Stereo Pet Sounds

[Bicyclerider]

Based on the video I'd say this is from the American Band video - available on DVD.  They remixed several songs for this collection, not sure if this is one of them.

[Shane]

The stereo version is amazing (I had only remember hearing 'Wouldn't It Be Nice' in a very awful mono form (from the 20 good vibrations cd) for years so you can imagine my joy when I first heard that song in re-mastered stereo).

I can see the pros of both versions - my main pros for mono are the vocals in 'You Still believe In Me' and the centered form of 'Let's Go Away For Awhile'

On a related note:

Does anyone know where I can find this version of 'Wouldn't It Be Nice':

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L--cqAI3IUI

Brian's voice sounds WAY more clear than on the mono-stereo cd release.

That's the "wrong mix" version that was issued on a variety of compilations starting in the 1980s.  It is on the "Still Crusin" album, as well as the "Made In USA" compilation (if I remember correctly).  You can always tell this version by the bridge... Mike's part comes in single tracked for the first two words, then it becomes double tracked.

[Jay]

Stereo isn't necessarily "better", just....different. Sometimes it's great(Heroes and Villains), and other times it goes horribly wrong(Let The Wind Blow from the Hawthorne set). To tell the truth, I've never really listened to the stereo version of Pet Sounds. Maybe once, that's it. I will say that it took the stereo mix of WIBN for me to really realise(or even pay proper attention) just how incredibly beautiful the backing vocals are during the fade out.

This may be a little off topic, but since we're talking about Pet Sounds I'll ask it here anyway. Years ago on another Beach Boys message board, somebody told me that there was a version issued on cd where Brian rerecorded parts of certain vocals. My question is, where can I find this version? What's the easiest way to get it?

[Andrew G. Doe]

This may be a little off topic, but since we're talking about Pet Sounds I'll ask it here anyway. Years ago on another Beach Boys message board, somebody told me that there was a version issued on cd where Brian rerecorded parts of certain vocals. My question is, where can I find this version? What's the easiest way to get it?

Never heard of that before now. Suspect your informant was... misinformed.

[runnersdialzero]

A bit off topic, but hay - while we're on the subject of alternate Pet Sounds mixes, where can the "TOP, PLEASE" version of "Wouldn't It Be Nice?" be found? It sounds mildly amusing, I'd like to hear it.

[Andrew G. Doe]

A bit off topic, but hay - while we're on the subject of alternate Pet Sounds mixes, where can the "TOP, PLEASE" version of "Wouldn't It Be Nice?" be found? It sounds mildly amusing, I'd like to hear it.

Wrong song - "top, please" is embedded in, I think, "I'm Waiting For The Day", along with the camera dialog. It's isolated out as a hidden track. 

[TdHabib]

A bit off topic, but hay - while we're on the subject of alternate Pet Sounds mixes, where can the "TOP, PLEASE" version of "Wouldn't It Be Nice?" be found? It sounds mildly amusing, I'd like to hear it.

Wrong song - "top, please" is embedded in, I think, "I'm Waiting For The Day", along with the camera dialog. It's isolated out as a hidden track. 

I'm pretty sure "top, please" and the camera dialog is in "Here Today".

[MD]

"Top please" is in "Here Today"...

MD...

[runnersdialzero]

I knew about the talking in "Here Today", but I swore, more than a few people talked about Brian shouting, "TOP PLEASE," during some incorrect mix of "Wouldn't It Be Nice?"

[Jay]

I just just listening to the promo cd of the Pet Sounds box set, and I discovered a few interesting things:

1. Brian is surprisingly flat/off key during You Still Believe In Me. Particularly during the first verse on the words "every time we". He's slightly off key on the second verse, but it's harder  to spot.

2. On the alternate version of God Only Knows with the acapella tag, two voices can be heard speaking. One voice can be heard at 1:06-07 into the song, and a much louder voice can be heard from 1:08-1:11 into the song.

3.Hearing Caroline, No in the "correct" speed is REALLY weird. 

