Customer Reviews

Beach Boys - The Greatest Hits Vol. 2: 20 More Good Vibrations

5 star:		(21)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

As the album title indicates, this collection picks up where Volume 1 ends. Although some of the songs barely cracked the Top 40, I feel these songs are just as important and do more than just "supplement" Volume 1. Like Volume 1, these songs are short radio versions.

The liner notes are enjoyable along with the colorful pictures, song credits and chart positions. As stated in my title, you can't just buy this without getting the other two volumes. Plus, this three volume set may save you from buying their more expensive box set which contains over 100 songs. With this three volume, three CD set, you get 60 songs you will want. Highly recommended.

This cd is an excellent addition to any fan's library or as a primer for new fans as well. The songs here are some of the more underrated or unrecognized songs of the Beach Boys's careers. They deal with Brian Wilson's increasing songwriting maturity and emotional themes deeper than those the Beach Boys began their career with. Love, Isolation, and Loneliness are some.

"In My Room" is worth the price of the disc alone, the harmonies are beautiful and serene. One of their best. Other songs that deal with more emotional territory that are just as melodic are "Don't Worry Baby" (with a more upbeat tempo, but a song about love underneath it all), "Caroline No" from the Pet Sounds album, and "The Warmth of the Sun". These songs are just beautiful with sound that just rings in your ears so you just don't want it to end. However, there are still some fun tracks that remind you of the surf and and sun like "Little Honda" and "All Summer Long." Also, "Heroes and Villians" is an unbelievable song, arranged with so much assurity that you can hardly believe what your hearing. And that is a good thing.

The slight negative to this album is you'll be sorely missing the presence of Brian Wilson in the last third or so of the disc as his input with the group was somewhat limited at the time. The songs are still enjoyable, like "Bluebirds Over the Mountain," but missing the genius of Wilson.

An excellent disc, highly recommended with disc one as well.

They are starting to redeem themselves a lttle for shunning Brian the first time around. Too little too late? No way. This music is timeless. This disc represents the more serious and adventerous side of Brian Wilson. In my opinion, this is the best and most diverse single Beach Boys disc ever released. Presented in their original mono/single mixes, they way Brian mixed them and the way they should be heard, but also remastered to accomodate mono sound that can be hear on all surround speakers. Very nice job Capitol! Although I think the 3 tracks on Vol 1 from Pet Sounds and Good Vibrations would feel more at home on this collection, I'm definitely not complaining. This truly is the best of the Beach Boys! Not as commercial as Vol I...absolute genius at work here!

Let's begin by ignoring (and hoping they all go away) all the other hits repackages that Capitol Records has put out on behalf of the Beach Boys. Taken in comparison with other bands, Greatest Hits Vol. 2 albums usually aren't as interesting because either the act had less hits or no hits, like The Best of The Stylistics Vol. 2. Capitol has here put together the second of what could easily be four best of packages. Three are already released. Compared to Vol. 1, this pack- age features more ballady work from the early days and strong tracks from the post-Brian Capitol era. Capitol, for its part, did not plan on a Vol. 2 and 3 initially, yet here we have an excellent companion piece. IT IS INAPPROPRIATE TO PURCHASE VOL. 1 OR VOL. 3 WITHOUT VOL. 2, whether for oneself or as a gift. Don't pass it by.

In many ways the Beach Boys GREATEST HITS VOL. 2 (along with Vol. 1 and 3) is a better choice than the 2003 single disc SOUNDS OF SUMMER. You not only still get all of their Top 40 singles (which SOUNDS OF SUMMER can't claim), you get some key album tracks and singles that charted outside the Top 40. So Vol. 2 not only gives you the big hits like "When I Grow Up (To Be a Man)" (1964, #9) and "Heroes and Villains" (1967, #12), you get Beach Boy favorites like "Wendy" (1964, #44) and "Friends" (1968, #47), along with b-sides like "Please Let Me Wonder" and the U.K.-only single release of "Cottonfields" from 1970--where it was one of their biggest hits at #3!

