No.62: “Pet Sounds” by The Beach Boys (1966)
Brian Wilson’s masterpiece, the record that sent him crazy amongst other rather dubious substances which were hanging around his brain at the time… and ‘Good Vibrations’ wasn’t even on the record.
Pet Sounds is wonderful, it’s all you need from a high school band who had had passed through the nadir of the “boy band surf scene” tag they were beginning to be lumbered with and they were growing up much in the same way – in fact, virtually exactly the same as a U.S. version of The Beatles in a sort of “1962-1966”transgression that both bands went through. I won’t compare the two albums, they are totally different (as is the comparison with Sgt. Pepper’s a year later) because quite simply they just happened to be both around at the same time, bands and albums. You could also add The Byrds, the Stones, the Kinks and The Who to the list. The 60’s must have been some fantastic decade to live through seeing all this stuff appear in the charts and on the radio. Wondrous!
To the album then after much digressing…and you get ‘Wouldn’t It Be Nice’ for starters – now that would have been worth the price of the album on its own but, I think it’s just best to follow right now with the track listing early (even before the sleeve for once) to stop me from being too over-excited in going through all the tracks. We’ll let the songs and videos do the talking. I’ll just say that ‘God Only Knows’ is awesome and gets to me deeply, such is the classiness of that song. ‘Caroline No’, ‘Don’t Talk…’ Wonderful… Brian Wilson is right up there with Lennon, McCartney, Dylan and the best of ‘em. What a record this is!
Track listing: Side one
“Wouldn’t It Be Nice”
“You Still Believe in Me”
“That’s Not Me”
“Don’t Talk (Put Your Head on My Shoulder)”
“I’m Waiting for the Day”
“Let’s Go Away for Awhile”
“Sloop John B” Side two
“God Only Knows”
“I Know There’s an Answer”
“Here Today”
“I Just Wasn’t Made for These Times”
“Pet Sounds”
“Caroline, No”
So how about that?! Let’s carry on in a more disciplined way…
No.61: “Astral Weeks” by Van Morrison (1968)
Yes, quite true Ffosse (a couple of days ago), there’s definitely more to Van Morrison than the three-minute pop – good as it is – of ‘Brown Eyed Girl’. Astral Weeks was recorded just shortly afterwards after Van got out of a recording contract that would have been his early downfall. Bert Berns and his Bang Records company had some disagreements (actually to do with Berns’ late wife who was upset about Morrison’s behavoir and tried to curtail any future recordings). But Morrison went away and came back with this thoroughly original album, a record so different from anything seen before in music he invented a whole new genre which only he was initially part of: Celtic Soul.
It’s a lovely piece of work. Just eight songs but some very lengthy and Van still digs out occasional tracks to play live – the remarkable Cyprus Avenue especially.
• Van Morrison — vocals, acoustic guitar
• John Payne — flute; soprano saxophone on “Slim Slow Slider”
• Jay Berliner — classical and steel-string acoustic guitars
• Richard Davis — double bass
• Warren Smith, Jr. — percussion, vibraphone
• Connie Kay — drums
• Larry Fallon — string arrangements and conductor; harpsichord on “Cyprus Avenue”
• Barry Kornfeld — acoustic guitar on “The Way Young Lovers Do”
We’ll leave it there for today. Top 60 from tomorrow.
Great album Pet Sounds, but for me this is just about the right placing for it. How many can we cram in to our favourite lists?
It’s not as easy as it seems bud
These personnel lists are very interesting.I didn’t realize that Mick Taylor was on that Stones LP for some tracks…Nothing wrong with Taylor or Wood but I prefer the Jones Stones.
Sloop John B ,not that I thought that much of it before,but for ever ruined for me by the British Lions Rugby team who took it up as their anthem.
Three by Joe in my list, Spitfire. Jumpin’ Jive was earlier on as well as these two. A very talented musician and songwriter who doesn’t get the credit he deserves I think
Mick Taylor was with the Stones for about five years I think mate. I didn’t realise he was on this one though as Brian Jones died in 1969, so Taylor must have been a very quick replacement for some of the later recorded tracks perhaps?
Taylor was certainly on Sticky Fingers and Exile On Main Street and was with the band until 74-75 when Ronnie Wood joined.
I always love it when Keith Richards affectionately refers to Wood as “the new boy”. He’s only been in the band 43 years lol!
Aye, strange why the Lions adopted that song. Can’t understand the reasoning behind it tbh.
This is the last one I have ready so we might as well post it now. I’ll have to start from scratch again tomorrow, so we may not recommence with any posts until the day after. See how things go Here’s Mr. Zimmerman…
No.60: “Highway 61 Revisited” by Bob Dylan (1965)
The highest-placed Bob Dylan album in my list, Highway 61 is a fabulous album. Dylan’s songwriting is at its very best, the album never dates and there are so many wonderful pieces of music on the record.; every one a classic track. Just look at the track list for starters:
It begins with an absolute bang: just about the greatest song of the 1960’s “Like a Rolling Stone”, followed by a run of songs that would give any artist the bejeebies: “Tombstone Blues”, “It Takes a Lot to Laugh, It Takes a Train to Cry”, “From a Buick 6”, “Ballad of a Thin Man”, “Queen Jane Approximately”, “Highway 61 Revisited”, “Just Like Tom Thumb’s Blues” and the amazing 11-minute “Desolation Row”. Nothing more to say to be honest. Go to your collection now and dig this record out once more. If for any strange, unfathomable reason you don’t own it – it’s available in my next post in full audio format.
Some interesting clips below for your perusal. There are a shortage of authentic videos from 1965 but I have found some alternatives from later the years. However, the famous San Francisco interview is present, plus a montage of the best concert performances in an hour-long selection from 1965.
Personnel:
• Bob Dylan – vocals, guitar, harmonica, piano, slide whistle
• Mike Bloomfield – electric guitar
• Charlie McCoy – guitar
• Paul Griffin, Al Kooper – piano, organ
• Frank Owens – piano
• Harvey Brooks, Russ Savakus, Joe Macho, Jr. – bass guitar
• Bobby Gregg, Sam Lay – drums
Top 100 Bob Dylan placings:
60-Highway 61 Revisited-1965
93-Bringing It All Back Home-1965
96-Blonde On Blonde-1966
101-Blood On The Tracks-1975
152-The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan-1963
201-Another Side Of Bob Dylan-1964
400-Desire-1976
517-Time Out Of Mind-1997
711-Nashville Skyline-1969
783-Tempest-2012
859-Modern Times-2006
1000-Planet Waves-1974
Seems like years ago since Planet Waves kicked this whole shebang off!
Fantastic Dylan album right in the middle of his trifecta of classic albums in 1965/66. A good test for any headphones as the production is excellent. Desolation Row is my favourite track, but there are so many good ones.
