BEACH BOYS' PET SOUNDS ENTRY

Before the Pet Sounds album was recorded the Beach Boys sound would be described as mainstream early pop. The Beach Boys were creating songs about the everyday life the California beach goers could truly relate to. Creating songs like Surfing, that really got them noticed on the local beach scene and earned them their 1st record deal with Capitol Records. Followed by the single 409, their 1st single released on Capitol Records The Beach Boys popularity began to rise. Brian Wilson was the Beach Boys' writer, arranger and producer. He is responsible for molding and grooming the creative sound of the group. Growing up with the influences of 4 part harmony based groups really helped him give the Beach Boys a distinct sound at that time. Being a huge fan of harmonic counterpoint and contrast texture he used those methods to combine different melodic lines together.

 Some of Brian Wilson's influences when writing the Beach Boys' Pet Sounds album was due in part to the impact The Beatles had when they come onto the music scene in the US and the influence that had at Capitol Records. After feeling the intense pressure of writing, arranging and producing all the songs for the group, Brian took some years off from touring and solely worked in the studio. That fueled his creativity and after The Beatles released their Rubber Soul album his creativity manifested itself in the Pet Sounds album. Caroline No, being the 1st single released from the album was a very deep song lyrically that Brian wrote. The song Good Vibrations, was a song that Brian spend a lot of time and money on grooming it into the "perfect" track from an engineering standpoint. He chose that track to experiment with a new type electric synthesizer that had mainly been used in horror films. He used the instrument to mold the chorus of the track. Having a real creative ear and vision for what he wanted for the song he started recording in multiple studios and taking certain elements from those recording then began cutting and pasting the tapes from different sessions to make a truly amazing song.

  The album Pet Sounds, really left an impression on me both musically and creatively. Learning the background story of the album was just as remarkable as listening to the album. It gave me a new found respect for Brian Wilson and The Beach Boys.