The Beach Boys have arguably created the most fulsome and legendary canon of hit songs by any American group in popular music history. While most of those hits are confined to one decade (the ’60s), they are unmatched in durability, cultural relevance, artistry, sound and being perfect examples of post-war, popular American music.
While the youthful themes of the group’s songs of surfing and especially cars have lost most of their luster over the years, the themes of yearning love, girls, and the beach still endure. The group’s peak run (from roughly 1962 until 1966) ended with the release of its most important album, Pet Sounds, but the group continued to make more fine albums. While certain of those later songs were not bona-fide chart hits, they are key parts of the group’s unmatched legacy.
At this point in history, with the long procession of music formats that have come and gone, from singles, albums, 8-tracks, cassettes, CDs and downloads to streaming, one would think that for a group whose biggest hits have been packaged and re-packaged, yet another greatest hits collection would be redundant. Disabusing that notion is the mostly welcome new updated and expanded edition of the group’s Sounds of Summer best-of package.
Originally released in 2003 as a single-CD, 30-track compilation and a digital, best-of package, it was the de-facto replacement of the group’s analog Endless Summer vinyl set, as the definitive hits collection of the group. Before and since both Endless Summer and the new Sounds of Summer, there have been many other worthy greatest hits packages of the group’s music, but these two are the most acclaimed and representative of their respective eras. This new expanded version of Sounds of Summer, now must be considered the most comprehensive and as far as packaging, design, and collectability, it can’t be beat.
The new expanded version is a vinyl box that includes six 180-gram vinyl albums in three-gatefold jackets in a slip-case box, with a total of 80 tracks, adding 50 to the original set’s 30. Also included are four art prints and the box was released as a numbered, limited edition set of 6500. The second side of the 6th and final disc features an etched replica of the lettering used for the original cover.
Most of the remixes are from 2021, but there are also remixes or mixes from 1996, 2001, 2007, 2012, 2013, 2017, 2019, and 2020. Also included are an alternate mix of “It’s OK” and “All I Want To Do.” Oddly, there is only one mono mix of a song: “Be True To Your School.” This set could have benefitted greatly by having more mono versions of some of the early and even mid-’60s classics.
The presentation of the box set is exceptional, but when we get into the song sequencing and sound quality, it’s a mixed bag. The mastering process used is DMM (Direct Metal Mastering). Like on the recent reissues of the albums of The Beatles, as a group and solo, new remixes are one of the major features of this box. In some cases, lead vocals and drums are mixed louder. Also, an overall hotter sound is created, to make the music more palatable to younger generations of listeners.
In some cases, these approaches make for a more detailed and vibrant sound and in others, there is way too much reverb used, unfortunately like on the old Capitol albums from The Beatles. This good and bad approach can even happen within the same track. Given that the group’s entire recording timeline is represented throughout, this can sometimes seem ideal for some older recordings that need a little freshening up, yet sound forced on later tracks where the group had perfected their studio chops and no major updating was needed. The track list is also presented out of chronological sequence and can be a bit jarring and even confusing for casual fans of the group.
One of the great things about this set is how it highlights how much great music the group recorded after its so-called ’60s pop singles heyday and album peak from Pet Sounds through just before the mid-’70s, with a few exceptions. Yet, later albums, such as Sunflower, Surf’s Up, and Holland, finally received their due as classics and a set like this, if presented chronologically, may have helped albums such as Carl and the Passions – So Tough and even the M.I.U. Album, get a little more love.
It would be great to see vinyl re-issues of all of the group’s albums from the early and mid-1960s mixed in mono from the original analog tapes and replicating the original album packaging. Brian Wilson, a true studio wizard, is one of the few, bona-fide geniuses from the 1960s, and hearing all the albums up to Pet Sounds the way they were intended would be a bonanza for fans of the Beach Boys. A mono box, like the ones from the Rolling Stones and especially The Beatles, with albums also available individually, would be major music news. It would also be nice if Capitol released on vinyl, Wake the World: The Friends Sessions and I Can Hear Music: The 20/20 Sessions, released only digitally in 2018.
Again, the packaging, which includes excellent liner notes, period photos from the ’60s and ’70s, all of the group’s album covers replicated on the record sleeves, the beautiful gatefolds, art prints and a sturdy slipcase box, is premium and deserves a rating of A+, but the sound quality in spots and odd track sequencing lower the rating considerably.
This is still a box that hardcore fans of the group will want to have in their collection. The Beach Boys’ archival releases over the past few years, particularly 1967 – Sunshine Tomorrow and Feel Flows The Sunflower & Surf’s Up Sessions 1969–1971, are some of the best-ever in their history. Hopefully, some of the missteps on this release won’t be repeated and word is that up next are Carl and the Passions – So Tough and Holland, which will be welcome new archival releases and worth the wait.
GRADED ON A CURVE:
B
