On Brian Wilson´s Pet Sounds 50th Anniversary

On Brian Wilson´s Pet Sounds 50^th Anniversary

By: Ghost Writer

"Without Pet Sounds, Sgt. Pepper never would have happened....Pepper was an attempt to equal Pet Sounds."

George Martin

Who would said that it all started with a panic attack, and also released would end that way, originally released in May, 1966, Pet Sounds is for me the true first Brian Wilson solo record (the second one being The Beach Boys Love You), Brian deeply inspired by The Beatles' Rubber Soul (inspired itself by Bob Dylan) jumping into the void and finally declaring not only his independence but war on the British invasion, especially The Beatles, who like Wilson, were looking at LPs as whole art concepts, just like in contemporary classic music,  breaking totally from the music commercial tradition of singles, for those few listeners who initially bough Pet Sounds it came as a strong blow to the head, Wilson was unleashing a pop music revolution like none heard before hated at first by the American fun loving audiences, but quickly embraced in the UK and hailed as a musical masterpiece, with an obvious big influence on psychedelia, prog rock, and modern rock.

Brian Wilson just 23 at the time, was an unparalleled pioneer in  the usage of the recording studio as another instrument, using and developing advanced recording techniques while taking advantage of state of the art studio technology, knowing that Pet Sounds would become a perfect pic of a moment, Wilson realized that Pet Sounds was not going to be easily recreated in the live environment he hated so much, Wilson was also put aside his band, who were on tour at time, and opted for the use of  a cast of highly skilled and open minded studio musicians, known as the Wrecking Crew, for whom Wilson was considered to be making the most groundbreaking music of its time, giving songs a cyclic nature, filtering Wagner through Wilson's Phil Spector influence, taking cues from George Gershwin, Burt Bacharach, classical instrumentation and Burroughsian cut and paste techniques that rivaled the loop discoveries by the Beatles, it was also a step forward for Wilson, lyrically speaking, as he recruited also jingle writer Tony Asher in order to get better and deeper lyrics.

Pet Sounds was a shock to me when I first discovered that little yellow and green record on the discount bin (cellophane flowers of yellow and green, towering over my head, said John Lennon), I guess here in Mexico it wasn't also a popular record, people here obviously preferred the Beach Boys surf records, I was a fan of the Beach Boys but nothing prepared me for the sound of this record, taking the beach concept from previous "surf" records into something metaphysical and spiritual, it wasn’t about sun ad surfing in the beach, but about nostalgic shadows and surfing over your fears, it was Wilson's great mature record and an attempt to grow from teenage stars into serious modern musician for Wilson, totally misunderstood at the time and emotionally devastated, Pet Sounds might have been a complete disaster when released but time confirmed its status as one of the greatest rock records in history, Pet Sounds is a permanent member if my top favorite records along with the first Velvet Underground record with Nico and Never Mind the Bollocks... by the Sex Pistols, for a long time it became a part of my holy trinity of records, the nervous breakdown Wilson suffered as consequence of the stressing recording sessions and the resistance he found from his band was another big history concerning Pet Sounds about how the genius of Wilson was put in doubt by his group, the record company and his audience who demanded more hits, it was a sad, cloudy start, in a way it was a technical failure, the death of something, an era ending, a new one been born along with Wilson landmark work as a musician, but a trip, that left him exhausted mentally, emotionally and physically.

In the end, Wilson had the las laugh, with Pet Sounds considered as one of the top rock n roll records of all time, perhaps only rivaled by The Beatles' Sgt. Pepper, as George Martin, the fifth Beatle said, Sgt. Pepper was an attempt to equal Pet Sounds, Wilson proved he was right from the beginning, and by doing that, he changed the course of music forever, nothing remained the same after those teenage symphonies to god...not even Brian...