1. Beach BoysPet Sounds

One of my dad’s albums that was in his record collection and got played a lot in the house. It’s one that he particularly loved. I fell in love with it too during the 70s, although my dad would have bought it as soon as it was released. I love the songs. I love Brian Wilson’s voice and I love the use of harmony. When I was growing up, we were always singing harmonies together. My mum was a session singer so we’d often sit around and take harmonies from Everly Brothers songs. In the car you would never hear anyone singing a melody, ever. It’s still the same now. The melodies are for someone else to do! Everyone always takes the harmonies. I was very captivated by the harmonies on the album and how they worked. I loved all the crazy sounds too. There’s never really been an album like it, before or since. It really blew me away as a child. And I think that’s the power of it – Pet Sounds wasn’t just for the more cerebral muso-minded adults. It had a strong impact on me as a 10-year-old child.