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Essential material-- incredible overview of the Beach Boys.This boxed set is suffering from mixed reviews, largely I suspect from reviewers who aren't considering the intent of the boxed set-- the set is a career overview, contains the hits as well as the important tracks, this means that much of it is going to drift outside of the listening experience of most listeners. The Beach Boys have a long and varied career and covered quite a bit of ground, and with patience and careful listening, I suspect nearly anyone will come to appreciate this material-- …
This boxed set is suffering from mixed reviews, largely I suspect from reviewers who aren't considering the intent of the boxed set-- the set is a career overview, contains the hits as well as the important tracks, this means that much of it is going to drift outside of the listening experience of most listeners. The Beach Boys have a long and varied career and covered quite a bit of ground, and with patience and careful listening, I suspect nearly anyone will come to appreciate this material-- the genius of Brian Wilson and his brothers shines through readily . The tracks are organized chronologically and therefore provide a living history of the band. Track listing can be argued (and I will here), but the set is superb, for either the unitiated, the casual listener looking to dig deeper, or the dedicated fan seeking rarities.The first CD covers the early days of the band, when surfing and cars ruled their music (although by the end of the CD, they'd started to move on, the period of 1961 to 1965. Opening with a stunning piano-and-vocal demo of "Surfin' USA" (out of order chronologically), this opens with some early demos and the band's first single, "Surfin'". Severak early surf and car hits ("Surfin' Safari", "409", "Surfin USA", "Shut Down", "Little Deuce Coupe", "Catch a Wave", "Fun, Fun, Fun", "I Get Around", "Little Honda" follow, but also present are some of the first introspective ballads by the Beach Boys-- largely featuring Brian Wilson's falsetto leads, songs such as "Surfer Girl", "In My Room", and "The Warmth of the Sun" painted the way for the direction the Beach Boys were heading. The CD wraps up with a handful of tracks from the great album, "The Beach Boys Today!", one of the finest albums the Beach Boys ever did, including the powerful ballad "Please Let Me Wonder". Also along the way are great covers of "Why Do Fools Fall in Love" and "Do You Wanna Dance', and great early tracks like "Don't Worry Baby" and "Wendy". Even during the time of this CD, you can see the evolution of the band into the direction they woudl next embark upon. Some songs that are noticably absent (in my assessment), "Keep An Eye on Summer", the Boys' cover of "Hushabye", "Kiss Me Baby" and "Let Him Run Wild" (the latter two from "Today!").The second disc covers the legendary material of the Beach Boys, 1965 - 1967, picking up with the "Summer Days (and Summer Nights!!!)" album, the last single oriented album, then moving into "Pet Sounds" and bits of the unreleased "Smile" album. Two of the band's big hits, "California Girls" and "Help Me Rhonda" open the album, which moves into important songs in the development of Brian Wilson-- the start/stop motion of "The Little Girl I Once Knew" and the brilliant harmonies and a capella break of "Sloop John B". These paved the way for the stunning "Pet Sounds" album-- no less than 8 selections from that album are included here, including the singles (the aformentioned "Sloop John B", "Wouldn't It Be Nice", "God Only Knows", and "Caroline, No". This is the flowering into full bloom of the introspective side of the band, and is absolutey brilliant material. The remainder of the disc is devoted to "Smile"-- while the album was never released, the single, "Good Vibrations" (which of course shot to #1) preceeded it stylistically and is here adjacent to about 30 minutes of unreleased Smile tracks, including the legendary "cantina" version of "Heroes and Villains", the original takes on "Wonderful", "Vegetables", and "Wind Chimes" (vastly superior to the "Smiley Smile" versions), and a stunning piano-and-vocal only demo of "Surf's Up". While some of the sections and chanting may be a bit much for more casual listeners, again, this material-- while challenging, will find its way into you head. Given the recent release of Brian's "Smile" rerecording, this may actually serve to be more interesting to less fanatical listeners as well.Any number of tracks from "Pet Sounds" or the aborted "Smile" sessions can be argued as being missing from this disc-- all of it is essential and important, but crucial and missing from "Summer Days" is "Let Him Run wild" and one of the late pop songs, "You're So Good to Me".After the "Smile" disaster, the band was sort of floating, and this is where the third disc picks up, 1967 - 1971. While Brian was collapsing psychologically, he was producing some of the most stunning songs of his career. Scattered throughout this disc are great moments from him that are unrivaled in pop music (although