PET SQUARES #18: Party Side 2 + Little Girl I Once Knew

It's fun though.  Mark A. Moore helped out to get the most accurate story possible of Dean's involvement.  Also we talk about Bruce's and Dennis' differing opinions of Dean's performance.

Thank you.  I'm going to try to do more of those kinds of things when I get to PET SOUNDS.  I also think it's fun to explore some of the ambiguities in the music.  We all like a good mystery.

I think you might be on to something.  I was going through those same charts and was very surprised to see "Barbara Ann" debuting on the week TLGIOK peaked, which means Capitol had to have released it while the single was still climbing...it had gone from 32 to 26 (just as you say) and then to 21, and it must have been out by then at latest.  So there's reason to think the song might have climbed higher if Capitol hadn't stomped on it with "Barbara Ann."  Though a commenter pointed out to me that the band played BA on their Jack Benny appearance in October, so they may have been hedging their bets (though it's a vastly easier song to perform, of course).


I was doing some research for the PET SOUNDS ep and was shocked to see that "Wouldn't It Be Nice" didn't come out as a single until July, two months after the album dropped, and after PET SOUNDS had been supplanted by BEST OF THE BEACH BOYS.  Just looking at the timeline, there's a very strong case to be made that Capitol itself made PET SOUNDS' relative commercial failure a self-fulfilling prophecy.  I think Capitol was probably right in its commercial instincts but it seems with their pattern of releases against the band's wishes, they were making *sure* they would be right.  THE LITTLE GIRL I ONCE KNEW probably would have climbed higher if "Barbara Ann" was delayed a few weeks, and PET SOUNDS probably would have gone higher if they'd released WIBN earlier, and the BEST OF later.  (They also shot themselves in the foot because the "Best Of" really could have been helpful to release during the long wait for SMILE)

I dunno.  While the production is schmick!+, and the song aspires to be quite groovy, it's also a bit on the thin side - like Dance, Dance, Dance the big promisees birthed in the great riffs don't pan out, meaning things don't quite move into the next level, imo.

And the la-doo-day stuff is a bit lame.

I'll get my coat, ticket 4!

Dead air certainly belongs in inverted commas, since there's a vibraphone note admittedly decaying the way vibraphone notes do but still highly audible throughout those few seconds on both occasions.

Curious to see what Adam has to say on the subject...

See the songs-sounds-sources thread in the non-BB section for more from SB on the subject of Mr Rydell and the influence his songs had on Brian's compositions.

I loved She's Just My Style when it came out. But, as a production, it doesn't come close to what Brian did with TLGIOK. It's Leon Russell flexing on what he learned from Brian during the Summer Days session; it's a pastiche.
Just My Style is very straight forward: Intro, Verse, Prechorus, Chorus, Solo, ending with Chorus variation fade. 
TLGIOK is way more involved than that, structurally and harmonically. 
 

Yes, and I wondered at various artists doing the same thing at pretty much the same time unless there were common musicians (maybe session) talking about whatever technique it was.  

You are 100% correct on the timing but where would you put it? It wouldn't fit Party - and it wouldn't fit Pet Sounds either.  But it is kind of an orphan in the grand scheme of things.  But great to hear it discussed.  It's a great song in my book. Wasn't there some trend emerging not to put singles on LPs? Maybe Beatles?

Fantastic episode! Thanks

Great episode there, Adam. I'm not a fan of Party!, although it should be common knowledge by now that the 45 of "Barbara Ann" is one of my all-time favourite BB songs and high on my list of singles by anyone. So thank you for the deep dive into this and the awesome "TLGIOK" (which has my favourite Party! track on the flip). 

I've never understood the problem with the stops in "TLGIOK". How about The Yardbirds' "For Your Love"? This stops and changes tempo twice and you never heard raised voices about that!

Good luck with, well, the next album! I really feel it should be divided into at least four episodes, out of respect if nothing else. That said, if anyone can carry this off, it's you.    

This Could Be The Night entered Brian's head before he recorded TLGIOK. He immediately put the influence it had on him to work.