More Fun with Stereo

I have been trying to post each weekday, but that's become a little difficult, so I'm cutting back to three days a week for now. I want to be able to keep it interesting.

I mentioned in my last post how odd the Lovin' Spoonful "phony" stereo recordings sound in headphones. Though it would sound fine at home or in the car because the sound would fill the room and each channel would be heard by both ears, with headphones each ear hears a single track.

There is one album from the 60s that sounds terrific in stereo headphones: The Beach Boys' Pet Sounds. Brian Wilson had left the road and concentrated on writing and producing records. He had been trying to create new sounds, including his own version of the "Wall of Sound" (think "Be True to Your School"). When the Beatles' Rubber Soul came out in December 1965, Brian was inspired to try to match it.

He wrote many of the songs not with Mike Love, as he normally did, but with an outsider name Tony Asher (Mike was on the road with the band at the time). Before they even returned, Brian had recorded a number of tracks with studio musicians. When the others returned home, they finished the album and released it in April 1966.

Though Brian Wilson eventually mixed the album in mono (for reasons discussed in the last post), there was a stereo mix as well. This mix is actually quite good and is especially interesting in headphones. I can hear instruments that get buried in the mono mix over the radio (listen for the bass harmonica). If you get the chance give it a listen with headphones--I think you'll like it.