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Post by karmafrog on Mar 8, 2024 11:38:49 GMT -5
The latest episode of PET SQUARES: A GEEK'S GUIDE TO THE BEACH BOYS is finally up: PET SQUARES #19 is the first of a planned 7-part series of eps devoted to what may be the deepest, most comprehensive dive into the Beach Boys' masterpiece PET SOUNDS available on youTube. Even though the album has been analyzed plenty by many, PET SQUARES' goal is (as always) to offer new perspectives on this classic work. Part 1 "Finding A Direction" talks about what Brian was (and wasn't) up to in the months leading up to PET SOUNDS, his collaboration with Tony Asher, and the lyrical themes on the album. The next episode will spotlight the band's and the label's reactions to the music, and the episodes to follow will be deep-dive music and song-by-song analysis. Enjoy, and comments are always welcome...ones on youTube always help goose the algorithm. My humble little channel just hit 2K subscribers so, many thanks to all who subscribed and also are patrons of the channel. It has taken awhile to get this up, but the goal as always to do a good job. The next two episodes are already filmed so hopefully they will follow before too long. Thanks all! |
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Post by jk on Mar 8, 2024 13:25:45 GMT -5
So, you've taken the plunge! I can imagine the prospect of tackling Pet Sounds was pretty daunting. Chapeau, as they say in France.  Really looking forward to watching this at the weekend.  |
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Post by AGD on Mar 8, 2024 14:41:47 GMT -5
Watched it earlier, excellent intro, very much looking forward to the next installment.
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Post by jk on Mar 9, 2024 17:38:19 GMT -5
Fantastic, Adam. I remember you voicing your fears about how best to approach this album but it's clear already that those fears were unfounded.
It took a short while to latch on to your train of thought (as in, where's he going with this?), but once I did it all made the most perfect sense. What a feat to sustain the arc of your discourse for close to an hour with so few hiccups -- and with no musical examples! I can't wait for part two.
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Post by Autotune on Mar 10, 2024 9:08:52 GMT -5
Fantastic episode of what promises to be an essential closeup on the album!
Your breakdown to Brian’s 1965 got me thinking that perhaps we should allow some room for speculating that those long, silent months with practically no studio activity were probably used to craft a lot of the chord progressions, melodies and overall musical ideas that were later worked with Asher. I think it would be a little too bold to assert that Brian exploded in musical ideas for the new album only once Asher rang his doorbell at 9:30 am some January morning. The 1964 credit to I’m waiting for the day, for instance, betrays that probably a considerable number of compositional ideas were conceived before Asher showing up at Brian’s. Anyway, all this to say that Brian’s silent months were probably devoted to songwriting by himself at the piano..
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Post by E on Mar 10, 2024 14:10:08 GMT -5
Terrific, Adam. Thanks for posting it.
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Post by karmafrog on Mar 10, 2024 15:27:04 GMT -5
Fantastic episode of what promises to be an essential closeup on the album! Your breakdown to Brian’s 1965 got me thinking that perhaps we should allow some room for speculating that those long, silent months with practically no studio activity were probably used to craft a lot of the chord progressions, melodies and overall musical ideas that were later worked with Asher. I think it would be a little too bold to assert that Brian exploded in musical ideas for the new album only once Asher rang his doorbell at 9:30 am some January morning. The 1964 credit to I’m waiting for the day, for instance, betrays that probably a considerable number of compositional ideas were conceived before Asher showing up at Brian’s. Anyway, all this to say that Brian’s silent months were probably devoted to songwriting by himself at the piano.. Mmm, I hear you, but I'm skeptical. As you point out, I'm Waiting For The Day was already written prior to '65. We know "God Only Knows" was written in January or February and written very quickly by Brian's account; likewise Asher indicates "Ego/Answer" was written with Terry Sachen in the midst of their collaboration. Asher also suggests he contributed musically to "That's Not Me" and talks of the composition process for "Here Today" as if it was ongoing during their collaboration. "Don't Talk" on the other hand did exist in some form in late '65, and we know "Wouldn't It Be Nice" existed prior to Asher putting words to it. So those would be a couple for the pre-Asher writing theory, and then you have "In My Childhood" and "Pet Sounds" and maybe "Let's Go Away For Awhile." But it seems like we're talking about a pool of potentially 5 or 6 songs, max, if we exclude all the ones where we have evidence Brian composed during Asher's tenure. I agree he might have been trying out melodies and chords and such, but that isn't really coming up with a song or making an album until you organize them into an overall form (as SMILE taught us!). Brian had been doing that all along, and coming up with a lot more material with a lot less free time on his hands prior to that. It really is not a lot of output given the amount of time and space he had to work with between June-December 1965. I'm sure he was doing *something*, but I think it's too quickly hand-waved away as "thinking and planning for the album." Sure, he was, but not in a very focused or productive way, until December 1965. I really think the lack of a suitable collaborator might be as much of a culprit as (possibly) drug use. Once Brian found Tony, things started moving really fast. |
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