Pet Sounds

Recognized as one of the most influential records in the history of popular music and one of the best albums of the 1960s. Inspired by the Beatles' 1965 release, Rubber Soul, Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys wanted to create the "greatest record ever". The result was Pet Sounds (1966), where Wilson's growing mastery of studio recording and his increasingly sophisticated songs and complex arrangements would reach a creative peak. Influenced by psychedelic drugs, Brian Wilson turned his attention inward and probe his deep-seated self-doubts and emotional longings. The album's meticulously layered harmonies and inventive instrumentation set a new standard for pop and rock music. Wilson was a pioneer of the 'studio as instrument' concept, exploiting novel combinations of sounds that sprang from the use of multiple electric instruments and voices in an ensemble and combining them with echo and reverberation. He often doubled bass, guitar and keyboard parts, blending them with reverberation and adding other unusual instruments.