I'm going to throw out another suggestion. You might like "Something Else By The Kinks" The songs Waterloo Sunset and Afternoon Tea are very English, but they have kind of the same feeling as a lot of stuff on Pet Sounds.

Of course the real SMiLE is pretty darn good too.

Thankyou for all of the replies so far.

I haven't heard anything from The Millennium, I'll check them out.

I should have thought of O&O, I love the Zombies and this is a great example of something that has similarities yet is still unique, the melody, harmony and arrangments are all there, but it's also quite baroque. The opening lines 'Wouldn't it be nice...' and 'Good morning to you...' are used very similarly too, they give you an immediate sense of joy. I got that Zombie Heaven box set a while back, but there's only a handful of tracks that I find comparable to anything on O&O.

I have all of the Kinks and loads of SMiLE bootlegs too, I can see what you mean with Something Else by the Kinks, they started using some lovely harmonies and some nicer arrangements.

What do you think of Harry Nilsson?

Jo,

Funny you should mention Nilsson because I almost suggested him. The Beatles thought he was the best American songwriter/performer of the late 60s. I recently got the soundtrack to The Point which has some great stuff on it. "Think About Your Troubles" is really good and has kind of a Pet Sounds feel.

Neo,

This is sacrilegious, but I'm not as excited about Brian Wilson's smile as most people. I like the harmony vocals in the Beach Boys' bootlegs better.

I also prefer the stuff that was released in the '60s, but SMiLE is definitely great too. I haven't really heard a lot of bootlegs from the original SMiLE (just one, actually), could you recommend one? In the link you gave the person who posted the blog says it's far from the best one save for the Surf's Up version.

I think the overall best one is the Purple Chick version. Some of the real fanatics don't like it because it is so closely modeled after Brian Wilson's Smile and actually incorporates parts of BWS.

Another good one is the version by DJ Mic Luv. It has pretty good sound. You can pick a chose different tracks from these two to make a pretty good Beach Boys Smile. Both can be found and downloaded with a little searching on the net. (Google's blog search works well). There are some Beach Boys blogs that feature downloads of several different version.

There’s one late ‘60s album that seems to go ignored whenever this topic arises. And in all of my time on this forum, I can’t remember seeing anyone comment on it...

The Moody Blues – “Days of Future Passed” (released in 1967)

This is one of my favorite albums of that period (and I was the only person who voted for it in the album poll.) Either it’s disliked around here or surprisingly unknown; I’ll assume the latter and introduce it.

Take an ambitious quintet of early 20 year-olds; add an adventurous record label who suggests recording with the London Orchestra, and what you’ve got is a record that defines “concept album” – a song cycle of orchestral pop with titles named for different times of the day:

1. The Day Begins
2. Dawn: Dawn is a Feeling
3. The Morning: Another Morning
4. Lunch Break
5. The Afternoon:
(a) Forever Afternoon (Tuesday?)
(b) Time To Get Away
6. Evening:
(a) The Sun Set
(b) Twilight Time
7. The Night: Nights in White Satin

This record's strength might also be its biggest flaw – it often criticized as being too heavy on the orchestral side of things, but I think that’s part of its appeal. The fusion of British baroque/psychedelic pop with Disney-esque symphonic flourishes is a masterstroke, and I haven’t heard any other album that blends the two styles together as seamlessly.

(If you’ve haven’t heard this record and wish to sample a few tracks, here’s a quick listening guide: for a taste of the orchestral, start with “The Day Begins”; for pure baroque pop, skip to “The Morning”. For both, “The Afternoon”).

I think the Moody Blues reputation suffers a bit from their later output. That might explain why Days of Future Past doesn't get much play. (Which, of course, isn't really fair).

Pet Sounds is a very unique sounding album no album sounds like it at all. But when it is said and done Revolver and the single Strawberry Fields Forever has been more influential than Pet Sounds. Anyhow the Bealtes were doing baroque pop in in 1965 with songs like In My Life and Michelle and they influenced Left Banke. British baroque/psychedelic pop is heard on Sgt Pepper. In reality all those albums including what the Moody Blues and the Zombies were doing all unique sounding music.

Not again..

Maybe so, but I'd rather listen to the Beach Boys. I really don't care what the Beatles might have done first. They didn't record God Only Knows before the Beach Boys did.

