The Best of the Beach Boys

The Beach Boys | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (November 4, 1997)
• Original Release Date: September 2, 1997
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: EMI Special Products
• ASIN: B000002T9C
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette
• Average Customer Review: 2.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #14,049 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #14 in Music > Rock > Oldies & Retro > Surf Rock

Track Listings

1. Fun, Fun, Fun

2. California Girls

3. Good Vibrations

4. I Get Around

5. Help Me, Rhonda

6. Wouldn't It Be Nice

7. Barbara Ann

8. Surfer Girl

9. Surfin' U.S.A.

10. Be True to Your School

Editorial Reviews

Beach Boys Photos

More from The Beach Boys

Sounds of Summer	Pet Sounds	20 Good Vibrations, The Greatest Hits
Smiley Smile/Wild Honey	Endless Harmony	Friends / 20/20

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Great Music But A Really Short CD, October 3, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Best of the Beach Boys (Audio CD)

The total time on this CD is about twenty minutes

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A cheap collection of classic songs, December 30, 2000

By 

"sixtymilesmile" - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Best of the Beach Boys (Audio CD)

That one star review really annoyed me. All this is is a cheap way to obtain ten of the Beach Boys classics on one CD. Their early surf period is when they did their best songs, after that Brian Wilson's creativity fizzled. I'd rather hear Fun, Fun, Fun, Barbera-Ann and Wouldn't It Be Nice than stuff like I Can Hear Music, Kokomo or Then I Kissed Her. These are pure classics, and to be honest if you think such a veteran band, now lacking all three Wilsons, would be able to match these records if they re-entered the studio, you're living in cloud cuckoo land. These could well be among the band's ten best songs, though why God Only Knows isn't hear I don't know, and for such a low price..... But hey, I was forgetting- 'About 90% of this album is from the early 60's surfing career, plus a few songs from Pet Sounds'. Aside from the shaky maths of that statement, teh fact is their best songs were from said early surf period, and almost everything after Pet Sounds was tripe. 20 Golden Greats is a better set, but for the price this is an ideal introduction.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Either Love It Or Hate It, January 18, 2004

By 

anthony nasti (Brooklyn, NY United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Best of the Beach Boys (Audio CD)

Admittedly, I really used to like this album. It was this album that got me into The Beach Boys' music. I used to play it all the time in my car. Then, as I got more and more into their music and I heard stuff from "Pet Sounds", "Friends" and "Sunflower", I realized that this album was nothing more than a cheap way to cash in on the success of The Beach Boys.

For a greatest hits collection, the song selection can hardly be beat - "California Girls", "Surfer Girl", "Fun Fun Fun", "Wouldn't It Be Nice", etc. There all here. But the complaint is for what's not here. With 10 tracks that equal a running time of about 20 minutes, there was enough room to include "Little Deuce Coupe", "Shut Down", "Surfin' Safari", "In My Room", "God Only Knows", "Surfin'", "409", "Little Saint Nick", and "Sloop John B." to make it a much more complete collection of hits.

If you want a single disc collection of The Beach Boys' greatest hits, then seek out "Sounds Of Summer". It has all 10 of the tracks on this cd, as well as 20 other hit singles. It also has better sound and liner notesby an experienced rock and roll researcher. Take my advice (and the advice of every other reviewer who gave this a one or two star review) and skip this album.