Sounds of Summer 6LP Announced

[Shady]

This is really not needed but of course I bought it anyway

[Rocky Raccoon]

Some of the track selections for Discs 2 and 3 are surprising for sure, some of them just baffling.

It’s interesting to also note how much The Beach Boys compilations change over the years. The original companion disc to Sounds of Summer was The Warmth of the Sun but there are a lot of songs that appeared on that collection that are not included here.

Songs on The Warmth of the Sun not on expanded Sounds of Summer:
Catch a Wave, Hawaii, Little Honda, 409, Then I Kissed Her, Please Let Me Wonder (that’s a glaring omission), The Little Girl I Once Knew, Break Away, Why Do Fools Fall In Love, Cool Cool Water, Don’t Go Near the Water, California Dreamin’

Personally I would at least trade Pom Pom Play Girl, Farmer’s Daughter, San Miguel, Everyone’s In Love With You, and Where I Belong for Please Let Me Wonder, The Little Girl I Once Knew, Break Away, Cool Cool Water, and California Dreamin’.

[Luke_Barshack]

I've pre-ordered because, of course I have.

I may be over thinking this, but the biggest missed opportunity here (in my opinion) is the chance to place the tracks in chronological order and firmly set a clear narrative in the public consciousness.

While I've always been wary of comparing The Beach Boys to The Beatles (I believe it's a bit over-used in a lot of PR pieces), something I think Apple got right was managing The Beatles' legacy in such a way that multiple images of the band can co-exist and be used in marketing. The Red and Blue albums are a perfect example of how different images of the band can be used. Those compilations and the '1' album are presented pretty much chronologically - as is the track listing and scrapbook artwork of Anthology. Casual listeners have a sense of the early mop-top days, the psychedelic period, and the latter mature pop period.

The Beach Boys legacy, ever since Endless Summer, has largely doubled down on the surfing image, for obvious reasons. Compilations have then had a kaleidoscopic running order, which can be great for the flow - but for a casual listener there's little to differentiate 1968 to 1963, or 79 etc.

I've always assumed this was also because of a perceived 'quality drop' post Pet Sounds on the part of compilers. But with choice cuts, and opening things up to Smile Sessions and other vault tracks I think this myth is busted.

The disc art for the three CD set even touches on three 'eras' of the group. But this isn't reflected in the contents, and I wish it was.

I get that the decision to 'expand' Sounds of Summer meant the first disc was locked-in. But for me personally, there was an opportunity to change perceptions here and present a clear 'Surf > Pet Sounds/Smile > Late 60s/Early 70s > America's Band' narrative through the imagery and the track listing. Coupled with the upcoming feature length doc - not to mention the new music videos and lyric videos - I think this could have been powerful. Ending with a TWGMTR track (Summer's Gone?) would have meant we didn't end on Kokomo.

It's no coincidence that in 2002, after buying Pet Sounds, I bought 'Classics Selected by Brian Wilson' which was in chronological order, along with succinct liner notes from Brian. It was really the disc that blew my mind and made me buy every album, because I understood the journey. When I eventually bought the Good Vibrations box (which was amazing), I always thought those discs could have been rejigged slightly to focus on released material only and re-packaged as 'hits' comps, serving as a definitive 'Red and Blue' style collection.

Anyway - I probably think about this stuff way too much. But it's just something that intrigues me.

 

[NateRuvin]

I'm so excited for this new version of Sounds of Summer.

I was very impressed with the new mix of GV. I'll always prefer the mono version (#BACKTOMONO !!!) but it's fun to compare, or listen to different versions to mix it up.

The original Sounds of Summer might be my favorite album ever (if comps count). I've listened to it almost every day for years. It's a perfect track listing of songs with great quality.

If I made the tracklisting, I would've certainly included the title tracks from SIP and Still Cruisin to respect that era, and probably Long Tall Texan, WOTS, or Caroline No from S&S. Also of course stuff from TWGMTR. It is an inaccurate representation of their career to end at 1988. Just for the legacy of all these decades of music making, I would've included songs from the 90's and 2012.

However, I don't wanna sound like I'm bitching or complaining, because at the end of the day, I'm ecstatic by the songs chosen for the new release. An amazing combination of hits and fan favorites. Of course we all have a few that we wish were there, but the fact that this set includes great stuff like Devoted To You, Farmer's Daughter, Where I Belong, Disney Girls, etc just has me over the moon with excitement.

