1. Surfin' USA
2. Fun Fun Fun
3. I Get Around
4. Don't Worry Baby
5. Little Deuce Coupe
6. When I Grow Up (To Be A Man)
7. Help Me Rhonda
8. California Girls
9. Barbara Ann
10. Sloop John B
11. You're So Good To Me
12. God Only Knows
13. Wouldn't It Be Nice
14. Good Vibrations
15. Then I Kissed Her
16. Heroes And Villains
17. Darlin'
18. Do It Again
19. I Can Hear Music
20. Break Away

UK/Euro 1987 compilation, pressed in Italy. Unusually clever track sequence, providing a nice vibe for your...uh, surf party.

E.g., note tracks 12-17. Haven't you always wanted to hear those 6 songs without "Sloop John B" annoying you in the middle? Very rare. Actually, most of the 2nd half (tracks 11-20) can be played through without hokey annoyance.

The glitch is that 15 of the 20 tracks are original mono. The only stereo mixes are tracks 2, 4, 5, 11, and 19. (See the "customer image" of the back cover -- these are the songs with asterisks.) Aside from "Don't Worry Baby," these aren't among my favorite Beach Boys songs.

And sure, Beach Boys purists love mono. But for the rest of us, the stereo remixes sound noticeably more multidimensional. So this does serve mostly as a good party CD. If it's background music, the mix won't matter. --- Reader Rabbit, amazon.com

The Beach Boys’ vocal harmonies are among the most unmistakable and enduring of the rock and roll era. Among rock and roll groups of the Sixties, the California quintet place second only to the Beatles in terms of their overall impact on the Top 40. They were the Fab Four’s most serious competitors on a creative level, too. Paul McCartney has allowed that the Beatles’ masterpiece, Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, was their attempt to address the challenge posed by the Beach Boys’ magnum opus, Pet Sounds - which itself was inspired by the British foursome’s Rubber Soul.

This creative dialogue between two of rock’s greatest bands pushed popular music to an artistic peak. Paul McCartney noted that “both [Pet Sounds and Sgt. Pepper] have more than held up. To me it’s like, ‘What have people been doing in the meantime? Where’s the progress?’ I can’t see anything as modern as that around at the moment.”

The Beach Boys were a family affair that came together in the Los Angeles suburb of Hawthorne, California, in 1961. Three brothers – Brian, Carl and Dennis Wilson – were joined by their cousin, Mike Love, and a schoolmate, Alan Jardine (who was replaced by David Marks, before rejoining). Brian Wilson, who demonstrated an aptitude for music at an early age, was the group’s leader, orchestrating their harmonies, writing the music, producing the recording sessions.

One of the undisputed geniuses in popular music, Brian demonstrated an uncanny gift for harmonic invention and complex vocal and instrumental arrangements. Initially, the magnitude of that genius was overlooked owing to the subject matter of the band’s early hits: i.e., surfing, hot rods and teen romance. But today, even the lyrics to those songs – generally written by Mike Love or such outside collaborators as deejay Roger Christian and producer Gary Usher – are celebrated for their deft use of technical lingo and youthful joie de vivre. “A lot of love went into our singing, our harmonies, the making of those records,” Brian Wilson said in 2003. ---rockhall.com

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  1. Little Saint Nick
  2. The Man With All The Toys
  3. Santa's Beard
  4. Merry Christmas, Baby
  5. Christmas Day
  6. Frosty The Snowman
  7. We Three Kings Of Orient Are
  8. Blue Christmas
  9. Santa Claus Is Comin' To Town
  10. White Christmas
  11. I'll Be Home For Christmas
  12. Auld Lang Style
  13. Little Saint Nick (Single Version)
  14. The Lord's Prayer
  15. Little Saint Nick (Alternate Take)
  16. Auld Lang Syne (Alternate Take)

