Pet Sounds Review

[Shane]

I was surfing the net the other night, and I came across a really neat site that has reviews for...well, basically every important album that came out in the 60's and 70s.  Its by a guy named George Stargostin.  He is rather cynical, and apparently doesn't particularly worship any album, regardless of status.  But what he has to say is interesting, regardless of whether you agree with him or not.  I found these insights on Pet Sounds particularly intriguing:

"What has particularly struck me these last few days as I have been relistening to PS is how, well, odd it sounds. There really is no other record like it, and maybe there can never be. Imagine, I dunno, a wannabe architect, who, having never studied architecture properly, has suddenly been commissioned to design a brand new building, and being guided only by his vision (both artistic and literal - simply by gazing at all kinds of nearby examples) and a certain inborn genius, constructs... something. It's a structure you ain't never seen before, made of materials you never thought could belong together, always reminding you of something that you can't put your finger on nonetheless, and it's in constant danger of collapsing - but somehow never does. That's Pet Sounds."


I think that's a pretty fascinating way of looking at it.  At any rate, you can read the complete Pet Sounds review, and a billion others, at this link:

http://starling.rinet.ru/music/indexb.htm

[TonyW]

It sounds like Pet Sounds = The Fountainhead

[Pretty Funky]

Can someone refresh my memory on why PS was recorded in mono? I must have read a reason in the last 30 years of listening to it but do you think I can think of it? 

[Daniel S.]

Are you an asshole or something?

[Chris Brown]

Can someone refresh my memory on why PS was recorded in mono? I must have read a reason in the last 30 years of listening to it but do you think I can think of it? 

Like Spector, Brian preferred mono because it prevented the mix from being tampered with by listeners.  Once the sounds are locked into the mono mix, you can't do a whole lot to change how they sound.  The listener hears exactly what you wanted them to hear.

Of course the fact that Brian was deaf in one ear probably didn't have him itching to mix in stereo.

[♩♬🐸 Billy C ♯♫♩🐇]

I personally prefer it in stereo....except "I'm Waiting for the Day" which IMHO actually sounds thinner than in mono.

[Shane]

Going the mono route with respect to recording, in my opinion, was also a way of dealing with the fact that a good stereo mix really couldn't be prepared once Brian got into more complex productions.  This was due to the way he bounced things around from tape to tape.  In other words, with only 3 or 4 track machines, the only things that could be panned independently were the last couple sets of overdubs.  You'd be left with the majority of the instrumentation stuck in mono.  8-track machines were available and used for the Pet Sounds album, but once again, you've got all the instrumentation on a single solitary mono track, and 6 or 7 tracks of various vocal overdubs as the only things that could be panned.

That's the reason why making real stereo remixes of 1960's Beach Boys tunes requires synchronizing several different tapes together... so that more things can be separated.  Otherwise you get a very lopsided-sounding mix.  Check out the SOT "stereo" versions of the Today and Summer Days/Summer Nights albums to get an idea of the best stereo mix that could be achieved without synchronizing several tapes together.  It's easier to do with digital editing software, but it's a very difficult task with 1966 technology.

[Chris Brown]

I personally prefer it in stereo....except "I'm Waiting for the Day" which IMHO actually sounds thinner than in mono.

Yeah I go back and forth...I like the mono just because I know I'm hearing exactly what Brian wanted me to hear.  Plus I think the mono has more "kick" to it.

On the other hand, for sheer sonic quality, I enjoy the stereo quite a bit.  On the more heavily orchestrated songs, it is cool to be able to hear things that are completely buried in the mono mixes.  It's a cleaner sound, which is great to have when the source material is so incredible.

I haven't compared both versions recently, but as I recall "I'm Waiting for the Day" does sound a bit better in mono, just because I think it packs more of a punch that way.  Those big drum sounds are key to that song, and in the stereo version they lose some of their power.

You make good points Shane...the technology definitely was a big factor as well.  I wonder if Brian would have still used mono if he had access to modern recording technology?

