The Beach Boys‘ Pet Sounds turns 50 next month, which means we’re celebrating 50 years of mediocre bands trying to replicate Brian Wilson’s perfectionist pop and 50 years of publications trying to mold otherwise good bands into pop musicians with misguided Beach Boys comparisons (I’m looking at you Animal Collective). But hey, the original record is still one of the best things you’ll ever hear.
To celebrate this special anniversary, Brooklyn Vegan reports that Reverberation Appreciation Society is putting out a tribute album full of different artists covering the entire record, including Cosmonauts’ dreamy take on the standout “Caroline, No.” The Fullerton, California band’s delicate reinterpretation sounds nothing like the original, yet the lonesome whirlwind of sound and the ghostly harmonies keep the song’s “rainclouds on a sunny day” message alive and well.
“’Caroline, No’ is a really beautiful and calming track off of Pet Sounds, probably the densest and most beautiful album by the Beach Boys. So we approached it almost as a lullaby… albeit a minimal and fairly eerie one,” says band member Derek Cowart.
The tribute album will be out May 27. Check out more Cosmonauts here.
If Brian Wilson hears that tuneless racket,he’d be fully entitled to punch every single one of the Cosmonauts in the face – repeatedly. No jury in the land would convict him.