saxophone. Brian Wilson was experimenting with all kinds of different sounds, and put it together so well! Ironically, Brian was 90% deaf in his right ear, and here he’s able to put all of these different sounds together not only on this record, but on every song he wrote. He’s an absolute musical genius. There was no auto tune back then, he used his trained ear to get that perfect sound, and he got it with his 2 brother’s, Dennis and Carl, his cousin Mike Love, and his friend Al Jardine. I don’t think in today’s computerized world of auto tune that anyone could ever replicate the beautiful sound of what Brian Wilson and The Beach Boys did many years ago. Computerized sounds can not compare to actual human sounds.
Really interesting comments about the mono mix (that you should definitely check out): Brian Wilson, who was definitely the "auteur" member of the Beach Boys and the driving force behind this album in particular, was deaf in one ear, and so had a strong preference for mono mixes, which had the natural side effect of strengthening the wall of sound effect, especially with so many layers in the mix as this album does.
Not sure if it's on this track but the Danoelectric Bass VI (sort of 6 string guitar but with strings an octave down like a regular bass) was used on a lot of Beach Boys recordings as well as Fender P Bass. There is a double bass on this song as well as the electric one (as well as Bass sax). Definitely recommend the rest of Pet Sounds and the Smile Sessions that followed as a starter to the more complicated songs of the Beach Boys.
Also this is the only cover on Pet Sounds. It's based on an old folk song called The John B Sails.
I think the bassline for most of the song is electric and acoustic bass being played in unison, and then at the end they add bass saxophone as well. And yes, mono was the "canonical" format at that time. Stereo was seen as a novelty and the stereo mixing techniques of the time were very primitive - generally speaking, any recording old enough to be available in mono was intended primarily to be heard in mono. A true stereo mix of Pet Sounds wasn't created until the 90s.
Thanks for the info. I gave myself a crash course on that info earlier this week so hearing that the info I got was correct gives me a breath of relief. I don't mind being wrong but I try not to spread incorrect info. Interesting info about the basses, though it lines up perfectly with what I know about the wall of sound production technique. Just laying on similar timbres to make a sound unique and large.
Really appreciated you giving all that historical context for wall of sound. Puts a whole new light on both the beach boys and the more modern tracks checked out this week.
Honestly I included it to curb comments about how "this isn't wall of sound" but in hindsight I'm glad I added it because of it's importance to understanding how we got to the modern stuff.
Pet Sounds is one of those albums (like Sgt. Pepper and Dark Side of the Moon) that everyone who loves music needs to hear at least once. It's essentially a perfect album with a handful of the greatest pop songs ever written. It had an immense, incalculable influence on the course of rock and pop music, if only considering it influenced The Beatles' Revolver and Sgt. Pepper (funny considering Brian Wilson was influenced by The Beatles' Rubber Soul himself). This particular song isn't one of my personal favorites, but it's still pretty great and, really, you're spoiled for choices of favorites on this album. Despite its popularity, God Only Knows is one of my all-time favorite songs. Talk about beautiful melancholy!
This particular song is, indeed, an adaptation of a Bahamnian folk song. Like most of the songs on the album it's just brilliantly scored with such a gorgeous mix of instruments and sound coming together to make this bright, chiming, twinkling tonality. There's also, as you mention, the bittersweetness with the darker lyrics against that music, which I happen to love. This is really the very beginnings of rock/pop music as art, and personally I think it sounds just as miraculous today. The kind of music I can imagine people 100 years from now listening to the way some still listen to Beethoven.
I should compile a list of the big influential albums across a few genres and dive into that stuff. I don't know how much I'll enjoy it all but I think being able to make these connections between music over time is important from a historical perspective.
@@CriticalReactions DigitalDreamDoor's music lists are great for that kind of thing. Just check out their Top 100 Albums in every genre and maybe take note of the top 5-10 in each.
Great reaction. I enjoy when you anticipate something musically within a song, something that is pleasing to the ear and it happens. You seem pleased that it hit the way you wanted it to
For sure. There's a certain kind of joy in having a song set up an idea and then deliver on it with it's full capacity. I certainly find joy in completely unexpected composition as well but that's a more difficult line to walk. It's very easy to make something incomprehensible rather than unexpected.
When you went “yeah” or nodded firmly, broke a smile, it made me laugh out loud in the best way! Nice reaction first, then such great informative review. Thank you. I’m in-look forward to your other content.
Bright and Cheery with melancholy - that's Brian
Happy sad songs.
