Import only compilation featuring 60 of The Beach Boys best known tracks on three discs! Packaged in a slipcased multi-pack, housing all three discs, with a detailed booklet featuring extensive liner notes & group photos. EMI.
CD Reviews
Despite A Few Questionable Inclusions, The Best Beach Boys C
Anthony Nasti | Staten Island, New York United States | 08/23/2006
(5 out of 5 stars)
"I love The Beach Boys. They are among my all time favorite bands. Over the years, their vast catalogue of fantastic music has been tarnished with a slew of second rate greatest hits compilations that do nothing to add to their rich legacy. However, there still needed to be a definitive collection for casual fans who wanted only one Beach Boys album in their collection.
In 2003, the 30 song, single disc "Sounds Of Summer" was released, and it was excellent for beginning Beach Boys fans, and was the definitive greatest hits collection for the band. Until 2004, when the three disc, 60 song "The Platinum Collection" was made available. How good is it? Read on for the positives and the negatives.
Positives:
-If you want only one Beach Boys cd in your compilation, this is the one to get. Every major hit the band on here is included, such as "God Only Knows" (my personal favorite), "Surfin' USA", "Surfer Girl", "Don't Worry Baby", "Good Vibrations", "Kokomo" and many more.
-A large quantity of underrated material is on here as well, such as "Then I Kissed Her" (a reversal of The Crystals' "Then He Kissed Me" sung from the male perspective", "Please Let Me Wonder" (one of the most beautiful songs ever made), "Friends", "Disney Girls (1957)", "Forever", "Marcella" and "Lady Lynda".
-The sound quality is amazing. Pretty much every song sounds better than ever.
Negatives:
-While most of the songs are worthy inclusions, there are some choices that will leave you scratching your head. "Tears In The Morning", "Student Demonstration Time", "Sumahama" and "Here Comes The Night" were not needed and could've been dumped in favor of more worthy songs.
-None of the cds fill the eighty minute time limit, meaning there was enough room for songs such as "Add Some Music To Your Day", "This Whole World", "Time To Get Alone", "I Went To Sleep", "We're Together Again", "Catch A Wave", "Kiss Me Baby", "Little Saint Nick", "Come Go With Me" and "Baby Blue", among others.
-This cd is very hard to locate. Best getting it off the internet.
Other than these flaws, this is an excellent compilation of one of the finest bands in the history of recorded music."
Awesome New CD Compilation
D. Weinell | Florida | 05/11/2005
(5 out of 5 stars)
"This is awesome, an excellent version of cotton fields with a harpsicord which has not been released on any american releases. About time they added Student Demonstration Time to another album, really an excellent song and an excellent album all around. Took a long time to release but worth the wait and agravation,."
Why are the discs so empty?
Michael Occhionero | New London, CT | 02/03/2007
(3 out of 5 stars)
"If CD's hold 80 minutes and the average Beach Boy song is between 2 & 3 minutes, they could have put up to 15 more songs on this compilation. There is nothing to entice collectors who have everything on CD already. Why is Fun Fun Fun on disc 3 while the rest is roughly chronological order. If they put Sea Cruise (from "10 years of harmony") The Letter (from "Rarities"), or countless other songs unavailable on CD, maybe this collection would be of value. The track selection for the first two discs is pretty good. The second half of disc 3 is just a ridiculous selection of average songs. Where is Baby Blue? Funky Pretty? You Need a Mess of Help to Stand Alone? These songs are far more important than a bland remake of California Dreaming. If you care enough about the Beach Boys to consider this, you probably have most of the material anyway. I recommend buying the real entire albums and find out for yourselves how much good album tracks were recorded between Pet Sounds and Holland. Very underrated stuff."
Definitive triple CD
Peter Durward Harris | Leicester England | 06/01/2005
(5 out of 5 stars)
"There have been many Beach Boys compilations - single CD's, double CD's and boxed sets. I cannot recall a Beach Boys triple CD compilation previously so this could be the first. Such a compilation may be too much for some casual fans but it does mean that there is room for every hit, however minor, together with a few choice album tracks. I notice that no tracks are included from their album of duets with country stars (Stars and stripes) although this does not surprise me - still, it would have nice to see one track here. Their UK hit duets with the Fat Boys (Wipe out) and Status Quo (Fun fun fun) are here. Most of the tracks are from their peak years in the sixties but all the essential later tracks are here.
So many of their songs are well known, and not just to those who were raised on this music, but to people of all ages. Part of the reason may be that surf music is inextricably linked with the sixties - you won't find any modern equivalent. Here you get the classic songs they wrote themselves - California girls, Fun fun fun, Good vibrations, Little deuce coupe, God only knows, Darlin', I get around and Wouldn't it be nice to name just a few - together with songs that they covered in their own unique way - Do you wanna dance, Then I kissed her, Sloop John B and Cotton fields. Though they weren't UK hits, it's great to see Beach Boys classics such as Don't worry baby, In my room, Little Honda, Little deuce coup, Wendy, All summer long, and Warmth of the sun all included. The classic Pet sounds album is also well-represented.
I don't mind whether compilations are presented chronologically or not but it can be confusing when (as here) the order is approximately chronological. You may look at the track listing and think that something is missing when it's simply been moved to somewhere you wouldn't expect to see it.
There have been plenty of compilations of their music down the years and will be many more. This particular compilation includes every UK hit (however minor) and every important American hit (I haven't checked if all the minor American hits are here). If you have bought other Beach Boys compilations only to discover that one of your favorites is omitted, this may solve your problem while avoiding the need for a boxed set. You can replace all your previous compilations with this one."
Great if you can get it inexpensively.
lighten_up_already2 | Kirkland, WA USA | 03/26/2007
(3 out of 5 stars)
"I have my primary Beach Boys collection at home, but I keep this set in my drawer at work in case I need a happy, sunny "beach boys fix" during the workday.
The recording quality is outstanding, but no Beach Boys collection ever seems to be complete or to include everyone's favorites.
I was very happy to get this set at the used price, but if I wanted to spend the money to get this new, I would rather advise spending it on the "two fer" CD's: the newer releases that contain two original Beach Boys albums with several bonus tracks included. The price of this set new would likely get you most the way toward having all Beach Boys original albums up to and including Pet Sounds, if you are a careful shopper."