I've cherished the original SOS since I was a little boy when my grandma gave me the original CD, with that great orange packaging. Now to be an adult, and to have had the album be a daily presence in my life all the way through, it feels very fitting to be getting a new updated version with as much care and promo as this one is getting.

[HeyJude]

There are some pretty clear reasons we’d never see SIP tracks on such a set, and I don’t think it needs those tracks.

I think at this stage, given the landscape of how people who this set targets tend to listen to stuff, it’s not useful to try to go strictly chronological, or to be beholden to making sure every album or lead single or whatever is included. That’s how you end up with “Peggy Sue” on “Greatest Hits Vol. 3: Best of the Brother Years.”

Nobody needs “Stars and Stripes” tracks on this. That’s like the 27th rung of tracks hardcore fans collect. (And I’m not even sure BRI has ownership of those tracks; it might still be held by whatever entity holds all of the stuff from that “River North” label or whatever it was).

Obviously, such sets never have the precise set of tracks any one person would pick. But even if we get down to saying, “Okay, let’s ditch “Pom Pom Playgirl” for something”, I could think of a hundred tracks before I got down to S&S or SIP, or most of “Still Cruisin’” for that matter, and I say that as a fan who bows to nobody in my enjoyment of a lot of weird, deepcut, obscure era stuff. Like, I’d really like a multi-disc deluxe set of “Keepin’ the Summer Alive.” But I also know objectively that younger, newer fans tracking this stuff on Spotify aren’t going to be excited by an alternate take of “Oh, Darlin’”, just like they’re not going to be into SIP stuff (which at this stage with that same drum sample running over and over sounds more dated than the BB ’85 album), or the truly awful “Stars and Stripes.” If they want to pull those great backing vocals off the S&S version of “Caroline, No” and sync it to a good Carl lead vocal or something, I’d love to see that. Anything else, I think S&S can be kept as far away from any compilation as possible.

[Bedroom Tapes]

Also coming soon!

https://www.amazon.com/Brian-Wilson-Promised-Original-Soundtrack/dp/B09YP21HV9/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?crid=2QB9B6PY3XIAM&keywords=long+promised+road+brian+wilson+soundtrack&qid=1651695028&sprefix=%2Caps%2C749&sr=8-1

[Awesoman]

There are some pretty clear reasons we’d never see SIP tracks on such a set, and I don’t think it needs those tracks.

I think at this stage, given the landscape of how people who this set targets tend to listen to stuff, it’s not useful to try to go strictly chronological, or to be beholden to making sure every album or lead single or whatever is included. That’s how you end up with “Peggy Sue” on “Greatest Hits Vol. 3: Best of the Brother Years.”

Nobody needs “Stars and Stripes” tracks on this. That’s like the 27th rung of tracks hardcore fans collect. (And I’m not even sure BRI has ownership of those tracks; it might still be held by whatever entity holds all of the stuff from that “River North” label or whatever it was).

Obviously, such sets never have the precise set of tracks any one person would pick. But even if we get down to saying, “Okay, let’s ditch “Pom Pom Playgirl” for something”, I could think of a hundred tracks before I got down to S&S or SIP, or most of “Still Cruisin’” for that matter, and I say that as a fan who bows to nobody in my enjoyment of a lot of weird, deepcut, obscure era stuff. Like, I’d really like a multi-disc deluxe set of “Keepin’ the Summer Alive.” But I also know objectively that younger, newer fans tracking this stuff on Spotify aren’t going to be excited by an alternate take of “Oh, Darlin’”, just like they’re not going to be into SIP stuff (which at this stage with that same drum sample running over and over sounds more dated than the BB ’85 album), or the truly awful “Stars and Stripes.” If they want to pull those great backing vocals off the S&S version of “Caroline, No” and sync it to a good Carl lead vocal or something, I’d love to see that. Anything else, I think S&S can be kept as far away from any compilation as possible.

Agreed.  In all honesty though I wouldn't mind some kind of compilation covering or at least including stuff from the 80's/90's era.  As maligned as these decades were, there's still some "not bad" content that has been out of print.  Guilty pleasures such as the stomp-like beat of "Rock & Roll To The Rescue" to other tracks like "Chasin' The Sky", "Happy Endings", "Crocodile Rock" or even the slightly cringey "Problem Child" have been out in the ether for decades.  Even if these songs aren't exactly remarkable it would still be nice to have them if for only completionist's sake.  Maybe by the time Still Cruisin' hits a significant anniversary they can put out a proper album with all these lost tracks in tow.

