Where Do I Start With the Beach Boys?

And what about the sound?

 

I'd extend that out a little before and after those LPs to include All Summer Long and Pet Sounds. BW had The Beach Boys' sound nailed on those records. Not saying there aren't a lot of worthwhile cuts outside those LPs, but those are the high point, the signature sound IMO.

 

Average, not bad. Mostly, it uses the original mono mixes for all songs up until 1968. Some of the intros sound remixed and noise-reduced to me, e.g. California Girls, but issues like this are common on all Beach Boys Capitol releases. Sound is comparable to the standard remasters from 1990, and far better than the standard remasters from 2001 or 2012.

If you want better sound, you have to search for much more expensive (and less comprehensive) releases from DCC, Audio Fidelity, MFSL, Analogue Productions or the early Pastmasters CDs.

 

1. A Greatest Hits/Best of collection. Specifically this one, if you can't spring for The Good Vibrations box: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Platinum-C...eywords=the+beach+boys+platinum+summer+sounds There are a few duff tracks on Disc Three, but the rest are sublime.
2. Pet Sounds
3. Surf's Up/Sunflower twofer
4. Today/Summer days twofer
5. Friends/20/20 twofer
6. Smiley-Smile/Wild Honey twofer
7. Carl and the Passions/Holland twofer

In that order. You won't regret it. After that, go earlier because with the exception of Love You, Dennis' POB, Brian's 88 album and Brian Wilson Presents Smile, almost anything after In Concert (1973) is at least partially painful to listen to. Notable exceptions - about half of 85, half of That Lucky Old Sun, half of LA, half of That's Why God Made The Radio (the latter half and the first cut).

 

I would start with three songs:

- I Get Around
- Good Vibrations
- God Only Knows

You get everything : the Mike Love led verses, the falsetto Brian, the infectious upbeat joyous music, the Carl Wilson angelic lead vocals, the weird sonic puzzle experimentations, the band harmonies, the genius production/arranging and the music's spirituality.

But to me (as to so many of us obsessive), it all comes down to God Only Knows. Once you "get" this song, a wonderful path opens before you. You can go back to the Warmth of the Sun or expand to 'Till I die, you can listen to Pet Sounds as a whole or try things like Our Sweet Love (from Sunflower) etc.

 

And if you're not a rabid Culture Club fan, don't start with the 1985 self titled album.

 

1. Sunflower
2. Pet Sounds
3. Smile Box
4. Holland
5. Surf's Up
6. That's Why God Made The Radio

 

If you're a rabid Stevie Wonder or Ringo Starr fan, start with the 1985 self titled album.

 

No mention of Kokomo, Good Vibrations or Help Me Rhonda? You can't limit his exposure to just 3 songs.

 

**** how did I forget Love You???

 

really??...bs?....because you fell for it?...come back in 10 years, after your baby sitter has left..and then we can discuss......

 

how can smile be a critics darling..when it's never been released?...by the beach boys?........when will people understand this?

 

why is that bs?..cuz your rolling stone subscription ran out?........or your people magazine supermarket tabloid told you otherwise?....how old are you, by the way...2o..maybe 31?....

 

yes

 

yes..listen to this guy..he's right

 

yes

 

Why they never released a box set with all the studio albums, because i think its not an easy task to buy them all one by one.
What about Pet sounds , should i buy the single version, 2 cds edition, or the 4 cds editions with dvds ?

 

What planet are you from?

The Beach Boys - The Smile Sessions [2 CD] - Amazon.com Music »
The Beach Boys - The Smile Sessions [9 CD Box Set] - Amazon.com Music »
https://www.amazon.com/Smile-Sessions-2-LP/dp/B005J29HD0

Long before official release the Beach Boys SMiLE sessions have been listened to by a multitude of critics and fans and up until release has been considered by many to be the greatest lost album of all time.

 

I listened through most of the Beach Boys catalogue a couple of years ago and I really like Pet Sounds, the Smile Sessions, Smiley Smile and Friends, but not much else except for selected tracks. In an odd way Smiley Smile is one of the ones I play the most, although many Beach Boys fans seem to loathe that one. YMMV of course.

 

Pet Sounds
Greatest Hits
Today

 

The Beach Boys In Concert - energetic, competent live set with Blondie Chaplin and Ricky Fataar from the South African band The Flames that gives the boys a bit of an edge playing live.

 

I'm 54, and if you judge people by how old they are when they listen to a particular album you have some major issues.

 

yeah..you're right. i'm sorry. ...i get all worked up about some issues...and sometimes go over-board.........

 

There is argument for starting at the beginning -- Surfin' Safari:

The Beach Boys Surfin' Safari album - Really that bad? »


"Surfin' Safari" is a great record. It's grungy and dirty and raw and I like it. It's the surfin' equivalent to "Never Mind The Bullocks".

