My Amazon Reviews: Beach Boys "The Sounds of Summer"

The Best of The Beach (Short of a Box Set)

4 Out of 5 Stars

As one of the big three American 60's pop/rock bands (The Byrds and Simon & Garfunkel), The Beach Boys defined a California Dream in sun soaked harmonies and the creation of a mythos that has never quite died. This despite the admitable oddness that surrounds the band and its members (the abusive Dad who sold off the music rights, Brian's fall into mental disease, the drugs, the latter day internal squabbles). None of the quirks (or a couple noticeably absent songs) matter when you listen to the 30 chart hits on "The Sounds of Summer."

Covering all the Beach Boys' multiple labels (Capitol, Reprise and Columbia), this is the best band for the buck short of splurging for the Good Vibrations: Thirty Years of the Beach Boys box set. It starts with the simple pleasures of "California Girls," moves to Brian's stunning brilliant "pocket symphonies" like "Sloop John B" as well as the 70/80's comeback nostalgia fests of "Good Timin'" and "Kokomo." While the lure of the oldies-circuit and baby-boomer cash may have been the cause of some of the post 60's albums, the band often tried to create something other than easy albums (IMHO, 15 Big Ones and Keepin' The Summer Alive were fine works), it will still be those songs that popped from those tinny AM radios that will always be at the front of the band's legacy.

"The Sounds of Summer" does its best to balance the two periods. From the nostalgic Capitol orange and yellow Yin/Yan label artwork to the collection of pictures, this works hard to invoke that innocent freedom the music stirred up when it was brand new. Several of the songs are here in their mono-mixes (Brian, who was partially deaf, often mixed in mono) which, when you think about it, is how you probably heard them in the car anyway. At an hour and a quarter running time, you can pop "Sounds of Summer" in the car player and take a psychic road trip back to when gas was 20 cents a gallon, the surf was up and we all wanted to be California guys.