‘The east coast girls are hip and the mid-west farmers daughters really make you feel alright.’ It sounded exotic then and it still sounds exotic today. Even in an era of cheap flights and tacky package holidays, Brian Wilson and his chums still manage to make the warm, sandy dunes of Califronia sound like another world. Ever dig a French bikini on Hawaii island? A palm tree in the sand? No me neither, but somehow it felt like we ought to; that we were perhaps missing out on something if we didn’t. The Beach Boys constituted a peer pressing punch in the balls. You wanted girls? Then you had to be in Brian’s gang. You wanted to be accepted? You had to get a ‘board’. You wanted the full understanding and support of your peers? Then you had to be true to your school. Without knowing it, every Beach Boys record bought was another step toward personal validation and social acceptance. You could even be butt-ugly like Brian, but with the right kind of car, the right kind of stripey shirt, the right pair of slacks and you’d be kicking out in Dohini in no time. For once the American dream sounded hip and accessible. All you needed was Brian. And somekind of Safari.
Part Phil Spector, part Everly Brothers and part Chuck Berry, the Very Best Of The Beach Boys focuses on the ‘lifestyle’ side to the band rather than the barking mad, loony, acid-tabbed genius of Brian Wilson. This is the feelgood Brian, the Brian with his feet in the sands, his head in the clouds and his voice breaking like surf on Snapper Rocks. So for those looking for the sublime psychedelia and technicolour horseplay of Pet Sounds and Smile, then you’ll just have to catch the next wave as this album celebrates the cheery, board-hoying grinning stuff: ‘Califronia Girls’, ‘I Get Around’, ‘Surfin Safari’, ‘Fun, Fun, Fun’, ‘Little Deuce Coup’, ‘Shutdown’ with just the occasional shiver thrown up by the poignant introspection of tracks like ‘Don’t Worry Baby’, ‘Surfer Girl’, ‘In My Room’ and ‘God Only Knows’. Yes, it’s just another Beach Boys Hits Package, but this time we have another reason for buying it. Being a ‘Sights and Sounds’ release, the ‘Very Best Of The Beach Boys’ includes a Limited Edition DVD featuring 10 vintage videos of classic, live Beach Boys performances & promo videos; the much sought-after footage from the Ed Sullivan Show in 1968 plus 4 complete songs filmed live on the 1964 T.A.M.I Show.
Forget about the library and cruise to the hamburger stand now.