To get the full force of the wall of sound production technique in the style of Phil Spector who was famous for it then you should do a reaction to Da Doo Ron Ron by the Crystals.
Brian Wilson was inspired by Phil Spector when he produced Pet Sounds. It has been said that Phil Spectors Wall of Sound was based on anger whereas Brian Wilson took that production style and made it beautiful instead.
For more from Pet Sounds you should do a reaction to God Only Knows where Brian is said to have had 19 musicians in the studio at the same time.
Very influential on punk rock as well. Alot of happy sounding distorted chords with distraught lyrics. Don't think the Ramones would exist without the Beach Boys.
A sea shanty song suggested by Al Jardine... who loved folk music. 4-track tape recorder... no synths... no software assistance... no sexual content... no hatred... no foul language... no pitch correction... no digital drums... no samples. Brilliant production and blending of instruments and voices. They were in a league all their own. No one tried to copy them because it wasn't possible. Brian was deaf in one ear so it was in mono. Brian idolized Phil Spector... but Spector was never involved with the Beach Boys. This sound will never happen again. The remaster puts some of the parts in stereo. It's not what Brian heard. Brian usually used an upright bass and an electric bass playing the same line. Many, many guitars playing together. 12 string, 6 strings, mandolin, and more. The production style that you discussed started with Brian. It was a departure from the wall of sound. There were 3 different guitar lines in the intro. Beautiful counter melodies. Magic
Funny you picked up on the party folk song vibes as I'm pretty positive this is their interpretation/adaptation of an old folk song. I chose this one as it's a personal favorite, and figured you'd probably already heard their most popular tracks like Good Vibrations and God Only Knows.
Highly recommend checking out this album. It's considered a classic. Just checked Rolling Stone Magazine's best albums of all time just to see where it would rank for them, as I knew it would be high and I know they're considered kind of an authority on popular music, and they had it at #2.
Good Vibrations is one of those songs that I've heard a lot but never knew who it was. It's nice to put a face to a sound. I'll have to look into the history of this track though. It's interesting that it's an adaptation of an older song though. For the most part it sounds like pretty typical Beach Boys and I would never have thought it was an old folk song.
@@CriticalReactions There's even a nationally very popular Swedish version with anti-war lyrics from one of our greatest troubadours. (Actually released the same year -1966- as Pet Sounds...)
Yeah it's an old Caribbean sea shanty. The funny thing is how radically different it sounds from the original
I've read that Sloop John B was requested by the studio, so the album wouldn't be 100% new, original songs but would have at least one song that people might already know. I love that Brian made it the most Beach Boys sounding version of this song possible.
@@craenor I believe that's incorrect. Rhythm guitarist Al Jardine convinced band leader Brian Wilson to do it and he re-arranged the whole track. Most of the instrumental was recorded in one session in mid July 1965 , the same day California Girls was released as a single (later it would go to #3 in the US and UK). Their previous single Help Me Rhonda was went to #1 in late May knocking Ticket To Ride off the top position after 1 week and staying there for 2 weeks. The Beach Boys were making Capitol records a lot of money and Brian could do whatever he wanted.
Wall of sound technique also was to record most of the instruments live on a single track consequently a lot of bleeding of sounds on other mics.Brian used a John Philip Sousa marching band Tuba melody line in the verses and choruses. Great arrangement and recording
That Bass is the Song for me.
Just a kicking Bass line.
Sounds like a John Philip Sousa marching band Tuba melody line.
The heavy bass bottom at the end is Bass Saxophone (not Baritone) in unison with upright bass and (if I recall) electric bass w pick. BB Al Jardine was a big Kingston Trio (who did a folk version of SJB) fan and asked Brian Wilson what he thought about doing a BB rendition. BWilson took the song home and within less than a week had an arrangement completed and recorded by the Wrecking Crew! The song is really out of place on Pet Sounds. It was recorded right after 1965 Summer Days and Summer Nights album (California Girls/Help Me Rhonda). Capitol Records heard Pet Sounds and didn’t like the departure from the original hits so they added Sloop John B (1965) to Pet Sounds (1966) so they could have an assumed hit with SLB. They didn’t promote the album very much. Little did Capitol know what an impact Pet Sounds would have on the world in later years. For instance the iconic Wouldn’t It Be Nice and God Only Knows. The album was very well received in the UK - England was full of Beach Boys fans. George Martin said that The Beatles paid attention to various bands during the 60s, but he stressed the point that the one band Beatles were in competition with was The Beach Boys - especially Brian Wilson.