[Cabinessenceking]

There are some pretty clear reasons we’d never see SIP tracks on such a set, and I don’t think it needs those tracks.

I think at this stage, given the landscape of how people who this set targets tend to listen to stuff, it’s not useful to try to go strictly chronological, or to be beholden to making sure every album or lead single or whatever is included. That’s how you end up with “Peggy Sue” on “Greatest Hits Vol. 3: Best of the Brother Years.”

Nobody needs “Stars and Stripes” tracks on this. That’s like the 27th rung of tracks hardcore fans collect. (And I’m not even sure BRI has ownership of those tracks; it might still be held by whatever entity holds all of the stuff from that “River North” label or whatever it was).

Obviously, such sets never have the precise set of tracks any one person would pick. But even if we get down to saying, “Okay, let’s ditch “Pom Pom Playgirl” for something”, I could think of a hundred tracks before I got down to S&S or SIP, or most of “Still Cruisin’” for that matter, and I say that as a fan who bows to nobody in my enjoyment of a lot of weird, deepcut, obscure era stuff. Like, I’d really like a multi-disc deluxe set of “Keepin’ the Summer Alive.” But I also know objectively that younger, newer fans tracking this stuff on Spotify aren’t going to be excited by an alternate take of “Oh, Darlin’”, just like they’re not going to be into SIP stuff (which at this stage with that same drum sample running over and over sounds more dated than the BB ’85 album), or the truly awful “Stars and Stripes.” If they want to pull those great backing vocals off the S&S version of “Caroline, No” and sync it to a good Carl lead vocal or something, I’d love to see that. Anything else, I think S&S can be kept as far away from any compilation as possible.

Agreed.  In all honesty though I wouldn't mind some kind of compilation covering or at least including stuff from the 80's/90's era.  As maligned as these decades were, there's still some "not bad" content that has been out of print.  Guilty pleasures such as the stomp-like beat of "Rock & Roll To The Rescue" to other tracks like "Chasin' The Sky", "Happy Endings", "Crocodile Rock" or even the slightly cringey "Problem Child" have been out in the ether for decades.  Even if these songs aren't exactly remarkable it would still be nice to have them if for only completionist's sake.  Maybe by the time Still Cruisin' hits a significant anniversary they can put out a proper album with all these lost tracks in tow.

Those are all awful though and don't belong on any compilation. If anything the few decent releases they had like Somewhere Near Japan should be brought forward as the rare highlights in their otherwise abysmal later catalogue.

[HeyJude]

The 80s rando tracks are hit and miss of course. “Chasin’ the Sky” isn’t bad; it’s got some nice vocals. A few tracks on “Still Cruisin’” are good; most of the “new” tracks are at least okay. “Problem Child” is awful. “Happy Endings” is like tenth-string Bruce sleepy ballad time. “Rock and Roll to the Rescue” is…. a song. Should be available somewhere.

I don’t think much of any of this stuff belongs on career-spanning comps. But I’d be happy to see the stuff be made available in some form. Like, just putting “Still Cruisin’” back on streaming and digital purchase platforms would be very easy I think. I’d love to hear that album remixed. But I don’t think they’re ever going to invest that much time or effort or money into it.

A comp of all the weird, random tracks would be fine. They’d probably have to go digital-only. Nobody but a few hundred hardcores are going to buy a multi-disc comp that has like multiple mixes of “Problem Child” and the “Percadella Mix” of “Rock and Roll to the Rescue.”

It’s strange. SIP not being in print makes total sense (I’m always for keeping everything in print and available, however awful it might be…..with the exception of that Locash track….), but “Still Cruisin’” has “Kokomo” on it and did go “Gold.” How many gold-record-awarded full albums from 1989 are literally unavailable in any form right now?

[monkee knutz]

I still can't find a comprehensive list of the remixes for this set. Anyone? Thx!

[HeyJude]

[UEF]

Have Pet Sounds songs not had updated official remixes since 1996 then?

Oh no, have I given them ideas in asking that...

[HeyJude]

A few PS stereo mixes have been tweaked (most noticeably WIBN which had Mike's bridge vocal reinserted), but they generally use the '96 remixes when they want stereo versions. Which I'm fine with; the '96 PS stereo remix is very good.