Anyway, the originator of this thread already has the Beatles covered.

Not again..

I guess this has been discussed before. Just stating my opinion and what I hear in Revolver is more intuned with modern music.

There have been certain individuals posting almost identical posts, yes. Why do some Beatles fans feel the need to defend the Beatles even when they're not even attacked?

Sorry, what's this "Beatles" you speak of? Are they any good?

There have been certain individuals posting almost identical posts, yes. Why do some Beatles fans feel the need to defend the Beatles even when they're not even attacked

Well, maybe becuase the Beatles are well liked by many people around the world and have influenced many musicians. Though I was not attacking the Beach Boys or elevating the Beatles it's my opinion. I feel that Pet Sounds is slightly overrated in context to Revolver.

You need to "defend" the Beatles because they are only "well liked" all over the world?

What are you hoping for, universal adjulation?

You need to "defend" the Beatles because they are only "well liked" all over the world?

What are you hoping for, universal adjulation?

I was not defending the Beatles. I was stating my opinion and sorry you might not agree to it. But your other poster said that others have had a similiar opinion of the Beatles. Is it really that suprising to you that many people feel the Beatles were maybe a bit tad more influential or well liked than the Beach Boys. Not knocking the Beach Boys but those are the facts. I am not one of those fans who think everything the Beatles was great.

I was referring to similar posts, not people with similar opinions. There's plenty of people here who are big fans of the Beatles, and although I'm personally not one of them, I don't have any problem with that. (Obviously)

However, there have been some posters here in the past who tried to claim that The Beatles invented genres, etc., which I do have a problem with. And when you came in with a comment like "The Beatles were doing X in the year 1920, way before everyone else!" I sorta thought you were on of those people under a new nickname. My apologies for this assumption.

Now, lets get back to Pet Sounds shall we? I loved that SMiLE version by Purple Chicks by the way Loophole. I replaced a few songs with the better versions I have and it makes for a killer album. :)

Neo, I did the same thing.

Used Purple Chick as the base, moved some of the songs around to a more vinyl-friendly order (i.e., two 22-minute sides), replaced a few with DJ Mic Luv, and took that great version of Surf's Up from the "Millennium" edition (not the band Millennium), and voila, a great version of SMiLE. If it were eligible I would put it in my top 20 albums...

IMHO, there's no other Pet Sounds, no other album comes anywhere near it.

I like this topic : Beach Boys, The Beatles, The Zombies, The Millennium, Harry Nilsson, The Left Banke, The Moody Blues,... The best of '60s pop, some of my favourite artists ever.

Neo, I forgot to mention the Mok version of SMiLE. That one is also worth checking out.

Dumbangel, throw a few more names out there....

Maybe it will help Jo's quest.

(And don't forget about the Kinks. I'd put Waterloo Sunset in the same category).

Is "Nilsson Schmilsson" a good staring point for someone who is unfamiliar with his work (ie. yours truly)?

Sagittarius, HP Lovecraft, Nirvana (not the band of the '90s, the one from the '60), Harmony Grass, Aerovons, The Association, Nick Garrie, Harper's Bizarre, Van Dyke Parks, The Yellow Balloon, J.K.& Co, Montage, The Monkees, Sandy Salisbury, The Free Design, Roger Nichols & The Small Circles of Friends.
That's what I know, but you can go further by searching with allmusicguide or RYM.
And don't forget to listen to "Sunflower" and "Surf's up", the two overlooked masterpieces the Beach Boys have released in the early '70s. Better than "Pet sounds" and better than "Smile" in my humble opinion.

Anthony, if you want some great songwriting and beautiful harmony-pop of Harry Nilsson in the way the Beatles or The Beach Boys do, I would recommand to you "Aerial ballet", "Pandemonium shadow show" and "Harry" more than "Nilsson Schmilsson" which is (excepted the two great ballads "Without you" and "The moonbeam song") rawer and more rock sounding.

Great! Thanks for the recommendations Dumbangel.

Some other albums to add to the list:

The Hollies – Evolution ("Carrie Anne" is a great pop song.)
The Hollies – Butterfly
The Monkeys – Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn & Jones Ltd.

Yes The Hollies ! A very good band who could have been greater if they had written their own songs. I like "Carie Ann" a lot. "Bus stop" is a great track too. And do you know "The air that I breathe", a beautiful ballad from their '70s period ?

