60 Years Later: Brian Wilson & The Beach Boys Craft Timeless Masterpiece

Among his many other distinctions as a songwriter and recording artist, Brian Wilson is responsible for not just one, but two, of the most famous albums in rock and roll history, Pet Sounds and Smile. 

With the release of the former in 1966, which originally met with a tepid critical and commercial response in America, but accolades all around in Great Britain, the titular leader and artistic mastermind behind the Beach Boys mapped a marked digression from the group’s theretofore tremendously popular string of teenage/car/surf anthems.

In moving far beyond rewrites of Chuck Berry into sophisticated production and arrangement, Wilson’s landmark artistic achievement has been widely recognized as such in the sixty-year interim since its release and has actually gained further prestige as an act of courageous creativity: his decision to quit touring is only the most salient aspect of the somewhat tumultuous circumstances at that time. 

Like so many great albums, the full array of Pet Sounds (released 5/16/66) distinctions is grounded in a select few truly exceptional tunes. Not coincidentally, those numbers were released as singles, beginning with “Caroline, No”–oddly issued under Wilson’s name alone–as well as “Wouldn’t It Be Nice, ” backed with “God Only Knows.” 

The reworking of the Bahamian folk song “Sloop John B” hardly denies how prolific a composer Brian had become. Instead, the track depicts how purposeful a recording artist he was: at the dramatic finish of a tune once covered by the Kingston Trio, the dropout of the instrumental backing only accentuates the deeply echoed vocal intonation of the line ‘…this is the worst trip I’ve ever been on…’ 

That line alone may say as much about the eldest Wilson sibling’s state of being at the time as the candid “I Just Wasn’t Made For These Times.” Not to disparage Tony Asher’s work as lyricist for songs like “You Still Believe In Me,” but while his words condense those conflicts as gracefully as they contour to the arrangements, the most eloquent statements arise from purely instrumental passages. 

Likewise, if the group’s vocals themselves seem submerged in the lush instrumentation, for instance, during “Don’t Talk (Put Your Head On My Shoulder,” it’s more to the point to observe their trademark intricate harmonies stand as a foundational template for the orchestrations surrounding them. 

The ornate arrangements including strings, exotic instruments such as the theremin (to make a prominent reappearance on the “Good Vibrations” single of later this same year), and the usage of multiple session players, in addition to the core Beach Boys personnel, were only the most tangible departure in play during the lengthy studio sessions. 

“Let’s Go Away for Awhile” is, with the title track, one of two instrumentals among the thirteen cuts. But the notion implicit in the song’s title links it to “I’m Waiting For The Day” and “I Know There’s An Answer,” directly reflecting the emotional undercurrents of the record, mirrored by Brian Wilson’s ambitious concepts and their elaborate execution. 

As such, this record set the stage for the next year’s Smile, which eventually became available in simplified form as Smiley Smile and ultimately a comprehensive box set. Its counterpart is The Pet Sounds Sessions of 1997, which includes a brand-new stereo mix of the album, completed under the author’s personal supervision, and is indicative of his abiding pride in this work. 

Wilson even toured in the early 2000s with the album as the focal point of the concerts and while such self-validation might be precious and/or self-serving coming from any other artist, in this case it is not only certification of the timeless quality of the music, but further validation of Brian’s esteem as an artist.