[Sam_BFC]

Yes hard to see how the 1996 stereo mix of Pet Sounds could be improved upon.

I wonder why Let Us Go On This Way gets a new mix but The Night Was So Young doesn't.

[Pretty Funky]

THE BEACH BOYS SHARE STERLING NEW MIX OF CLASSIC TRACK "SHUT DOWN" TO HELP SOUNDTRACK THE UNOFFICIAL KICKOFF TO SUMMER

https://www.gratefulweb.com/articles/beach-boys-share-sterling-new-mix-classic-track-shut-down-help-soundtrack-unofficial

[Lonely Summer]

Actually, I've been disappointed that previous compilations have ignored the 80's, except for Kokomo. Even on a big box like MIC, it's like the 80s/90s never existed. Someday, someway, we need to have a comp that collects all the stray tracks like Chasin' the Sky, Rock 'N' Roll to the Rescue, California Dreamin', Still Cruisin', Somewhere Near Japan, Crocodile Rock, Runaway.

[HeyJude]

I think it would be nice to have stray 80s and 90s tracks collected somewhere. But I don't worry about it too much compared to getting unreleased material out there, because it's exceedingly easy to track down all those 80s and 90s tracks. It's not difficult to track down a copy of the "Still Cruisin'" album (or "Summer in Paradise" for that matter), nor the other random tracks. I suspect most if not all of them are on YouTube as well. Other than the annoyance of not having those tracks on a Spotify playlist, I don't see those tracks not being currently in print as hugely egregious. It's a little weird "Still Cruisin'" hasn't remained in print, yes.

[UEF]

Actually, I've been disappointed that previous compilations have ignored the 80's, except for Kokomo. Even on a big box like MIC, it's like the 80s/90s never existed. Someday, someway, we need to have a comp that collects all the stray tracks like Chasin' the Sky, Rock 'N' Roll to the Rescue, California Dreamin', Still Cruisin', Somewhere Near Japan, Crocodile Rock, Runaway.

Not only that but HQ versions of the videos of those songs. Some are in excellent quality while others like Somewhere in Japan exist only with prostage stamp resolution video taped off VH1. Someone must have them in a clean, HQ version.

[HeyJude]

I'm sure all of the 80s and 90s stuff still exists in broadcast quality either in the archives of BRI/Iconic, Capitol, and/or MTV/VH1, etc.

But almost all of the BBs music videos are really awful. Like, "California Dreamin'" is okay, I guess "Somewhere Near Japan" isn't too awful (though I haven't watched it in years), and pretty much everything else is bad if not full throttle embarrassing. I'm still convinced someone held Carl's dog for ransom to get him to do that "Crocodile Rock" video.

I think Brian's face says it best:

[UEF]

I’d support the remastered release of those latter videos if only it meant being able to watch a documentary about the Beach Boys without having to see them messing about in that sodding swimming pool

[HeyJude]

There's plenty of archival BB footage to use for a documentary without resorting to footage from the "Rock and Roll to the Rescue" video.

The only purpose footage like that or the "Crocodile Rock" video would serve in a doc would be if they got into some hard truths about how tacky and novelty the act became by the 90s.

[William Bowe]

A "2021 Mix" of Marcella is up on Spotify (at least in my time zone). It's ... different. Very different.

[Pablo.]

Yes, VERY different. But I like it, although sometimes it's too much contemporary sounding. An alternative to the muddy sounding original mix. Brian is the high voice on the "Hey Marcella"s (like at 1:16), right?

[phirnis]

It sounds OK but it's not something I'll play again too often I think. Love the original mix, despite its 'muddiness' - easily my favorite BB song from the early 70s era. This new mix sounds like they were trying way too hard to make every little sonic detail stick out. If it'll help people (re)discover the song, that's great.

[rab2591]

Honestly I love the new mix. And I can see why some dislike it, but to me it’s great hearing this song with a completely new spin. It’s not yet another digital remaster of an original mix, this is a completely new way to listen to the song.

Hard to explain but that compression gives it a crunch(?) that makes me want to crank this up in the car. The vocals are really out front giving it the vibe of their earlier tunes.

Really glad to see Mark/Alan/etc stepping into the unknown, knowing that something like this won’t go over well with some in the fanbase. I’m sure they read the criticism about the ‘Sail Plane Song’ from MiC, but I’m glad it doesn’t deter them from keeping an open mind about new mixes.

I can’t wait for next Friday!