Customer Reviews

California Project

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This album is awesome. It actually sounds just like the Beach Boys. The recording is supurb. I have used this album at sock hops and everyone wants to know where they can get it. Do yourself a favor and pick up a copy, you won't be dissapointed.

If you like the Beach Boys and appreciate the technical quality behind Telarc recordings, then this disc is a must have in your collection. First, Papa Doo Run Run does an excellent job covering Beach Boys tunes to the point where some people can't tell the difference, but you can still hear the uniqueness they bring to it. Second, you'll feel like your hearing parts of the music you've never heard before because there is so much more foundation and clarity to the recording. You can hear each instrument clearly. The beginning of "I Get Around" is almost explosive, they way the original recording should have been. Telarc and Papa Doo Run Run have made a special album here. When I feel like listening to the Beach Boys, I usually grab this CD first.

This is a great recording in all respects. When you see the name "Telarc" on the label, you can be fairly certain (but not guaranteed) that the album is special. This one is no exception.

This group has basically done a rehash of the Beach Boys, but it is so much more enjoyable. The vocals are better and the recording is better. After listening to this album a few times, you may never listen to the (real) Beach Boys again. In fact, you may think that the Beach Boys THEMSELVES are the imitators.

This is definitely a great test album for high-end audio systems. It is one of 20 or so CDs that I use when auditioning high-end equipment. Let me tell you, the clarity and the bass will knock your socks off.

If you love summer-fun music or the Beach Boys, you owe it to yourself to own this album. Even if you don't, but you love well-recorded pop, this album fits that bill as well.

I've listened to all of these songs side-by-side to the originals and Papa Doo Run Run's version are like somebody took the muffler off what the Beach Boys wanted to do. The harmonies seem fuller and richer, even though there are no acutal additions to the voices - it just sounds like you're listening to them on a better stereo. The bass is definately enhanced on all tracks. There are other extremely subtle differences - like on "Good Vibrations" the Theramin is brought out more - but it doesn't seem wrong. In fact everything they do on this album seems incredibly right. It's what the Beach Boys would have sounded like if they had the recording studios of the late 80's.

Papa Doo Run Run is a Tribute Band. Thanks to their love of the Beach Boys music and rich harmornies and for the excellent recording techniques of Telarc Records, this is a delightful musical experience for Beach Boys fans. I too reach for this album first when I want to hear every note that Brian Wilson envisioned. However I also keep a 3 disc compilation of the original versions close at hand as well.

And if you haven't tried it yet, do yourself a big favor and check out Brian Wilson's new Smile album. He's BACK!

This is a lot of fun for a Beach Boys fan like me. Papa Doo Run Run has the Beach Boys sound down about as close as can be, and they recorded Beach Boys classics just tweaked enough to be interesting without ruining the original spirit of the music. And, its great to hear real bass in Beach boys hits!

This cd provides good low bass frequencies , and very clean mids and highs.........

Do you like Beach Boys' music? If so you may greatly enjoy this record. I purchased it in 1986. My main reason was that I had put together a moderately expensive stereo system with a compact disc player. CD players were costly in those days and it was hard to find recordings that took full advantage of their capabilities. Telarc records were all digitally recorded and designed to appeal to audiophiles. "California Project" was a recording put together by Papa Doo Run Run, the house band at Disneyland for many years, and Telarc Records. It featured the music of the Beach Boys, all those marvelous hit songs from the mid- to late-60s, and even had some of the Beach Boys and Jan and Dean as consultants.

The "California Project" recordings are marvelous. The sound quality is simply superb. Papa Doo Run Run serve up an astonishingly good job of presenting 15 of the Beach Boys' most popular songs. The music sounds so much like the original Beach Boys that most people could never tell the difference. Well, there is a difference; the Telarc recording is much more pristine and vibrant than anything available by the Beach Boys. When almost anyone hears this recording, they remark that this is the best Beach Boys' music they have ever heard. I fully agree. I own the "Endless Summer" album by the Beach Boys and the "California Project" cover songs are uniformly better sounding. Much better.

I liked Beach Boys' music in the sixties, and I still enjoy it very much. But let's face it, the quality of their music has faded and they can no longer maintain that 60s sound, no matter how hard they might try. All right, you can buy the 60s recordings. But it you really want a highest fidelity rendition of Beach Boys 60s songs, try the "California Project" recording. It's marvelous!

Gary Peterson

What some of the reviews fail to mention about California Project is this is a project album which includes vocals added by the Beach Boys.
Papa Do Run Run is a tremendous Beach Boys tribute band that has been together for decades. My brother saw them on a cruise ship years ago. The recording project is an attempt to reproduce the Beach Boys, but with an amped-up freshness as if the band was recording with today's digital technology. This is not a "Country Singers Do Beach Boys" type of thing.
The result is Beach Boys like you have never enjoyed before. Vocals crawl all over your ears with lush harmonies as punchy bass and drums stand out like the Beach Boys could never do on now-ancient recording equipment. Wait until the opening of "Surfer Girl" hits you and you will know what I mean! The lead guitar player does take some liberties in places and strays away from the origonal strumy-strum playing of the period, such as on the tail end of "I Get Around," but it is an improvement and ads to the refreshing sound
This is a must for every Beach Boys fan or classic rock fan.
1. I Get Around
2. Wouldn't It Be Nice
3. Don't Worry Baby
4. California Girls
5. Help Me, Rhonda
6. Surfer Girl
7. Good Vibrations
8. Fun, Fun, Fun
9. Surfin' U.S.A.
10. Warmth of the Sun
11. Let Him Run Wild
12. In My Room
13. Sloop John B.
14. God Only Knows
15. Barbara Ann

Wonderful re-recordings of most of the Beach Boys Greatest Hits. Great singing, and in far better sound than the originals keep you coming back to Papa Doo Run Runs colections of Beach Boy hits. If you love the Beach Boys and are from this era then you definitely have nothing to lose. By all means, Get It. It really is a, Must Have CD for those of us from the Baby Boomer Generation. Brings back loads of memories!

Now if they would do groups like Jan & Dean!

Best,

Mark Zimmerman, Chicago, The Bipolar Bear!