Wouldn’t It Be Nice...

 Wouldn’t It Be Nice... 

It’s been a very long time since I’ve been a teenager, but I kind of traveled back the other day.  I heard that the fiftieth anniversary (it’s actually 58 years) of the recording of the Beach Boys’ “Pet Sounds” had rolled around and, although I was never a fan, I bought it.  The hype was that “Pet Sounds” was their best.  It was likened to the Beatles (I was a big Beatles fan) “Sargent Pepper...”  The Fab Four and the Beach Boys were the two biggest selling pop bands in the world then, 1966.  But I didn’t really expect much from “Pet Sounds”.  Look, I was a Midwest kid (still am....Midwest, that is).  Beaches, surfboards, etc. Weren't native to me. 

But I was wrong.    

I mostly listen to CDs in the car these days.  The other day I took a ride up to Indy and slipped the first of the two disks (the anniversary edition of “Pet Sounds” has two CDs with several different recordings of the original) into the player.  The first half of that disk is the Mono version of the original.  The 14th track on, is the same, but in stereo.  That’s the socks knocker-offer version.  I literally said, “Wow!”  out loud... and there was no one else in the car.  I listened to the whole recording but I really didn’t need to hear more than the first cut.  “Wouldn't It Be Nice" was the song that transported me back to high school, back to dating, back to those days of angst, of searching, of rebelling.  The song is about a wish; that a high school kid and his girl wouldn’t have to wait so long to be together and that they could live in a world in which they belonged.  Love and alienation in a couple of lyrics.  I played the CD a few times up to Indy and back, couldn’t get that first tune out of my head.   

The words were the message, but the production drove it home.  I realized that when I heard The Beach Boys sing that song live, in concert.  I’m no mavin, but the studio production is perfection, the live recording is just the group singing the song.  That studio production is a layer cake of sweet music.  If you listen, you’ll hear layer upon layer of harmonies, of responses within the group, of musical accompaniment that must have taken a tremendous amount of mixing to create.  It’s kind of perfect. 

As a jazz fan, I always preferred live in-concert recordings to studio recordings.  Not this time.  But I didn’t pay any attention to the technology of “Wouldn’t It Be Nice” the first time I heard it.  It was the message, it was the tone, it was the drama.  It certainly was a high school kid talking to me and, maybe even about me.  

                                                                                                            (over) 

 

 

If you get a chance, put on your earbuds, dial up Pandora or Spotify, and give a listen.  I think you’ll understand what I mean.  And even if you’re not taken back to those raucous heart-breaking teen years, you’ll hear a great song. 

Wouldn’t that be nice. 

Ron