This is an example of one of the songs found on Rubber Soul:
It is called I'm Looking Through You and for me resembles a lot of the music from the Beach Boys
Friday, April 29, 2011
From Rubber Soul --> To Pet Sounds
Pet Sounds was the eleventh album released by the American rock band The Beach Boys on May 16, 1966. Initially meant to be called Run James, Run as a suggestion for a James Bond movie, the idea of Pet Sounds came to Brian Wilson several months after he quit touring with the band in order to focus his attention on writing and recording. Brian made the album consist of elaborate layers of vocal harmony and cool sound effects and unconventional instruments such as: Bicycle bells, buzzing organs, harpsichords, flutes, electro-theremin, dog whistles, Hawaiian sounding instruments, coca cola cans, barking dogs, and the usual keyboard and guitars.
Wilson was inspired to make Pet Sounds by another album of the late 1960s Rubber Soul. Once Wilson heard Rubber Soul he contacted Tony Asher, a young lyricist and copywriter who had been working on advertising jingles, and began writing the whole album of Pet Sounds as Tony rearranged the lyrics to make them fit the jingles he would create.
Mike Love was co-credited for writing Wouldn’t It Be Nice and I Know There’s an Answer. Terry Sachen on the other hand, the road manager of the band, also co-wrote I Know There’s an Answer.
When the other Beach Boys returned from their tour in Hawaii and Japan, Brian presented them with a radical change from their earlier endeavors at songs. After much hard work, the single finally managed to reach 32nd in the US and was a huge success in Britain, coming in second!
The album also consists of a bonus tracks such as Hang on to Your Ego, Unreleased Backgrounds, and Trombone Dixie.
Irony of Wouldn't It Be Nice Revealed!
The irony of the production of this song is that although it is viewed as happy, at the time when it was written, Brian Wilson was actually going through a hard time in his marriage with his wife Marylin. It’s ironic because in the song Brian states, “We could get married and we’d be happy.” However, he was married and was deeply unhappy!
Wouldn't It Be Nice
The 1966 number eight hit in the US Wouldn’t It Be Nice is the first song to start off one of the greatest records of all times, Pet Sounds. Throughout the entire song you will note the use of two accordions being played at the same time and being mixed together in a new, innovative manner no other artist has endeavored before. The accordions are accompanied alongside two guitars as well that are playing against each other into one harmony, joined with the usual bass drums and pianos.
The bridge in this song is a masterpiece. It was a difficult task for the Beach Boys to sing two different bridges simultaneously, especially because in reality, neither of the band members new the “actual words” to the bridge, so each Beach Boy made up his own words…! Sundry versions of this song were produced due to the continuous changing of the bridge.
Once the song was finished, Brian Wilson decided to show it to Paul McCartney from the Beatles. At this time, Paul was creating Revolver and was gravely affected by the tunes and instrumental structure of the song. It was because of the Beach Boys that Paul transferred the vibes and tunes within Wouldn’t It Be Nice to the Beatles song Here, There, and Everywhere.
This song truly portrays the craziness of youth and the rush people get when they believe they are “in love.” There are some hints in the song about physical desire between the two characters noted in the lines, “Then we wouldn’t have to wait so long,” but at its core, the song is about two young people considering one another each other’s passionate utopia. The reason they could be hinting to wanting to be older is that they are having some troubles with their parents and desire to escape the real world as noted in the lines, “In the kind of world where we belong.”
I absolutely LOVE this song because now a days, it seems as if all love songs have to be crammed with sexual connotations, when in reality a song as simple as Wouldn’t It Be Nice, can denote the same strong feelings but in a charming, loving, dreary and more innocent manner.
MUSIC VIDEO:
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
The Beach Boys vs. The Beatles
The 1960s were an ongoing battle not only between generation gaps and counter culture, but among musicians as well. As the 1960s begin to utilize music as a universal language some of the greatest bands of all times arose such as the Beatles and the Beach Boys. When thinking about these two bands, one has a hard time deciding which one has a deeper meaning to their songs, and although many believe the Beatles to be the greatest band of the 1960s, I would like to place the Beach Boys right alongside them, at par.
One of the Beach Boys most prominent albums is Pet Sounds. Overall, this album much like the Beatles Revolver is an odd album complete with both ambivalence and contradictions. It is at this point that the five Beach Boys, Al Jardine, Mike Love, Brian, Carl, and Dennis Wilson, reach the zenith of their career. The album feature two major radio hits: Wouldn’t It Be Nice and Sloop John B along with Brian’s best recording ever God Only Knows. Personally, I believe the album’s mixing of not only instruments but strange sounds such as bicycle bells as well has rendered Pet Sounds the best pop album ever made.
However, much like the Beatles whom people deem have created some of the best albums ever made, people cannot deny experiencing this intense lack of joy and this sensation of alienation within the lyrics of Pet Sounds. Ironic names are given to titles of the songs within Pet Sounds such as Smile, which in reality speaks about the end of a teenage life and the desire to transcend its limitations. Although the song’s lyrics might be despondent and gloomy, ironically the title and melody is harmonious. Even the number one song Wouldn’t It Be Nice trickles with negative connotations. The title intends it to be an optimistic song, however the lyrics permeate with frustration and the inability of a teenager in love to control his own life and spend the night with his lover.
Most of the substance found within Pet Sounds is full of multifarious emotions and matters that go beyond the narrow-minded conception of a typical teenager. The album deals with sophisticated themes such as life’s limitations, the inability to see hope in difficult situations, and the fading of optimism within the society of 1960s. At its core, Pet Sounds to me is equivalent to the album of the Beatles and deserves the same recognition for it is an album that has not only sent sundry imperative themes to society but has also chosen to take a path of music that generally was not taken by the music bands of the 1960s.
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