Having just listened to both again, it's definitely Revolver for me. Not a bad track on it; thoroughly enjoyable.
Pet sounds is a different kettle of fish though. Some of it is ok, but I'm genuinely surprised that it's held in such high regard. Wouldn't It Be Nice is a decent bit of pop. The title track is ok, but I wouldn't want to listen to it for any longer than 2 mins. Here Today and Waiting For The Day are OK, but no more. This may be sacrilegious to some but, the much vaunted God Only Knows is nothing but a rotten dirge based on the false premise of a supernatural being. Caroline No sounds like it's part of some dreadful '70s cabaret act - it just needs Del Boy to be there and comment that "the singer will be on in a minute". Sloop John B sounds like the sort of thing that could be made into a boring football chant. If they were giving away free copies, I wouldn't take one.
It is worth pointing out that Brian Wilson conceived, wrote/composed, arranged, sang and produced Pet Sounds whilst the rest of the group was on tour, adding the vocal harmonies when they returned. It is by any yardstick an astonishing achievement - a musical and orchestral triumph. By contrast the Beatles had 3 recognised songwriters and in George Martin a Producer who could help them bring their (sometimes half-baked) ideas to fruition. Pet Sounds I think is the more cohesive album thematically (with the stark exception of Sloop John B, albeit it fits musically), whereas Revolver is very much a collection of songs, some arguably mediocre (Love You To (sic), Dr. Robert) I feel I should go with Pet Sounds. And yet. The "problem" I have with Pet Sounds is that I think I admire it more than I "like" it and I am basing that on the fact that I rarely seem to play it. (Although with the advent of ipod shuffle I find the individual songs are now rejuvenated for me when they crop up). I have the same problem with the John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band album (another album of great artistic merit). Revolver, although not my favourite Beatles album, "rocks" more then PS and maybe is therefore more to my personal taste. It also has Eleanor Rigby!! Imagine that going head to head with God Only Knows. Woo. Decision time. Revolver, just.
Revolver for me as I can listen to it any time and rarely skip a track, but with Pet Sounds I sometimes feel I'm listening to it all because I feel I ought to rather than I want to.
Having just listened to both again, it's definitely Revolver for me. Not a bad track on it; thoroughly enjoyable.
Pet sounds is a different kettle of fish though. Some of it is ok, but I'm genuinely surprised that it's held in such high regard. Wouldn't It Be Nice is a decent bit of pop. The title track is ok, but I wouldn't want to listen to it for any longer than 2 mins. Here Today and Waiting For The Day are OK, but no more. This may be sacrilegious to some but, the much vaunted God Only Knows is nothing but a rotten dirge based on the false premise of a supernatural being. Caroline No sounds like it's part of some dreadful '70s cabaret act - it just needs Del Boy to be there and comment that "the singer will be on in a minute". Sloop John B sounds like the sort of thing that could be made into a boring football chant. If they were giving away free copies, I wouldn't take one.
Both remarkable albums but Revolver wins for me. It's not only the quality of the material, but the variety and originality. Just picking four tracks: Taxman, And Your Bird Can Sing, Eleanor Rigby and Tomorrow Never Comes have no right to be recorded by the same band on the same album, and there's even room for a novelty song in Yellow Submarine.
Already influential, Revolver is surely the album that lifted The Beatles to a new level.
I can't split them. Both albums have stood the test of time. Both contain some incredible songs. Lyrically, Revolver is more evolved and more interesting. Musically it's Pet Sounds which perhaps has greater depth.
I'll vote for Revolver, although I probably enjoy playing Pet Sounds more, especially when I'm feeling .... reflective.
Read my mind, I'll go for enjoyment and vote for PS.
"Wouldn't it be nice if we were older Then we wouldn't have to wait so long And wouldn't it be nice to live together In the kind of world where we belong
You know its gonna make it that much better When we can say goodnight and stay together"
"our day breaks, your mind aches, You find that all her words Of kindness linger on when she no longer needs you. She wakes up, she makes up, She takes her time and doesn't Feel she has to hurry she no longer needs you.
And in her eyes you see nothing, No sign of love behind the tears cried for no one. A love that should have lasted years.
You want her, you need her, And yet you don't believe her When she says her love is dead you think she needs you"
She loves You and Summer Holiday were a few years earlier but the BB were still in that safe US radio mode
Hmm, a bit selective to strengthen your argument. The words to "I wasn't Made For the Times" demonstrates to me how advanced Brian's recordings were to most of the competition around at that time (but I do acknowledge that Brian wasn't the lyricist on most of his records - If my memory serves me right, it was Peter Asher that wrote the words on that and most of Pet Sounds).
