When The Beach Boys' Pet Sounds, the band's eleventh studio album, first was released in May 1966, response in the U.S. was surprisingly tepid. Though both "Sloop John B" and "Wouldn't It Be Nice" soared to the top ten of the Billboard Hot 100, Capitol Records was unsure how to promote the album which represented an artistic zenith, and the beginning of a new era, for The Beach Boys. It peaked at No. 10 on the Billboard 200 and was the group's first album since 1963 to miss a Gold certification. (The vagaries of the certification process led to a delayed Gold recognition in February 2000; a Platinum award followed just two months later.) Brian Wilson's rapidly maturing style - evident on both 1965's The Beach Boys Today! ("Please Let Me Wonder," "She Knows Me Too Well," "Kiss Me, Baby") and Summer Days (And Summer Nights!!) ("Let Him Run Wild," "Summer Means New Love") - found full flower on Pet Sounds: yearning, introspective, intricate, sensitive, bold, and alternately joyful and melancholy. U.K. audiences were quicker to appreciate Pet Sounds. It peaked at No. 2 on the Record Retailer chart, and both "Sloop John B" and "God Only Knows" hit that same peak on the U.K. Singles Chart.
Time and long-overdue respect and appreciation eventually caught up with Pet Sounds, and it's now wholly appropriate that the album has made its Dolby Atmos debut in a mix by English engineer Giles Martin. His father George, of course, produced The Beatles' Rubber Soul - the album which spurred Wilson on to create Pet Sounds. The Fabs, impressed by The Beach Boys' LP, would then craft Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band in response. This is the fourth major mix of Pet Sounds, following Brian Wilson's original and Mark Linett's stereo and 5.1 surround mixes. (Both were most recently included on the 50th anniversary edition in 2016, along with the instrumental-only mix.)
The Second Disc was invited to experience the Dolby Atmos mix of Pet Sounds last week at New York City's Dolby Screening Room. Giles Martin was on hand, via video link, to introduce the program and answer questions. "People say it's a psychedelic sort of album," Martin commented in his opening remarks. "It's not. It's more of a classical record, and work[ing] on it, you suddenly understand the depth of the talent that goes into it...Pet Sounds was one of those things where you fall in love with it more from opening it out and exposing it [into the dimensions of surround]. Hopefully, I've done this justice." Martin referred to both the original 1966 mono mix (the only version available for decades) and Mark Linett's 1996 stereo mix in opening up the soundscape for Dolby Atmos. Martin stressed, "We're not taking anything away from any fans, but to get a chance to give different generations - as well as our generation - ways which you can look at something in a different way, or hear something in a different way, [is] a privilege."
Unlike traditional surround mixes (whether 4.0, 5.1, or 7.1, for instance), Dolby Atmos adds height channels, with neither horizontal nor vertical limitation. It doesn't simply send discrete audio to each speaker, but can produce up to 118 "sound objects," allowing an engineer to place audio to exact points within the sound field rather than assigning them to specific channels. These "objects" can be manipulated within the space to simulate a three-dimensional field akin to a circle, or bubble of sound, in which the listener is immersed. The original technology for cinemas has since been adapted for automobiles, earbuds, soundbars, and home theatre speakers.
As with his many remixes (both in stereo and surround) for The Beatles, Martin hasn't reinvented the wheel here. Instead, he's expanded the soundstage of what Brian Wilson, Mike Love, Carl Wilson, Al Jardine, Dennis Wilson, and Bruce Johnston originally released in 1966, and in doing so, allowed listeners to hear the album anew and bask in the originality and splendor of the recording made with just a small number of tracks. (Read more from Mark Linett here about the process of creating the 1996 stereo mix.)
The Atmos mix emphasizes, and bring into sharper focus, key elements which have always been there. The exuberant and blissful "Wouldn't It Be Nice" gallops with an even more powerful gait, its harmonies truly enveloping and Carol Kaye's bassline rocking. The hymnlike "You Still Believe in Me" gains an even more churchlike atmosphere; Martin has retained the original's analog richness. Similarly, "Don't Talk (Put Your Head on My Shoulder)" seems even more ethereal in Atmos as Martin's mix accentuates the haunting vocals. Dennis Wilson's drums and Hal Blaine's percussion on "That's Not Me" beautifully contrast in the soundscape with the precise, layered voices. The woodwinds stand out on the urgent "I'm Waiting for the Day," while Al Casey and Mike Deasy's guitars on the aggressive "Here Today" are presented with renewed energy.
Yet perhaps the most impressive tracks are the album's two instrumentals, both of which are rendered stunningly in Atmos. "Let's Go Away for Awhile" - which was said to have been inspired by Burt Bacharach but came out, purely, as the work of Brian Wilson - and "Pet Sounds," written with James Bond in mind, gain a presence and realism only hinted at in previous mixes. That lifelike feel extends to the closing round of vocals on "God Only Knows;" there's a closeness and an intimacy that's piercing. A beautiful, swirling cacophony is evoked on "I Just Wasn't Made for These Times," with sheets of sound pouring over the listener; it's as dense as "Caroline, No" is starkly, deceptively simple.
