Relatively few albums warrant expansion into box sets that deconstruct their development with alternate takes and mixes, outtakes, and demos. But if any LP merits such treatment, it’s the Beach Boys’ Pet Sounds, Brian Wilson’s 1966 masterpiece, which is widely and deservedly regarded as one of the half dozen or so best albums of the entire rock era. Inspired by Phil Spector’s productions and the Beatles’ Rubber Soul, Wilson masterminded a pop/rock collection that is so inventively arranged, melodic, and alluring that Paul McCartney said it influenced his group to create Sgt. Pepper.
Pet Sounds got the box set it deserved in 1997, when the group’s label issued The Pet Sounds Sessions. The four-CD set, which came with a 42-page booklet and a 128-page book, featured 90 digitally remastered tracks. Among them: the album’s original mono mix, its first-ever genuine stereo mix, numerous alternate versions and demos, and lots of project components, such as the backing tracks for “Sloop John B.” and “Good Vibrations,” the string overdub for “I Just Wasn’t Made for These Times,” and vocals-only recordings of the classic “Wouldn’t It Be Nice” and “God Only Knows.”
That Grammy-nominated box represents must-hear material for Beach Boys fanatics, but it’s probably a bit much for casual fans. Moreover, the collection has been unavailable from the label for quite some time, so if you wanted a copy, you had to hunt around on eBay and open your wallet very wide.
The good news is that, to mark the original album’s 60th anniversary, the Beach Boys have released The Pet Sounds Sessions Highlights as a two-CD set and in multiple vinyl versions. Moreover, the original 90-track box will now be available from streaming services and for download.
One of the Highlights editions will probably suffice for most fans. The two-CD set includes 24 recordings (though it contains 25 tracks, because one inexplicably appears on both discs). Among them are a cappella versions of many of the original album’s songs and assorted other oddities, such as a sax-spiced rendition of “God Only Knows,” an instrumental demo of “Don’t Talk (Put Your Head on My Shoulder),” a version of “Sloop John B.” with the first verse sung by Carl Wilson, and an alternate mix of “Hang On to Your Ego,” the song that evolved into Pet Sounds’ “I Know There’s an Answer.”
Teddy Thompson Explores Heartache on ‘Never Be the Same’
Teddy Thompson has done excellent work as a producer with artists such as Dori Freeman, but he has accomplished even more as a performer and songwriter.
Never Be the Same, his 10th album, is also his first collection of original material since 2020’s terrific Heartbreaker Please. As on that CD, Thompson’s expressive, soulful tenor, which often gives way to a glorious falsetto, is his strongest suit, but his compositions are a giant plus as well. So are his backup players, who help to give the new album an ambiance that sometimes recalls classic Stax/Volt. Thompson’s Grammy-winning and well-matched producer, David Mansfield, plays multiple instruments throughout, and three other musicians add tenor sax, trumpet, and trombone on the indelible “So This Is Heartache.” The singer’s famous father, Richard Thompson, is here, too, contributing guitar on a number called “Make Up Your Mind.”
Lyrically, the album picks up where Heartbreaker Please left off. A real-life romantic breakup reportedly inspired that CD, which began with Thompson proclaiming, “You don’t love me anymore.” Six years later, if he’s again writing from personal experience, he’s either still hurting from that old split or suffering because of one or more new ones. Whatever, it would be an understatement to say the songs on Never Be the Same are not about successful relationships.
On one track, the London-born, Brooklyn, N.Y.–based singer asks a lover, “Can you come back to me?” On another, he announces, “I never really loved you anyway.” A third song finds him proclaiming, “You’re not what I need” and adding, “I’d like to say we’ll still be friends, but who would I be kidding?” In “So This Is Heartache,” meanwhile, he confesses to thinking only of himself, and laments, “Then came the one girl, became my whole world / And now she’s gone for good this time.” In yet another number, he recalls “how you did me wrong” and says he thought “I could love you after all, but wedding bells were never gonna chime.”
As if lines like these weren’t enough to inject doom and gloom into the proceedings, there are also references to an alcohol problem. In the not-so-cheerily titled “Worst Two Weeks of My Life,” Thompson begins, “With the stopping of the drinking comes an awful lot of thinking… / There are those who love the self-destruction / Well, maybe, that’s me.”
Let’s hope not, because Thompson is a major talent. Even when he’s singing about heartbreak, his elegantly arranged songs deliver enough sonic beauty to put a smile on your face. Just don’t spend too much time contemplating the pain behind the lyrics.
Crow and Gazelle Deliver a Passionate Sophomore Album
Texas-based Crow and Gazelle consists of Mike McClure and his wife, Chrislyn Lawrence. McClure, an early purveyor of country’s Oklahoma-based Red Dirt subgenre, has been in the forefront of several bands, including The Great Divide, and has written for and produced many more. When she isn’t singing, Lawrence is a photographer, writer, yoga teacher, and self-proclaimed “trauma-informed facilitator of peace and transformation.”
Truth Be Told, the duo’s second CD following 2024’s As Above Now So Below, is a concept album presented as a dialogue between McClure, who sounds a little like Steve Earle, and Lawrence, whose vocals might remind you a bit of Iris DeMent. They confront big subjects—including capitalism, religion, suffering, and violence—with passion, conviction, and raw emotion.
The songs limn a troubled world. One refers to being “through hell on the front lines,” while another talks about being “down in the belly of the beast…burned out to say the least” and still another references “all the taken, beaten, broken black and brown lives.” The emphasis, though, is on the healing power of love. “I’ll rise above this fire,” goes one line. “If you take the high road,” goes another, “I will take the highest I can find and I will always, never quit trying not to let you down.”
______________________
Jeff Burger’s website, byjeffburger.com, contains more than four decades’ worth of music reviews and commentary. His books include Dylan on Dylan: Interviews and Encounters, Lennon on Lennon: Conversations with John Lennon, Leonard Cohen on Leonard Cohen: Interviews and Encounters, and Springsteen on Springsteen: Interviews, Speeches, and Encounters.