admittedly some are leftover/recycled "Smile" songs)-- "Let the Wind Blow", "Cool Cool Water", "Meant For You", "Busy Doin' Nothin'", "Time to Get Alone", the incomparable "Breakaway", "This Whole World", "Add Some Music", Smile centerpiece "Surf's Up", and the stunning "'Til I Die". All of these are classic pieces deserving of reevaluation. Also during this period, Brian's brothers begin to flower, with some of Dennis' ("Little Bird", "San Miguel", and the nearly unparallelable "Forever") and Carl's (Carl's arrangement of "I can Hear Music" and "Long Promised Road") great early works contributing to this disc. Again, this material is far less commercial than what came before, but is extremely powerful and rewarding. Noticably absent are the beautiful but often overlooked Brian Wilson/Mike Love ballad, "All I Wanna Do" and Carl's great "Feel Flows", but really this disc is a great overview of this period in the Beach Boys' history.The fourth disc picks up the rest of the Beach Boys' career, 1972 onwards. The 80s onward are lacking, with Brian all but exiting the band, Dennis' death in 1983, and Mike Love turning the touring band into a living jukebox of fun in the sun hits, but the mid-70s maintained a high level of creativity. Again, Brian's genius shine through-- much of the material here is his, and again his genius shines through on cuts like "Sail On, Sailor", "Funky Pretty", "Marcella", "Had to Phone Ya" (with lead vocal split amongst all five Beach Boys), the underappreciated and completely brilliant "The Night Was So Young" and "Good Timin'". Added to this are some great moments from the rest of the band, the swirling "All This is That", Carl's "Trader" and Dennis' stunning "Baby Blue", perhaps his best work. Absent from this one is quite a bit of Dennis Wilson material, its hard to take this period in an overview without "Cuddle Up", "Steamboat" or "Love Surrounds Me", or without Carl's "Angel Come Home", but I suspect theompilers were shooting to show us Brian's great work in the '70s.The fifth disc is a bonus disc, most the material is really for collectors-- backing tracks, some live material, a couple demos. Not the kind of stuff for the casual fan.Nonetheless, this compilation is a great introduction to the band's history and has quite a bit of great material, start to finish. Essential and recommended.
Written by Michael Stack
Beware of the sound quality....Before you hit the 'no' button on "was this review helpful ?", let me say up front that my review is based entirely on the *sound quality* of this set. It does not reflect the actual music itself, which has been described in detail in many other reviews here.If you care about the sound of these songs, please be warned that the remastering job was horrendous. These songs have been remastered using a progam called No-Noise (or a similarly-like program) which basically acts as a Dolby system like…
Before you hit the 'no' button on "was this review helpful ?", let me say up front that my review is based entirely on the *sound quality* of this set. It does not reflect the actual music itself, which has been described in detail in many other reviews here.If you care about the sound of these songs, please be warned that the remastering job was horrendous. These songs have been remastered using a progam called No-Noise (or a similarly-like program) which basically acts as a Dolby system like we used to find on analog casettes. The life has been sucked out these recordings and they sound very compressed and quite "digital". If you want to hear this for yourself, please compare any song (try "In My Room" for example) from this set to the older 'Endles Summer' compilation disc. When the vocals enter on the older set, they sound rich, full, warm, etc. The same vocals on this set have zero impact - they are flat, cold, sterile, and lacking any sense of dynamics whatsoever. There is no comparison. The dynamics that are found on the older and frankly superior-sounding set are gone. There is no more warmth or excitement left in this newer set. It is a shame, since there is wonderful music here. The problem with noise reduction programs such as No-Noise is that when engineers try to remove the hiss from these older recordings, this hiss or "line noise" cannot effectively removed without affecting the entire signal. Some engineers DO take caution not to overdo this process, but on this recording it has been way overused - and consequently ruining this collection sonically.I post this because I work hard for my $$$ and when the recording industry charges this amount of money for a set of music that they want us to believe is SUPERIOR sounding due to the fact that it is newly remastered, it is a crime. This is a poor remastering job and the public ought to be aware of it.If sound quality does not interest you, then by all means go ahead and enjoy this set. But if you are a bit hesitant, please try to hear a friends copy to decide for yourself if 'Good Vibrations' is worth the $$$.I hope this helps. I will never sell my 'Endless Summer' disc as it is sonically superior to this set in every musical aspect.
