An essential album.



Pet Sounds by The Beach Boys

Someone once told me that Pet Sounds was the first album The Beach Boys produced after experimenting with drugs. If this "fact" is indeed true, I would recommend that every band dabble in illegal substances for a short amount of time. However, that is not to say that any band will likely come anywhere near as close to creating an album that matches the resplendent Pet Sounds.

Although 1966's Pet Sounds may seem buoyantly charming due to its melodious tunes, there is an underlying despondency that pervades every poppy note of this endlessly listenable album. It deftly deals with such nostalgic motifs as individualism, maturation and young (and often fleeting) love, while insecurely doubting itself all along the way. Brian Wilson and the other creative creators of this evocative masterwork really have nothing to worry about or doubt, however, since Pet Sounds has deservedly become a landmark of popular music.

In one of the album's many highlights, a self conscious character hypothesizes that he "just wasn't made for this time". That lyric could easily be extended to this album since it may never find a distinct "time" because it is timeless. Within the same song, Brian Wilson sings, "Sometimes I feel very sad/Can't find nothin' I can put my heart and soul into"; however, with the production and arrival of this album, he contradicts himself. He delivers an album that is full of his (and every sensitive adolescent's) heart and soul, and he undoubtedly succeeds.