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FOR YOUNG MUSICIANS AND PRODUCERS IN ¡HE MI11-10S, THE RELEASE Of "" WAS [IKE

HAYING THE ODOR 10 A PITCH -BLACK ROOM SUDDENLY THROWN OPEN; LIGHT POURED IN THIRTY

YEARS LATER, IT'S SIRE SHINING BRIGHI11 THE PASSION OF PET SOUNDS Cuuinucd ¡r()Hi pugc 4:5 BY CHRIS MORRIS

Studios and immortalize his memories of the pom -pom girl who got away. In so doing, he preserved in popular song the qualities of regret n his provocative book "Ocean Of Sound" (Serpent's Tail, Speaking of such contemporaries and collaborators as Van Dyke that only post -adolescence can summon. encapsulating one of the 0 U.K.), English musician -musicologist David Toop writes, Parks and , Waronker adds, "Brian affected us most reluctant realizations of adulthood: all the youthful time in the "Ask musicians of a certain age a question: Who revolution- all...Brian was such a master of melody, and he got sounds that were world is somehow never enough. ized the recording studio? Invariably, the response will unprecedented. did it, but not like he did it." "My father [Murry] used to go to pieces when he heard stuff like include the following names: , , Brian In 1995, former pupil Waronker worked with the master, Wilson, "'Caroline No,'" explained Brian's brother Dennis to this writer in the Wilson, Lee Perry." and Parks on the duo's Reprise collaboration "." spring of 1976. "See, a lot of people don't know it, but that song was Spector and Wilson, the Americans on this short list of sonic inno- Another aspiring young producer of the '60s, Russ Titelman, had about a girl that Brian was really in love with in high school. He saw vators, are inexorably linked in history. It was Spector's studio - written with Wilson and attended and participated in the sessions for her again years later, and it all came back to him, and he wrote the expanding "" that inspired Wilson, the leader/visionary "Today!" Titelman would go on to launch a significant career of his song." of , to undertake the experiments that by early 1965 own, helming chart hits for , Randy Newman, George Could I ever find in you again had reached fruition in his group's "The Beach Boys Today!" However, Harrison, and George Benson. among many others.

Things that made me love you so much then? when the Beatles released "Rubber Soul" in late '65, Brian experi- "He loved Phil Spector" Titelman says of Wilson. "When I heard

Could we ever bring them back once they have gone? enced a musical shock that led to the creation of "Pet Sounds," a [ "Pet Sounds "] I thought, 'He's outdone Phil!' It was more musically Oh, Caroline, no. record that itself would serve as a crucial inspiration among rock pro- imaginative... [Phil's style] was pretty much a formula approach. Brian "You see," Dennis added, " is a reporter of ducers and performers for three decades. took it and was so inspired by it that he went that much further. He had his times and our times -for himself and the rest of us." The genesis of the unprecedented studio experimentations on "Pet more imaginative \oral an'angemcnts, more inventive instrumentation." Two decades later, is gone, but the older brother he Sounds" is revealed in striking detail on ' forthcoming Titelman adds, "He was making his 'Sgt. Pepper'...It did have that boxed set devoted to the nowhere more so than in the hith- kind of creative explosion to it." erto unheard true stereo mix of the album, which brings new depth In 1988, Titelman produced Wilson's Reprise comeback album, his to its wide- screen sound. Brian pushed Spector's gale -force sonic first full-fledged solo work. approach into new impressionistic terrain, using unexpected instru- If "Pet Sounds" had merely exhibited a profound impact on Brian mentation for evocative, surprising effects. Wilson's contemporaries, its influence could well have been written Hear, for instance, the bicycle bell used as percussion on "You Still off as a novelty of the day. But the album has proven resonant as an Believe In Me "; the throbbing bass harmonica on "I Know There's An inspiration for three decades now, and several young musicians have Answer "; the interlacing of harpsi- taken Wilson's pathfinding work as chord, harmonica and (in perhaps its the touchstone for their own first pop use) theremin on "I Just sounds. Wasn't Made For These Times." New If any contemporary group dimensions in the Beach Boys' exhibits a debt to "Pet Sounds," it is sound originally defined by the lay- certainly , a free - ered harmony vocals of the five band floating British unit fronted by singer - members -were apparent in the writer- producer Sean O'Hagan, a for- Carol Mountain, Hawthorne High, Brian Wilson, Hawthorne High, Class album's wholly instrumental compo- mer member of the Irish band Class of 1960. Honor Roll, Song of 1960. Senior Baseball, Senior Cross sitions, "Let's Go Away For A While" Microdisney and a frequent sideman Queen, School Senate Country, Varsity Club and "Pet Sounds." Tack , tim- on 's . Both the High pani, accordion, vibraphone, brass, Llamas' 1994 album, "Gideon Gaye" looked up to is fortunate enough to be overseeing the 30th- anniver- woodwinds, massed strings -no part and its current sequel "Hawaii" pro- sary reissue of "Pet Sounds" while bearing witness Co Dennis' fervent of the orchestral arsenal was too foundly display Brian Wilson's influ- belief in the enduring universality of its vulnerable songcraft. bizarre to be left unutilized in the daz- ence in their densely orchestrated, For Brian's part, his outlook on both "Per Sounds" and its first sin- zling palette of "Pet Sounds." richly arranged pop excursions. gle has evolved over the years. "I was very proud of that album.' he Those who weren't around for this O'Hagan says of "Pet Sounds," "I confided during a conversation we had in in Santa moment in pop -music history may was 18 when I actually heard it, and Monica in 1076. "I was sitting around a table with friends, smoking a not realize that nobody had ever it was a revelation...That basically joint, when we first heard `Rubber Soul' for the very first time; and heard anything like this music before. shifted and rewrote music history, as I'm smoking and I'm getting high and We album blew my mind For young musicians and producers in far as I was concerned. As soon as I because it was a whole album with all good stuff' It flipped me out so the mid -'60s. the release of "Pet Spirit of '66: from left, Beach Boys , , Al heard it, my personal musical vision much, I said, Tin gonna try that, where a whole album becomes a Sounds" was like having the door to a Jardine, Dennis Wilson, completely changed. It has basically gas.' pitch-black 'room suddenly thrown informed everything I've done in "The reason we made 'Pet Sounds."' Wilson continued, "was open; light poured in. music since my 20s until now. It's only now that t have the ability or because we specialized in certain sounds. 1 don't know how many Among those who today acknowledge the impact of the album is the guts or the level -headedness to really address it full -on. as I seem months we spent working hard on' that album to get all those differ,: . Formerly president of Warner Bros. Records and to be doing now." ent cuts just right. It was our best -the songs were our pet sounds. It now co -head of DreamWorks SKG's record operation, Waronker in He adds, "'Pet Sounds' really made me aware of the power of two was kind of a silly thing, but 'Pet Sounds' just made me think that you the mid -'60s was a young man about to embark on his first record or three chords, the power that two or three chords can have on an could do a whole album that was a bitch; that held together and was productions. His early work with and his baroque individual, the emotional and physical power that the right three not simply a collection of various songs. `Rubber Soul' was a complete' country -pop production on ' "Roots" bear the chords can have...I know a lot of people who talk about it in mostly statement, damn it, and I wanted to make a complete statement too!". indelible Wilson stamp. spiritual terms, and I could, but I don't want to, because I don't want In 1985, Brian reflected on the album and the challenge from the VCi'onker says, "There was certainly a creative environment on the to take away from the music."

