I presume you know the band and the music. Pet sounds is one of the most enduringly popular and brilliant pop music albums of all time. Released in the same year as the Beatles' Seargeant Peppers, it is a similarily ambitious collage of melody and experimentation.

Famously, it is practically a solo album from Brian Wilson who recorded the whole album, in mono, while the rest of the Beach Boys were on holidays. Well he did employ their vocals!! For the rest of the album Brian played with a whole array of instruments and other sound effects.

The theme of the album is largely one of innocence and the first pangs of teenage love. Allbeautifully sung in the higher registers of the beach boys.

One of the songs is 'i just wasn't made for these times' while 'Sloop John B' is an old standard covered and added on to the end of the album. The big hits are 'Wouldn't it be nice' a wonderful happy melody full of springtime excitement. 'God only knows'...'what I'd do without you' again, the joys of the springtime...or a love affair.

Its all uplifting, all delightful and all very very listenable. And it has the most wonderful harmonies this side of the Byrds.

Its a shame perhaps that their best track, 'Good vibrations', was destined for the aborted follow up, Smile. A solo Brian Wilson version of this album was recently released to massive critical acclaim, but one has to wonder what might have been.

The most recent vinyl reissue of this album was a 40th anniversary edition. Its a double album because it has two copies of the album, one in mono and one in stereo. In 1997, Mark Linett, with the approval of Brian Wilson, took these tapes and created a stereo mix. So we have the original mono and this new stereo edition.

Its interesting to hear the album in stereo and its nice to get this mix on vinyl. Incidentally the mono record is pressed on yellow translucent vinyl and the stereo on green translucent vinyl.

However for me, the sound of these records is fine on the lower registers but thin and harsh on the upper registers. Likewise for the EMI 180grm release from the late 90's (which is the same as the Simply Vinyl 180grm release. these records sound clean and bright but not the most enjoable listening way to hear this music. These records have all been pressed from digital tapes.

The definitive edition, apparently, is the DCC version mastered by Steve Hoffman. For the time being that will set you back by close to $100 on ebay. I do not have one of these copies.

i do however have a version that was released in the mid 1980's, recently picked up off ebay for under $10. (P&P was extra). This comes as part of a two record set, the other album being the 'Carl & the passions' album' which i haven't even listened to.

The Pet sounds in this set was cut by Wally Traugott and is what I am rating. The recording for Pet sounds does not seem to have been the best in the world, a bit muddy and unclear at times but this version is much more natural sounding and enjoyable to listen to than the others discussed above. The label also says....'MONO, the way Brian cut it'.

The 40th edition is great for the coloured vinyl, to hear the record in stereo and for the liner notes but is let down by the sound. The wally cut mentioned here is great for sound but not for anything else, so maybe just pick up both. It is after all, one of the best records of all time :)