The lyricist on Pet Sounds was Tony Asher, Peter.
I am not sure that your comparison is entirely fair Henry, as Pet Sounds was Brian Wilson's response to Rubber Soul, where the Beatles had only just begun to stretch themselves lyrically under the influence of Dylan.
Whilst I agree that on the whole there is no particularly deep lyrical sophistication on Pet Sounds, BW had made a conscious decision to step away from the surfing/Beach Girls/Cars lyrics of Mike Love and others.
Perhaps in response to Revolver, he took that a step further by employing Van Dyke Parks as lyricist on his next project, the ill-fated Smile.
"Wouldn't it be nice if we were older Then we wouldn't have to wait so long And wouldn't it be nice to live together In the kind of world where we belong
You know its gonna make it that much better When we can say goodnight and stay together"
"our day breaks, your mind aches, You find that all her words Of kindness linger on when she no longer needs you. She wakes up, she makes up, She takes her time and doesn't Feel she has to hurry she no longer needs you.
And in her eyes you see nothing, No sign of love behind the tears cried for no one. A love that should have lasted years.
You want her, you need her, And yet you don't believe her When she says her love is dead you think she needs you"
She loves You and Summer Holiday were a few years earlier but the BB were still in that safe US radio mode
Hmm, a bit selective to strengthen your argument. The words to "I wasn't Made For the Times" demonstrates to me how advanced Brian's recordings were to most of the competition around at that time (but I do acknowledge that Brian wasn't the lyricist on most of his records - If my memory serves me right, it was Peter Asher that wrote the words on that and most of Pet Sounds).
The lyricist on Pet Sounds was Tony Asher, Peter.
I am not sure that your comparison is entirely fair Henry, as Pet Sounds was Brian Wilson's response to Rubber Soul, where the Beatles had only just begun to stretch themselves lyrically under the influence of Dylan.
Whilst I agree that on the whole there is no particularly deep lyrical sophistication on Pet Sounds, BW had made a conscious decision to step away from the surfing/Beach Girls/Cars lyrics of Mike Love and others.
Perhaps in response to Revolver, he took that a step further by employing Van Dyke Parks as lyricist on his next project, the ill-fated Smile.
Fair comment but the point stands that lyrically Revolver was way ahead of Pet Sounds.
For me the singer's voice and lyrics are key parts of a song, way above "technical" stuff.
Revolver for me by 10 country kilometres. Could never 'get' The Beach Boys , just was never music i would like or consequently listen to.
It is fair to say that earlier BB records were based upon a successful but limited formula of surfing, cars and girls. Brian wanted to expand his music and Pet Sounds evolved in a seperate direction. There is little comparion between pre and post 1966 following Pet Sounds.
Worth bearing in mind that although these albums were a step forward in the world of rock/pop, you also had Velvet Underground & Nico being recorded at the same time, as well as Cream, Pink Floyd & Frank Zappa etc etc being way out there.
"Wouldn't it be nice if we were older Then we wouldn't have to wait so long And wouldn't it be nice to live together In the kind of world where we belong
You know its gonna make it that much better When we can say goodnight and stay together"
"our day breaks, your mind aches, You find that all her words Of kindness linger on when she no longer needs you. She wakes up, she makes up, She takes her time and doesn't Feel she has to hurry she no longer needs you.
And in her eyes you see nothing, No sign of love behind the tears cried for no one. A love that should have lasted years.
You want her, you need her, And yet you don't believe her When she says her love is dead you think she needs you"
She loves You and Summer Holiday were a few years earlier but the BB were still in that safe US radio mode
Hmm, a bit selective to strengthen your argument. The words to "I wasn't Made For the Times" demonstrates to me how advanced Brian's recordings were to most of the competition around at that time (but I do acknowledge that Brian wasn't the lyricist on most of his records - If my memory serves me right, it was Peter Asher that wrote the words on that and most of Pet Sounds).
The lyricist on Pet Sounds was Tony Asher, Peter.
I am not sure that your comparison is entirely fair Henry, as Pet Sounds was Brian Wilson's response to Rubber Soul, where the Beatles had only just begun to stretch themselves lyrically under the influence of Dylan.
Whilst I agree that on the whole there is no particularly deep lyrical sophistication on Pet Sounds, BW had made a conscious decision to step away from the surfing/Beach Girls/Cars lyrics of Mike Love and others.
