The Smiley Smile Message Board

Our band has been one of the most compiled ever in the history of rock; seems nary a summer goes by without a new BB comp. Most of the Capitol/EMI ones are heavy on the hits, few surprises in there. Then there are the "curated" ones like Beach Boys Classics Selected by Brian Wilson. But, if you really want to go out on a limb and try something completely different, you have to look to the Dutch licensee, Disky, who specialize in comps. Often with second tier or under the radar or half forgotten names. They have a particular fondness for the trashier end of the 1970s. What characterizes most of their comps is that they don't give a toss about chart performance; they like deep cuts, and will only give a cursory nod to chart, just enough to shift CDs. Their 1998 BB comp, "California Dreamin'" is the weirdest thing I have ever come across in the way of BB comps, ranging wildly from filler to chart to deep cuts to gold. Check out the track list and see if you don't agree that this is the one to revisit more than anything else. Amazon.co.uk has it for a penny, ha ha.

(https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/511ZqTO0TvL.jpg)

1   Barbara Ann   
2   Sloop John B   
3   Cotton Fields   
4   Ten Little Indians   
5   Getcha Back   
6   California   
7   Rock & Roll Music   
8   It's O.K.   
9   Break Away   
10   Tears In The Morning   
11   Friends   
12   Little Honda   
13   Dance, Dance, Dance   
14   The Little Girl I Once Knew   
15   Add Some Music To Your Day   
16   Things We Did Last Summer   
17   Do You Wanna Dance   
18   Spirit Of America   
19   California Dreamin'   
20   Surfer Moon

Going from Ten Little Indians to Getcha Back is a giant WTF

Comps can be bizarre ... and then one done you stumble on one that is GOLD!

From day 1 I've considered the Starbucks compilation the gold standard of doing it right ...

Tracks
      1   I Can Hear Music  Barry, Greenwich, Spector    
       2   Don't Worry Baby  Christian, Wilson    
       3   Sail on Sailor  Almer, Kennedy, Rieley, Wilson    
       4   God Only Knows  Asher, Wilson    
       5   Surf's Up  Parks, Wilson    
       6   Wouldn't It Be Nice  Asher, Wilson    
       7   Friends  Jardine, Wilson, Wilson ...    
       8   Add Some Music to Your Day  Knott, Love, Wilson    
       9   Sloop John B  Traditional, Wilson    
       10   Cool, Cool Water  Love, Wilson    
       11   Disney Girls (1957)  Johnston    
       12   Good Vibrations  Love, Wilson    
       13   Caroline No  Asher, Wilson    
       14   Do It Again  Love, Wilson

Capitol put out some crazy cassettes in the late 80s/early 90s

I had one of those, it was called "Sunshine Dream". First time I heard Pet Sounds songs, blew my mind. I was more familiar with 70s stuff, because I had bought Ten Years of Harmony prior to that one.

(https://img.discogs.com/LYumijpsvAAaXMC0KoqADaTPxKo=/fit-in/600x935/filters:strip_icc():format(jpeg):mode_rgb():quality(90)/discogs-images/R-11577135-1518808708-3099.jpeg.jpg)

A1   I Can Hear Music   
A2   Here Today   
A3   Darlin'   
A4   Caroline, No   
A5   Aren't You Glad   
A6   Good Vibrations   
A7   Wouldn't It Be Nice   
A8   Friends   
A9   God Only Knows   
A10   Vegetables   
A11   How She Boogalooed It   
A12   There's No Other (Like You Baby)   
B1   Heroes And Villains   
B2   All I Want To Do   
B3   Wild Honey   
B4   I'm Waiting For The Day   
B5   Cotton Fields   
B6   Then I Kissed Her   
B7   Sloop John B   
B8   Be Here In The Mornin'   
B9   Blue Birds Over The Mountain   
B10   Keep An Eye On Summer   
B11   Do It Again   
B12   The Beach Boys Medley

I only had two beach boys CD's as a teen and this was one! I got rid of it yonks ago and didn't realise it had so many good tracks on it. I only ever played Little Honda and Dance Dance Dance, my two teen favourites. The sound quality was pretty poor.

Tony W, I agree with you 100%.  The Starbucks presentation was the bomb !!!   After many moves I seem to have lost it, but I will NEVER forget Carl's beautiful voice on I Can Hear Music.

As was already alluded to, Capitoal via their "SM" (Special Market) label and their "Pair" imprint put out a bunch of crazy BB compilations in the 80s. Just some of them (including my oft-cited favorite, the "Golden Harmonies" album including the *instrumental* "Pet Sounds):

(http://auctions.c.yimg.jp/images.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/image/dr000/auc0212/users/6/5/8/9/tomoko_0350-img450x600-1481535417hx9x2o11096.jpg)

I'd love to meet the person at Capitol that thought a compilation made up of a bunch of '64 "Concert" tracks, but then with "Pet Sounds" thrown in, was a great idea.

