The Beach Boys: Making Pet Sounds

Let me begin by saying that I'm not a fan of The Beach Boys. I watched this merely because I'm interested in the songwriting and recording process. Sadly, for someone like me there's precious little of the detail that I sought, so it's a mediocre effort from my point of view. If you're a fan of the music, then you can easily add another star or two to my rating.

I could have easily watched 10 hours of documentary featuring the Beach Boys talking about their records and songs. It probably helps that Pet Sounds is one of my favourite albums, but I really loved this.

It was overwhelmingly positive, without shying away from any conflict within the band and disagreements with songwriting. They all had such nice things to say about the band, the record and the talents involved. For a band well-known for conflict, it was refreshing to watch. Just wish that Dennis and Carl had been alive for it. I loved members of "the wrecking crew" being featured also.

Experiencing Brian talk about the songwriting process is like Einstein sitting down with you and talking about the theory of relativity. It really makes you want to not only listen to Pet Sounds with renewed appreciation, but to delve into the entire Beach Boys catalogue.

Definitely recommend for Beach Boys fans, and music fans in general.

Albums like Pet Sounds are serrendipitous like a random aligning of stars. Something that stuns for various reasons initially and evolving over time as to reveal it's wonders. This is Brian Wilson and The Beach Boys' masterpiece. Upon release it was a bit of an enigma as it wasn't "the formula" of previous Beach Boy albums. As Mike Love recounts: "it took 20-years to reach platinum status". Now, at over half-a-century it is without doubt the crown jewel in The Beach Boys catalog. This certainly adds to the mystical music itself and warrants this film.

1965 was a complex time for The Beach Boys. Brian, not unlike Lennon & McCartney, had tired of live performances and life on the road. Wisely he decided to make it his job to discontinue touring and work writing and arranging "new" songs with all the complexity only he could hear inside his head. Before drugs and mental illness would later hinder his unbridled creativity, Brian, along with new writing partner Tony Asher, crafted a quantum shift for the band. This doc uses stock film and footage along with later day interviews to topically reveal what was happening during this amazing time in the history of The Beach Boys.

If, like me, you've read countless articles and interviews regarding Pet Sounds you won't find any surprises here. It's not even really too in-depth. But, it gets the big picture across and does so with great interview snipets from the surviving band members and the occasional vintage clip such as the great comments by Dennis on his boat admitting how much Pet Sounds meant to him personally. If you're a big fan this film is a must. If you love the album itself it is certainly welcome. What I'd really like it to do is to inspire someone who hasn't really connected with The Beach Boys to get busy with discovering the greatness of this album. It this way it can push it forward once again for the next half-century dropping it's nuggets of sonic spledor on new generations.

"The Beach Boys: Making Pet Sounds" (2017 release; 59 min.) is a documentary about the making of the Beach Boys' ultimate album (released in May, 1966). As the documentary opens, we get a couple of quick quotes from current-day interviews with several of the main players (Brian Wilson, Mike Love, Al Jardine, Bruce Johnston, among others), before we go back in time for a thumb-nail review of the Beach Boys' early years of surf and hot rod music. In 1965, Brian Wilson decides he has had enough of the endless touring AND of the surf and hot rod music and retreats to concoct the band's next album...

Couple of comments: if you are somewhat familiar with the Beach Boys' history, none of what you will see in this documentary will come as a surprise or new revelation. Instead, we rehash the some ol' same ol', and that makes for pleasant viewing, nothing less but nothing more eitehr. THe documentary focuses on a number of the album's key songs: "Sloop Johnny B." (suggested to Brian by Al Jardine, who loved the folk version from the late 50s), "Wouldn't It Be Nice", "I Just Wasn't Made For These Times", and last but certainly not least "God Only Knows". Thankfully the documentary has extensive interview clips with Tony Asher, who wrote the brilliant lyrics. Asher, Johnston and others all make the same comment about Brian Wilson's musical genius: "it was all here in his head". Mention is made that "Pet Sounds" was released the very same day as Bob Dylan's monumental "Blonde On Blonde" album, and only 2 months before the Beatles' revolutionary "Revolver" album (in my book, the best Beatles' album ever). 1966 was the year!

The thing that struck me the most about this documentary is how relaxed and good-natured the main characters are in these interviews, in particular Brian Wilson and Mike Love. I say this because one might not necessarily expect this, given that Love essentially kicked out Brian Wilson (again) following the 50th anniversary reunion tour in 2012. (I had the good fortune of seeing the band on that tour here in Cincinnati--what a magical evening of music that was!) If you are a Beach Boys fan, "Making Pet Sounds" is pleasant if non-essential viewing. I caught it the other night while browsing my Spectrum On Demand library of documentaries but it is of course available on VOD,

The Beach Boys: Making Pet Sounds (2017)

*** (out of 4)

Brian Wilson, Mike Love, Al Jardine, Bruce Johnston, David Marks, journalists and members of The Wrecking Crew are interviewed about the landmark album Pet Sounds. This documentary talks about the various things that were happening to The Beach Boys including Brian Wilson dropping off their tour and how this led to them creating this masterpiece album.

There have been quite a few documentaries on the making of this album and even more documents highlighting what The Beach Boys were able to do during their era. If you're a fan of the album or of the band then you'll certainly enjoy this documentary even though it really doesn't feature anything new. What's great about this is that the majority of the people behind the album are interviewed here including Brian Wilson who sits at his piano and tells his stories as well as plays some tunes.

Some of the highlights including the fighting that happened during the production and especially between Love and Wilson when it came to a certain song and what its meaning was. The drug use and what influence it had on the album is discussed as is the final album and the way it was accepted.