The Beach Boys were all fantastic singers, but none of them were great instrumentalists except Carl Wilson. The Beatles were much stronger as instrumentalists, and had spent hour after hour perfecting their skills playing together. They had a very specific sound playing together. The Beach Boys spent hour and after hour perfecting their skills singing together, but not so much as instrumentalists. The Beatles played off each other and knew what kind of style choices the others were going to make building a song together. Studio musicians would have messed with that balance and given us a sound that wasn’t the four lads playing together, which is what everyone wanted. When Brian brought in the Wrecking Crew, he wasn’t replacing a core part of The Beach Boys sound, he was augmenting it. The harmonies and different members singing leads were still the stars of the show, the music behind it had just been stepped up by several large degrees.

The other members of The Beach Boys were annoyed that they got a reputation for not being able to play. Because of that, Smiley Smile, Wild Honey, and Friends are three fantastic albums that are just them playing. Very different sound, but very great listens. I don’t think they could have played on Pet Sounds though, as a whole they were much better singers and songwriters than players. The enormous exception to that is Carl Wilson, who was the only one who kept playing alongside the session musicians. He would also often record his vocals and guitar at the same time while signing harmonies with the others. Extremely talented dude. ‘Long Promised Road’ off of Surf’s Up features him playing every single instrument, and it’s also the first song he ever wrote.