The All-TIME 100 Albums: Pet Sounds by The Beach Boys

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The All-TIME 100 Albums

89 of 101

By Josh Tyrangiel Published: November 13, 2006

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ALBUM: Pet Sounds

YEAR RELEASED: 1966 LABEL: DCC ARTIST: The Beach Boys

TIME 100 ALBUMS PODCASTS

PODCAST: Welcome to the All-TIME 100 Albums - the musical compilations of the last half-century that need no introduction. That said, listen in below as music critics Josh Tyrangiel and Alan Light introduce the list and talk about the top albums of the 1950s and '60s.

PODCAST: We know. Twenty-nine of the 100 greatest albums of all time come in the 1970s, and Pink Floyd isn't there. Play this podcast to learn why we picked the titles we did, and if you have something to say, tell us about it using the talkback link below.

PODCAST: Maybe it's a Sign O' The Times that you're listening to critics' audio recordings about great music, but this podcast about how we chose the best albums of the 1980s really is a Thriller. Give it a listen below.

PODCAST: Here's music even the younger set will know by heart. Listen to selected clips from the 1990s through present day as music critic Josh Tyrangiel discusses his picks.

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All of the original Beach Boys sang on Pet Sounds, but from the very beginning this was Brian Wilson's autocratic attempt to recreate the noises in his head. Laying the groundwork for the Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band a year later, Wilson plundered orchestra pits for new instruments and obsessed over the layering of what may be the most perfect harmonies in rock history. At the time of its release, Pet Sounds was a commercial disappointment, largely because it broke from the unadulterated chirpiness of the Beach Boys' early work. "Wouldn't It Be Nice" and "God Only Knows" teeter on the edge between adolescent euphoria and adult lament, while "I Just Wasn't Made For These Times" provided what was to become Wilson's defining lyric: "Sometimes I feel very sad."