Santa Barbarans will celebrate Brian Wilson’s poetry, a harmonic manifestation of endless summer that’s been in the public ear for three generations, this Memorial Day weekend at the Santa Barbara Bowl with the 50th Anniversary Pet Sounds Tour. Widely considered an iconic masterwork of the American pop-music canon, Pet Sounds, first released in 1966, is a pop symphony that pairs sound effects and electronic manipulations with orchestra-inspired musical constructs. A critical darling for a half century, the Pet Sounds narrative offers waning naiveté on the brink of cynicism in the face of a less innocent age. This psychedelic exploration, layered with Wilson’s wistful lyrics and bright harmonies, set the tone for a young generation of postwar adolescents struggling to find footing in the tumultuous social structure of the late ’60s.
In contrast to Pet Sounds’ angsty illustration of an evolving viewpoint, Wilson, it seems, has found peace. A youth lived in the public eye, followed by a decades-long struggle with drug use, mental illness, and over-medication, has left Wilson a different man than the one whose masterwork of record production has inspired musicians for three generations. In a recent interview with The Santa Barbara Independent, Wilson, now in his seventies, spoke contentedly of a career that continues to delight listeners old and young. A man of few words, Wilson has straightforward impressions of his body of work: He calls the 50th Anniversary Pet Sounds Tour a joyful experience for all involved, because “… we love the album and we like to make people happy.”
Pet Sounds was a unique musical endeavor for the time. Recorded with classically trained studio musicians known as The Wrecking Crew, the album is seen as a triumph of studio production. The Wrecking Crew also played with Phil Spector, one of Wilson’s prominent musical influences. Wilson also names Little Richard, The Four Freshmen, and Rosemary Clooney as musical inspirations, though when I asked if he likes the sound of any contemporary artists, his response was a succinct “no.”