On the turntable this Sunday...Pet Sounds

Pet Sounds is the eleventh studio album by the American rock band the Beach Boys. Released on May 16, 1966, it initially met a lukewarm critical and commercial reception in the United States, but received immediate success abroad, where British publications declared it "the most progressive pop album ever". It charted at number two in the UK but number ten in the US, a significantly lower placement than the band's preceding albums. In later years, the album garnered enormous worldwide acclaim by critics and musicians alike, and is regarded as one of the most influential pieces in the history of popular music.  

The album was produced and arranged by Brian Wilson, who also wrote and composed almost all of its music, with an unprecedented budget exceeding $70,000 (today over $510,000). Sessions were conducted several months after he had quit touring with the Beach Boys in order to focus his attention on writing and recording. Collaborating with lyricist Tony Asher, Wilson's symphonic arrangements wove elaborate layers of vocal harmonies, coupled with sound effects and unconventional instruments such as bicycle bells, buzzing organs, harpsichords, flutes, Electro-Theremin, dog whistles, trains, Hawaiian-sounding string instruments, Coca-Cola cans and barking dogs, along with the more usual keyboards and guitars. Together, they comprised Wilson's "pet sounds", incorporating elements of jazz, exotica, classical, and the avant-garde. It was led by the singles "Wouldn't It Be Nice" (b/w "God Only Knows") and "Sloop John B", while Wilson made his solo debut with "Caroline, No", issued a few months earlier. Due to its highly personal, artistic nature, Pet Sounds is sometimes considered a Brian Wilson solo album in all but name.
A heralding work in the emerging psychedelic rock style, Pet Sounds signaled an aesthetic trend within rock by transforming it from dance music into music that was made for listening to, elevating itself to the level of art rock. It was one of the first rock concept albums, and has been suggested to follow a lyrical song cycle format, although Wilson has maintained that the album's real unified theme lies within its cohesive production style. Writer Bill Martin said that within Pet Sounds, "[The Beach Boys] brought expansions in harmony, instrumentation (and therefore timbre), duration, rhythm, and the use of recording technology. Of these elements, the first and last were the most important in clearing a pathway toward the development of progressive rock." Beyond pop and rock, Pet Sounds expanded the field of music production.

In 1993, it was named the greatest album of all time by NME magazine and The Times, and in 1995 by Mojo magazine. In 2003, Rolling Stone ranked it second on its list of the 500 greatest albums of all time. In 2004, Pet Sounds was preserved in the National Recording Registry by the Library of Congress for being "culturally, historically, and aesthetically significant." In 1997, The Pet Sounds Sessions was released containing instrumental tracks, vocals-only tracks, alternate mixes, outtakes, and edited recording session highlights, as well as the album's first true stereo mix.

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