Beach Boys' Christmas Album features the Beach Boys performing a variety of holiday favorites. Most of the featured songs are well-known, some of the more popular being "Frosty the Snowman," "White Christmas," "Santa Claus Is Coming to Town," and "I'll Be Home for Christmas," among others. Furthermore, there are four songs composed by the Beach Boys -- "Little Saint Nick," "Man With All the Toys," "Santa's Beard," and "Merry Christmas, Baby" -- which begin the album. This mix of favorites and originals makes this a balanced holiday album that should please both Beach Boys admirers and those unfamiliar with the group. ---Jason Birchmeier, Rovi

This is the legendary Beach Boys Christmas Album, augmented by a handful of bonus tracks. The album consists of five Brian Wilson originals performed in the classic Beach Boys style, and six older songs featuring the boys singing to an orchestral backing, plus an a capella "Auld Lang Syne". The five original songs are the highlights here, for me. Fun little songs performed the way we expect from the Beach Boys. The orchestral songs take some getting used to. They are well sung by the boys, but they don't have that "Beach Boys" feel to them. Still, they are enjoyable in their own way. "Auld Lang Syne" features a spoken part by Denny, where he wishes us Merry Christmas and whatnot. Something I find amusing about this song is that Denny hap-happens to stammer while reading his lines. Why they didn't record another take where he didn't mess up, I'll never know. Now a few words about the bonus tracks. The single version of "Little Saint Nick" is included. This differs from the album version by featuring additional instruments added (glockenspiel, sleigh bells, xylophone, etc.). I like this version better. The original b-side of "Little Saint Nick", "The Lord's Prayer" is included. This is beautifully sung a capella. This is the one track here that is not included on the Ultimate Christmas collection (probably because it is technically not a Christmas song). Then there is an odd track featuring the lyrics to "Little Saint Nick" sung to the backing track to "Drive-In". Just a fun bit with the boys horsing around. The final track here is "Auld Lang Syne" without the spoken part by Denny. This version really lets us hear the beautiful harmonies by the boys. This CD seems to be out of print now, but if you can find a used copy for a reasonable price, it is worth getting. ---Johnny Heering, amazon.com

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A1 	Wouldn't It Be Nice 	
A2 	You Still Believe In Me 	
A3 	That's Not Me 	
A4 	Don't Talk (Put Your Head On My Shoulder) 	
A5 	I'm Waiting For The Day 	
A6 	Let's Go Away For Awhile 	
A7 	Sloop John B. 	
A8 	God Only Knows 	
B1 	I Know There's An Answer 	
B2 	Here Today
B3     Pet Sounds                           play
B4     Caroline No                          play
B6  	Unreleased Background 	
B7 	Hang On To Your Ego 	
B8 	Trombone Dixie

The best Beach Boys album, and one of the best of the 1960s. The group here reached a whole new level in terms of both composition and production, layering tracks upon tracks of vocals and instruments to create a richly symphonic sound. Conventional keyboards and guitars were combined with exotic touches of orchestrated strings, bicycle bells, buzzing organs, harpsichords, flutes, Theremin, Hawaiian-sounding string instruments, Coca-Cola cans, barking dogs, and more. It wouldn't have been a classic without great songs, and this has some of the group's most stunning melodies, as well as lyrical themes which evoke both the intensity of newly born love affairs and the disappointment of failed romance (add in some general statements about loss of innocence and modern-day confusion as well). The spiritual quality of the material is enhanced by some of the most gorgeous upper-register male vocals (especially by Brian and Carl Wilson) ever heard on a rock record. "Wouldn't It Be Nice," "God Only Knows," "Caroline No," and "Sloop John B" (the last of which wasn't originally intended to go on the album) are the well-known hits, but equally worthy are such cuts as "You Still Believe in Me," "Don't Talk," "I Know There's an Answer," and "I Just Wasn't Made for These Times." It's often said that this is more of a Brian Wilson album than a Beach Boys recording (session musicians played most of the parts), but it should be noted that the harmonies are pure Beach Boys (and some of their best). Massively influential upon its release (although it was a relatively low seller compared to their previous LPs), it immediately vaulted the band into the top level of rock innovators among the intelligentsia, especially in Britain, where it was a much bigger hit. ---Richie Unterberger, Rovi

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