The Beach Boys - The Pet Sounds Sessions (CD 1997)

Back in April 2007 I wrote a review of the mono version of this album and gave it five stars with the note that I would get hold of this boxed set some time in the future.

Well, now I've got it and it is absolutely wonderful.

My fellow reviewer (robsoddsnsods) has written a review that needs very little addition.

All I can do is say that I paid about £20 for a used copy on Ebay and that is an absolute bargain.

To repeat my original review: 'the simple message is this: BUY IT!'

If you haven't yet discovered Pet Sounds (which inspired the Beatles to produce Sgt Peppers), than you would be advised to invest in a copy on CD to understand what all the fuss is about. The album itself is included in its entirety as the bonus 4th disc in this deluxe package in the original mono mix, re-mastered in 1996, and in what was then a brand new stereo mix on disc 1, but this could be an expensive way to discover whether this music is your cup of tea. The album can be picked up cheaply in any high street store or on ebay for a couple of quid, and is well worth the investment.

As a person with eclectic taste in music, I will give anything a listen, and whilst I enjoyed the Beach Boys stuff that I had heard in the past, I had never, like most people born after the 60's, owned a studio album of this band, just one of the many 'Greatest Hits' packages released over the years.

However, a few years ago, I took the plunge and purchased my first copy of Pet Sounds, and was blown away by the quality of the writing and production (by the genius that is Brian Wilson, who apparently took inspiration from the Beatles' Rubber Soul LP), and have ever since cited this album as my favourite album of all time, and the single God Only Knows as the best pop song ever written. This puts them above my other favouritesthat I grew up with such as Depeche Mode's Violator, Pet shop Boys' Behaviour and Nirvana's Nevermind or Oasis' Definately Maybe, which were the albums I really got into when they were out, playing them non-stop and thinking I would never hear a better album.

Basically, if you appreciate music, you will appreciate Pet Sounds, and for those, like me, who become a little obsessed by the album, the decision whether or not to purchase this definitive 'sessions' collection is really a no-brainer. This box set was put together with love and appreciation for the music and the creative processes behind the album, to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the 1966 release in 1996. That was over 10 years ago, and last year they celebrated the 40th anniversary with another re-packaging effort with a bonus DVD Surround Mix of the album. I wonder what they will bring out for the 50th?!

This collection is an absolute stunner, and the fascinating story behind the album is told really well in the beautifully produced books (you can't really say booklets, as they are so detailed and comprehensive) as well as the 4 CDs themselves. As David Leaf states in the introduction to one of the books, "...this isn't intended to be the final word on the subject, it is certainly designed to be an exhaustive historical document that will allow musicologists, musicians and just plain music lovers like myself luxurious insight into a record that in the past few years has frequently topped critics' and readers' polls in England as the greatest album of all-time".

I can really do no better than to use the words of David Leaf again to describe the contents of the 4 CDs included in this box set. "...the first 3 CDs are designed to give you a sense of how Brian and the studio musicians cut the tracks and also give you a unique glimpse into the harmonic magic of the Beach Boys singing....you'll hear highlights from the tracking dates for every song, the final instrumental takes in stereo without vocals and the vocals without the tracks. There are also over a dozen earlier mixes that were shelved, some for obvious reasons, others for cause more cosmic".