The Beach Boys: Making Pet Sounds

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.

If you like the clean-cut, wholesome, Californian "surfer sound" of the Beach Boys in their early years - Then - This "Pet Sounds" rockumentary should be of some significant interest to you.

Through stills, archival footage, and interviews (including those with band members) - "Pet Sounds" is an enjoyably nostalgic look back at the Beach Boys' early success which (at one point) actually rivaled that of the Beatles.

The only real drawback to this 60-minute presentation was that I found a few people who were being interviewed here had the annoying knack of insinuating that if the viewer didn't appreciate the greatness of the Beach Boys' "Pet Sounds" album, then they didn't understand true genius.

(Oh!? Really!?)

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.

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.