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Corey Jackson



Last Updated: 11/30/2009

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Status: Single
State: Texas
Country: US
Signup Date: 4/12/2006
Tuesday, July 14, 2009 
The Beach Boys “Pet Sounds” (1966)

This record is my favorite record of all time. No record has had so much influence on me as a musician, songwriter and arranger. But I can’t expect everyone to understand why. You have to be part of the club.

I’ve had a unique relationship with The Beach Boys over the years. Sure, I hate prefacing my love for Pet Sounds with defenses, such as “I only like Pet Sounds and a few of their previous records.” Or “Brian wrote and produced everything and the rest were sycophantic jerks, especially Mike Love.” Or “Pet Sounds is sophisticated like classical music and isn’t like their surf music.” But those who know, understand that Brian never WANTED to write surf music; he wanted to be George Gershwin. His brother Dennis, a surfer, suggested that Brian and crew had a song called “Surfin’” when pressed by a record producer for information on their then young and at that point, songless group.

Early on as a little boy, I loved them and couldn’t figure out why my piano teacher wouldn’t teach me anything worthwhile like “Surfin’ USA.” But then around 12, of course, I took on a coolness towards The Beach Boys that didn’t thaw until I was about 14.

I knew my Dad loved their music and one day, while swimming at a friend’s house, I noticed that this friend’s older brother had a CD copy of “Pet Sounds” in his room. This was about 1991 so it had just been transferred to CD. I asked “Would you mind if I borrowed it for my Dad?” He agreed and I took it home to him. Our home, like many others at that time, had just received its first CD player. I remember my Dad playing it loud and incessantly, as he had never heard it without record pops and hiss. I soon began to question my generosity but slowly and with time, I began to hear it differently. Its sounds reached out to me. Its emotional beauty and weight tugged at me. It was beautiful. But beautiful and sad. Brian was singing about not fitting in and about longing for beautiful distant things. I gave in fully and soon began proselytizing others.

At the time, liking this record was not at all cool but I’m very glad that it has now gained notoriety in the music community over the last 15 years. Its fans have seemed to have come out of the musical closet. Most artists of good repute swear by it now and I’m glad that most people know now that Brian Wilson WAS The Beach Boys.

The video below chronicles a session for "God Only Knows."

http://www.youtube.com/wat..ch?v=DVUBpzlELOg
2:27 AM
 
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