What makes Pet Sounds Live much more than just a souvenir of Brian Wilson's 2002 shows at London's Royal Festival Hall is how the former Beach Boy seems to have lived and breathed every last word (Tony Asher's words, lest we forget) and sentiment of his very own masterpiece's candid, soul-baring vulnerability. It's not hard, for example, to interpret the magnificent "You Still Believe In Me" (freshened-up with a gorgeous and exclusively a cappella outro, it must be said that backing band the Wondermints supply awesomely faithful instrumentation and harmony throughout) as a direct tribute to those devotees who've stuck with Wilson through many wasted years of self-doubt. For all his latter-day flaws (yes, the voice is now a crumpled shadow of its former falsetto glory) Pet Sounds Live is conceivably-and remarkably-even more of a Brian Wilson personal artistic statement than the original classic album. For example, while "I'm Waiting for the Day" has far less of the high school marching band vibe about it, the noticeable difference is the absence of the original's big booming brick-by-brick production. Perhaps, then, Brian Wilson has finally got Phil "Wall of Sound" Spector-his great inspiration and delusional nemesis-off his chest and out of his paranoid dreams. One nitpicking criticism, though: While there are lovely strings on "Let's Go Away for a While" (as, indeed, there are on the original), just where are the cellos and violins which, by right, ought to be lending that familiar glowing melancholia to the 'listen, listen" segment of "Don't Talk" or elevating the second verse of "God Only Knows" to a state of tingling, spiritual transcendence? Proof that, even with genius, there's always room for improvement. -Kevin Maidment.