What's wrong with a group of enthusiastic young men singing about chicks, soft drinks, county fairs, and more chicks? Not to mention, the most earnest and heartfelt lead vocal ever, found on the overlooked masterwork "Cuckoo Clock"? Such a moving performance. The arrival of the Beach Boys was as Earth shattering as the Beatles landing in JFK. They had a fresh, energetic sound that kicked the whole 60's rock and roll scene in the ***. They provided the shot heard round the world which lead to all the great albums that followed. Friends, Sufin' Safari is as dangerous and dark as Velvet Underground & Nico 5 years later. Happier lyrics, yeah, but look at the muscianship. If Chug-a-lug was about liquid LSD you'd all see what I mean. Don't let the lyrics throw you. Messy haired teens with nothing to lose laying down some hot jams under the watchful eye of their lunatic father. Nothing was ever the same after it, and sweaty jocks everywhere put down their bat and gloves and picked up Fender stats all because of Brian and the gang.

"Cuckoo Clock" is my favorite cut on the album, and it is as dark and cerebral as anything. "Ghosts crowd the child's fragile eggshell mind". It's all coming from the same troubing place.

Surfin' Safari is a song about patricide. Read between the lines.

Dare I say, aside from Johnny Cash, that Wilson was the only one gutsy enough to speak out against racial injustice on "Ten Little Indians". He could see that the California hills were stained with the blood of many a brave tribe. The tenth little indian acted like himself. He didn't succumb to the white man's ways and accept Jesus Christ as his savior.

"Chug-a-lug" is a naked assessment of the group. "Gary like's a girl's tight black pants". This was 1962. How did such a filthy sentiment get past the censors? Wilson and Usher pushing the envelope, as much as the Beatles would with "I'd Love To Turn You On" five years later. Each Beach Boy represents a different fraction of troubled youth. Carl's unhealthy obsession with food is explored, as well as Mike's secret need for alcohol to help him deal with the reality of knocking up girls. A generation lost in space, all described perfectly within the confines of a two-minute song.

"409" is a song that deals with the loss of a boy's virginity at the hands of a hooker.

"Surfin'", the song that started it all, is a desperate cry for help. "Surfin' is the only life". All other roads lead to death. The escapism of the beach and surf and sand is the only thing keeping them from ending their lives because of the hardships they face.

The "Surfer Stomp" is referring to giving squares and greasers the beat down. It's kinda like an American Quadrophenia, this song.

"Heads You Win, Tails I Lose" is about some of the seeder parts of town, where pimps and hookers rule, and smoke filled pool halls crackle with the sounds of gunshots and knife fights. Sometimes the kids from uptown sneak into the slums to get a taste of the action. Peeking through a filthy window smeared with blood and **** and yellowed from decades of cigar stench. The innocence of youth is lost in an instant as they witness a man stabbed to death for attempting to cheat at a game. Either way the coin falls, you lose. Death is at your door. Heavy, heavy stuff.

"Cuckoo Clock" is for me the ultimate Brian Wilson statement. Before fame, fortune, drugs, self-confidence, women, and lawyers got in the way, we have a sweet young man with a voice as pure as God's linen, experiencing the joy of a simple, wholesome relationship with a nice young girl. The cuckoo clock is not literal; it is only in Brian's head. Each time things start to happen again, he thinks he's got something good going for himself, but what goes wrong? "Cuckoo! Cuckoo!" The cuckoo is in his head, man, it's one of the voices. I almost cry sometimes because I feel so bad for that young boy whose life was ruined by all sorts of outside influences. This recording is pretty much the last snapshot of Brian before that red-blooded, all-American kid got swallowed up forever inside the jaws of paranoia, depression, and record industry corruption. **** you, Doctor Landy.

"The Shift" is an animalistic statement of human sexuality, the words most likely spat solely from the sinful mouth of Mike Love. The polar opposite of “Cuckoo Clock”, it is complete devoid of emotion and old fashioned social standards. Sex is a physical act, done only for sick pleasure, nothing more. Women are objects and should wear this "shift" in order to please the men folk around them. I find myself rather offended by this song, to be honest with you. "She'll ball you with the shift on". Mike would park at inspiration point and have his girl climb over on top of him and he'd slide up the shift and do his business. Easy access, they'd call it. One of the most explicitly sexual songs ever recorded by the Beach Boys. Disgustingly brunt, but again, honesty where honesty had seldom been seen before. No sugarcoating. The reality of the era. Biff, you take your damn hands off her.

So you see, the "Surfin' Safari" album is just as deep and meaningful and groundbreaking as anything released during the 60's. The Beach Boys had arrived, before the Beatles shook the world, before Dylan became the voice of a generation, and they had already broken down many barriers and expanded the musical horizon with their dark, realistic view of life as a teenager.

BEST. ALBUM. OF 1962.

 

yes....thank you....i feel the same way when i listen to it....hamburger stands and kissing.....****..that was us as teenagers........