The Beach Boys Album: “Good Vibrations: Thirty Years of the Beach Boys [B”

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.

"Good Vibrations: Thirty Years of The Beach Boys" is one of the finest compilations of a major musical artist yet released. Inside, you will find an exceptionally well-chosen selection of Beach Boy hits, album tracks, alternate takes, experiments and other assorted oddities. There are no essential songs or performances missing, although one might quibble about not finding a personal favourite among the extensive track listing. Even then, I'll wager that the compilers at Capitol have second-guessed even the most fervent Beach Boys fanatics. Here is the proof as to why in some circles Brian Wilson is considered a pop music genius on the order of a Paul McCartney or a Stevie Wonder. The sound is terrific, given that the original recordings have some unusual imbalances and are very trebly--no doubt due to Brian Wilson's rumoured deafness in one ear. The tracks are chronologically arranged and neatly contained into aesthetically-pleasing sections. For example, CD #1 contains the surfin' era, CD #2 contains the maturing of Brian's sonic palette, CD #3 contains the later, more esoteric but no less important cuts and CD #4 is a concise encapsulation of the rather spotty 1971-1989 period. There is also a decent, if not terribly enlightening booklet to accompany the recordings. The biggest asset, for Beach Boys fanatics, is a fifth (bonus) disc of alternate mixes of beloved songs where the instrumentation is buried so that only those heavenly harmonies can be heard accapella. This an important American musical legacy and Capitol Records should be commended for this exceptional package. It is a treat for the Fanatic, the Casual Listener or the Pop Musicologist. It ably demonstrates why The Beach Boys have long been a favourite of musicians and songwriters the world over and not just some repetitive surf rock group. This box set helped restore them to critical acceptance with the newer rock critics and firmly entrenches them in the triumvirate of great American rock groups: The Beach Boys, The Byrds and The Velvet Underground.

I was never a Beach Boys fan. I liked to listen to the occasional hit. I really enjoyed the Beatles' spoof of their harmonies on 'Back In The USSR'.

Then I saw Brian Wilson in concert. I heard him sing 'God Only Knows' live. And suddenly, I saw the world differently.

It was such a life-changing experience, I started to devour every bit of Brian Wilson/Beach Boys stuff that I could find. And I found this - a complete boxed set - on Amazon.

Having obtained the necessary permission from my wife to use up some of the household budget (new carpets can wait), I sent off for this mammoth collection.

I wondered if I would like it. After all, it was one of those strange conceptions - a mixture of out-takes, bit-takes, mickey-takes and full-takes. Surely it was only for Beach Nerds?

I was wrong. Every budding songwriter should get this. For alongside the complete tracks, it shows some of the Beach Boys material 'under construction'. The set should be subtitled 'How to build a classic song using layers of sound'. It is very educational.

Of course, all the hits are here - 'California Girls'; 'Fun, Fun, Fun'; 'Good Vibrations' etc etc. But it's not just a juke-box. It's a magic box. There is something spiritual about the Beach Boys sound. Brian Wilson took the mystical strains of Gregorian chant and mixed them with four-part harmony and a rock-and-roll beat. And he created the Beach Boys.

This is choral music in a chart setting. This is like hearing a full choir in a huge domed cathedral, when really you're in your car, listening to the stereo.

Get it. And remember to pray while you listen. You never know. It just might work.

Milf.

Out of all the boxed sets I've owned, "Good Vibrations: Thirty Years Of The Beach Boys" remains my favorite. More complete than any "greatest hits" album, it features hours of classic music that still sounds as fresh and lively as it did 40 years ago. And for 5 discs, it's worth every penny.

Disc 1 begins with the early, innocent years. No innovative instrumentations or acid trips here. Just clean American rock and roll. These songs - "Fun, Fun, Fun", "Surfin' USA", "Don't Worry Baby", "Be True To Your School" and many others - encapsule what America is all about: fun and freedom, a place you can go where you want and do what you want. Nobody was better at this then The Beach Boys. The unreleased stuff is an extra treat: alternative versions of "Surfin'", the great instrumental "Punchline", the pretty "The Things We Did Last Summer" and many more are finally seeing the light of day.

Disc 2 spans from 1965 to 1967. It was during ths time that Brian Wilson took production control of the group and they cut their most exciting records - "California Girls", "Wouldn't It Be Nice", "Sloop John B.", "God Only Knows" and "Good Vibrations". They had time to cut some simple pop songs that launched their career like "Barbara Ann" and "Help Me Rhonda". At the end of the disc comes the treat. In 1993, Brian Wilson let the people who put this collection together include 30 minutes of music from the "Smile" sessions. Here is where you'll find alternate versions of "Heroes And Villians", and "Vegetables" (incuding unreleased sections of the former), the spooky instrumentals "I Love To Say Da Da" and "Do You Like Worms", and Brian's eerie demo of "Surf's Up". Also are two songs released on 1969's "20/20": the chilling a capella "Our Prayer" and the spacey "Cabinessence".

Disc 3 begins with some tracks from 1967's "Wild Honey": the title track, "Darlin'" and the haunting "Let The Wind Blow". Then there's a demo of "Cool Cool Water" (later released on "Sunflower". Then comes a suite of tracks from my two favorite Beach Boys albums: "Friends" and "20/20". These songs are among their best works: "Meant For You", "Friends", "Little Bird", "Busy Doin' Nothin'", "Do It Again", "Bluebirds Over The Mountain", "I Can Hear Music", "Time To Get Alone", and "I Went To Sleep". These songs alone make this my favorite disc. Next comes three unreleased tracks: Dennis' "San Miguel", "Games Two Can Play" and "I Just Got My Pay" (which later became "Marcella"). These lead into another suite of tracks from "Sunflower" and "Surf's Up", including the uplifting "Add Some Music To Your Day", the punchy "This Whole World", and the chilling "'Til I Die".

Disc 4 is the weakest disc. There are a number of setbacks: tracsk from "Carl And The Pasions", "15 Big Ones" and "Love You". But there are some great songs: "Marcella", "Sail On Sailor" and "Trader". There's also Dennis' haunting swan song "Baby Blue", the great cover of "Come Go With Me", the catchy "Getcha Back", and "Kokomo".

Disc 5 has a wealth of goodies, including backing trakcs, demos, vocal - only versions and live recordings. The closer to this disc (and the set) is a heartwrenching version of "Surfer Girl" from 1967. This version, with sparse instrumentation, is one of the most beautiful things ever recorded.

This is a great cd that very music fan will enjoy. It is worth the money. Also, get "Pet Sounds", "Beach Boys Today", "Friends", "20/20", "Sunflower" and "Surf's Up", all excellent albums. And don't forget: "Smile" comes out in September.

The folks who wrote that this was the "ultimate box set" and "possibly the best box set ever" are right. This is an amazing collection of the Beach Boys' music and has something for casual fan and collector alike. Nearly all of their pop hits are covered as well as many great tracks from their later work.

The addition of the Smile session work on the second disk and the "outtakes" on the fifth disk make this set even better. Many of Brian's Wilson's "outtakes" would be the best tracks on the album of any other group.

The "cantina" version of Heroes and Villains, the Wind Chimes, and Vegetables spotlight what was lost when Brian cancelled the Smile album.

And the alternate ending version of "God Only Knows" with the acappela break is almost to die for.

But let's not forget the hits, either. Harmonies to make you cry. Arrangements no one else could even think of.

If the creative soul of Brian Wilson is not on this album, then you can find it on the Pet Sound Sessions.

Any lover of music should have them both. But, if you can only chose one, chose this. (And get Sessions later.)