The Smiley Smile Message Board

Discuss, review, and rate The Greatest Hits - Volume 1: 20 Good Vibrations, released April 4, 1995.

(http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/4/45/BBGV1Cover.jpg/220px-BBGV1Cover.jpg)

God Only Knows...followed by 409
what?

3/5, tracks do not fit next to each other well

Rated:  5

I prefer the 1999 version to the 1995 one. The 1999 version is a great way to pick up all the single mono tracks.

The 1999 version is a lot better than the 1995 version, mainly because of the running order.
Nice cover art, BTW.
3.5 out of 5.

Yeppers, I love the genius who thought up the idea of sequencing it by order of release. The stinker even threw in Kokomo as a bonus. ;)

This was the second album I owned by The Beach Boys. I bought it on a whim in Circuit City when I was in high school I think.

Listened to only the surf songs on occasion, skipped all the Pet Sounds material (didn't even know what Pet Sounds was at that point). Then one day I tried WIBN, Sloop, and GOK. My mind was blown away, immediately bought Pet Sounds, then sunk into an obsession that will consume me til I die.

I rate it from the perspective as a newbie fan, 5/5 - it's full of great hits, Pet Sounds material, and Kokomo isn't that bad of a song ;D

A greatest hits collection by the greatest USA band of all time 10/10

This is it for me. This is the album my family had and that made me a fan. This was the soundtrack to many a summer for us. Great collection of songs, though it does give a bit of a one-sided picture (all of them are the upbeat fun in the sun variety except the PS tracks). I think it's funny how I saw my tastes evolve  even in just those few years. In the beginning, I Get Around and California Girls were the best cuts as far as I was concerned. Then the Pet Sounds tracks started to resonate with me more and more over time until they were my faves and sought out the album they came from. I really started to notice how much more advanced GV was too.

I take off a star because Kokomo really doesn't fit. No, not because it's Mike, because it's from 20 years later and sounds completely different than the other tracks. GV would have been a much stronger finale that showed the band's growth over their first 5 years. Barbara Ann is also a complete waste of a track. Almost anything else would have been better. Even as a kid I knew that song was garbage. Still a heartfelt 4/5.

Remember too that in 1995-6 this package was a stand alone with mostly stereo tracks. With a second package not then in the works, Kokomo was thrown on there to cover all the number one hits. Then in 1999 it was redone as a mono singles package, with volumes two and three planned to capture all of the singles in a neat three CD configuration. I am surprised that they didn't move to volume three to help it sell.

There were already so many GH type collections out there, this one seemed pointless. And was Kokomo the only hit they had after the 60's?