A new Beach Boys compilation? It must be summer!
This is one of those things I started writing several times, and alluded to the last time I did manage a post here, two weeks ago. (Two weeks!?) My initial reaction to the new Beach Boys comp, The Warmth of the Sun, was cynical (as evidenced by my tag line, in italics up there).
But it seems like it was just the other day that I bought the previous one hits comp, (Sounds of Summer), and that was followed, like, a week later by the hits as selected by Brian Wilson. Of course, they weren't that recent, nor in that order; the BW classics selection was released in 2002, the "very best" the next year. But that was only three years after two volumes of hits.
As someone commented to me, elsewhere, when I made this same point, what matter is whether or not the new CD is any good on its own merits. And it is. It's similar to some BB mixes I've made, myself. And it's wonderful to see them back on the charts. I only wish it were for something new, and not something many of us have, many times over.
The following review of the CD appeared, in somewhat different form, on Blogcritics [blogcritics.org].
-----------------------------------
In all that's been said and written about this year's fortieth anniversary of 1967's Summer of Love, not much of it has mentioned the Beach Boys. Perennial bridesmaids to Capitol Record's top act, "America's Band" seemed poised in '67 to take their rightful place alongside the Beatles in being embraced as the most innovative and influential acts in pop music.
Then, in all-too-typical Beach Boys' tradition, they were scuttled by a series of bad decisions and unfortunate circumstances. The band backed out of the headlining spot at the Monterey Pop Festival that June — fearing they'd been seen as "too square" by the hip, new youth culture — and they failed to complete and release Smile, meant to be the band's ultimate artistic expression. As many superior records as they made subsequently, what the Beach Boys accomplished after the summer of 1967, compared to their potential, has been something like what Smiley Smile was, compared to what Smile could have been.
(The completed Smile released by Brian Wilson a couple years ago is fantastic, not to mention, miraculous. It's not the same record as the original would've been, however, and we'll never know how its completion and release in 1967 might have changed things for the band.)
The twin setbacks of '67 have also been compounded by one of the most confusing catalogs in rock and roll, especially since the advent of CDs. A simple suggestion that Good Vibrations is a good starting point* in an essential Beach Boys collection begs the question of where to start. Well, do you mean the box set, greatest hits volume one, or volume two? Given that the Beach Boys are artists who coined a signature catch phrase, Capitol has been unable to slap it on a ridiculous number of products through the years.
So it was refreshing to see this summer's new Beach Boys compilation, The Warmth of the Sun, with title and content that seem to signal a welcome new approach to the band's Capitol recordings. Intended as a companion to the 2003 greatest hits CD, The Sounds of Summer, Warmth is a 27-track sampler of singles and album tracks that provide ample evidence of the band's versatility.
Some of their most breath-taking melodies and harmonies were heard in songs that never saw radio play; including "Kiss Me Baby" and the original version of "Forever." Both tracks are included here, and should bring them new respect. Cherry-picking the best tracks from the uneven Surf's Up album — representing some of the finest songwriting by Brian Wilson, Carl Wilson, and Bruce Johnston — may help place "Til I Die," "Feel Flows," and "Disney Girls" among the Beach Boys' finest moments. Even the more-familiar tracks, such as "All Summer Long" and "Wendy," are spruced up with new stereo mixes that make them sound fresh.
The hook for this collection is that the band members themselves selected the tracks; the only possible explanation for the order of them on the CD is that they sequenced it, too. Some of the transitions — from a hardly-essential cover of "Why Do Fools Fall In Love" to the sublime "Surf's Up," for instance — are as startling as a plunge into the ocean in winter.
There is also the question of who this eclectic batch of songs was intended to appeal to. Longtime fans will already have every track (albeit with a few getting upgraded mixes here), while casual listeners won't see many smash hits to reel them in. Warmth of the Sun is essential only to supplement the previous hits disc or to partially replace some of the old collections.
And so, while this is a splendid CD on its own merits, unless it is a step toward upgrading and simplifying the Beach Boys catalog, it can become just another random repackaging of songs that have been compiled to death. Hopefully, Warmth of the Sun is a sign that Capitol is finally giving the Beach Boys the treatment they deserve.
[The whole Warmth of the Sun experience is even more enjoyable alongside a terrific podcast series posted on beachboyswarmth.blogspot.com, featuring interviews with all the surviving Beach Boys, minus David Marks. Brian Wilson sounds animated, lucid, and more expansive than seems possible; Mike Love is surprisingly gracious and honest; and Bruce Johnson's impression of his boss is hysterical. A wonderful companion to the CD.]
* Addendumb: Recently I had occasion to return to the Good Vibrations box set, while putting together a Beach Boys/Brian Wilson "indoctrination kit" for a friend. It had been years since I'd played the box set versions of that music, and boy, do those discs sound atrocious. Like, shockingly bad. Flat, dull, muffled-- any of the labels for lousy CDs apply here.
So, how 'bout it, Capitol? Isn't it time that, rather than another hits set or arbitrarily-assembled collection, you release a decent-sounding Beach Boys box set?
