Various artists, “The Reverberation Appreciation Society Presents: A Tribute to Pet Sounds”
Available: Now via the Reverberation Appreciation Society as a double, 180g black vinyl LP in a limited edition run of 2000 and comes with a digital download.
Fifty years ago last month, Brian Wilson (and The Beach Boys) released an album that forever and indelibly altered the landscape of pop(ular) music. Many of the stories and anecdotes surrounding the record and the recording process have become that of American music legend, documented, parodied, rightfully raked and pored over and even recently (and wonderfully) biopic’d.
The record label arguably and presently at the forefront of a psychedelic resurgence (in conjunction with the festival they curate each spring, once the Austin Psych Fest now referred to simply as Levitation) had planned to release the record on the very same day Wilson was set to perform “Pet Sounds” it in its entirety, as he is all summer. Staggeringly, to the many attendees traveling from all over the globe, Mother Nature intervened and forced a shutdown of the entire festival.
Had the festival gone on as planned, copies of the newly-curated tribute may have sold out on site. As it stands, the limited run is still available, if only for a short time. The reinterpretations on this particular record are fantastic. Nearly every track and every contributing artist truly make the songs their own. Very few straightforward covers. All the tracks are performed with a rightly deserved reverence. Standout cuts include Night Beats take on “Sloop John B,” Christian Bland & The Revelators doing “I Know There’s An Answer” and The UFO Club closing the record with “Hang On To Your Ego.”
Recommended for fans of “Pet Sounds” and other contemporary psych acts such as The Black Angels, Holy Wave and Shannon & The Clams
— Jon E. Lynch[email protected]