Here's another one I had, "For All Seasons":

(https://img0.etsystatic.com/063/0/11183480/il_570xN.780306212_fa7i.jpg)

And another one, "Summer Dreams":

(https://img.discogs.com/P65inMavrXlMb4ZqKw1KyaZmVjg=/fit-in/300x300/filters:strip_icc():format(jpeg):mode_rgb():quality(40)/discogs-images/R-3671183-1339723588-3024.jpeg.jpg)

Another one simply called "The Beach Boys":

(https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/iZUAAOSwSutaSmfL/s-l1600.jpg)

Here's another one, a Radio Shack compilation with a not so crazy track listing (perhaps done as part of the whole deal "Mike and Dean" had with them in the early 80s):

(http://images.45worlds.com/f/ca/the-beach-boys-jan-and-dean-side-one-sectionbreak-surfin-usa-capitol-special-markets-ca.jpg)

“Sunshine Dream” wasn’t one of the weird, tossed-off comps done on one of the side labels. It was essentially the second sequel to “Endless Summer” after “Spirit of America”, complete with equally ugly ambitious cover art. This comp was pushed by Capitol proper in 1982, was mostly a post-1964/65 compilation of stuff that wasn’t on “Endless Summer” or “Spirit of America.”

I have fond memories of this compilation; it was a favorite decades ago blasting the cassette. It was probably the first mainstream compilation that honed in on some of the later 60s material.

While it wasn’t wildly successful, I believe “Sunshine Dream” did, unlike those “SM” comps, actually squeak into the Top 200 album chart. It included the #12 (awful) “Beach Boys Medley” single from 1981 as well.

Some of those comps look like the result of someone pulling song titles out of a hat - random to say the least.

Urgh, that cover! That guy on the surfboard was drawn with two right feet (see the position of the big toe!)

I wonder how close they came to copyright infringement with the Disney Mickey ears at left.

That cover alone is worthy of more discussion. Yowzers.

And what's with the pizza?   :lol

Also released as Summer Crush in 2001:
https://www.discogs.com/Beach-Boys-Summer-Crush-Songs-We-Love-To-Love/release/5463104

But isn't the point of compilation to be random song collection? Why people expect famous song titles, nice sequencing/ segue, things like this when discussing comps? The random, the better.

No, tracklistings for compilations shouldn't be (and rarely are) "random."

Compilations usually entail one or more of the following:

1. A very strict set of criteria (e.g. "Beatles 1"; every #1 hit in the US and UK and nothing more)

2. Most commonly, a general set of criteria for "best of" or "greatest hits" comps that dictate any charting "hit singles" and other obvious well-known songs are selected first

3. Some other unifying theme ("Love Songs" etc.)

4. A thoughtfully-curated (by band members or others) track selection, often mixed with other criteria such as "other noteworthy songs not already on a compilation". This would be something like the 2007 "Warmth of the Sun" comp which was essentially a listing of stuff not already on "Sounds of Summer", curated in part by the band members.

5. On the budget/cheapo side, there are comps that entail "the only stuff we own the rights to and/or can license." This would be stuff like old release of the Hite Morgan tapes, releases of the Beatles' Tony Sheridan stuff, etc.

But generally, with the partial exception of #5, a label is going to try to put some thought into something because they're going to try to craft something that people will want to buy.

The reason some of those 80s Capitol comps seem bizarre is that the listings read like #5 above, only Capitol actually had the rights to all of the 60s catalog. There's no clear criteria beyond the stuff being 60s Capitol material. When they put the instrumental "Pet Sounds" on an album titled "Golden Harmonies", you have to guess the compilers aren't putting much thought into it and are essentially just trying to get cheap "Beach Boys" branded product into stores (and often not record stores, but other ancillary retail venues like Radio Shacks, gas stations, drug stores, etc., which is where those cheapie BB cassettes were often found). The only set of criteria the compilers of those 80s sets might have been using was to attempt not duplicating a track found on another recent comp. But even then, there appears to be some amount of overlap.

Yeah Summer Crush was the name of the Starbucks release ... on the link you provided it says distributed by Starbucks.

Always thought this one was weird...

Cat# MFP 1382

A1   How She Boogalooed It   
A2   Don't Talk (Put Your Head On My Shoulder)   
A3   Car Crazy Cutie   
A4   We'll Run Away   
A5   Misirlou   
A6   Whistle In   
B1   Summertime Blues   
B2   Anna Lee The Healer   
B3   Boogie Woodie   
B4   Tell Me Why   
B5   Louie Louie   
B6   Good To My Baby

yeah that's undeniably weird, but I noticed something about the song selection

and that is that it's close to just one song from each BB album up through Friends

Good eye! Poor wee Summer Days (And Summer Nights!!)