Even at 20 tracks the album is still a bit skimpy (running time - 51:12), but it helps provide a solid overview of the Beach Boys first decade. Like Vol. 1, the 12-page foldout booklet is awkward, but the essay by Beach Boy author Brad Elliot offers some terrific insight, the photos are wonderful and the track-by-track studio info is informative. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

Vol 1 may have the biggest hits,but Vol 2 contains their greatest,yet underrated recordings.Any compilation that has In My Room,Warmth Of The Sun,and of course Don't Worry Baby would make this the superior collection(Endless Summer which had these three plus the pre-1965 hit is OOP and sonically obsolete).
We also get Heroes And Villians(a teaser of the aborted Smile sessions)as well as shoulda' been Top Tens Wild Honey,Darlin' and Do It Again.This collection represents the group singing about more introspective subjects,as well as balancing both the surf and the warmth of the sun.

Volume 2 in the "Good Vibrations" series tends give a more intriguing look at The Beach Boys. There is little, if any, inklings of the classic surf numbers. This disc seems to focus more on Brian Wilson's studio wizardry and their unique harmonies.

The first 11 tracks are from when the band was still hot and tearing up the charts. Here is where you'll find the eloquent "In My Room", the gloomy but optimistic "The Warmth Of The Sun" (great Brian falsetto on this one), the "faster, faster" vocal riff on "Little Honda", and the heartshattering "Don't Worry Baby", to name a few. Other gems include the one "Pet Sounds" track, "Caroline, No", the heartwrenching "Please Let Me Wonder", and the upbeat grooves on "You're So Good To Me".

The rest of the disc is from when the band started to become passe. Here we get tracks that are relative unknowns, with the exception of the infamous "Heroes And Villains". There's there two top 20 hits from this period, the pretty "Darlin'" and the nostalgic "Do It Again". There's also the sweet "Friends", a rock reworking of the country standard "Bluebirds Over The Mountain", and Carl's heavenly high on "I Can Hear Music". Closing this album is "Breakaway", featuring ebullient harmonies, and another reworked country standard, a marvelous Al Jardine - produced "Cottonfields".

I heavily suggest you purchase this album. It not only is full of great music but exposes the casual listener to a whole new world of Beach Boys music that they never heard before.

Okay, okay, enough whining about this series. The fact is, these are the familiar mixes that '60s AM radio played when these songs were hits. All tracks are presented in their pristine original mono single mixes (with the exception of "I Can Hear Music" and "Break Away", which are stereo). Until the late '60s (when FM rock radio was born), monaural was the superior mix of choice, tailor-made for AM rock 'n' roll radio. Stereo was almost an afterthought. These ARE the mixes that some of us heard back then and preferred, including Brian. Although stereo affords more clarity, early two-channel mixes often sounded awkward and unbalanced. So enjoy these for what they are (and what they are not). Long live Brian. Long live mono.

Sure, just about anything by the BeachBoys is a hit compared to the immediate competition. This BBoy #2 is a slight cut below #1, since many of the feature's second half are not really top BBoys. "Wild Honey?" Nah, barely a C-MINUS in the Boys' songbook.But the older tunes like "In My Room", "Warmth of the Sun","Wendy", "When I Grow Up" (many of us have, haven't we?),and the "Little Girl I Once Knew" are top,sometimes forgotten older, but First Rate BBoys. "Please Let Me Wonder" is rarely heard (from the original "BeachBoys Today") and still sounds fresh like their best. Buy Volume I first ,it's a little more fun.Then this one. It's true that except for "Pet Sounds (1966),and the way underrated "Surf's Up (1971) the Boys lost theirful youthful,harmonious touch,and became a nostalgia act...Still their early-mid 1960's lineup may be second behind the Beatles', in all of Rock history.

As usual, it's great, beautiful harmonies, but very well-known... What about issuing some unreleased gems that a lot of hard core fans are dying to hear well mastered?... And what about the 70's albums?