Customer Reviews

California Dreamin'

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I was lucky enough to get ahold of this CD when my dad had a business trip overseas and he bought it for me. it is an interesting import, and it has some hard to find songs such as the group's version of "California Dreamin'" (which is quite good, by the way), "Getcha Back", from the pretty good 1985 album, and two Bruce Johnston tunes from "Sunflower". The rest are your average greatest hits, although the mixing in some of them is quite awkward. Still, if you are collection this stuff, you should buy this CD!

This CD has a rather unusual tracklisting for a Beach Boys best-of. Almost all of the group's pre-Pet Sounds hits --- at least, the songs that were hits in America (this CD was made in Holland) --- are missing. There are, believe it or not, NO songs on the subject of surfing! There is also no "California Girls" or "Help Me Rhonda" or "Barbara Ann" or any of several other hits from '64 or '65. Most of the tracks are from the Pet Sounds album; from the late '60s; from the 1970 Sunflower album (the last two tracks); or the mid-'80s (the first two tracks). Several of the songs are ones that you don't usually find on Beach Boys compilations, at least not on single-disc ones. Unsurprisingly, though, "Good Vibrations" (from '66, like the Pet Sounds songs) is included. "You're So Good To Me" (from '65) and "Then I Kissed Her" are here, too. I'm guessing that the latter song is here because it was a single in Holland (in 1967, as the "track info" indicates). For those of you who may not already know, the song was actually recorded and released in America in '65. It wasn't a single here, as it was in Holland and the U.K. One of the most notable tracks (in my opinion) on this CD is "Breakaway" (from '69), which was a non-album track (at least in the U.S.) and easily the group's best '60s single that didn't become a hit (not here, anyway). I think "Deirdre" (from the Sunflower album) is another one of the best, as well as one of the most rarely found, songs on this CD. I find it interesting that "Cottonfields" is not the version that was released as a single (and flopped) in America in 1970, but the album version from '69. I've NEVER seen it on another comp! Another track that I haven't seen on another best-of is "Let's Go Away For Awhile," which is a beautiful instrumental that appeared on Pet Sounds and also backed "Good Vibrations" (in America, anyway). I also think it's cool that the group's version of "California Dreamin'" is here. I think it's MUCH better than the original version by The Mamas & The Papas! I like (and in some cases, love) the songs here, but several of them are in "processed" (i.e., fake) stereo, which I don't mind THAT much, though I still would have liked it better if they had just been included in mono (as far as I kinow, no true stereo mixes of them existed at the time). Also, for some reason, "I Can Hear Music" fades out sooner than it usually does on BB releases (and on the single, at least the American one). This isn't a big deal, though. Altough this isn't the best Beach Boys comp out there, it is nonetheless an overall good (and interesting) one. The fact that it includes some good (and great) stuff not usually found on Beach Boys comps, at least not on 1-CD ones, is why I gave it four stars. Unfortunately, however, this CD seems (at least to me) to be rare these days.