4. There is something I discovered in the stereo mix of the album version of I'm Waiting For The Day. During the line "You didn't think, that I could sit around and let him take you" somebody says the word "no" after the word "think". It happens twice. This is probably fairly well known. BUT, I found something else! During the words "take you" you can hear somebody go "Ha Ha". It only happens once. It's not a laughing type of "Ha  Ha"...it's actually on the beat of the music.

[Andrew G. Doe]

A bit off topic, but hay - while we're on the subject of alternate Pet Sounds mixes, where can the "TOP, PLEASE" version of "Wouldn't It Be Nice?" be found? It sounds mildly amusing, I'd like to hear it.

Wrong song - "top, please" is embedded in, I think, "I'm Waiting For The Day", along with the camera dialog. It's isolated out as a hidden track. 

I'm pretty sure "top, please" and the camera dialog is in "Here Today".

... which will teach me to actually play the CD instead of trusting to memory. Mea culpa.

[Jay]

A bit off topic, but hay - while we're on the subject of alternate Pet Sounds mixes, where can the "TOP, PLEASE" version of "Wouldn't It Be Nice?" be found? It sounds mildly amusing, I'd like to hear it.

Wrong song - "top, please" is embedded in, I think, "I'm Waiting For The Day", along with the camera dialog. It's isolated out as a hidden track. 

On what disc is it isolated on?

[Ebb and Flow]

The "Here Today" chatter is in the "Unreleased Backgrounds" track, found on the mono only release of the album.

Edit: It's also at the very end of the "Here Today" backing track on Disc 2 of "The Pet Sounds Sessions"

[Jay]

The "Here Today" chatter is in the "Unreleased Backgrounds" track, found on the mono only release of the album.

Edit: It's also at the very end of the "Here Today" backing track on Disc 2 of "The Pet Sounds Sessions"

Thanks! I'll have to take a listen to it.

[rab2591]

The stereo version is amazing (I had only remember hearing 'Wouldn't It Be Nice' in a very awful mono form (from the 20 good vibrations cd) for years so you can imagine my joy when I first heard that song in re-mastered stereo).

I can see the pros of both versions - my main pros for mono are the vocals in 'You Still believe In Me' and the centered form of 'Let's Go Away For Awhile'

On a related note:

Does anyone know where I can find this version of 'Wouldn't It Be Nice':

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L--cqAI3IUI

Brian's voice sounds WAY more clear than on the mono-stereo cd release.

That's the "wrong mix" version that was issued on a variety of compilations starting in the 1980s.  It is on the "Still Crusin" album, as well as the "Made In USA" compilation (if I remember correctly).  You can always tell this version by the bridge... Mike's part comes in single tracked for the first two words, then it becomes double tracked.

Thank you soooooo much! I love mostly every version I've heard, but I especially love the clarity of Brian's voice on this one.

[Bill Ed]

A couple of folks have made reference to Brian Wilson's off-key vocals on You Still Believe in Me. I am reminded of a story told by Chuck Britz. Apparently he took it upon himself to stop a take which, as it stood, sounded awful to him. Brian explained that he needed to wait for the completed recording to hear how what he was doing actually worked. Britz said that after hearing the finished "product" he never questioned Brian's musical judgment again.

Listen to the completed version of You Still Believe in Me, either mono or stereo, and tell me it doesn't "work."

On balance, I much prefer the stereo version of Pet Sounds to the mono version. But I am surprised that a few people have praised the stereo mix for what I view are its shortcomings. For example, I missed Mike Love's vocal on Wouldn't It Be Nice and I'm glad it's been restored. I'm actually shocked that anyone would prefer the tag on the stereo version of God Only Knows to the original. Carl's vocal at the beginning of the tag sounds like a first run through to me. I much prefer Brian's.

By the way, I think the stereo mix of Let the Wind Blow is remarkable. I feel as if I've finally really heard the song. In fact, it would be great to hear the whole album in stereo.

[JaredLekites]

I enjoy both mixes very much but I find the mono mix is so much more powerful both dynamically and emotionally.

