Greatest Hits Vol. 3: Best of the Brother Years 1970-1986 [Original recording remastered]

The Beach Boys | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (February 1, 2000)
• Original Release Date: February 1, 2000
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Original recording remastered
• Label: Capitol
• ASIN: B000040OVX
• Also Available in: Audio Cassette  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (48 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #90,156 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

One of the most popular touring acts of the '70s and '80s, the Beach Boys nonetheless found sales of their new music disappointing for much of those decades. Their Brother Records imprint was stamped on some of the best albums of their "mature" period--Sunflower, Surf's Up, and the one-of-a-kind The Beach Boys Love You--but earlier classics such as "Surfin' U.S.A." and "Good Vibrations" remained their most popular work. This third volume of greatest hits collects 20 Brother cuts, including the occasional chart success ("Rock & Roll Music," the twice-released "Sail On, Sailor," "It's OK," "Getcha Back"). A few lesser-known winners ("This Whole World," "Long Promised Road," "Honkin' Down the Highway") provide welcome highlights. Still, the inclusion of one too many remade oldies on the disc's second half underscores the Beach Boys' loss of creative energy by 1980. --Rickey Wright

Product Description

Collectors began to really prize the 1970-86 recordings of the Beach Boys in recent years. Catch the wave as you hear the hits Add Some Music to Your Day; Sail On Sailor; Rock and Roll Music; It's O.K.; Peggy Sue; Good Timin'; Goin' On; Come Go with Me; Getcha Back; California Dreamin' , and more!

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars one for those who think they did nothing after Pet Sounds, February 25, 2000

By 

Johnny Bacardi (Horse Cave, KY United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Greatest Hits Vol. 3: Best of the Brother Years 1970-1986 (Audio CD)

This seems to be the rationale for releasing this compilation of the Boys' "lost years", the period in which they made some fascinating music with and without Brian. This collection especially becomes relevant since you can't buy most of the albums in question at the moment (Sunflower, Holland, Surf's Up, Carl and the Passions-So Tough) on CD, and good luck finding them elsewhere or in other formats since nobody much bought them when they came out, and the ones who did held on to them. Although it would have been nice to have included All I Want To Do, Feel Flows and All This Is That, I can't nitpick too much since the only track I would have left off would be the cheesy Disney Girls (am I the only person that dislikes this song?). I especially am happy to see "Honkin Down The Highway" from Love You included here, which (despite the silly title) is a catchy, playful tune which has a kind of forlornness to it, somewhat like the Love You album itself. This CD is an excellent place to investigate a period which has been unjustly overlooked.

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars ..How Deep Is The Ocean...., October 10, 2003

By 

DEAN M. Dent (SAN LEANDRO, CALIFORNIA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Greatest Hits Vol. 3: Best of the Brother Years 1970-1986 (Audio CD)

The Beach Boys have the unfortunate situation of having their 1962-1966 hits shamelessly recycled on oldies radio,commercials,and period films,thus their post-Pet Sounds/Good Vibrations recordings go unnoticed by the general public,making the group forever pigeonhold as a 60's relic and the music only dealing with beaches,surfing,chicks,& cars.
Once you dig a little deeper(as well as get inside of Pet Sounds)you find that alot of great music was produced in the late 60s,early 70s.GH3 represents the period where the other group members rise to the challenge of creating quality music as Brian Wilson sporadically contributed to sessions.The highlights are the tracks from 1970's criminally underrated Sunflower(Add Some Music To Your Day,Forever) and 1971's classic Surf's Up(Til I Die and the title cut are magical).Sail On,Sailor(from Holland) is an underrated piece of great pop music.Unfortunatly after the freak success of 1974's oldies repackaging Endless Summer,the group descended into a nostalgia act ( although 1977's Loves You was the last album of any great merit).Yet, this collection serves as a reminder that the group was more than the recycled oldies dictate.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Beach Boys catalog revamp underway..., February 8, 2000

By 

Dave "missing person" (United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Greatest Hits Vol. 3: Best of the Brother Years 1970-1986 (Audio CD)

The "Brother Is Back" review below is quite true, however, the booklet does not say the 12 albums from the 1970-1985 era will be released as 6 twofers (although my copy did have a card inserted suggesting that twofers will appear)--it simply says that they will be reissued. I've read it would be impossible, considering "The Beach Boys In Concert" is a double album (relased on a single CD in 1990), & that "Holland" is too long to pair with any other album. Also, the Capitol twofers from 1990 are, with almost 100% certainty, not going to be reissued, as they are planning to do as they have done with the recent "Pet Sounds" reissue, & that is to include the albums in both mono & stereo.

As for this compilation, it works better as a supplement for big fans than as a summary for those curious as to what the Beach Boys were up to in this time. It does contain "This Whole World", "Marcella", "Surf's Up", & "Til I Die", however, I agree that out of respect for Dennis Wilson if anything, "Forever" should have been included. As far as using the single mix of "California", it's nice for big fans who already own the album version (the same goes with the other "single" mixes), yet it's in no way preferrable with the group vocals which soar on the album version sounding very muted here. The "Rock & Roll Music" single mix sounds good, but basically the album versions of the songs are totally preferrable. Also entirely noteworthy is that for the 1st time on CD, the drum intro on the brilliant "Honkin' Down the Highway" has been restored. It should be noted as well that "Peggy Sue" was previously in the "wrong mix" on the CD release of the "M.I.U. Album".

Overall, disc 3 & disc 4 of the "Good Vibrations" box give a not quite flawless, but much more enjoyable representation of this era. However, for completists there are some finds here.