{"id":940314,"date":"2026-05-05T23:23:16","date_gmt":"2026-05-05T23:23:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/940314\/"},"modified":"2026-05-05T23:23:16","modified_gmt":"2026-05-05T23:23:16","slug":"phil-spectors-strange-critique-of-a-beach-boys-1966-classic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/940314\/","title":{"rendered":"Phil Spector’s strange critique of a Beach Boys 1966 classic"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Phil<\/p>\n

Credit: Far Out \/ Alamy<\/p>\n

The Beach Boys<\/a> have a lot to answer for, not just in the history of music but also in the cultural landscape of the United States more generally. Perhaps their greatest achievement, however, was the wholly unpredictable transformation from the bubblegum surf pop of their early days to the profound, world-changing musical experimentation that produced Pet Sounds in 1966. <\/p>\n

Ushering in a new age for pop, with the 23-year-old Brian Wilson as a virtually untouchable force for the kind of songwriting and production innovations that other artists could go their entire lives without striking upon. <\/p>\n

The chances are, if you are reading this article, you are already incredibly well-versed in the trailblazing mastery of that 1966 album and the lasting impact it has had on the musical landscape. Still, it is worth remembering that not everybody felt quite so warmly towards that blossoming new era. <\/p>\n

Namely, some other legendary producers of the era didn\u2019t fawn over the innovative nature of the project, or The Beach Boys\u2019 transformation, in the same way that the layman might have done. Even Phil Spector, who produced Brian Wilson\u2019s all-time favourite song, \u2018Be My Baby\u2019, and formed a not-insignificant influence over Pet Sounds, was rather disparaging of that bold new direction for the band. <\/p>\n

Specifically, Spector wasn\u2019t overly convinced by \u2018Good Vibrations\u2019, the timeless track<\/a> that followed a few months after the release of Pet Sounds. Upon its release, the single was marketed as a \u201cpocket symphony\u201d, and it is difficult to dispute that particular description; it was the culmination of Wilson\u2019s newfound production innovations. However, according to Spector: \u201cIt\u2019s like Psycho is a great film, but it\u2019s an edit film.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cWithout edits, it\u2019s not a film; with edits, it\u2019s a great film,\u201d the producer-come-murderer declared. \u201cBut it\u2019s not Rebecca\u2026 It\u2019s not a beautiful story.\u201d While you could certainly argue that, within that quote, Spector is simply saying that it is the song\u2019s complicated composition that makes it a masterpiece, rather than any degree of songwriting quality, he is certainly at risk of misunderstanding both \u2018Good Vibrations\u2019 and Psycho in one fell swoop. <\/p>\n

Psycho is, inarguably, a great film<\/a>, and its quick-cut editing certainly helps to deliver the bone-chilling story of Norman Bates\u2019 motel. Nevertheless, editing is an integral part of every single film ever released, including the apparently untouchable Rebecca. Without editing, every film would be 12 hours long and, by and large, pretty dull. Similarly, without decent production, every pop song would be virtually unlistenable.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Whichever way you spin it, Wilson\u2019s production on \u2018Good Vibrations\u2019 is incredible, but it isn\u2019t the production alone that makes the song such a timeless classic \u2013 there are, after all, swathes of other songs that are well-produced but lack any kind of songwriting skill or performance. In that sense, Spector\u2019s declaration that the 1966 single is akin to \u201can edit film\u201d, which incidentally insults one of Alfred Hitchcock\u2019s greatest cinematic achievements, is rather harsh. <\/p>\n

By the same logic, after all, you could claim that tracks like \u2018Be My Baby\u2019 are great songs largely as a result of Spector\u2019s \u2018Wall of Sound\u2019 production, but that would do a huge disservice to the songwriting of Jeff Barry and Ellie Greenwich, not to mention the incredible vocal performances of The Ronettes. You can\u2019t clap with one hand, Mr Spector. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n

ADD AS A PREFERRED SOURCE ON GOOGLE \"\"\/ <\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Credit: Far Out \/ Alamy The Beach Boys have a lot to answer for, not just in the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":940315,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3936],"tags":[33132,77,269,95866,33133,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-940314","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-music","8":"tag-brian-wilson","9":"tag-entertainment","10":"tag-music","11":"tag-phil-spector","12":"tag-the-beach-boys","13":"tag-uk","14":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116524548818229350","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/940314","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=940314"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/940314\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/940315"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=940314"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=940314"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=940314"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}