Then Brian heard Sgt. Pepper and it drove him into madness when he realized he couldn't match it.
I think Pet Sounds holds its own.
* Kathy Troccoli(with Beach Boy back-up)
* Ronnie Spector (The Ronettes) (Original)
* Ronnie Spector & Brian Wilson
I like the Kathy Troccoli version best.
He predated Sgt. Pepper’s with SMiLE. Most of it was recorded 6 months and more before any of Sgt. Pepper’s was recorded.
I have been studying this period for decades. One musicologist called SMiLE the most influential album never released (due to many bootlegs leaked from Capital vaults in the ‘80s). Another musicologist called The Beach Boys “the true pioneers of rock music.”
SMiLE was killed in January 1967 because of dissension - Mike Love versus Van Dyke Parks - and drug use, not because Brian Wilson could not match The Beatles: He had already done so and more with Pet Sounds.
The original, not re-dubbed, material was finally released as an official album in 2011. It is like a rock version of Aaron Copeland: Rock Americana.
The album versions of Heroes and Villains, Cabin Essence, Surf’s Up, and Good Vibrations all equal or exceed The Beatles’ output, in my opinion.
Brian Wilson revolutionized rock/pop in the studio and on the record - especially with Pet Sounds. Both George Martin and Paul McCartney have held that view down through the years.
I consider The Beach Boys underrated, and The Beatles overrated. They were savvy with the media, and they marketed themselves well. I do not think any band could live up to their reputation... and they could not have done it without the classically-trained, so-called Fifth Beatle.