In his post-album Q&A, Giles Martin likened the Atmos mix to shattering the mono version with a hammer; the shards hitting you provide the immersive aspect. It's an apt comparison. The recording still sounds natural (as Martin put it, "natural people doing unnatural things") as well as rich, detailed, spacious, vibrant, and genuinely immersive. Brian Wilson packed so much into his productions and orchestrations - befitting the eloquence of the lyrics by Tony Asher and Mike Love and the soul-searching depths of his own melodies - that it's never surprising to hear something new with each successive listen. Experiencing Pet Sounds in Atmos, it's impossible not to detect something which might have been missed before.
Pet Sounds is available in Dolby Atmos on Apple Music, Amazon Music, and Tidal. No physical release has been announced as of now. In any format, Pet Sounds remains a benchmark for the rock era; 57 (!) years later, it's lost none of its power to spark emotion. God only knows where we'd be without it.
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I'd sure love to hear it in an Atmos setting. I live in St. Paul, MN. and so far haven't heard of a place to listen. It would be incredible to hear it in those surrondings.
If by "a place to listen," you mean something like the New York screening room experience Joe describes in the article, that sort of thing isn't typically done for the public. Your best bet (if you're willing and able) is to look into buying some Atmos-capable hardware for your home theater.
For instance (and this certainly isn't the only way to do it), I've got an Apple TV device which can stream Atmos content from Apple Music, connected to an Atmos-capable 7.1 soundbar system.
What is the name of this “TV device which can stream Atmos content from Apple Music”of which you speak?
If it is not on a physical format not interested. Eventually these numpties might realise who buys this stuff.
They know exactly where their money's coming from. Check out the pie chart on page 1:
https://www.riaa.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/2022-Year-End-Music-Industry-Revenue-Report.pdf
That chart is not stats for streaming in surround sound. I'd like to see those figures. Most of that is listening on a phone.
Your previous comment suggested the record labels don't understand "who buys this stuff," so I replied with the pie chart to illustrate the fact that *they don't care* who buys discs now. Physical purchases are a drop in the bucket these days. The money is in streaming, so that's where the majority of labels' activity goes, including Atmos remixes. (And yes, I get the argument that Atmos technology is less-than-ideal for mobile listening, but it's not like streamed Atmos content can't also be enjoyed in a multiple-speaker home setup, provided you have the proper hardware. Either way, the ship's sailed.)
I don't think you understand my point. I stream on my phone and on my sound system but those who consume multi-channel content don't want a low res stream. By all means make it available on streaming but not making a physical disc for that specialist market is stoopid. Surround sound has always been niche even in the 70s. It isn't going to go mainstream streaming or not.
It's not Atmos, but if you want a physical release with hi-res and multichannel formats, you already have options via the secondhand market:
https://www.discogs.com/release/8738209-The-Beach-Boys-Pet-Sounds
Anyway, my reply still stands - whether it's multichannel or hi-res or whatever, physical media is, generally speaking, dead. They'll put something out if they feel it's worth the resources required. If they don't, they won't. I have to assume it's not a coincidence that nearly all physical audiophile-oriented reissues these days are either break-the-bank monster boxes, or SDE-style limited runs. Either way, they're making damn sure they get their money back on every release.
All y'all who keep harping on about "no disc no sale" don't seem to understand that you're screaming into the void. (Or maybe you do, but then what's the point? I mean, I wish my Apple Music library wasn't limited to 100k tracks, but I've accepted that I'm a power user whose end of the bell curve isn't worth accommodating, and I'd much rather enjoy it within its limitations than keep wishing into an empty hand.)
What they are trying to do is force surround sound ethusiasts into streaming. It won't work. Also it makes no commercial sense which is why the likes of SDE have filles the gsp. Even Giles Martin was forced to admit leaving the surround mix out of the Revolver set waa a mistake. Physicsl formats are far from dead yet.
BTW Tidal, one of the platforms hosting these Atmos mixes is so small they don't even figure on the streaming market share pie chart. I'd be surprised if they last.
I was having similar debates re MQA. I said it will never work... I was right.
I guess it’s my ears but I don’t hear anything special when I play these ATMOS through my headphones on Apple Music. The original & stereo mixes are enough for me with Pet Sounds though. I
Atmos through headphones is pointless in my view. You need a discrete multi-channel surround system which is why I do not understand the release as streaming only. Anyone who has invested in the proper gear wants a Hi Res audio physical format.
Tidal streams in HD 24bit up to 192
Yet another gimmick to milk the Pet Sounds cow. Good grief, don't they have enough money yet?
Exactly.
I know the feeling that this is just another cash-in from the nostalgia generation, but do yourself a favor and set aside some time for a listen to this with fresh ears. It really is the best version of this album I have ever heard and hearing it in Dolby Atmos for the first time was as much or more of a revelation than the first time I heard it in stereo all those years ago. With Mark Linett and Joe Boyd from The Beach Boys camp and Giles Martin and Sam Okell from the Beatles it's literally all hands on deck for one of the best albums of the 20th century and it REALLY sounds like it.
I would love to experience the Atmos sound system, but I haven't found a place in St. Paul, MN where I can listen to it yet. It would be amazing to hear the sound in that kind of setting.