{"id":38415,"date":"2005-06-28T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2005-06-28T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/reviews\/the-pet-sounds-sessions\/"},"modified":"2005-06-28T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2005-06-28T00:00:00","slug":"the-pet-sounds-sessions","status":"publish","type":"review","link":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/reviews\/the-pet-sounds-sessions\/","title":{"rendered":"The Pet Sounds Sessions"},"content":{"rendered":"

My love for
\nPet Sounds<\/i>
\nhas been established<\/a>, and it has
\ntaken its rightful place in the list of Jeff’s favorite albums.
\nNow, when presented an album that is so incredibly well produced,
\nthe natural reaction is, “How did he\/she do this?” This question
\ncertainly arose after I gave
\nPet Sounds<\/i> a spin or two. Luckily, Capitol Records, through
\nThe Pet Sounds Sessions<\/i>, has provided us with an answer.<\/p>\n

\nThe Pet Sounds Sessions<\/i> consists of four discs, with a
\ntreasure trove of material to be found on each. Also included are
\nsome stellar liner notes, as well as a small book, titled
\nThe Making of Pet Sounds<\/i>. It is apparent from the first time
\nyou lift the lid of the box off that great care and thought went
\ninto the creation of this set.<\/p>\n

Disc 1 is broken up roughly in half. The first 13 tracks are the
\nstereo mixes of the actual
\nPet Sounds<\/i> tracks. This was the first time anyone had heard
\nthis album in stereo, and it certainly is an experience all in
\nitself. If the “wall of sound” approach found on the mono mix of
\nPet Sounds<\/i> bothered you at all, this disc is for you. The
\nstereo mix allows for a more clear listening of the album, the
\ninstrumentation is easier to pick out. However, for the purist,
\nPet Sounds<\/i> was never supposed to be heard in stereo, so your
\nopinion may depend on how much you care about the original
\nalbum.<\/p>\n

The rest of Disc 1 and Disc 2 is the “meat” of the set. Here one
\ncan find session highlights, backing tracks san vocals and
\nunreleased tracks, all in wonderful stereo. This was a barrel of
\nfun to listen to; the session highlights provide context for the
\nbacking tracks that follow. To listen to Wilson and Co. run through
\nearly versions of “Wouldn’t It Be Nice,” or “I Know There’s An
\nAnswer,” is exciting as well as revealing. In fact, my only gripe
\nis that I wanted to hear more of the session highlights. The
\nbiggest hits get about 7-8 minutes, while some tracks such as
\n“Sloop John B” get roughly a minute. An explanation is provided in
\nthe liner notes, and it makes sense, but I get the feeling this box
\nset could have been even bigger and better. However, that is a
\nsmall matter.<\/p>\n

Disc 3 is really what sold me on buying this set. The first 11
\nsongs are the final vocal tracks heard on
\nPet Sounds<\/i>. To be able to hear The Beach Boys sing
\nPet Sounds<\/i> essentially in an a capella format is just
\nbreathtaking. One can pick out little bits that you might not hear
\non the actual tracks themselves. My favorite “discovery” is at the
\nend of “Wouldn’t It Be Nice,” when Brian and Carl (I think) drop
\nthe pitch of their harmonies ever so slightly. It makes for a
\ngorgeous-sounding vocal. I’ve listened to these tracks over and
\nover again, and each time I get chills down my spine. The rest of
\nDisc 3 proceeds to present
\nPet Sounds<\/i> in an alternate manner. For example, instead of
\nBrian singing “Sloop John B,” we hear Carl. “God Only Knows” has an
\nadded a capella tag, featuring all the Beach Boys as well as what
\nis gathered to be everyone who was in the studio at that time.
\nPersonally I think that should have made the final cut, but I can
\nlive. Other songs have different vocalists as well, lyrics
\nreversed, and added solos. This particular material is interesting
\nto a degree, but the other two discs are more so.<\/p>\n

Disc 4 is the original
\nPet Sounds<\/i>, in its mono mix. It’s a wonderful bookend to the
\noverall set; you’ve heard how the album was made, and to close
\neverything out there it is presented again in final, unfettered
\nform. So now, having spent the weekend listening to this collection
\nover and over again, is it worth it for everyone to buy? The answer
\nis no — even the casual Beach Boys fan would most likely find this
\nset dull. However, if you love
\nPet Sounds<\/i>, or have an appreciation and desire to see how a
\nrecord of
\nPet Sounds<\/i>‘ caliber was recorded, by all means order this
\nset now.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":27083,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[7136],"rating":[5646],"class_list":["post-38415","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-the-beach-boys","rating-rating-a"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/38415","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38415"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/38415\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27083"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38415"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=38415"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=38415"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}