Pet Sounds album sequence Question??

[Dunderhead]

Yeah, I remember buying this album when I was 16 and driving around listening to it. Back then something like Wouldn't It Be Nice or God Only Knows really resonated with me the strongest.
Since then I've sort of been "collecting" Pet Sounds tracks. I remember being obsessed with "That's Not Me" when I first went away to college.
Then there was my first real torrid love affair, the one that I just couldn't seem to get to work out no matter how hard I tried, and I'll always be haunted by that one "Don't Talk" night.
After that I started picking up more on "Here Today" and "Caroline No".
Since I've become estranged from friends, grown more cynical and lonely, and lost my youthful optimism and idealism, it's been "I Know There's an Answer" and "I Just Wasn't Made For These Times" that have really spoken to me. I've really lived my life along with Pet Sounds, and it's always been my go to soundtrack, it's just, well, perfect.

I swear, in "I Just Wasn't Made For These Times", when the chorus comes around a second time, it's like real magic. It's like by accident Brian had stumbled on some alchemical spell and just happened to capture it on tape. In those few seconds it's a glimpse of heaven.

Really Pet Sounds is just where it's at. I wouldn't even bother comparing it to other rock albums, because it's really not one. I'm always really surprised at how little percussion is, how long passages go by without a trap kit banging out time, how there seems to be just as much timpani and kettle drum as there is snare or tom.
The musical palate is just huge and Brian never tires of being inventive. He throws in everything he could get his hands on, and he makes it work, he is never content to put anything down that you could hear somewhere else. When he puts in strings he isn't trying to do classical, when he puts in harmonica he isn't trying to do folk, he puts everything together and has them all work together in a way that only he could envision, as a fully integrated pop-orchestra. It's some seriously impressive stuff.

I wouldn't even want to spoil it by changing anything. It is what it is, and that's why I love it.

[Don_Zabu]

hypehat, reading your interpretation gave me an idea: That's Not Me and Here Today aren't from the point of view of our protagonist, they're from the point of view of a friend of his, perhaps older, who's gone through the same troubles our protagonist is going through and wants to help him get through it, sorrowful for him in a worldly sort of way.

[rab2591]

Yeah, I remember buying this album when I was 16 and driving around listening to it. Back then something like Wouldn't It Be Nice or God Only Knows really resonated with me the strongest.
Since then I've sort of been "collecting" Pet Sounds tracks. I remember being obsessed with "That's Not Me" when I first went away to college.
Then there was my first real torrid love affair, the one that I just couldn't seem to get to work out no matter how hard I tried, and I'll always be haunted by that one "Don't Talk" night.
After that I started picking up more on "Here Today" and "Caroline No".
Since I've become estranged from friends, grown more cynical and lonely, and lost my youthful optimism and idealism, it's been "I Know There's an Answer" and "I Just Wasn't Made For These Times" that have really spoken to me. I've really lived my life along with Pet Sounds, and it's always been my go to soundtrack, it's just, well, perfect.

I swear, in "I Just Wasn't Made For These Times", when the chorus comes around a second time, it's like real magic. It's like by accident Brian had stumbled on some alchemical spell and just happened to capture it on tape. In those few seconds it's a glimpse of heaven.

Really Pet Sounds is just where it's at. I wouldn't even bother comparing it to other rock albums, because it's really not one. I'm always really surprised at how little percussion is, how long passages go by without a trap kit banging out time, how there seems to be just as much timpani and kettle drum as there is snare or tom.
The musical palate is just huge and Brian never tires of being inventive. He throws in everything he could get his hands on, and he makes it work, he is never content to put anything down that you could hear somewhere else. When he puts in strings he isn't trying to do classical, when he puts in harmonica he isn't trying to do folk, he puts everything together and has them all work together in a way that only he could envision, as a fully integrated pop-orchestra. It's some seriously impressive stuff.

I wouldn't even want to spoil it by changing anything. It is what it is, and that's why I love it.

Great post. Sums up exactly how I feel about Pet Sounds.

[Ed Roach]

Yeah, I remember buying this album when I was 16 and driving around listening to it. Back then something like Wouldn't It Be Nice or God Only Knows really resonated with me the strongest.

Driving around & listening to it on what?  An 8-track?

[bgas]

Yeah, I remember buying this album when I was 16 and driving around listening to it. Back then something like Wouldn't It Be Nice or God Only Knows really resonated with me the strongest.

Driving around & listening to it on what?  An 8-track?

Car reel to reel changer.

[Dunderhead]

Yeah, I remember buying this album when I was 16 and driving around listening to it. Back then something like Wouldn't It Be Nice or God Only Knows really resonated with me the strongest.

Driving around & listening to it on what?  An 8-track?

haha
unfortunately I grew up in the era of cd players.