Brian Wilson
Performs ‘Pet Sounds’ at Together The People festival, as he tells Jeff Hemmings
Hard to believe now, but when ‘Pet Sounds’ was released back in 1966 in America, it was initially met with lukewarm reaction, a mild disappointment infecting critics and fans alike who weren’t able to fully appreciate the momentous change of direction that Brian Wilson had taken his iconic band. A band who epitomised everything that was wholesome about the country in the early ‘60s: hits such as ‘Fun! Fun! Fun!’, ‘Surfin’ USA’, and ‘I Get Around’ depicting a youthful and innocent culture of sun, surf and romance.
We said, ‘let’s make a spiritual album’. We wrote a lot of spiritual songs and we had a spiritual album!
But Brian Wilson, the main creative force of the band, had musical ambitions. Possessing a natural gift to write pop songs, by the mid ‘60s he was eager to stretch himself, and to explore songwriting arrangements, production and musical innovation, as the country started embracing the counterculture revolution. He was also being heavily inspired by what The Beatles were doing, and, in terms of production, Phil Spector. “It was inspired by ‘Rubber Soul’ by The Beatles. Every one of the songs off the album were great: ‘Michelle’, ‘Girl’, ‘I’m Looking Through You’… They were all great songs.”
“We needed to grow,” Wilson has said about the change of direction. “Up to this point we had milked every idea dry. We had done every possible angle about surfing and then we did the car routine. But we needed to grow artistically.” And so, after stopping touring completely in early 1965, Wilson in effect became a full-time studio musician, his creative ambitions culminating in ‘Pet Sounds’, a record that saw Wilson employ unconventional instruments, complimenting the elaborate layers of vocal harmonies prevalent throughout their history. With songs such as ‘Wouldn’t It Be Nice’, ‘God Only Knows’, ‘I Know There’s An Answer’, ‘Caroline, No’, and ‘Sloop John B’ the album’s innovative and rich soundscape incorporates elements of jazz, classical, pop, exotica, avant-garde, unusual instrumentation (via bicycle bells, dog whistles, plastic water jugs, sleigh bells etc), classically inspired orchestration and a more routine drums, guitar, piano and bass combo, but always with an ear for an accessible melody, and an eye for a universal lyric. Which is where songwriting partner Tony Asher came in: “I had a friend of mine (Tony Asher) write the lyrics with me. We said, ‘let’s make a spiritual album’. We wrote a lot of spiritual songs and we had a spiritual album! We had a lot of talks, about different subjects, love, social statements and everything.”
Above all though, it’s still the vocal performances that remain the prime reason why The Beach Boys were and still are held in such awe. Although ‘Pet Sounds’ is considered by some to be a solo Brian Wilson album, the other Beach Boys feature throughout the album in voice. “I had each guy practice their part. We all stood around one microphone, we all sang together around just one microphone.”
And what is his favourite song? “’God Only Knows’” he says without hesitation. “I turned it over to Carl (his younger brother) because I thought he could do a good job on it. He sang it beautifully.”
Together The People, 3 & 4 September, Preston Park. www.togetherthepeople.co.uk
The Deluxe Special extended edition of Pet Sounds – 50th Anniversary, is out now.
Brian’s memoir ‘I Am Brian Wilson’ will be out in October published by Hodder.