Written by Frank C. "Frank C."
Track listing Edit
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CD 1 : Good Vibrations: Thirty Years Of The Beach Boys
format: number: title: number name artist hh:mm:ss 1Surfin' U.S.A. [Demo Version] - The Beach Boys, Berry, Chuck?:??Play Buy track 2Little Surfer Girl - The Beach Boys, Wilson, Brian [Pop]?:??Play Buy track 3Surfin' - The Beach Boys, Love, Mike [Beach B?:??Play Buy track 4Surfin' [Rehearsal] - The Beach Boys, Love, Mike [Beach B?:??Play Buy track 5Their Hearts Were Full of Spring [Demo Version] - The Beach Boys, Troup, Bobby?:??Play Buy track 6Surfin' Safari - The Beach Boys, Love, Mike [Beach B?:??Play Buy track 7409 - The Beach Boys, Love, Mike [Beach B?:??Play Buy track 8Punchline [Instrumental] - The Beach Boys, Wilson, Brian [Pop]?:??Play Buy track 9Surfin' U.S.A. - The Beach Boys, Berry, Chuck?:??Play Buy track 10Shut Down - The Beach Boys, Christian, Roger "H?:??Play Buy track 11Surfer Girl - The Beach Boys, Wilson, Brian [Pop]?:??Play Buy track 12Little Deuce Coupe - The Beach Boys, Christian, Roger "H?:??Play Buy track 13In My Room - The Beach Boys, Usher, Gary?:??Play Buy track 14Catch a Wave - The Beach Boys, Wilson, Brian [Pop]?:??Play Buy track 15The Surfer Moon - The Beach Boys, Wilson, Brian [Pop]?:??Play Buy track 16Be True to Your School - The Beach Boys, Love, Mike [Beach B?:??Play Buy track 17Spirit of America - The Beach Boys, Christian, Roger "H?:??Play Buy track 18Little Saint Nick - The Beach Boys, Wilson, Brian [Pop]?:??Play Buy track 19The Things We Did Last Summer - The Beach Boys, Cahn, Sammy?:??Play Buy track 20Fun, Fun, Fun - The Beach Boys, Love, Mike [Beach B?:??Play Buy track 21Don't Worry Baby - The Beach Boys, Christian, Roger "H?:??Play Buy track 22Why Do Fools Fall in Love? - The Beach Boys, Levy, Morris?:??Play Buy track 23The Warmth of the Sun - The Beach Boys, Love, Mike [Beach B?:??Play Buy track 24I Get Around - The Beach Boys, Love, Mike [Beach B?:??Play Buy track 25All Summer Long - The Beach Boys, Love, Mike [Beach B?:??Play Buy track 26Little Honda - The Beach Boys, Love, Mike [Beach B?:??Play Buy track 27Wendy - The Beach Boys, Wilson, Brian [Pop]?:??Play Buy track 28Don't Back Down - The Beach Boys, Wilson, Brian [Pop]?:??Play Buy track 29Do You Wanna Dance - The Beach Boys, Freeman, Bobby?:??Play Buy track 30When I Grow Up (To Be a Man) - The Beach Boys, Wilson, Brian [Pop]?:??Play Buy track 31Dance, Dance, Dance - The Beach Boys, Wilson, Brian [Pop]?:??Play Buy track 32Please Let Me Wonder - The Beach Boys, Love, Mike [Beach B?:??Play Buy track 33She Knows Me Too Well - The Beach Boys, Wilson, Brian [Pop]?:??Play Buy track 34Radio Station Jingles - The Beach Boys,?:??Play Buy track 35Hushabye [Live] - The Beach Boys, Pomus, Doc?:??Play Buy track -
