Beach Boys' Pet Sounds [Paperback]

Webley's review nails it. I have been thinking about this since starting the book and his review sums up my thoughts very well. I had just finished Dan Leroy's take on The Beastie Boys "Paul's Boutique." Granted this era might not be too comparable to Brian Wilson's, but the book accomplished everything I had hoped. Leroy took a journalistic approach and compiled a plethora of detailed information about the making and content of the album in a cohesive and organized manner. It greatly increased my appreciation of the album and I could listen to songs as I read more about them.

I consider Leroy's work to be outstanding, but I had similar expectations for The Pet Sounds installment of the series. What a colossal disappointment. I had heard complaints that some books in the 33 1/3 series are tainted by author's including themselves too often in their writing. This is a prime example, but sadly, not the only problem with the book. I wouldn't mind a few personal anecdotes to contextualize the information if it was organized well, but Fusilli is all over the place. He bounces back and forth between prior albums and frequently includes detailed chord breakdowns of songs. Although this is probably interesting to professional musicians, it doesn't really lend itself well to this book series. It is by no means an easy task to dedicate an entire book to the creation of an album of such importance, but someone with Fusilli's experience and knowledge should have at least been able to understand what readers were looking for, like Wilson knew what his listeners wanted to hear.

I definitely learned some interesting new things, and it did allow me to listen to the album with some new ideas in mind, but overall there was just so much more that could have been done with this book. Very disappointing.

Pet Sounds is my favorite album and I celebrate its existence by sharing it with friends and family every chance I get. It changed my life about three years ago. It was the perfect music that I had been searching for my whole life. I thought I had found it with the Beatles during childhood, but even they never topped Pet Sounds. If you love Brian Wilson and Pet Sounds as much as I do, you might be disappointed with this book. Fusilli manages to downplay the instrumentals and "Sloop John B." as lesser tracks on the album. He even implies that "I Know There's An Answer" and "Here Today" aren't as great as they could be. Of course, he thinks "God Only Knows" and "Wouldn't It Be Nice" are the best and spends more time on those songs. If you're a real Brian Wilson fan and wish to God that Smile had been released in 1967, right off the Pet Sounds high, then you'd do better to check out "Catch a Wave: The Rise, Fall and Redemption of the Beach Boys' Brian Wilson". While Fusilli's abridged treatment of Pet Sounds is readable, it flirts with being corny and overly-poetic. The trouble with that is that his love for Pet Sounds isn't as close to being blind as most who would read it.

I've listened to Pet Sounds since the day it was originally released in 1966. Fusilli has the ability to tell the story in a way that makes me thinkn I have never really "heard" Pet Sounds. His insights are a fresh way to hear Brian Wilson's heart and soul int he music of the best rock album of the 20th century.

Phil @ prayforsurfblog.blogspot.com

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