Perhaps in response to Revolver, he took that a step further by employing Van Dyke Parks as lyricist on his next project, the ill-fated Smile.
Fair comment but the point stands that lyrically Revolver was way ahead of Pet Sounds.
For me the singer's voice and lyrics are key parts of a song, way above "technical" stuff.
Yep, I broadly agree with you (except Brian Wilson's voice on Pet Sounds is faultless). Lyrics are a big thing for me too. There is a certain tweeness to some of the lyrics on Pet Sounds that for me detracts from the overall impact. Perhaps the most interesting songs lyrically are "I guess I just wasn't made for these times" as previously cited by PeterGage - which could almost be a BW self-analysis and is the equal to most any of Revolver's lyrics. The other is "I know there's an answer", which ironically is a lyrical re-write by Mike Love of Brian/ Tony Asher's original conceit "Hang on to your ego".
These are my two favourite albums, difficult to choose between them, though any album with Tomorrow Never Knows on it, will have to shade it. There's a great book by Steve Turner called Beatles 1966 The Revolutionary Year that goes into great detail about how the album came about and interesting detail about the songs and helps to give a new perspective when listening again.
Would love to have been a teenager listening to "Tomorrow Never Knows" when the album was released, it would have blown my head off, amazing to this day. Revolver for me.
Never listened to Pet Sounds & Revolver was one of the first Beatles albums I bought aged 15 so has to be the Beatles classic for me.
Got to Get You into my Life is one of my all time favs - the intro always gets to me. Eleanor Rigby, Here There & Everywhere and For No One are all classics and who can not like Taxman. Only second to Abbey Road in my book, with Sgt Pepper coming 3rd.
Worth bearing in mind that although these albums were a step forward in the world of rock/pop, you also had Velvet Underground & Nico being recorded at the same time, as well as Cream, Pink Floyd & Frank Zappa etc etc being way out there.
Zappa is a great shout. Actually did anyone have any of his albums on the original favourite album thread?
Worth bearing in mind that although these albums were a step forward in the world of rock/pop, you also had Velvet Underground & Nico being recorded at the same time, as well as Cream, Pink Floyd & Frank Zappa etc etc being way out there.
Zappa is a great shout. Actually did anyone have any of his albums on the original favourite album thread?
I think it has to be Pet Sounds. Just just just. God Only Knows is a work of genius and I have no idea how Brian Wilson thought it up. There's probably some music academic out there who wrote an entire paper on that song and the context it was written in.
Equally, Revolver has Tomorrow Never Knows and Eleanor Rigby - titans.
Oh man. I'm gonna go Pet Sounds. Just.
(It took me about 15 minutes to write this post btw - it was that difficult to decide!)
Despite being a Southern California kid and growing up very close to where The Beach Boys started, I never really got into them. A little too poppy for me, though certainly appreciate the vocal abilities. Revolver all day here.
If forced to actually vote rather than go for the superior third way...hmm. You'd have thought Beach Boys but Revolver does have She Said She Said on it...
Pet Sounds has always been a puzzle for me. I really liked the Beach Boys in the sixties and still listen to them when the mood takes me. I have a lot of their albums and Brian Wilson's solo albums too. I know the place that Pet Sounds has in the history of recorded music. I was around at the time and know the musical context in which the album appeared, I know the importance and influence of the Beach Boys in 1966. Here Today is one of my all-time favourite Beach Boys tracks. And yet I don't get Pet Sounds. It's not an album I listen to except when I make yet another attempt to understand why people think it's so great. I hate the sound of most of it and many of the songs seem weak and/or self-indulgent. You won't be surprised to learn that my vote goes to Revolver, a remarkable landmark in rock music and a giant step in the Beatles' progress and maturity. It has everything - some of the Beatles finest songs (Here, There and Everywhere, Eleanor Rigby, For No One, Got To Get You Into My Life, Tomorrow Never Knows etc), revolutionary production and even an iconic album cover. I can (and do) play this album regularly and never tire of listening to it.
"We were really starting to find ourselves in the studio. We were finding what we could do, just being the four of us and playing our instruments. The overdubbing got better, even though it was always pretty tricky because of the lack of tracks. The songs got more interesting, so with that the effects got more interesting.
I think the drugs were kicking in a little more heavily on this album. I don't think we were on anything major yet; just the old usual - the grass and the acid. I feel to this day that though we did take certain substances, we never did it to a great extent at the session. We were really hard workers. That's another thing about The Beatles - we worked like dogs to get it right".
