The Fat Angel Sings

The Beach Boys have announced a series of releases to celebrate the 60th anniversary of their landmark album “Pet Sounds“, due in May.

The sets include the vinyl debut of tracks previously available on 1997’s Pet Sounds Sessions box set; two vinyl releases aimed at audiophiles and a single-disc zoetrope vinyl pressing.

Pet Sounds – 60th anniversary releases:

• Pet Sounds Sessions Highlights (2CD or 2LP) – 25 alternate takes, a cappellas, and tracking sessions previously released on “The Pet Sounds Sessions“. The 2LP set is available on either black or white/green splatter vinyl. All formats include new liner notes by Howie Edelson and a detailed sessionography
• Vinylphyle Edition (2LP) – Disc one features “Pet Sounds” in mono, cut from the original 1966 assembled master reel. Disc two features Mark Linett’s 1996 stereo mix, overseen by Brian Wilson. Gatefold tip-on jacket and four-panel insert including Howie Edelson’s liner notes. Initial pressing of 3,000 copies, pressed at RTI on 180g black vinyl
• Definitive Sound Series edition (LP) – Pressed at RTI on Neotech VR900 D2 180g vinyl, cut by Chris Bellman at Bernie Grundman Mastering from “rarely used” circa-1972 original analogue tapes. Limited to 6,000 individually numbered copies. Each copy includes a certificate of authenticity documenting the mastering, plating, and pressing process
• Zoetrope vinyl (LP) – Original album, unconfirmed whether it’s in mono or stereo. Textured sleeve.

Though completists will feel duty-bound to collect the new editions, anybody who already has either The Pet Sounds Sessions or the 40th/50th anniversary editions will probably feel underwhelmed by the announcement. While the vaults are presumably empty, the decision to duplicate a track on both discs of the sessions set (the a cappella ‘I’m Waiting For The Day’) is baffling. Meanwhile, considering the Giles Martin Dolby Atmos Mix is out there, many might have felt its inclusion on a Blu-ray was an open goal. There will also be a digital release of the full 90-track Pet Sounds Sessions box set.

The Pet Sounds anniversary editions will be released on 15th May via Capitol/UMe.

“I figure no one is educated musically ‘til they’ve heard “Pet Sounds”,” Paul McCartney once said of The Beach Boys’ classic, released nearly 60 years ago on May 16th, 1966. George Martin concurred: “Without “Pet Sounds”, Sgt. Pepper wouldn’t have happened.” Brian Wilson poured his musical heart into the album’s thirteen tracks; in less than thirty-five minutes, the composer-arranger-singer-producer and his bandmates Mike Love, Carl Wilson, Dennis Wilson, Al Jardine, and Bruce Johnston delivered an entire spectrum of emotions in a song cycle of striking beauty and sensitivity. 

“Pet Sounds” may initially have been conceived by Wilson as an answer to The Beatles’ Rubber Soul, but it functions as an elegy to lost innocence (“Caroline, No”), a hope for the promise of brighter days ahead (“Wouldn’t It Be Nice”), and an expression of one young man’s innermost soul laid bare (“I Just Wasn’t Made For These Times,” “That’s Not Me,” “You Still Believe in Me”) in such a way that it was universal. Not to mention that it just might have the greatest pop love song ever written (“God Only Knows”) which begins with a shocking lyrical conceit: “I may not always love you…” Wilson and lyricist Tony Asher captured the zeitgeist on “Pet Sounds“, and every few years has brought another reissue of the album which initially was ahead of its time. 

Naturally, Pet Sounds’ 60th isn’t going unnoticed by the team at Capitol Records and UMe.  On Friday, May 15th, 2026 – nearly 60 years to the day the album first reached stores in 1966 – the labels will celebrate Pet Sounds with a variety of new titles.  The original album will see two new reissues:

• A new 2LP entry to UMe’s Vinylphyle series is pressed at RTI on 180-gram black vinyl and cut from original mono (1966) and stereo (1996) tapes by Joe Nino-Hernes at Sterling Sound. The two LPs are housed in protective poly sleeves within a tip-on jacket; a four-panel insert contains Howie Edelson’s new liner notes.
• A new 1LP mono edition in Interscope-Capitol’s Definitive Sound Series (DSS) using the One Step process. This version is pressed at RTI on Neotech VR900 D2 180-gram vinyl, with AAA [All Analog Mastering] cut by Chris Bellman at Bernie Grundman Mastering from rarely used circa-1972 analog tapes from the notable Brother Records pressing. This version is limited to 6,000 individually numbered copies, and each copy includes a certificate of authenticity documenting the mastering, plating, and pressing process.
• A “Zoetrope” vinyl edition of the original 1966 mono album.

In addition, Capitol/UMe will revisit the landmark 1997 box set The Pet Sounds Sessions in new “highlights” editions, available on both 2 CDs and 2 LPs.  The original 4CD box set included the new, first-time stereo mix of the album; the original mono mix; session material; Stack-o-Vocals a cappella mixes; and alternate versions of the album’s songs.  The new “highlights” version samples 25 tracks from the original box (all new to vinyl) and adds Howie Edelson’s new liner notes.  (Note that the vocals-only track of “I’m Waiting for the Day” is included on both CDs and LPs.)  The vinyl version is pressed on white and green splatter LP.  Note that all of the material on this new collection is reprised from the original box set, which will arrive in full on digital platforms on May 15th.

All of these formats are due May 15th.