"The Beach Boys-The Capitol Years" began its' life as a 7 L.P. set from EMI/UK's mail-order subsidiary "World Records" and was later released in identical form by Toshiba/EMI in Japan.The set has 6 compilation albums of 1960's Beach Boys hits and selected album tracks,none of the selections properly remastered or from anything remotely resembling original master tapes.The 7th compilation is "The Brian Wilson Productions",a collection of Wilson songwriting and production efforts for other Capitol artists.Be cautioned that the only CD edition that presents the 7 L.P. set complete is the Toshiba/EMI 7-CD boxed set Japanese edition.The Australian set presents the vol.1-6 complete on a 4-CD set,but lacks "The Brian Wilson Productions" bonus album.But,in any event,"The Capitol Years" is obsolete,because there are now two other CD compilations of Wilson's non-Beach Boys productions which have better sound,and even more songs than the "Productions" compilation in "The Capitol Years".One is the 2002 revised Toshiba/EMI edition of "The Brian Wilson Productions"(TOCP-66034) or,better yet,the British compilation "Pet Projects:The Brian Wilson Productions"(ACE CDCHD 851).Don't bother with "The Capitol Years".Its' mastering is substandard,and the Australian truncated 4-CD edition(without "the Brian Wilson Productions") is especially worthless...and yet I've seen one marketplace merchant trying to get $199 for the truncated Australian set.As for the famliar 1960's singles & album tracks,the best place to hear them(from quality tape sources) are on Capitol's U.S.A. two-fer series,or on any currently available Capitol U.S.A. compilation CD.
About ten years or more ago, I ordered the 4-CD Australian version of The Capitol Years. I don't remember what I paid for it, but it probably wasn't as much as you'd probably have to pay for it today if you can find it. The sound quality is by no means great, but I think it's O.K. (although some songs are in fake or "processed" stereo, which I'm not that fond of), and it does have a great selection of tracks. Not only does it have the group's '60s hits (well, their American ones, anyway; I'm not familiar with their Australian chart history), but it also includes songs from (I think) every one of their '60s albums (except the Stack-O-Tracks "album"). Not even the Good Vibrations box set does that! It has many songs that aren't on any other Beach Boys collections that I've seen. I personally like the set, but I wouldn't recommend buying it unless you find it for cheap; because of the inferior sound quality, it really isn't worth paying very much for. I give it four stars because of the great selection of tracks and because it's the most comprehensive "Capitol years" collection that I've ever seen (I'm counting other CDs that exclusively feature the group's Capitol material, regardless of their titles, as "Capitol years" collections, and I'm NOT considering the Pet Projects comp, which isn't a Beach Boys comp). It would be nice if Capitol would put out a collection like this --- but with better sound quality (and no processed stereo) --- in America.
