Customer Reviews

The Beach Boys' Pet Sounds: The Greatest Album of the Twentieth Century

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I was really so looking forward to this book about my favorite album of all time, "Pet Sounds." I was very disappointed when I received it and read it in less than an hour and a half. Everything here has been written before; there's not a lot new, other than some rather superficial interviews with Brian Wilson (not a lot new to say, as usual) and others. The meat of the book is taken from other sources, including the "Pet Sounds" boxed set booklets and the various Beach Boys/Brian Wilson bios. In fact, it even quotes Brian's autobiography, "Wouldn't It Be Nice," directly in a couple of places. Now, we all know how accurate that book is (Brian didn't write it, Eugene Landy had a big hand in it). There are also factual errors here and there and some rather uninspiring analysis. The only interesting part is the bit at the end about Brian's 2002 Pet Sounds tour, which at least has a few newish photos and a little bit of insight about Brian today from his band members. But you can find the same kind of thing on archived interviews of that period on the Internet. Save your pennies and save your dimes and buy the music instead. There's nothing new here, not even many photos (and they've all been printed elsewhere).

So unfortuante that this is poorly written, Pet Sounds may very well be the greatest album of all time. Even agreeing with the premise though doesn't stop me regretting paying for this. I love the album but haven't bothered finishing the book, finding myself too disappointed - after reading most of it - to go on.

This book just isn't credible. You can't trust what it writes. It quotes from Brian Wilson's auto-biography which, with just a small amount of research, the author would have learned that book was ghost written, and Brian Wilson barely checked the book. This also frequently makes absurd statements. It also gets off track. Too many of this thin book's pages are wasted on Brian Wilson's life and growing up. There are plenty of books on that, it didn't buy this looking for a Brian Wilson Bio, or a history of the Beach Boys. I just wanted to learn more about the making of that album. Do I really need to know how Surfin' USA was made in order to understand this album???
I don't read a lot of books, and it really makes me mad that when I finely get around to reading something, it turns out to just be a bunch of [hooey].

While it's always a pleasure to read anything by someone who loves Brian Wilson, there's nothing here that we didn't already know that hasn't been said by better writers. Very pedestrian writing and padded out with lots of material that are easily found elsewhere - do we really need a listing of all tracks on the Pet Sounds Sessions box set? The whole book is badly in need of a good editor...doesn't do the wonder of Pet Sounds justice...

An essential addition to the library of Beach Boys fans : the inside story of the making and marketing of the classic Pet Sounds album, its own influences (including the Beatles "Rubber Soul") and its influence on others (especially on the Beatles "Sgt. Pepper's..."), and its muted reception in 1966 and its place today in the pantheon of pop music. Highly readable, with loads of details on the writing and recording of tracks and the contributions of the musicians who played on the recording. Illustrations include such memorabilia as the musician's union payroll sheets for the sessions. Reading the book makes one want to pull out the album and listen again and again. High praise, indeed.

Pet Sounds is a good read for people just discovering the Beach Boys. It talks about the albums' making and how it was marketed. The influence of how Pet Sounds was created and the influences it had on music. There is also an interview with Brian Wilson that talks about his 2002 tour and interviews his band members that give an insight to the man.