The Beach Boys

Paul McCartney and George Martin admit that without Pet Sounds there would have been no Sgt. Peppers. No collection should be without it.

Pet Sounds was only ever really released in mono and it has taken Brian Wilson and Capitol Records 35 years to supervise the release of a stereo version. Engineers Mark Linett and Joe Gastwirt have gone back to the original mastertapes and constructed a stereo version. Now the whole album sounds new and fresh with rich bass and sparkling highs.

Pet Sounds opens with the familiar pings of soundtrack favourite Wouldn’t It Be Nice, followed by a harpsichord on the impossibly pretty You Still Believe In Me that compliments those beautifully arranged harmony vocals. The Burt Bacharach style instrumental Lets Go Away For Awhile is beautifully clear and the A side ends with the stunning vocal arrangements of Sloop John B.

The power of the wonderfully touching God Only Knows was used to full effect in the film Love Actually, while the carnival comes to town with I Know There’s An Answer. Brian Wilson explores brand new love affairs on Here Today - followed hotfoot by what many feel is his inadvertent signature song - I Just Wasn’t Made For These Times. The truly lovely finisher Caroline No rounds off a bona fide masterpiece.

Few albums rise above cult status – but some enter into the history books and the heart – and Pet Sounds is one of those rare creatures – glorious it seems in either mono or stereo.