Pet Sounds - "ain't found the right thing I can put my heart and soul into"
04/05/26
I first listened to Pet Sounds at the beginning of the new year, around mid to late January 2026. I feel very confident in saying that this album changed my life.
I honestly never really had listened to The Beach Boys before Pet Sounds, and only knew them from "Kokomo" and "Surfin' USA." I had no idea their music could be something like this. This album is so distinct; truly, I had never heard anything like it, and I don't think I ever will. The creation of this album is truly as if the moons and stars aligned perfectly. Too complicated to be performed live in a satisfactory way, yet still beautiful.
Even if you think you've never heard Pet Sounds before, you probably have, since the opening track "Wouldn't It Be Nice" is pretty popular and also used in television. I'd say this song is the most upbeat from the album, which then gradually gets sadder and sadder as you listen along. Still, the lyrics themselves are quite depressing, too. "Wouldn't it be nice to live together/ In the kind of world where we belong?" Pretty sad. The singer, in this case, Brian Wilson, is just hoping for a future reality where he can belong, where he can be with the person he loves.
While the whole album itself is a masterpiece without a single skippable track, my personal favorites are "You Still Believe In Me," "Don't Talk (Put Your Head On My Shoulder)," "I Know There's An Answer," and my all-time favorite from the Beach Boys, "I Just Wasn't Made For These Times." All of these tracks are incredibly emotional, and make me choke up listening to them from time to time.
With so much post-production editing, you'd think the album would sound over-produced or overwhelming, but it doesn't. Everything blends together perfectly. I highly encourage you to listen to this album in one sitting for the first time.
DSOTM - "and everything under the sun is in tune"
04/05/26
Very cliche, but Dark Side of the Moon was my first introduction to Pink Floyd.
DSOTM is such a classic album. This one truly has no skips, and I think conveys perfectly the human experience. Getting into PF (Pink Floyd) can be a little daunting, especially with some of their longer tracks like "Atom Heart Mother" or "Echoes" or even "Shine On You Crazy Diamond," but I think this album is truly perfect for starting off. Really, all you need to know from PF is this album, Wish You Were Here, Animals, and The Wall, but even though this one isn't my favorite from them, I'd still reccomend it to anyone and everyone.
There's something everyone can relate to in this album. "Time" is about, well, the passage of time. How we as people tend to lose ourselves, how we lose track of time, and how we don't value our short lives. "And then one day you'll find/ Ten years have got behind you/ No one told you when to run/ You missed the starting gun" are lyrics which really speak to me. It's a little bit doom-post-y for me to say this as someone barely about to turn 18, but as of late time really has been flitting by like crazy. I think everyone can agree that at some point, perhaps not consistently, but at some point in our lives, time really just... goes by like that.
Anyways, some other great ones on here are "Brain Damage," "Eclipse," and "Us and Them." My brother's favorite is "Brain Damage," so that song is much more special to me, but overall I think "Time" is my favorite off of this album, and also in my top 3 for PF songs OAT. Surprisingly, I'm not the biggest fan of "Money." Not sure why, I'm just not super into how it sounds. It's not bad by any means, per se, I think I just prefer so many other songs off of DSOTM.