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}} ''Pet Sounds'' is the eleventh studio album by the American rock band the Beach Boys. Released on May 16, 1966, it initially met a lukewarm critical and commercial reception in the United States, but received immediate success abroad, where British publications declared it "the most progressive pop album ever". It charted at number two in the UK but number ten in the US, a significantly lower placement than the band's preceding albums.〔(【引用サイトリンク】 title =Pet Sounds Billboard charts )〕 In later years, ''Pet Sounds'' garnered enormous worldwide acclaim by critics and musicians alike, and is regarded as one of the most influential albums in the history of popular music. The album was produced and arranged by Brian Wilson, who also wrote and composed almost all of its music, with an unprecedented budget exceeding $70,000 (today over $). Sessions were conducted several months after he had quit touring with the Beach Boys in order to focus his attention on writing and recording. Collaborating with lyricist Tony Asher, Wilson's symphonic arrangements wove elaborate layers of vocal harmonies, coupled with sound effects and unconventional instruments such as bicycle bells, buzzing organs, harpsichords, flutes, Electro-Theremin, dog whistles, trains, Hawaiian-sounding string instruments, Coca-Cola cans and barking dogs, along with the more usual keyboards and guitars. Together, they comprised Wilson's "pet sounds", incorporating elements of jazz, exotica, classical, and the avant-garde. It was led by the singles "Wouldn't It Be Nice" (b/w "God Only Knows") and "Sloop John B", while Wilson made his solo debut with "Caroline, No", issued a few months earlier. Due to its highly personal, artistic nature, ''Pet Sounds'' is sometimes considered a Brian Wilson solo album in all but name. A heralding work in the emerging psychedelic rock style, ''Pet Sounds'' signaled an aesthetic trend within rock by transforming it from dance music into music that was made for listening to, elevating itself to the level of art rock. It was one of the first rock concept albums, and has been suggested to follow a lyrical song cycle format,〔 although Wilson has maintained that the album's real unified theme lies within its cohesive production style. Writer Bill Martin said that within ''Pet Sounds'', "(Beach Boys ) brought expansions in harmony, instrumentation (and therefore timbre), duration, rhythm, and the use of recording technology. Of these elements, the first and last were the most important in clearing a pathway toward the development of progressive rock." Beyond pop and rock, ''Pet Sounds'' expanded the field of music production. In 1993, it was named the greatest album of all time by ''NME'' magazine and ''The Times'',〔(【引用サイトリンク】 title =The Times All Time Top 100 Albums )〕 and in 1995 by ''Mojo'' magazine.〔(【引用サイトリンク】 title =The 100 Greatest Albums Ever Made )〕 In 2003, ''Rolling Stone'' ranked it second on its list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=500 Greatest Albums of All Time: The Beach Boys, 'Pet Sounds' )〕 In 2004, ''Pet Sounds'' was preserved in the National Recording Registry by the Library of Congress for being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant."〔(【引用サイトリンク】url=http://www.loc.gov/rr/record/nrpb/registry/nrpb-2004reg.html )〕 In 1997, ''The Pet Sounds Sessions'' was released containing instrumental tracks, vocals-only tracks, alternate mixes, outtakes, and edited recording session highlights, as well as the album's first true stereo mix. == Background == The July 1964 release of the Beach Boys' sixth studio album ''All Summer Long'' marked an end to the group's beach-themed period. From there on, their recorded material would take a significantly different stylistic and lyrical path. While on a December 23 flight from Los Angeles to Houston, the band's songwriter and producer, Brian Wilson, suffered a panic attack only hours after performing with the group on the musical variety series ''Shindig!'' Though the 22-year-old Wilson had already skipped several concert tours by then, the airplane episode proved devastating to his psyche. In order to focus his efforts on writing and recording, Wilson indefinitely resigned from live performances. Freed from the burden, he immediately showcased great artistic leaps in his musical development evident within ''Today!'' and ''Summer Days (And Summer Nights!!)'', released in the spring and summer of 1965. With the July 1965 single "California Girls," Wilson began experimenting with song composition while under the influence of psychedelic drugs, a factor that yielded a great effect on the group's musical conceptions. The folk rocker "Sloop John B" predated the rest of ''Pet Sounds'' by several months. It was a traditional Caribbean folk song that had been suggested to Wilson by bandmate Al Jardine. Wilson recorded a backing track on July 12, 1965, but after laying down a rough lead vocal, he set the song aside for some time, concentrating on the recording of what became their next LP, the informal studio jam ''Beach Boys' Party!'', in response to their record company's request for a Beach Boys album for the Christmas 1965 market. Wilson devoted the last three months of 1965 to polishing the vocals of "Sloop John B" and recording six new original compositions. What would become ''Pet Sounds'' could not be finished in time for Christmas 1965. |source=—Brian Wilson}} Halfway through the ''Pet Sounds'' sessions, Wilson became enamored with the Beatles' latest album ''Rubber Soul'' (the U.S. version that was configured by Capitol Records to have a cohesive folk rock sound). Wilson found ''Rubber Soul'' to lack filler tracks, which was mostly unheard of at a time when 45 rpm singles were considered more noteworthy than full-length LPs. Many albums up until the late-1960s lacked a cohesive artistic goal and were largely used to sell singles at a higher price point. Wilson's previous habits, evident in ''Today!'' and ''Summer Days,'' were to sacrifice portions of the album with lesser, superficial material. Wilson found that ''Rubber Soul'' subverted this by having a wholly consistent thread of music. Inspired, he rushed to his wife and proclaimed, "Marilyn, I'm gonna make the greatest album! The greatest rock album ever made!" In late 1965, Wilson met Tony Asher working at a recording studio in Los Angeles. Asher was at the time a young lyricist and copywriter who had been working on advertising jingles. The two exchanged ideas for songs. Soon after, Wilson heard of Asher's writing abilities from mutual friends, proceeded to contact him about a possible lyric collaboration, and within ten days, they were writing together. Wilson played him some of the music he had been recording and gave him a cassette of the backing track for a piece with the working title "In My Childhood." Although it had lyrics, Wilson refused to show them to Asher. The result of Asher's tryout was eventually retitled "You Still Believe in Me," and the success of the piece convinced Wilson that Asher was the wordsmith he had been looking for. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Pet Sounds」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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