The Hollies! There's a band I didn't think would be discussed here too often. The Hollies are the band that got me onto Bob Dylan, The Stones, basically everything. I got a Hollies greatest hits album one day, I don't even remember from who, but I listened to it and thought it was great. I then explored some other similar artist which indeed led me to The Beach Boys which led me to the Beatles who led me to Bob Dylan. The rest is, as they say, history. So they have a special place in my music history, although I don't have an album or a song by them in my ranking.

The songs on "Butterfly" and "Evolution”" were written by the group, weren’t they?

Haven’t heard the song "Bus Stop" (it seems I need to further investigate their non-album singles.)

The Hollies were a great pop-rock band great vocals and a very underrated drummer.
Without them no Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young either.

Anthony, You might find this interesting (if you don't know about it already). It's about the connection between The Hollies and Radiohead. The first part of The Hollies version of "The Air That I Breathe" sounds A LOT like Radiohead: Radiohead Heart the Hollies?

Embarassingly, in my internet travels, I've never stumbled across that before. Thanks Loophole.

I'll check it out when I get home from work (which is in about, oh, an hour.)

So it looks like we can get from the Beach Boys to Radiohead in only two steps.

Beach Boys to Hollies to Radiohead.

There's got to be some kind of game in there.... Six degrees of Graham Nash, anyone?

Wow, there's loads of things to check out now, and some interesting points. Thankyou to everyone.

I much prefer the original SMiLE recordings too. My favourite one is far from the best version, but it was the first I listened to so it's now what I think of as the album.

For the person being defensive about the Beatles, don't worry. There's no presumption here that any of these albums are particularly influenced by Pet Sounds more than anything else, or necessarily sound the same, just that they have similar qualities, such as the production and the use of vocal harmonies.

With regards to baroque, I meant that as a difference between the Zombies and Beach Boys, I personally don't relate Pet Sounds with baroque music other than the use of counterpoint, whereas O&O sounds quite baroque. I see the label more commonly applied to artists such as the Doors and Scott Walker, with their solemn baritones.

Now to get listening!

Jo, can you give me an example of what you mean by "counterpoint" on Pet Sounds? I'm a big fan of music, but I don't play any instruments, and I've never been in a band or anything. But I'm fascinated by the construction of music.

Emitt Rhodes - Emitt Rhodes
Sagittarius - Present Tense
Roger Nichols & The Small Circle of Friends

Well, ain't that just a coincidence...

I picked up the first Emitt Rhodes album yesterday after reading a well-written blog entry about it; up until then, I'd never even heard of the guy. They say it's the best album Paul McCartney never made, and it sounds about right. I was hooked after the first song.

I think Pet Sounds is unique. No other album (even any other Beach Boys album) sound like it and that's probably why it's AM #1.
The sound, the production are incredible.
None of my very favorite songs are in Pet Sounds (in fact God Only Knows and Sloop John B are respectively #265 and 277 in my top 300), maybe because when listening to them they sound like fish out of their aquarium.
But they managed to create a musical universe of their own.
"Rock Bottom" by Robert Wyatt has nothing to do musically with Pet Sounds, but it is also a cohesive and a successful attmpt to make a different sot of music.

ChrisF,

With regards to counterpoint,

A lot of modern songs are composed with thought to the harmony (notes played at the same time, such as in a chords played in a song), and the melody, the line of single notes that you'll be whistling after hearing a catchy song.

Counterpoint on the other hand is where two or independent melodies are played at the same time. You still have harmony when the notes from the different melodies are heard at the same time, but you can distinctly hear the different melodies moving independently, and they would be written separately.

The interlude or the ending section of God Only Knows is an example.

That should be 'two or more'.

Emitt Rhodes a great pop artist. Just listen to "somebody made for me", it's a instant classic.

I read this about Rhodes on a website:

"He got sucked in and spat out by signing a cockamamie record deal with ABC/Dunhill that stated he had to put out two records per year. This was ridiculous because the debut took nine months to make. By 23 the industry burned him out."

I guess Music's fun until it becomes your job.

That's too bad - he was a true talent. His debut is still on heavy rotation on my iPod ("With My Face on the Floor" had a catchy stop-start rhythm that I can't get enough of.)