unknown format 2 : Good Vibrations: Thirty Years Of The Beach Boys
format: number: title: number name artist hh:mm:ss 1California Girls - The Beach Boys, Love, Mike [Beach B?:??Play Buy track 2Help Me, Rhonda - The Beach Boys, Love, Mike [Beach B?:??Play Buy track 3Then I Kissed Her - The Beach Boys, Barry, Jeff?:??Play Buy track 4And Your Dream Comes True - The Beach Boys, Love, Mike [Beach B?:??Play Buy track 5The Little Girl I Once Knew [45 Version] - The Beach Boys, Wilson, Brian [Pop]?:??Play Buy track 6Barbara Ann [45 Version] - The Beach Boys, Fassert, Fred?:??Play Buy track 7Ruby Baby - The Beach Boys, Leiber, Jerry?:??Play Buy track 8Sloop John B - The Beach Boys, Traditional?:??Play Buy track 9Wouldn't It Be Nice - The Beach Boys, Asher, Tony [Rock]?:??Play Buy track 10You Still Believe in Me - The Beach Boys, Asher, Tony [Rock]?:??Play Buy track 11God Only Knows - The Beach Boys, Asher, Tony [Rock]?:??Play Buy track 12Hang on to Your Ego - The Beach Boys, Asher, Tony [Rock]?:??13I Just Wasn't Made for These Times - The Beach Boys, Asher, Tony [Rock]?:??Play Buy track 14Pet Sounds - The Beach Boys, Wilson, Brian [Pop]?:??Play Buy track 15Caroline No - The Beach Boys, Asher, Tony [Rock]?:??Play Buy track 16Good Vibrations [45 Version] - The Beach Boys, Love, Mike [Beach B?:??17Our Prayer - The Beach Boys, Wilson, Brian [Pop]?:??Play Buy track 18Heroes and Villains [Alternate Version] - The Beach Boys, Parks, VanDyke?:??Play Buy track 19Wonderful - The Beach Boys, Parks, VanDyke?:??Play Buy track 20Cabin Essence - The Beach Boys, Parks, VanDyke?:??21Wind Chimes - The Beach Boys, Wilson, Brian [Pop]?:??Play Buy track 22Heroes and Villains (Intro) - The Beach Boys, Parks, VanDyke?:??Play Buy track 23Do You Like Worms - The Beach Boys, Parks, VanDyke?:??Play Buy track 24Vegetables - The Beach Boys, Parks, VanDyke?:??Play Buy track 25I Love to Say Da Da - The Beach Boys, Wilson, Brian [Pop]?:??Play Buy track 26Surf's Up - The Beach Boys, Parks, VanDyke?:??Play Buy track 27With Me Tonight - The Beach Boys, Wilson, Brian [Pop]?:??Play Buy track 28Heroes and Villains (Sections) [#] - The Beach Boys, Parks, VanDyke?:??Play Buy track -
unknown format 3 : Good Vibrations: Thirty Years Of The Beach Boys
format: number: title: number name artist hh:mm:ss 1Heroes and Villains [45 Version] - The Beach Boys, Parks, VanDyke?:??Play Buy track 2Darlin' - The Beach Boys, Love, Mike [Beach B?:??Play Buy track 3Wild Honey - The Beach Boys, Love, Mike [Beach B?:??Play Buy track 4Let the Wind Blow - The Beach Boys, Love, Mike [Beach B?:??Play Buy track 5Can't Wait Too Long - The Beach Boys, Wilson, Brian [Pop]?:??Play Buy track 6Cool, Cool Water - The Beach