[bossaroo]

Shane-
that guy's review and the references to architecture remind me of this quote by steel guitarist Susan Alcorn about Thelonious Monk:

"When I think of Monk's music, I think of mythic buildings -- elegant, gritty, and wise structures, buildings steeped in the past, but imbued with a strange modernity; you look at these structures so solid, but so delicately balanced that you are amazed that they don't just fall over. And if you went inside, you would find an inner logic that had for so long evaded you. And if you looked out the windows, you would see the rest of the world as oddly askew."

[Daniel S.]

I don't like the stereo mix because it sounds really sterile and processed. It loses the warmth and texture. You also lose the Wall of Sound that Brian was going for. Pet Sounds is supposed to sound like a Righteous Brothers record.

[Alex]

Stereo all the way. It's clear sounding, you can make out all of the different instruments better than in mono. The french horn in the mono mix of God Only Knows is barely audible. The mono Pet Sounds is just too muddy sounding for me. The harmonies also sound a lot "airier" in stereo. Its absolutely beautiful. I'm still waiting on the rest of Today and Summer Days to be made into stereo and hoping for a stereo remix of Smiley Smile and WIld Honey. Brian himself has said that the stereo versions of Beach Boys tracks are what he wants out there today. Mono mixing is extremely archaic; like cassette tapes, vinyl, shellac 78's, wax cylinders, and soon to be CDs.

[Bicyclerider]

While I love the idea of PS in mono, I also prefer the stereo mix - besides correcting obvious mixing errors (like conversations left in the mix, coughing, etc) the instrumentation can really be appreciated.  I hear all the instruments in stereo and mix it back to mono in my brain!

The problem isn't that the mono mix is in mono (I love Spector's mono productions), it's that the mixes aren't very good - Brian and others have said that the mixes were rushed, and someone (in the PS box set booklet, can't remember who) couldn't believe after spending all that time on the instrumental tracks and vocals that Brian would do a quick sloppy mix that obscured much of what he had spent hours and hours on getting just right.

[Pretty Funky]

Are you an furo do burro or something?

Si!

BBs general knowledge give me a B , Technical and Engineering F-.
Will read the PS book someday but to much detail makes my head spin.

[Shane]

"The problem isn't that the mono mix is in mono (I love Spector's mono productions), it's that the mixes aren't very good - Brian and others have said that the mixes were rushed, and someone (in the PS box set booklet, can't remember who) couldn't believe after spending all that time on the instrumental tracks and vocals that Brian would do a quick sloppy mix that obscured much of what he had spent hours and hours on getting just right."


And this, folks, is the beginnings of the problem that would plague Brian's work for the next 20 years.  He could write brilliant music, but then eventually end up leaving things unfinished and half-baked.

[DonnaK]

I prefer it in stereo, but I can listen to that album over and over, upside down, inside out. I've loved it since it first came out. I really love the sessions with just the instumentals and then again, I love just the vocals!! I will never tire of Pet Sounds til the day I die. My fav of all time. Do you get the feeling that I love the album??

[DonnyL]

another reason for brian mixing to mono was that stereo was really considered somewhat of a "gimmick" by many engineers at the time, and most folks focused on mono (for AM radio) until around '68 or so.

[Dr. Tim]

I'm with the stereo fans, because I love hearing the detail and everything spread out, though of course I respect those who prefer the mono, which is what I grew up hearing.  Now if I wanted to poison all your minds I could do a listing of all the peculiar tape splices in the mono mixes, which if anything are even more audible on the most recent remastering.  You can hear where the splicing tape lifts the master tape off the playblack head for a millisecond and you get a phase shift.  The two most obvious examples are the start of the Mike-sung bridge to "Wouldn't It Be Nice" and where "God Only Knows" breaks down to Brian's double-tracked refrain before the big coda/fadeout.

[pixletwin]

I prefer the stereo recording as well, but some of the tracks lose their punch in it. But I do prefer the mono version of "You Still Believe In Me"... I just like the double tracked sound of Brian's voice in the mono.

[Aegir]

The only version of Pet Sounds I ever listen to is a mono needledrop from the Carl and the Passions/Pet Sounds bundle.