Oh wow. Where do I begin? I guess with the easy part:
As a musician and/or producer, or even just a fan in general, you are doing yourself a criminal disservice not to educate yourself on older music.
I was born December of 87 but I live on music mostly from the 70s and earlier. It was just better and more interesting in those days.
Ok, let's start from the beginning and have a very brief overview of some key points
Lester Polsfus better known as Les Paul was a Jazz Guitarist and musical tinkerer. He was the inventor of Multi-Track Recording (MTR). But nobody really knew what to do with it yet.
Les Paul also developed an early prototype for an electric guitar, and then Gibson slapped his name on their flagship solid body electric. But that's a story for another comments section.
It was Phil Spektor who really began to harness MTR and the Wall Of Sound. In the early days, music was more like organized noise with snippets of ok listen to the string section. Ok now listen to the horns. Etc.
Mixing was accomplished almost entirely by the proximity of the instruments to the microphone.
Primitive MTR would utilize multiple recordings of smaller groups of instruments and then volume mixing engineers wearing labcoats would play back these separate recordings and adjust the knobs while re-recording the final mix down.
When it was introduced, MTR was almost a gimmick. But as I said, Phil Spektor pioneered the techniques that everybody would learn going forward.
If we jump to early Beach Boys music, Brian Wilson as band leader and producer started to use double tracked lead vocals almost immediately.
Whomever in the band was laying down the lead vocal (mostly Mike Love with lots of Brian) would have to give two great performances and then these would be mixed down to a single track
It makes the vocal wider thicker fuller fatter but, in the case of TBB, it also helps the lead vocal to cut through the harmonies as well.
Brian would study what Phil Spektor was doing. Mostly by hearing it on the radio or on records, but he was able to sit in on a couple of sessions and then later he would begin to hire Spektor's studio musicians known as The Wrecking Crew and he would talk with them to confirm his theories and fill in the gaps about how Spektor got those sounds.
And so Brian built off of and expanded on what he had learned. And it was Brian who pioneered the idea that the very studio itself was an instrument. He would very famously cancel recording sessions with everybody there ready and waiting because he felt that the energy and vibration of the room itself was off.
And even though all of the studios in the area during that time all pretty much had the same equipment, Brian would move between several studios even to record different sections within the same song. Most notably Western Recorders and Gold Star Studios.
Of course, he was beggining to lose his grip on reality and lose his sanity so, it would be difficult to figure out how much of the difference in studios was real versus imagined.
On another note, I personally have always maintained the belief that if Brian didn't have massive hearing damage to his right ear, and if he could perceive stereophonic sound, then he would have created true magic within the stereo field. Tricks and techniques that we can't imagine.
There's a hell of a lot more to it and I really haven't begun to scratch the surface. I hope I was able to at least give you a desire to go out and really dig in to some research
Although Brian Wilson admired and used Phil Spector's Wall of Sound, Sloop John B has much more separation of voices and instruments than his or Spector's Wall of Sound. Both of their typical Wall of Sound records "melds" sources a lot more than Sloop John B. If you want to hear a Wall of Sound by the Beach Boys that comes the closest to a total "Tone," check out 19569's I Can Hear Music, produced by Carl Wilson.
One of my favorite songs by them, and it's a remake of an old Phil Spector produced song by The Ronettes.
Brian Wilson was a genius and like many of that ilk had some serious mental issues, but his music is fantastic. Great reaction, as always. Thanks.
Melancholy. Yes. Never pegged it with that feeling. But most definitely. Very astute. Thanks.
And yes, the bass... a magnificent bass
Very interesting comments. 🙏.
I love The Beach Boys, especially this album!
Great reaction/review!
Phil Spector did amazing music w the wall of sound. The righteous brothers for instance. You probably know this already but some great music was made.
Beach are Heavyweight Division band...serious musicians...
my favorite beach boys piece, whatever
The one song on Pet Sounds that shouldn't be on there. It wasn't original -- only the brilliant production/arrangement was. Listen to PET SOUNDS (minus SLOOP JOHN B) and you will be blown away.
Nah, the production and arrangement totally justifies it's inclusion on the record
In one sense, this is absolutely correct. SJB was recorded only a few months before the rest of the album. But Brian Wilson's ridiculously astronomic growth as a producer in '65-'67 was utterly unreal, and even a few months removed, the relatively primitive SJB is completely out of step.
But Capitol records insisted an already proven 45-only hit be included for marketing. The compromise was placing it at the very end of side 1. I like to think of it as kind of dream-sequence in the way the songs flow. Doesn't fit, but still very enjoyable.