"Pet Sounds" is 60!

 

"Pet Sounds" will be celebrating 60 years come May and so, why not reissue the record yet again? This time there will be a number of options, including a "definitive sound" edition for $100, making all previous "definitive" editions...umm...undefinitive. There will be a 2 LP set featuring both a stereo and mono mix. There will be a sessions set featuring a cappella tracks, alternates, etc.. And there will be a special Zoetrope vinyl edition which plays the audio from "Pet Sounds" while showing visuals from Coppola's "Rumble Fish" A good time is guaranteed for all.

Taken whole, it's hard to argue the brilliance of "Pet Sounds," but I will anyway. First, I've ranked the songs on "Pet Sounds" from favorite to least favorite.

God Only Knows

Caroline, No

Wouldn't It Be Nice

Don't Talk

I Just Wasn't Made For These Times

You Still Believe In Me

Sloop John B
Here Today

Let's Go Away For Awhile

I Know There's An Answer

I'm Waiting For The Day

Pet Sounds

That's Not Me

The issue I've always had with "Pet Sounds" is that there are far better songs on other Beach Boys records than these seven:

 

Sloop John B

Let's Go Away For Awhile

I Know There's An Answer

I'm Waiting For The Day

Here Today

Pet Sounds

That's Not Me

 

Take these four from "Today," for instance.

 

When I Grow Up
Please Let Me Wonder
Kiss Me Baby
She Knows Me Too Well 

 

Or, these four from "Summer Days."

Girl Don't Tell Me
California Girls
Let Him Run Wild
You're So Good To Me

 

The problem is, the rest of the tracks on "Summer Days" and "Today" can't hold a candle to any of the 13 on "Pet Sounds," not even the two instrumentals, which I think are gorgeous.

 

If asked what my favorite Beach Boys album was, I'd say "Pet Sounds" in a flash. If asked for my favorite records of all time, "Pet Sounds" would be in the Top 20. And though I reach for both "Summer Days" and "Today" more often than "Pet Sounds," I don't think either would even crack my Top 100 of all time.

 

How's that for confusing? 

 

 

 

Hello Newmans

 

 

Today we conclude what inadvertently became rare singles week, with a track I first shared back in 2017.

Up top, we have Randy Newman's classic "Last Night I Had A Dream," a song I'll assume many are familiar with.

But how about the single version below? This version goes against everything Randy Newman stands for. In a ten year old interview with Newman, he talks about writing for an orchestra and shying away from electric instruments because even using a drummer "feels like cheating." Well, this 1968 version, sounding more like The Electric Prunes meet The Beatles in "Revolution" mode, is cheating like Bill Clinton on four Red Bulls.

If memory serves, I think I read another interview with Newman where he said he absolutely hated the single version.

I love it!
 

Shimmy

 

 

From 1961 and their short stint at Atlantic Records, here are The Isley Brothers with "Teach Me How To Shimmy." 

I was digging this groove having no clue who I was listening to. I was surprised to find out it was The Isleys. This record, at least to my ears, sounds like nothing the Brothers did before or anything (really) like the Tamla sides that came a few years later. "Shimmy" was a b-side to a version of "Jeepers Creepers" cut with the Ray Ellis Orchestra. I guess The Isleys tried everything once.

The Fab Fabs

 

Here's something great from Florida. No really. Check out Miami's Fabulettes and their 1966 miss, "Screamin' & Shoutin'."

This record is a monster! 

Jerkin' At The Lounge

 

I was listening to Jr. Walker & The All- Stars' 1969 release "Home Cookin'," one of my favorite non-comp Motown records and it brought me back to The Jerk Lounge, the home studio of Cool Jerks' rhythm guitar player John Peden. The band covered "The Things I Do For You" from "Home Cookin'," though it didn't stay in the set very long. 

We didn't cover "Hip City," but this track was too hot to not share.

In the meantime, I put together a mix of a typical Cool Jerks set. Originals, of course. I would not subject you to our versions. It's posted over HERE, if you're interested. If not, at least dig "Hip City," and all of "Home Cookin'," if you've got the time.

 

 

Songs Of The Week, 2026: 3/14-3/20

 

Tell That Girl To Shut Up- Holly & The Italians
I'm Shakin'- Little Willie John
Hurry Sundown- Little Richard
Mary- Olive Jones
Silver Naked Ladies- Paul Westerberg
Keep Your Hands On The Wheel- Roy Wood
All The Way- Frank Sinatra

zip

 

Tell That Girl To Shut Up- Holly & The Italians
(This is the one song everyone remembers by Holly & The Italians. And it's a great single, for sure. But I listened to the whole album for the first time in 40 years and there are a half dozen more great songs on "The Right To Be Italian." Still, I went with the hit.)

I'm Shakin'- Little Willie John
(A rare case where I think the cover by The Blasters is better than the original. But we don't get to hear Little Willie John enough, so...)

Hurry Sundown- Little Richard
(Preach!)

Mary- Olive Jones
(Loving this new record from Olive Jones. As a matter of fact, a number of readers are feeling the same way.)

Silver Naked Ladies- Paul Westerberg
(One of fourteen great songs on "14 Songs.)

Keep Your Hands On The Wheel- Roy Wood
(How's this for a version of The Move-- Roy Wood, Carl Wayne and John Bonham. Well, that's what you get on this pop gem.)

All The Way- Frank Sinatra 
("Taller than the tallest tree is/That's how it's got to feel/Deeper than the deep blue sea is/That's how deep it goes if it's real."