Pet Sounds Tracks FLAC File Below
This is the original duophonic or fake stereo version of The Beach Boys classic Pet Sounds album transferred from a pre-recorded reel to reel tape. This version has been much derided by the purists who prefer the mono version. Brian Wilson intended the original album to come out in mono only.
The reel is not an audio revelation and has suffered from age degradation, moreover, I think that there was a problem with the mastering to begin with. keep in mind that the tape is 48 years old and to my ears it sounds slightly better than the vinyl version of same. The quality does improve a bit after the opening track.
I have put this up as not everyone has heard this version. You will also note in the pictures below that the back cover art was different from the vinyl version.
The second clip features tracks from the reel to reel copies of The Beatles Magical Mystery Tour and The Rolling Stones Flowers. These were recorded at 3.75 inches per second but they sound better than Pet Sounds ( recorded at the better speed of 7.5). The copy of Flowers is actually the most worn out of the three albums but I think it sounds the best. There’s also some variations from the vinyl on the back cover of these two albums as pictured below.
The three groups featured were at or near their peak when these recordings were made ( 1965-67) and the pop-rock landscape was ripe with innovation and creativity. Pet Sounds has been acknowledged as an influence on the Beatles Sgt. Pepper. Magical Mystery Tour was the US follow up album to Sgt. Pepper but the single, Penny Lane/Strawberry Fields ( featured on Magical Mystery Tour) actually preceded the release of Pepper. The influence of God Only Knows from Pet Sounds is apparent on Penny Lane.
Addendum – Should be noted that some of the tracks on the album version of Magical Mystery Tour were also fake stereo including Penny Lane and Baby You’re a Rich Man which are included in the clip above. The stereo processing used for these tracks was different than the one used for Pet Sounds and is hard to discern when listening on headphones ( unlike the Pet Sounds mix ). Strawberry Fields, however the flip side to Penny Lane, was mixed in true stereo for the original album and how that came to be is a whole other story.
The late-’60s Beach Boys’ tracks, eventually, DID get reissued later on reel to reel a little better: on an excellent Dolbyized, 7.5ips Magtec reel transfer in 1974 of the GOOD VIBRATIONS compilation. Unfortunately, though, they were from the Duophonic Capitol masters (however: this 1974 compilation came out on the Wilson’s own “Brother” label).
I made a couple WAV cloud file samples I’d like to share myself (BUT THE RECORD APP OF MY DEVICE SUMMED THEM TO MONO). I use a 1965-vintage, Magnecord 1024 broadcast-quality reel to reel which has been thoroughly rebuilt and Dynaco amplification.
Sloop John B https://mega.nz/file/yd83lIqY#AwBd0v9rJ709TMb1fzgyWp1tyJHlA2fbfoDypxVZYj4
God Only Knows
https://mega.nz/file/zIM0wASJ#NW0w6Fz-VV25aPMxLud_LLi4ORtjZgs15Z-qQ-TB6_Q
BEATLES (7.5ips Ampex copies)
I Saw Her Standing There
https://mega.nz/file/mZkHhRZb#EE7gPD12IPCCfZyLQE8nJ69Oozp4GIosRYmtyG2Qgss
Can’t Buy Me Love
https://mega.nz/file/nZ0FARYS#y7QqhmtiRxwov8uh9cmtFf3f_G-mEvtbf0HB0IiADH4
I’ve Got A Feeling
https://mega.nz/file/KAtHhCbL#EJn1zE1TXtFTPE1IhR78fgNHxLHLqXBj0UJO82Ff1OE
P.S.: Steve Hoffman is full of misinformation regarding vintage pre-recorded reels. They WERE taken as essentially “flat transfers” (with, of course, the right bias adjustment added for 7.5ips EQ…at six-times the high frequency filter of 17,500Hz) from a second-generation safety to run-off from. The “duping chain” being all *electronically* simultaneous (AND ALL-TUBE BEFORE 1967, BY THE WAY), theoretically, HAD BETTER QUALITY CONTROL than the *mechanical* process required to individually stamp records; aside from, of course, the uniformity of speed and dynamic range tape has records do not. Vinyl obsessives have their own agendas which have no bearing in reality most often.
The biggest culprit of thinking(?) the tapes not sounding right are: the old capacitors and worn heads of unrestored decks themselves…NOT the condition of the average reel (example: a 3.75ips reel played back on a Tandberg will sound radically better than playing it on almost any other make/model).
Thank you. Jim.
James I somehow missed your comment when originally posted. The files you shared previously are unfortunately no longer available.
Can you please make a high-quality FLAC rip of the tape reel of Duophonic Pet Sounds? This “mix” isn’t available anywhere in full, in any quality online. For preservation’s sake, you should make it available online since it will most likely never get officially released. My email is dialeddoortv@gmail.com, if you want to maybe share with the world….
David technically recording digitally from a tape or vinyl is not a “rip” as it is to rip a CD. Unlike the CD process, you have to record while playing the tape in real time. Lossless files such as FLAC take up more space and upload time. Anyway for now I have added 4 tracks from Pet Sounds in FLAC. Some difference in the sound quality may be because I used a different rape recorder this time than the original recording made 10 years ago.
Well i hope you plan on transferring the whole tape in FLAC for preservation’s sake. You can always upload it to the internet archive. A new MEGA or google drive link would be appreciated. When you transferred the tape in 2014 was it a lossless FLAC file you uploaded to this blog? You still got that original file?
ok will transfer the whole album in lossless at some point. The original 2014 transfer was an MP3 and is still up on this page.