The latest addition to the acclaimed & award winning Classic Albums series tells the story behind the making of The Beach Boys ground breaking album Pet Sounds, which celebrates its 50th anniversary this year. Pet Sounds was recorded in late 1965 and early 1966, about a year after Brian Wilson had withdrawn from playing live with The Beach Boys in order to concentrate on composing and studio work. While the rest of the band were out on tour, Brian Wilson worked in the studio creating multi-layered compositions with painstaking attention to detail utilizing orchestration, sound effects and unusual instruments. When the band returned from tour they went into the studio to add their trademark complex vocal harmonies.

The new direction of the music caused some consternation within the group and the program explores the band’s relationship at this time as well as the creation of the music through interviews with all the surviving Beach Boys and others involved in the creation of the album. The US press didn’t know what to make of the album at first, although it later became acknowledged as both important and influential. In the UK the album was immediately acclaimed and commercially successful, peaking at No.2 in the albums chart and remaining in the Top 10 for 6 months. Pet Sounds is now universally regarded as one of the finest albums of the sixties and thoroughly merits its place in the Classic Albums series.