What is the most overrated track on the Pet Sounds album?
Why? That’s a tough one. I’m tempted to say “God Only Knows,” and not because it’s not great. The completed track is wonderful, but Carl’s beautiful vocal, the French horn and the exquisite outro cover up the structural problems. The arrangement is brilliant — Brian at his best, really. It may seem like an odd choice, but there are a couple of clinkers on Pet Sounds that no one rates highly. So it would have to be one of the songs people love that might be overrated. People really love “God Only Knows.” Man, I’m in trouble now … Has Pet Sounds been helped or hindered as a musical masterwork by the various reissues, such as the box set or the stereo mix version? Probably helped. It’s good that it keeps appearing at regular intervals. Young people get to come to it as if it were new. I’m teaching fiction writing at a college now and my students like of Pet Sounds as relevant and modern. I’m not sure that would be the case if it hadn’t been reissued several times. I like the boxed set.
