What's the best track on "Pet Sounds"?

I Just Wasn't Made for These Times and Caroline, No are tempting choices, but -- predictably, boringly -- I went with God Only Knows (if only for the way it was used in the Boogie Nights Soundtrack).

I'm Mike Love.

I was looking at the list and thinking this was tough, but yeah, "God Only Knows" makes it not so tough.

God Only Knows, easy

God Only Knows surely is sentimental - I based my vote on what do I sing more when I listen and what sticks in my head more afterwards ... and that would be ... Sloop John B.

I'm Waiting for the Day

"You Still Believe In Me" for the heart-breakingly perfect wordless vocal section. "I'm Waiting For The Day" for the blustering testosterone coda. "Sloop John B" for the part where everything but the voices drops out. "I Know There's An Answer" for "They isolate their heads and stay in their safety zones." And so on...

Don't Talk (Put Your Head On My Shoulder) has always been my favourite. Also I really really like the instrumentals.

God Only Knows surely is sentimental

yeah it kind of stands out from the album in that way...

As with lots of other people, there are lots of songs that I'm tempted to vote for, but "God Only Knows" is just too strong not to vote for.

my first thought was 'god only knows,' but then i sang it to myself, then sang 'wouldn't it be nice' and i had to give it the nod. god only knows is masterful, but 'wouldn't it be nice' has that pop element that only brian wilson could pull off. and the sugary lyrics are just something you can't find anywhere else when done that well. it's as if wilson knew it was the pinnacle of the beach boys first phase, so he put it right there up front so he could then go on with the far more sophisticated sound on the rest of the album.

I bought Pet Sounds for "Wouldn't It Be Nice" and after a few years of listening, that's still my favorite. "God Only Knows" is a close contender whole different animal but just as perfect and it'll be interesting to see which one of these wins and by what margin.

My favorite overall moment on Pet Sounds - and probably the whole Beach Boys canon - is the a cappella breakdown in Sloop John B.

Any other day I might have voted for "God Only Knows" but "Wouldn't It Be Nice" came up on shuffle earlier and I've been singing it all day since.

Yeah, I think Wouldn't It Be Nice is still my favourite. I guess I hear it not just as an overture for the album, but as a two-and-half-minute summary of pop music itself.

I'm Waiting For The Day comes second. I love its peculiar dynamics, especially the way it picks up and gets all bolshy at the end.

I love Wouldn't it Be Nice, God Only Knows, Don't Talk, and I Just Wasn't Made for These Times, but ultimately I've gotta go with You Still Believe in Me.

It's a fucking awful walnut-varnish record.

The only interesting thing about it is that it breaks the as-then usual Beach Boys cover photo-literalism.

i.e. Beach Boys holding surfboards = songs about surfing
Beach Boys in cars = songs about cars

Why doesn't this record have songs called "Feeding Mammals USA", "Gnu City", "Zoo's Up" etc? It would be much better if it did.

What's the best track on this, that, nya nya nya who gives a fuck? Every poll thread needs that answer inside of it and I'm glad to provide it here.

Knee jerk response - "I Wasn't Made For These Times"
Honestly though - "You Still Believe In Me"

OMG MY MIND CANNOT HANDLE THE CONTRARIANY VIEWS

xposts

wouldn't it be nice. lol @ the mike love option

hmm. i thought i was being more than a little iconoclastic with my heartfelt vote for "sloop john B". as is so often the case, someone summed the whole thing up brilliantly first:

My favorite overall moment on Pet Sounds - and probably the whole Beach Boys canon - is the a cappella breakdown in Sloop John B

seconded.

"That's Not Me"

he misses his pet, for god's sake!

i hear it as "pad"... or are you being funny?

"Pet Sounds" --- total Jack Nietchze(sp?)-ish psychedelic space surf jam.

The only interesting thing about it is that it breaks the as-then usual Beach Boys cover photo-literalism.

Wouldn't It Be Mice
Gnu Still Believe In Me
Bats Not Me

...I give up.

sidebar: is the remaster of this signif better than the old cd?

OMG, you're right, it is "pad"...I always thought it was "pet"...(I wish it were "pet", though...damn, now I don't like it as much)...

"That's Not Me" is worth a vote anyway!

Wouldn't It Be Nice

i'm going to vote for 'let's go away for awhile' because i would have to vote for 'god only knows' if i were honest, but that's going to win anyway and LGAFA is my other favorite.

I'm Waiting For The Day has one of my favorite hooks of all time. The part where the volume drops and the lyrics are "I know you cried, and you felt blue..." is just drop-dead gorgeous.

the last bit in let's go away for awhile does the same thing for me.. the strummed acoustic into pizzicato break like all the bubbles in the world popping and then the strings come in crying and the timpani thud and it's like i'm seeing heaven. absolutely breathtaking.

"Pet Sounds" --- total Jack Nietchze(sp?)-ish psychedelic space surf jam.

-- Steve Shasta, Monday, 27 August 2007 15:47 (Yesterday) Link

I just finished watching One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest for the first time and thought "hey, that sounds like Pet Sounds". Uncanny. "Pet Sounds" was originally going to be called "Run James, Run" I think.

Sloop John B

ah, whatever. I voted for "Caroline, No," because that seems the most delicate, plus it's actually always been my favorite. "Sloop John B." is just as geniused as the rest of the genius stuff on this famed record, though.

I love "God Only Knows". I'm a sap :)

You Still Believe In Me

I'll give "I Know there's an Answer" the much needed love it deserves.

Sloop John B is tempting but gotta go with Caroline, No, no? Yes.

I'm Mike Love.

-- If Assholes Could Fly This Place Would Be An Airport, Sunday, August 26, 2007

WHO?!?!

Since everyone is gonna vote for God Only Knows anyway, I'm gonna go for Let's Go Away. Yeah, I know. Leave me alone.

Wouldn't it be Nice?

wouldn't it be nice mildly amusing if everyone didn't vote for God Only Knows, on account of everyone else voting for it, and something else won. I voted for Don't Talk.., I'm not quite sure why. It's great, but I think I actually prefer Let's Go Away. Poll has made me try and sing the record in my head all day, and I'll listen to it when I get home, so that's all good.

Pleased to see people voting for Sloop John B, as I always thought it was hated on ILX. I like it just fine, especially the "Yeah, yeah" bits.

faves are GOK, Wouldn't it be Nice, Don't Talk, Sloop John B, Caroline No. Voted for GOK -- but in actuality, Pet Sounds is kind of my own personal Sgt Pepper, in that it was never my fave BBs album, and tho it's easy to see why it's such a hallowed record (and I do like it), I really don't listen to it that much these days.

and I guess that just makes Sgt Pepper my own personal 5th or 6th best Beatles record

Yeah, it's generally agreed to be their best, but not everyone's favourite. I think I've played it too much to give it a fresh context in my mind and besides I really like Smiley Smile cos it's all autumnal and weird.

yep, Smiley Smile/Wild Honey split is my fave BBs, followed by Friends/20/20

caroline no, but it wasnt easy to choose

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

The best part is the instrumental bit in Don't Talk with the bass drums and the strings.

Caroline

Sloop John B

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

Of course everyone voting for something else didn't make an ounce of difference.

I'm sad about Here Today only getting one vote, but I guess that is all my faultings.