Boys, Love, Mike [Beach B?:??Play Buy track 7Meant for You - The Beach Boys, Love, Mike [Beach B?:??Play Buy track 8Friends - The Beach Boys, Jardine, Al?:??Play Buy track 9Little Bird - The Beach Boys, Kalinich, Steve?:??Play Buy track 10Busy Doin' Nothin' - The Beach Boys, Wilson, Brian [Pop]?:??Play Buy track 11Do It Again - The Beach Boys, Love, Mike [Beach B?:??Play Buy track 12I Can Hear Music - The Beach Boys, Barry, Jeff?:??Play Buy track 13I Went to Sleep - The Beach Boys, Wilson, Brian [Pop]?:??Play Buy track 14Time to Get Alone - The Beach Boys, Wilson, Brian [Pop]?:??Play Buy track 15Break Away - The Beach Boys, Dunbar, Reggie?:??Play Buy track 16Cotton Fields (The Cotton Song) [45 Version] - The Beach Boys, Leadbelly?:??Play Buy track 17San Miguel - The Beach Boys, Jakobson, Gregg?:??Play Buy track 18Games Two Can Play - The Beach Boys, Wilson, Brian [Pop]?:??Play Buy track 19I Just Got My Pay - The Beach Boys, Wilson, Brian [Pop]?:??Play Buy track 20This Whole World - The Beach Boys, Wilson, Brian [Pop]?:??Play Buy track 21Add Some Music to Your Day - The Beach Boys, Knott, Joe?:??Play Buy track 22Forever - The Beach Boys, Jakobson, Gregg?:??Play Buy track 23Our Sweet Love - The Beach Boys, Jardine, Al?:??Play Buy track 24H.E.L.P. Is on the Way - The Beach Boys, Wilson, Brian [Pop]?:??Play Buy track 254th of July - The Beach Boys, Wilson, Dennis [1]?:??Play Buy track 26Long Promised Road - The Beach Boys, Rieley, Jack?:??Play Buy track 27Disney Girls (1957) - The Beach Boys, Johnston, Bruce?:??Play Buy track 28Surf's Up - The Beach Boys, Parks, VanDyke?:??Play Buy track 29'Til I Die - The Beach Boys, Wilson, Brian [Pop]?:??Play Buy track -
unknown format 4 : Good Vibrations: Thirty Years Of The Beach Boys
format: number: title: number name artist hh:mm:ss 1Sail on Sailor - The Beach Boys, Almer, Tandyn?:??Play Buy track 2California - The Beach Boys, Jardine, Al?:??Play Buy track 3The Trader - The Beach Boys, Rieley, Jack?:??Play Buy track 4Funky Pretty - The Beach Boys, Love, Mike [Beach B?:??Play Buy track 5Fairy Tale Music - The Beach Boys, Wilson, Brian [Pop]?:??Play Buy track 6You Need a Mess of Help to Stand Alone - The Beach Boys, Rieley, Jack?:??Play Buy track 7Marcella - The Beach Boys, Rieley, Jack?:??Play Buy track 8All This Is That - The Beach Boys, Jardine, Al?:??Play Buy track 9Rock & Roll Music - The Beach Boys, Berry, Chuck?:??Play Buy track 10It's O.K. - The Beach Boys, Love, Mike [Beach B?:??Play Buy track 11Had to Phone Ya - The Beach Boys, Love, Michael [1]?:??Play Buy track 12That Same Song - The Beach Boys, Love, Michael [1]?:??Play Buy track 13It's Over Now - The Beach Boys, Wilson, Brian [Pop]?:??Play Buy track 14Still I Dream of It - The Beach Boys, Wilson, Brian [Pop]?:??Play Buy track 15Let Us Go on This Way - The Beach Boys, Love, Mike [Beach B?:??Play Buy track 16The Night Was So Young - The Beach Boys, Wilson, Brian [Pop]?:??Play Buy track 17I'll Bet He's Nice - The Beach Boys, Wilson, Brian [Pop]?:??Play Buy track 18Airplane - The Beach Boys, Wilson, Brian [Pop]?:??Play Buy track 19Come Go with Me - The Beach Boys, Quick, Clarence E.?:??Play Buy track 20Our Team - The Beach Boys, Jardine, Al?:??Play Buy track 21Baby Blue - The Beach Boys, Jakobson, Gregg?:??Play Buy track 22Good Timin' - The Beach Boys, Wilson, Brian [Pop]?:??Play Buy track 23Goin' On - The Beach Boys, Love, Mike [Beach B?:??Play Buy track 24Getcha Back - The Beach Boys, Love, Mike [Beach B?:??Play Buy track 25Kokomo - The Beach Boys, Love, Mike [Beach B?:??Play Buy track -
unknown format 5 : Good Vibrations: Thirty Years Of The Beach Boys
format: number: title: number name artist hh:mm:ss 1In My Room [*][Demo Version] - The Beach Boys, Usher, Gary?:??Play Buy track 2I Get Around [Track Only][*][Take] - The Beach Boys, Love, Mike [Beach B?:??Play Buy track 3Dance, Dance, Dance [Tracking Session][*] - The Beach Boys, Wilson, Brian [Pop]?:??Play Buy track 4Hang on to Your Ego [Sessions][*] - The Beach Boys, Asher, Tony [Rock]?:??Play Buy track 5God Only Knows [Tracking Session][*] - The Beach Boys, Asher, Tony [Rock]?:??Play Buy track 6Good Vibrations [Sessions][*] - The Beach Boys, Love, Mike [Beach B?:??Play Buy track 7Heroes and Villains [Track Only][*][Take] - The Beach Boys, Parks, VanDyke?:??Play Buy track 8Cabin Essence [Track Only][*][Take] - The Beach Boys, Parks, VanDyke?:??Play Buy track 9Surf's Up [Track Only][*][Take] - The Beach Boys, Parks, VanDyke?:??Play Buy track 10All Summer Long [Vocals][*] - The Beach Boys, Love, Mike [Beach B?:??Play Buy track 11Wendy [Vocals][*] - The Beach Boys, Wilson, Brian [Pop]?:??Play Buy track 12Hushabye [Vocals][*] - The Beach Boys, Pomus, Doc?:??Play Buy track 13When I Grow Up (To Be a Man) [Vocals][*] - The Beach Boys, Wilson, Brian [Pop]?:??Play Buy track 14Wouldn't It Be Nice [Vocals][*] - The Beach Boys, Asher, Tony [Rock]?:??Play Buy track 15California Girls [Vocals][*] - The Beach Boys, Love, Mike [Beach B?:??Play Buy track 16Concert Intro/Surfin' U.S.A. [Live 1964][*] - The Beach Boys,?:??Play Buy track 17Surfer Girl [Live 1964][*] - The Beach Boys, Wilson, Brian [Pop]?:??Play Buy track 18Be True to Your School [Live 1964][*] - The Beach Boys, Love, Mike [Beach B?:??Play Buy track 19Good Vibrations [Live 1966][*] - The Beach Boys, Love, Mike [Beach B?:??Play Buy track 20Surfer Girl [Live in Hawaii Rehearsals 1967][*][Take] - The Beach Boys, Wilson, Brian [Pop]?:??Play Buy track
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