Comments
Pet sounds is a different kettle of fish though. Some of it is ok, but I'm genuinely surprised that it's held in such high regard. Wouldn't It Be Nice is a decent bit of pop. The title track is ok, but I wouldn't want to listen to it for any longer than 2 mins. Here Today and Waiting For The Day are OK, but no more. This may be sacrilegious to some but, the much vaunted God Only Knows is nothing but a rotten dirge based on the false premise of a supernatural being. Caroline No sounds like it's part of some dreadful '70s cabaret act - it just needs Del Boy to be there and comment that "the singer will be on in a minute". Sloop John B sounds like the sort of thing that could be made into a boring football chant. If they were giving away free copies, I wouldn't take one.
It is by any yardstick an astonishing achievement - a musical and orchestral triumph.
By contrast the Beatles had 3 recognised songwriters and in George Martin a Producer who could help them bring their (sometimes half-baked) ideas to fruition.
Pet Sounds I think is the more cohesive album thematically (with the stark exception of Sloop John B, albeit it fits musically), whereas Revolver is very much a collection of songs, some arguably mediocre (Love You To (sic), Dr. Robert)
I feel I should go with Pet Sounds. And yet.
The "problem" I have with Pet Sounds is that I think I admire it more than I "like" it and I am basing that on the fact that I rarely seem to play it.
(Although with the advent of ipod shuffle I find the individual songs are now rejuvenated for me when they crop up).
I have the same problem with the John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band album (another album of great artistic merit).
Revolver, although not my favourite Beatles album, "rocks" more then PS and maybe is therefore more to my personal taste.
It also has Eleanor Rigby!! Imagine that going head to head with God Only Knows. Woo.
Decision time.
Revolver, just.
For me Pets Sounds it broke new ground and the intricacies in the production & sound made it so different for its time.
I have never tired of any of the tracks when hearing again, it lasts the test of time.
You are awful, but I like you.
Hmmmn.
I suppose Revolver with reservations.
Already influential, Revolver is surely the album that lifted The Beatles to a new level.
I am not sure that your comparison is entirely fair Henry, as Pet Sounds was Brian Wilson's response to Rubber Soul, where the Beatles had only just begun to stretch themselves lyrically under the influence of Dylan.
Whilst I agree that on the whole there is no particularly deep lyrical sophistication on Pet Sounds, BW had made a conscious decision to step away from the surfing/Beach Girls/Cars lyrics of Mike Love and others.
Perhaps in response to Revolver, he took that a step further by employing Van Dyke Parks as lyricist on his next project, the ill-fated Smile.
For me the singer's voice and lyrics are key parts of a song, way above "technical" stuff.
Lyrics are a big thing for me too.
There is a certain tweeness to some of the lyrics on Pet Sounds that for me detracts from the overall impact.
Perhaps the most interesting songs lyrically are "I guess I just wasn't made for these times" as previously cited by PeterGage - which could almost be a BW self-analysis and is the equal to most any of Revolver's lyrics.
The other is "I know there's an answer", which ironically is a lyrical re-write by Mike Love of Brian/ Tony Asher's original conceit "Hang on to your ego".
Got to Get You into my Life is one of my all time favs - the intro always gets to me. Eleanor Rigby, Here There & Everywhere and For No One are all classics and who can not like Taxman. Only second to Abbey Road in my book, with Sgt Pepper coming 3rd.
Now will have to go and listen to it.
I think it has to be Pet Sounds. Just just just. God Only Knows is a work of genius and I have no idea how Brian Wilson thought it up. There's probably some music academic out there who wrote an entire paper on that song and the context it was written in.
Equally, Revolver has Tomorrow Never Knows and Eleanor Rigby - titans.
Oh man. I'm gonna go Pet Sounds. Just.
(It took me about 15 minutes to write this post btw - it was that difficult to decide!)
"We were really starting to find ourselves in the studio. We were finding what we could do, just being the four of us and playing our instruments. The overdubbing got better, even though it was always pretty tricky because of the lack of tracks. The songs got more interesting, so with that the effects got more interesting.
I think the drugs were kicking in a little more heavily on this album. I don't think we were on anything major yet; just the old usual - the grass and the acid. I feel to this day that though we did take certain substances, we never did it to a great extent at the session. We were really hard workers. That's another thing about The Beatles - we worked like dogs to get it right".
Ringo Starr
Anthology