Overview: The latest addition to the acclaimed and award winning Classic Albums series tells the story behind the making of The Beach Boys ground breaking album Pet Sounds, which celebrates its 50th anniversary this year.

Blu-ray Verdict: The now infamous Beach Boys album Pet Sounds was recorded in late 1965 and early 1966, about a year after Brian Wilson had withdrawn from playing live with The Beach Boys in order to concentrate on composing and studio work. While the rest of the band were out on tour, Brian Wilson worked in the studio creating multi-layered compositions with painstaking attention to detail utilizing orchestration, sound effects and unusual instruments. When the band returned from tour they went into the studio to add their trademark complex vocal harmonies.

Thus, Pet Sounds - the bands 11th studio album - was released on May 16th, 1966 and, well, gently put it initially met with a rather lukewarm critical and commercial response in the United States. Peaking at #10 on the Billboard 200, a significantly lower placement than the band's preceding albums, in the United Kingdom, the album was hailed by its music press and was an immediate commercial success. Peaking at a hugely successful, and vindicated #2 in the UK Top 40 Albums Chart, it remained among the top ten positions for six months over there.

Pet Sounds has subsequently garnered worldwide acclaim from critics and musicians alike, and is widely considered to be one of the most influential albums in music history. And so, and with Pet Sounds now universally regarded as one of the finest albums of the sixties it most definitely merits its place in the Classic Albums series - which has now brought us this in depth look into the making, and near breaking (points) associated with The Beach Boys and this classic recording.

Personally, before this revealing look into the making of Pet Sounds, my favorite release in the series was always the story behind the making of Peter Gabriel's 1986 album So. Boy, was that chock full of insight, and this Pet Sounds Blu-ray is no shirker with that regard either. Featuring Pet Sounds songs such as "God Only Knows", "Wouldn't It Be Nice", "Sloop John B", "I Know There's An Answer", "Let's Go Away For A While" and "I Just Wasn't Made For These Times", along with over 30 minutes of Bonus Features re: additional interviews not included in the broadcast version, 'The Beach Boys - Pet Sounds' is as gripping a tale, as lyrically entrancing as it ever was - if not now more.

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