The mono mix is Brian's Mona Lisa.
The stereo mix is Mona Lisa in 3D.

[DSamore]

The stereo version has stripped of it the "noise" that comes in the beginning of "Wouldn't It Be Nice." Also, the very first snare and low tom hit in unison to commence the song after the intro sounds so distorted in the mono. In the stereo version it sounds so crisp and nice.

Superior on that end, for sure. I just wanted to draw attention to that.

[Mr. Cohen]

Brian is surprisingly flat/off key during You Still Believe In Me. Particularly during the first verse on the words "every time we". He's slightly off key on the second verse, but it's harder  to spot.

I think Brian went with that take because it gives the song a sense of uncertainty. With his ears, there is no way he didn't notice that it was off-key. What the vocal helps to communicate is his doubts about the himself and the girl he's singing to. A wonderfully unsettling effect to my ears.

Also, I'm a fan of the stereo mix.  The space given to the different parts reveals what a robust garden of melody Pet Sounds is. "Caroline No" in stereo is a revelation in my mind.  Just to hear all of those parts dancing around in each in the fade, and that moody woodblock echoing throughout - wow. Have to say, though, that I'm not a fan of how Brian sped up "Caroline No". Damn Murry with his suggestions. His only suggestion should have been to tell Brian to surge more on the woodblock.  As it is, I wouldn't call the sped up version ruined. I just think it detracts from a masterpiece.

And how about that bridge in the stereo take of "I Know There's An Answer"? What a great guitar sound!

[Jay]

Brian is surprisingly flat/off key during You Still Believe In Me. Particularly during the first verse on the words "every time we". He's slightly off key on the second verse, but it's harder  to spot.

I think Brian went with that take because it gives the song a sense of uncertainty. With his ears, there is no way he didn't notice that it was off-key. What the vocal helps to communicate is his doubts about the himself and the girl he's singing to. A wonderfully unsettling effect to my ears.

I never thought about it in that way. But it makes a lot of sense now. 

[Chris Brown]

Brian is surprisingly flat/off key during You Still Believe In Me. Particularly during the first verse on the words "every time we". He's slightly off key on the second verse, but it's harder  to spot.

I think Brian went with that take because it gives the song a sense of uncertainty. With his ears, there is no way he didn't notice that it was off-key. What the vocal helps to communicate is his doubts about the himself and the girl he's singing to. A wonderfully unsettling effect to my ears.

I never thought about it in that way. But it makes a lot of sense now. 

An interesting take, for sure...I really find the idea of Brian intentionally singing off key to be a little hard to swallow though.  I've always thought that Brian didn't worry about the first vocal being off key because he knew that double tracking magically takes away a lot of those imperfections, and that once he laid down the double, it would sound just fine.  He never intended that solo vocal to be heard by itself.

[Andrew G. Doe]

Everyone's missing an important point: Brian never intended for us to hear that solo vocal. The only reason there's not a doubled stereo vocal is because he added the 2nd vocal track during mixdown, I suspect because he belatedly realised the single vocal was sub-par.

[rab2591]

It sounds off key in the vocals-only, but is it really? Because it sounds perfect with the backing track....

[summerinparadise.flac]

if im listening on headphones i usually use the stereo but I rarely listen to it on headphones. Mono on vinyl cannot be beat.

[Dove Nested Towers]

Everyone's missing an important point: Brian never intended for us to hear that solo vocal. The only reason there's not a doubled stereo vocal is because he added the 2nd vocal track during mixdown, I suspect because he belatedly realised the single vocal was sub-par.

That sounds plausible. To my ears, there are 2 points in the vocal that are clunkers when isolated, one worse than the other (in the 2nd verse). The theory about a vulnerable overall effect being created by purposeful imperfection is quite interesting, but at the end of the day I don't buy it in this case, even though there is ample evidence that "flaws" of various kinds were tolerated if he heard, as no one else often could, something in them that would enhance the intended atmosphere of the track.