Search - The Beach Boys :: Hawthorne, CA: Birthplace of a Musical Legacy

Some great stuff, but little essential

Michael Stack | North Chelmsford, MA USA | 03/10/2005

(3 out of 5 stars)

"The material on this set is very interesting, and much of it is well worth having, but I speak that as a hardcore Beach Boys fan-- to a more casual fan, this is really extraneous.



Of the 57 tracks on here, 17 of them are spoken pieces, interviews mostly, culled from the archives. While they're interesting and usually sentimental, there's nothing really revelatory in this.



Beyond that, there's a bunch of studio recording session excerpts ("Salt Lake City", "Wish That He Could Stay", "Carol K"/"Little Girl", "Barbara Ann", and "Good Vibrations"). These are all interesting, but if you're not intrigued by the construction process, this will seem largely extraneous. The "Carol K" one I particularly enjoyed, but "Little Girl" is one of my favorite Beach Boys tunes, so this is no surprise.



Additionally, there's several tracks that are isolated backing track-- songs without the vocals, Stack-o-Tracks style-- "Surfin' USA", "Fun, Fun, Fun", "Good to My Baby", "Be With Me", and "Sail On Sailor"). Again, these are quite interesting, but only to someone more interested in the process of the creation of the songs.



Matching a bunch of backing tracks are a bunch of vocal only tracks-- these might be more exciting to the casual fan as we get to hear those great harmonies without any instruments. On some of them, particularly "Kiss Me Baby" and "Forever", there were vocal parts I had never previously identified that were masked by or doubling instruments. There's also a capella mixes for "Can't Wait too Long" (a brilliant short edit), "I Went to Sleep" and "Add Some Music". And two Party tracks, "Barbara Ann" and "Devoted to You" are presented without overdubs.



With the exception of what I'll discuss below, the rest of the material is alternate/extended versions, much of this ("Little Girl", "Time to Get Alone") is really nice and I'm glad to have them, but again, not anything thats exciting.



The exciting material is the couple of new songs presented here-- "You're With Me Tonight" (mixed from previously unused recordings), "Lonely Days", and a great unreleased Dennis gem called "A Time to Live in Dreams". These three alone make this set worth its weight in gold to any fan, but to the more casual listener, and even to less devoted fans, this is really quite unnecessary."

Beach Boys Never cease to Amaze

Tony L. Spera | New Milford, CT USA | 05/25/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"For me listening to this 2 CD set conjures up a more innocent time, when kids " Horsed around " and the most important part of life was who was picking you up and who's car you'd be using. The girls were all giggles and the boys were happy just to talk to them.On one track Mike Love introduces the groups first song "Surfin' ". In that rehearsal you hear Dennis Wilson introducing himself, and the boys exchanging jabs about " popping each other in the mouth " if one of them starts to laugh. You want innocent times? Listen here. It's gratifying to hear some of the alternate tracks of songs we were used to hearing in onlyone version. Some of the accapella songs simply brought tears to my eyes. If you sit and listen to " Add Some Music " " Forever " and the real little jewel " Old Man River " you'll understand what I mean. The treatment is sensational, especially the enunciation and counterpoint.It's true genius here. There is no one who can harmonize the way the " Boys " did. Though alot of adulation is heaped onto big brother Brian, each Beach Boy should be applauded for their ingenuity and specific talents. Carl could sing like an angel and play the guitar like the devil. Dennis showed immense emotion and pathos in" every word he said " in a song. Mike could nail the low notes, and was a fantastic front man to the band. Al Jardine could sing and bring chills to the back of your neck, and Bruce sings falsetto to " beat the band. " ( Not too shabby of a writer, either.) A great CD from a great band! Buy it, you won't regret it."

AWESOME SMILE HIDDEN TRACK!!!!!!!!!!!!!

P. R Sundeen | omaha, ne | 10/07/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"i have had this cd since the day it came out, but i just now found the hidden track on disk 2. a casual fan might hear it and think little of this lyric-less a cappella harmony. but the SMile fans should recognize it as an amazing stereo mix of the backing vocals from the "my children were raised" section of, you guessed it, heroes and villains! yet another tease from capitol on the untold treasures of the SMiLE vault. c'mon guys. the 2004 version of SMiLE is great, but we want the real deal. no one cares if it's "finishes" or not. lets hear it already!"