Sixty years after The Beach Boys released what is widely considered one of the greatest albums of all time, Al Jardine is still unhappy with the cover art. The 83-year-old musician described the iconic Pet Sounds cover as “a mess” and “just stupid” in a recent interview with The Independent.
The cover, photographed at San Diego Zoo, shows band members feeding goats. Jardine recalled that one of the goats bit him during the shoot. He also noted that Paul McCartney had warned the band to “watch your artwork”, implying the Beatles star shared his displeasure.
Jardine suggested the disconnect between the music and the artwork was due to poor communication: “Sometimes the art department doesn’t talk to the music department.” Despite his criticism of the cover, he has fond memories of recording the album, saying it “feels just like yesterday”.
Jardine recalled how Brian Wilson called the band back from Japan, excited about a new project. He described Pet Sounds as “really a Brian Wilson album”, with the rest of the band acting as background singers. However, he noted that Wilson respected their contributions, such as Jardine’s idea to cover “Sloop John B”.
Jardine also revealed a rare disagreement with Wilson over the exclusion of “Good Vibrations” from the album, which he thought was a mistake. Limited all-analogue vinyl editions of Pet Sounds are being released on 15 May, with a tour starting in June.
