Pet Sounds - Stereo [VINYL]

Product Information

As for the stereo vinyl debuts of "The Beach Boys Today", "Summer Days...and Summer Nights", "Beach Boys Party" & "Smiley Smile", there is no reason why Capitol Records themselves couldn't offer those stereo mixes on vinyl. Capitol owns the recordings, after all. Seriously, it’s just Pet Sounds, what are you talking about. Yes, that’s the statement I’ve wanted to make for nearly fifty years now, though I don’t, as I fear the pitchforked mob that would storm my castle late into the night, smash my rather expensive stereo and distribute my precious record collection among themselves. On my pauper’s system ~ Technics SL Q3, Audio Technica (model??), DCM CX-17 bookshelf pair, and Denon crap AVR ~ my NM minus minus DCC copy has got body. I think KG & SH brought out the lows. Ironically, given the love and respect that exists around the world for this album, the 1966 US release failed to achieve the kind of success that had been anticipated or the level of sales achieved by the band’s earlier albums. Pet Sounds made No.10 in the US. In the UK it fared far better, making No.2 on the album charts, the most successful of the band’s albums to that point.

is Pet Sounds so expensive?- Vinyl Engine Why is Pet Sounds so expensive?- Vinyl Engine

I went into this listening session believing that the Carl and the Passions "twofer" offered the best sound. I came away thinking that this new one from "Analogue Productions was overall the very best, though in a few small ways the Carl and the Passions "twofer" was at least as good in some ways, better in some and not as good in others. So, I spent the better part of last evening comparing this latest mono mastering by Kevin Gray at his Cohearent Audio mastering facility, with: 1) a mint original Capitol issue, 2) the Brothers Records "twofer" with Carl and The Passions' So Tough (2MS 2083), 3) The Brothers Records stand-alone reissue (MS 2197), 4) The DCC Compact Classics reissue mastered by Steve Hoffman (cut by Kevin Gray) and the Capitol reissue of a few years ago. This record was the lynch pin around which the recent Brian Wilson bio-pic "Love and Mercy" spun. I highly recommend that movie to anyone who is a Wilson or Beach Boy fan.This record has so often been written about and reviewed that all I want to do here is get to the sound of this recent reissue mastered by Kevin Gray from the original analog tape, and compare it to previous issues. Unbelievable pressing—simply the best sounding record in my collection and one of the best I've ever heard. The stereo 45RPM of Pet Sounds is perfect in every way for all the reasons already stated previously by others.

Again: Pet Sounds 50th anniversary box set on the way Do It Again: Pet Sounds 50th anniversary box set on the way

Over at Hoffman's forums there are serious rumblings of discontent towards Acoustic Sounds/Analog Productions owner Chad Kassem, and even one consumer who professed to be a fan of Kassem's products suggesting that he needs to administered some "tough love" by his customers, and referred to Mr.Kassem as "A Greedy Bugger". It has a crazy dated and needless LH (Large Hole) 1 1/2" die-cut finish, what's wrong with a 4 prong OC (optional Centre) Dinked Centre ( Didn't EMI-Bovema finally realise the needless USA Large Hole die-cuts and go with Dinked OC centres!) You want me to heap praise? Here goes … Both recorded and released in 1966, this record evolves endlessly with each listen, perhaps the first record to be considered a concept, from beginning to end listeners are immersed in an intense linear personal vision arranged around the vagaries of love affairs, the painful introverted anxieties that are the gut wrenching precipitates of the unstable chemistry for most all emotional relationships, where this trenchant ebbing cycle of love songs blisters forth infused with the impact of a shatteringly evocative novel. What, you didn’t know all that? Or perhaps in knowing such details, the record would take on a much darker form.The more recent Capitol edition mastered by Ron McMaster definitely captures the spirit of the original, but the bass is soft and squishy and the distinct instrumental layers are softened and mushed together. Pet Sounds features some of the greatest LA musicians of the period. There are guitarists as varied as, Glen Campbell, Barney Kessel, Tommy Tedesco and Al Casey. On keyboards there’s Larry Knetchel, drummers, Hal Blaine and Jim Gordon along with French Horns, violins, an electric Theremin, and all manner of percussion instruments, including Coca-Cola cans. Listening to Brian encouraging, demanding and cajoling the musicians on the session tapes is like a master class in record production.