Beatles that sparked it, noting quite accurately that "The whole pack- - West Coast which probably to a very large extent had to do with Brian One artist who does not shy away from the non -musical aspect of age on 'Pet Sounds' [released May 16, 19661 just blew [Great] and his powerful force. Creative record -making took a giant step, and Wilson's music (which Brian himself has alluded to in interviews) is

Britain's mind; all the kids there truly liked us. In the U.S. industry ' it affected everybody who was caught up in it. It was a landmark Cindy Lee Berryhill. The San Diego, Calif based musician has we got quite a bit of good exposure and recognition, but it was 'Sgt record, for a number of reasons. As an inventive next step for him, it released two albums with her "garage orchestra " -essentially a scaled - Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band' [released June 1, 19671 that was a giant one...Those melodies were unbelievable, and the songs as down version of the "Pet Sounds" studio band -on the hometown kicked ass with the public." a whole locked together. Then you had these wonderfully inventive indie Cargo Records. Her 1994 album, "Garage Orchestra," even fea- Continued on page 50 . tured a Wilson tribute, "Song For Brian," performed in the 1966 album's style. "It's like an epiphany," says Berryhill, who was introduced to the album a decade ago by musician Dane Conover, after being exposed Go-c4 VC,IratCariJ CJ a (13-( al deparo.tre fro-0A- pop Jo'u Nr(,tl,vt ai4 so-ie Jf uc(ure, we t- to its singles as a child. "That record definitely connects with me in a vtkitC,l hlÌuìt B11,411, dcd wai create these lc,tt-le 4o -ieco-rtd Irr f(,ve-Jec- spiritual way-emotional, too, but also in a spiritual way." orld pr;ecei avt.d tltiew aJiemb%e tltiem, after tAe fact lt'J akrurdAlar Jrv9. It'J a pretty Nrld Nay Just as "Pet Sounds" survives as an act of creativity that is mysteri- ous in its intense and near-perfect realization, it is something of a tv rte a pop Jo-l CI,,q1hJ]. lt'i l(;ke ajoitri Cae lwa i felt tGtat Bran, Nai chimera to its fans as well. Berryhill says, "'Pet Sounds' had a huge reay aavavf- a rde cVoJr, av l.f twre vo(f-r/te crnVnerc(al WrJJ impact on me, in a way I still can't figure...Brian was pointing in a ella direction for musicians and for people to think in a certain way. Those / eryyed, NoiUe percewed iYtGtl'utier. -Don Was songs are like an arrow."

46 "PET SOUNDS" TRIBUTE BILLBOARD OCTOBER 12, 1996 www.americanradiohistory.com