Wild Honey is not duophonic in the manner of Today.  It is more of the bass on one side/treble on the other variety and it is indeed awful sounding.

I don't remember hearing the Surfin' Safari 45 on the radio, but I do remember the Surfin' USA 45.  I didn't really take notice until summer 1963 with the Little Deuce Coup 45 (in the DC area, I seem to recall this one getting a lot more play than Surfer Girl). After that they were real big in my area.

I bought the Wouldn't It Be Nice 45 in summer 1966, so I was familiar with the singles from the album (although I don't remember ever hearing Caroline No on the radio). Funny, My girlfriend got a free promo copy of Pet Sounds at a fall 1966 high school dance contest too!  I first heard the whole album in the fall of 1967.  I had just turned 13.  Didn't particularly like it or hate it.  I liked Wild Honey and Friends, then I went off the Beach Boys for a while.  When I heard the Add Some Music 45 on the radio, I got back into them, and rediscovered Pet Sounds.

From my own experience, the low point in their career was roughly mid 1969 to mid 1971, when you couldn't even look at their records in the record store without hipper than thou derision from the staff.  It was so uncool to like them it wasn't funny.  I heard "Breakaway" only a couple of times on a car radio and thought at first it was the Four Seasons!  Never once heard "Cottonfields".   The "Add Some Music" 45 got a little airplay probably due to the promo push by WB but died quickly.  I did see copies in the stores though. I bought "Sunflower" in early 1971 and I might as well have been buying the new Andy Williams album from the looks on their faces. It wasn't until they played the May Day rally in DC in 1971 that I heard anything positive about them.  "Long Promised Road" was played a little on the underground stations in my area when it was a 45 prior to the lp- I liked it a lot and couldn't wait for the lp which I bought first day of release- my journal says Aug 31, 1971.  I saw them 11/7/71 at Georgetown University and it was indeed an amazing show (no opening act and Jack Reiley came out beforehand to ask that the crowd not call out oldies until the very end.  Didn't stop one very high guy from yelling out "Don't Back Down" throughout, though) .  I clipped out the ad in the Washington Post and kept it for years (no longer have it).  It had a photo of their faces and an obvious Jack Reiley  declaration "They've changed more than you!" It got better after that, but it took a while and a lot of touring- I saw them five times in 1972 alone.

I saw the Beach Boys 4 times from September-December 2002 and the only un released song I heard was "The River" .

I have this dvd.  There is nothing in it you don't already know, but there is a cool peek over the fence showing the house Dennis and the Family shared for a while.  The bonus feature is a short visit to the marina slip where Dennis stepped on a rainbow, but the host states falsely that Dennis still owned a boat at the time of his demise.  There are no new photos or interviews which shed any light on Dennis' involvement.  The Manson tapes played on the soundtrack, however, are in stereo, which I've never heard before.

Although pretty rare (I found a VG stock copy for $3 not long ago)  I would say the Surf's Up 45 is harder to find.

The most noticeable thing on first hearing the mono promo of ASM is the absence of strings.  Nice strong bass and acoustic guitars all the way through.

I have a stock of "Tears In the Morning" 45 and it's a stereo version which matches the promo (and album).  I have both releases of "Long Promised Road" and I'll check the beginnings.  I got a stock copy of "Mess/Cuddle" when it was first released only because my Beach Boys superfan friend worked for a local record store and made them order it.  Cuddle Up is a different mix- I like it better.

I grew up on the east coast, and my first memory of the Beach Boys is hearing the Surfin USA 45.  I don't remember Surfin Safari on the radio at all.  By the summer of 1963 I remember Little Deuce Coupe getting more airplay than Surfer Girl- and I thought they were singing "Little Loose Goose" through my little radio.  I was only casually attentive to the band at that time since I didn't buy that many 45's then but I listened to the radio constantly, so my memory of most of the chart records from those days is vivid.  I liked Be True To Your School and really liked Little Saint Nick.  By Fun Fun Fun I was more into the Beatles, but I Get Around was a monster hit and everyone liked that one.  The summer of '64 was the best- great new tunes pouring out of the radio daily. The first Beach Boys 45 I actually bought was California Girls- I couldn't get enough of that one.  In contrast to Jon above, I probably heard and saw the 1965 albums more than the 1964's.  Teenage girls had portable players by then and I could request stuff-  they all had records and were happy to play them for you (and dance a little which was a nice extra). I liked the Little Girl I once Knew single but it disappeared too fast- I never knew why.  Barbara Ann was huge in my 6th grade class-  it was one all the boys liked.  Sloop John B was a bit of a letdown for me- I had a version of it by Jimmy Rodgers from 1959 so it didn't have any novelty.  The Pet Sounds album was a bit mysterious  to me-  I heard things about it-  there was some kind of buzz around that I paid little attention to.  I bought the Wouldn't It Be Nice single and played the hell out of it- but I still didn't buy the album.  I actually didn't hear the whole thing 'till the fall of 1967 when my first girlfriend (who had got hers at a school dance as a giveaway) played it for me.  I liked it a lot.  I read a lot about Smile in the teen magazines and waited for Heroes and Villains as impatiently as I waited for Sgt Pepper- and I still play the hell out of that original 45 today.

I was at the June '83 Washington DC show and was amazed how animated Brian was- he was playing piano forcefully, grabbing tambourines and walking out front to harmonize, generally showing a lot of energy in his newly slimmed down state.  Dennis played drums the for almost the whole show, and during one encore number grabbed Brian and started waltzing around the stage with him, the whole band was smiling. They entered the stadium each in a classic car which drove around the edge of the field with waving band members.  They were doing tie in concerts with baseball and soccer games that tour, and the "Tank McNamara" comic strip featured a spoof on a baseball game going into the 15th inning, and the announcer broadcasting the new outfield were the Wilson Brothers.  I remember that as one of their better shows in the '80's.

I like the Hi-Lo's better- their harmonies are more Beach Boys sounding.

Get the green label Capitol reissue from 1982.  It's about as good as this album is gonna sound without a full remix.  The original stereo copies are bass/treble rechannelled and hard to listen to.  The Reprise twofer issue in the '70's used the same fake stereo master, IIRC.

The Lennon quote originally (as far back as I can trace it) comes from the "Beatles 1965 Christmas Extra" a magazine size publication put out in '65 and '66 by the Beatles Monthly which had an annual roundup of Beatle news and a few quotes and color photos not otherwise published during the year.  The 1966 issue has comments about Pet Sounds.