Comments on: Sentimental Self-Indulgence in Pop Music, Or Simply Reading Between the Lines

By: Carl’s Rock Songbook #23: The Beach Boys, “That’s Not Me” » Postmodern Conservative | A First Things Blog

Tue, 04 Oct 2011 21:07:43 +0000

[...] John Presnall looked at “That’s Not Me” from the album a couple weeks back, he made two particularly interesting [...]

By: G. ANDREW MANESS

G. ANDREW MANESS — Mon, 26 Sep 2011 15:22:49 +0000

Like all rock criticism, which generally is written by people who are English Majors, not Music Majors, this review and its responses focuses largely on the lyrics and not the music.
This is why I quit reading Rolling Stone and its ilk 25 years ago.

By: Stephen P

Stephen P — Sun, 25 Sep 2011 20:25:16 +0000

Pet Sounds, from my listening experience, is the most perfect musical expression of longing outside of hymns and other church music. It’s longing for home, love, and youth. The only real outlier here is Here Today, which brings a dose of disillusionment about hoping in romance. Brian somehow made an album that is innocent without being naive.

And, John and Carl, I’m glad to hear that y’all dislike Sgt Pepper’s. At its core, it really can’t compare with Pet Sounds or even lesser Beach Boys albums like Sunflower and Today. That album’s ability to spout such nonsense with smug pretentiousness is unequaled.

By: CJ Wolfe

CJ Wolfe — Sun, 25 Sep 2011 18:49:08 +0000

The beach boys only get lonelier after “Pet Sounds.” You can witness Brian Wilson’s descent from modern to POMO in the fragments we have of the “SMiLE” album. The semi-completed song “Heroes and Villains” is one of the most disturbing and nihilistic tracks I’ve ever heard. It has that effect on me because Beach Boys were the embodiment of the American (and Californian) dream, and you can almost hear the upward mobility sputter out and come crashing down. “SMiLE” purportedly was going to be a celebration of American culture, but many of the songs have the opposite effect in my opinion

By: Carl Eric Scott

Carl Eric Scott — Sun, 25 Sep 2011 16:46:07 +0000

No, Peter. I love Pet Sounds. To fit the cliche, to agree heartily with the critic-masses, it is probably my favorite rock-pop album, in competition perhaps only with the Zombies’ Odessey and Oracle and a few others, such as the Modern Lovers. I try to keep my wife from playing it too much, so as not become deadened to its magic. But it doesn’t seem to matter how many times I hear it.

And I think it seeks to convey a healthier sort of sentimentality (less solitude-oriented) than John is suggesting, despite its main creator’s own descent into solitude-aggravated madness.

If in the unlikely event I have time later this week, I will maybe have a post considering John’s probing of “That’s Not Me.” I have never delved big-time into the lyrics of the album, but I sure hope John is wrong about that song’s surface(?) anti-individualism message actually containing contradicting notes.

And I really detest Sgt. Pepper’s. I have some sort of irrational reaction there to a general aroma of smugness. Pet Sounds is the real Love Album of the 60s, precisely because it is more vulnerable, sentimental, Christian, American, and couple-oriented than the musical evocations of “Love” others were beginning to push.

By: Robert Cheeks

Robert Cheeks — Sun, 25 Sep 2011 13:36:38 +0000

I hate to disagree, however, Brian Wilson represents the stereotypical modern; confused, derailed, and eventually mad. His oelivre is such that he’d have served his fellow man better as a janitor. But, this is just a difference of opinion, not a question of salvation.

By: Peter Lawler

Peter Lawler — Sun, 25 Sep 2011 13:23:13 +0000

Pet Sounds has beautiful melodies and is very soft emo. That is: not at all rebellious and the longings are for a girl friend, family, friends in general–even “in my room” is a combination of inner solitude and presupposing the security of a middle-class family. PS is not for Carl because it’s not at all political. “God only knows…” is heartfelt and simple and close to universal for those with a personal antidote for the loneliness we all share. It may be a sign of my lack of manliness that I much prefer Brian Wilson to Bowie.