Says event organizer Sam Willett: 

After a very successful showing at the first Classic Album Sundays event in April, Transistor Chicago, Saturday Audio Exchange and I are very excited to announce our next intimate album listening event on May 29th, 2016! This time around, we will be spinning The Beach Boys’ magnum opus, "Pet Sounds," to celebrate the album’s 50th anniversary and its endlessly relevant beauty.
 
While The Beach Boys had many hits related to summertime fun, surfing and love, "Pet Sounds" exemplifies an adjacent lyrical direction, in which songwriter Brian Wilson provides a snapshot of the sadness he observes and projects into the world around him. “Wouldn’t It Be Nice” pinpoints moments of frustrated youth and an ideal life. It’s a perfect way to start the album because this vision only becomes more corrupted and honest as the album continues.

While "Pet Sounds" failed to match the chart success of previous Beach Boys albums here in America, in the United Kingdom the record was pronounced “the most progressive pop album ever” and spent six months in Britain's top 10. The album is celebrated today as one of the greatest pop works of all time and seen by musicologists as one of the first concept albums.
 
On “Don’t Talk (Put Your Head on My Shoulder)”, Brian Wilson requests the subject of the song to just “listen, listen, listen” to his heartbeat. Wilson’s heart is projecting appreciation for love and the perfection of a moment with a lover, and he feels their heartbeats, sighs and cries are enough to make a moment together unique. Let’s do the same when we come together to celebrate "Pet Sounds" at Transistor. It’s a complex album released by a band previously known for freewheeling happiness but has flipped sides to show you how life feels like when the waves crash down on the sand.