Surfin' (The Beach Boys) (LP 4197 - 4205)

The Beach Boys  The Early Years (CD, Sound and Media, 1998) ***  

The Beach Boys  Endless Harmony Soundtrack (CD, Sound and Media, 1998) ****  

The Beach Boys  The SMiLE Sessions (2CD, Capitol Records, 2011) ****  

The Beach Boys  The Beach Boys with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (CD, Capitol, 2018) **  

The Beach Boys  Bug-In (Vinyl, Starline, 1970) **** 

The Beach Boys  22 More Sun n' Surfin' Hits (Vinyl, Capitol, 1974) **** 

The Beach Boys  Ballads (Vinyl, Capitol, 1981) ***** 

The Beach Boys  Spirit of America (Vinyl, Capitol, 1975) **** 

The Beach Boys  20 Golden Greats (Vinyl, Capitol, 1976) **** 

Genre: Surf rock, pop 

Places I remember: The Warehouse, HMV, Fopp,

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Breakaway

Gear costume: Warmth of the Sun

They loom large in his legend (The Album Collection playlists): Part 1; Part 2; Part 3; Part 4; Part 5; Part 6

Active compensatory factors: This final post on The Beach Boys concentrates on compilation albums. It's a case of many are called but few are chosen. A quick look at Wikipedia's discography shows 58 entries for compilations. That's crazy!!

I have nine and that feels like a lot. My choices will be explained below, but I prefer the compilations that take a different approach to just the regular hits.

Let's kick off with The Early Years. It's a bit of nifty marketing (i.e. involves deception) because some of the songs aren't even by The Beach Boys at all. Some tracks are by The Marketts and/or Kenny and the Cadets. The Beach Boys ones are their very early songs from 1962. That said, it's still a fun little time capsule.

The Endless Harmony Soundtrack was released to accompany the documentary (it's a worthwhile documentary too). It's like The Beatles Anthology series in that it's an alternative history via outtakes, rare songs, rehearsals, demos, alternate takes, and live performances. It works as a stand-alone album as well, in that the overused songs are presented in new ways.

There are many highlights but it's especially great to hear Brian Wilson compositions like Soulful Old Man Sunshine and Sail Plane Song and two previously unheard Dennis Wilson songs.

The SMiLE Sessions is a nifty box set - a double CD with poster, booklet and SMiLE button. This set is about as close as we'll get to a completed SMiLE involving the original songs from The Beach Boys. Yes, Brian Wilson has recorded his own version of SMiLE (we'll come to it eventually) but this is the one with The Beach Boys.

Much has been written about this 'lost' album (summary is here) but what isn't often mentioned is how utterly brilliant it is. It would have been a fitting follow up to Pet Sounds if it had come out in 1967.

The first 19 tracks on CD 1 are a hypothetical version of the aborted SMiLE album and I can see where the Brian is genius idea comes from. To imagine all that stuff in your head is miraculous. It's also so different to Pet Sounds - a real progression in sound and ideas. The rest of the double CD is made up of session outtakes.

The Beach Boys with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra is an album of remixed Beach Boys recordings with new orchestral arrangements performed by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. Why I bought it, I have no clue. I've listened to it twice - once when I bought it and today while writing this. It's puzzling. Why would anyone buy this?

Bug-in has tracks from 1963 to 1969 - seemingly chosen by someone at random. As mentioned a few posts ago, I love it! It plays like someone's Spotify playlist of their fav BB numbers. The only genuine hit is Little Deuce Coupe. Nice!

22 More Sun n' Surfin' Hits is another quirky collection. Again, it's at times a random selection impulse that seems to be driving the compilers. How else to explain the presence of How She Boogolooed It, Bluebirds Over The Mountain, and Mama Says amongst the more well-known songs?

I am particularly fond of the Ballads album, but I am a sucker, as previously indicated, for themed compilations.

The slower ballad format is perfect territory for Brian Wilson, starting with his first ever song - Surfer Girl. That's on here, plus Warmth of the Sun, Good Vibrations and others of that persuasion. It's glorious.

All those wonderful harmonies are clear and distinct on the ballads. This album is the one I reach for whenever I have a hankering for a Beach Boys' experience.

Spirit of America is a double album that also explores the back roads of the albums as well as some early hits. I find that approach refreshing.

It was the follow up to the mega successful Endless Summer, which I don't have. As I said, I prefer the budget and the quirky compilations. The AllMusic summary was band-on: 'Spirit of America was downright refreshing in its succinct, bracing brevity, singles and album tracks alike'.

The final compilation is one that I bought for my mother. My father kept it in his collection when she passed away and now I have inherited it back.

20 Golden Greats has all the things I love about compilations - a terrible rip-off cover, ten tracks a side, a TV promotional tie in, and a bumper crop of hits. Screams budget!

I don't know if mum loved it or not - but I love the back story, and this album will always be in my collection.

Where do they all belong? That's it for The Beach Boys. A mopping up of The Moptops is next.