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ivan@stellysee.de
| From | Andrew Hickey <stealthmunchkin@gmail.com> |
| Subject | Re: Random Things |
| Date | Mon, 18 Oct 2004 15:55:34 +0100 |
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> 3) I've noticed that the Beach Boys' "Good Vibrations" box set is available
> in the rewards program for my credit card, and I have enough points for it if
> I wish. Now, I realize that asking for BB advice here is going to net me a
> lot of "buy the entire catalog, except the last 3!" responses. But here's the
> thing... I'm something of a casual fan. I have the two best-ofs that came out
> in the mid-90s and that's it. I know that some albums of theirs are much
> stronger than others, and pretty much know what those are, but my question is how
> good of a job does this compilation do of summing up their career?
It contains *almost* every track you *need* , and pretty much everyone
is agreed on that. Every hardcore fan would have their own 6th CD they
wish it had included, but everyone's would be different - the only two
tracks everyone is pretty much agreed should be there are Don't Talk
(Put Your Head On My Shoulder) and Let Him Run Wild. Simillarly,
everyone would have a couple of tracks they'd rather not have
included, but only a couple. It really is the single best summing-up
of the Beach Boys' career you could have.
> I saw
> that it's missing "Girl Don't Tell Me", which I adore, and that was one major
> strike against it, but the fact that it includes a lot of original "Smile"
> demos is a mark in its favor.
It is, but a lot of the Smile stuff on the box is instrumental - if
you haven't got the new CD, I'd listen to that first.
> Also, does it cover their 70s material--things like
> "Love You" that fans like--well, or no?
It contains most of the essential 70s material. I could do with a
couple more Love You tracks (personal preference), and Dennis' stuff
is underrepresented, but it hits most of the high points and misses
out most of the crap, and the Love You tracks are the ones I would
choose from the album to demonstrate its strengths to non-fans.
>I see it has "You Need A Mess of
> Help To Stand Alone" which is good. Basically I'm just trying to gauge if it's a
> good set for someone who doesn't want all the albums or if I should frankly
> just try and pick up a few of the proper albums and leave it at that.
Most of the BBs' albums are terribly patchy, and even speaking as the
obsessive fan that I am I honestly wouldn't advise someone coming to
the band relatively fresh to buy any of them. There *are* a few very
solid albums, but even there you'll be able better to judge what you
like from the tracks on the box. And there's enough
otherwise-unreleased material (about 40% of the box is otherwise
unavailable) that is also very strong, that even if you *did* have all
the albums it'd be an essential purchase.
It's simply the best 'compilation style' box set (as opposed to ones
that collect a group's entire works - obviously both undoable and,
frankly, undesirable with the BBs) I've ever heard of.
--
Andrew Hickey and Holly Matthies headline
International Pop Overthrow, the Cavern, Liverpool
Monday October 25
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