Customer Reviews

Summer Love Songs

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Another wonderful compilation with "audio production" in HDCD by Mark Linett (following his excellent CD compilations Endless Harmony, Hawthorne California, Sounds Of Summer, and Warmth Of The Sun, and ofcourse the catalog 2-fers). This one has a Love Songs theme, and therefore repeats some tunes from previous comps, although there are several new treasures here. Every track here is in stereo, except Help Me Rhonda (single version).

FIRST TIME IN STEREO:
Why Do Fools Fall In Love (album version)
I'm So Young
Good To My Baby

New stereo mixes were also made for
Don't Worry Baby, Hushabye, and Time To Get Alone, which were already available in stereo on previous CD releases.

Don't Worry Baby and Why Do Fools Fall In Love were mixed from newly-discovered multi-track master tapes.

Why Do Fools Fall In Love has a never-before-heard 26-second intro that features piano along with drums, bass, and celeste; then goes into the familiar album version (although now it's in stereo). Maybe Brian on piano? It sounds a lot like Brian doing a Phil Spector-type intro, and I wonder if it was actually a part of Why Do Fools Fall In Love originally...

Girls On The Beach doesn't have an "outro", as indicated on the Amazon track listing, but there is a hidden track - a 30-second excerpt of Don't Worry Baby (vocals only) after a few seconds of silence.

Fallin In Love (a.k.a. Lady) is a Dennis Wilson tune, recorded c. 1970 during the Sunflower sessions, that has not been previously released in the USA. (Dennis made a new version of the song with Daryl Dragon and released it as a solo single in the UK in December 1970)

Another excellent mixing and remastering job by Mark Linett for Capitol with the brilliant "Don't Worry Baby" in newly remixed stereo worth the price alone. The previous stereo mix from the 60's was quite good for it's time but the left and right panned vocals were distracting. The mono version was, well, mono. This new version is fantastic with Brian's vocals (one of his best) dead center and the boys surrounding him double tracked in stereo. If all BB songs could be mixed this well we'd all be thrilled.

The rest of the CD is well paced and includes some other new stereo mixes that are welcomed and well done. Only the still mono "Help Me Rhonda" sticks out here as sonically frustrating. Perhaps more original masters will be found to alleviate this. Fans have also been waiting for, "I Get Around" and of course, "Good Vibrations" to magically appear in some lost Capitol vault. This collection lets us imagine what those gems might have sounded like in full stereo.

Listening to the Beach Boys songs in mono my whole life, I had never really experienced how awesome their music is in Stereo. I bought their re-mastered "Pet Sounds" album a few months ago and was blown away by the audio quality. Seeing that most of these 'summer love songs' were in stereo I decided to buy this album.

This CD contains a few Beach Boys songs I had never heard before (which are excellent songs) and the songs I have heard before have been beautifully re-mastered from mono into stereo (except for 'Help Me Rhonda').

"Summer Love Songs" is a great collection of chill Beach Boys songs which deserve to be in every music lovers library. 5/5

Been a Beach Boys fan(atic) since there was a Beach Boys. To hear them ('cept Rhonda) in wonderfully re-mastered stereo is a revelation.
Love that they included lesser known songs "Please Let Me Wonder", "Good To My Baby", "Time To Get Alone" and "Our Sweet Love".
(Where's "She Knows Me Too Well"?)

There will never be a Brian Wilson or Beach Boys CD that I won't love. I have bought so many that I keep buying many of the same songs on different CDs. But what the heck, it's Brian!

Beachboy albums traditionally mixed rock and slow songs. This collection creates a warm, mellow mood, and doesn't break from it. For Beachboy fanatics, this is a must own addition -- the new version of "Why Do Fools Fall in Love" is a knockout! The new stereo mix of "Don't Worry Baby" is another improvement. Also on the album is a reprise of "Don't Worry Baby", at the end of the CD, but not listed on the song titles. It's a nice way to end a pleasant session. Also noteworthy, Dennis Wilson's "Falling in Love" is included. It's loaded with strings and sugary lyrics. It doesn't really belong on a Beachboys collection. But on the whole, this album makes me want to wax up my board, catch a few waves, relax in the sand, and enjoy the cool summer breeze off the ocean. No one else has captured the essence of the beach life in music like the Beachboys. This album, in addition to the new versions of old favorites, creates a consistent listening tone and theme.

This is another very nice compilation of great Beach Boys songs, and the 6 cuts newly mixed in Stereo sound great. At this point, isn't it time for Capitol to simply re-release Beach Boys Today with all the remixed stereo cuts. What do you say, Mr. Mark Linnett? (Great job here, by the way).

If the Beach Boys' lyrics had not been about sunny beaches, hot rod car
racing, waxing up surfboards and other summer features, they would have
been the number one doo wop group in history because frankly speaking
their musical roots are 100% doo wop. Their wonderful vocal harmonies +
many songs with almost no instrumental back up prove this especially on this CD compilation. I really bought this for 2 reasons: the new remix
of the Doo Wop classic "Why do fools fall in love" and Dennis' song
"Fallin'in love". These "new" versions are absolutely wonderful. Dennis well known song "Forever" already was one of the most beautiful lovesongs but this one is even better. It shows that he was the most underrated member of this supergroup. On this CD we have 10 "classic" doowop songs like Hushabye, I'm So Young, Good To My Baby, Don't Worry Baby, Please let Me Wonder, Kiss Me Baby, Keep An Eye On Summer, Girls On The Beach etc. all in wonderful stereo. A real great selection with only one exception: why did they include the mono version of Help Me Rhonda??? Any other stereo song would have been more logical. Even for people (like me), who already have all there is available about the Beach Boys, should get this compilation. The songs chosen are better versions than the existing ones.

Not a typical Beach Boys CD, this best-of focuses on the group's more romantic material. It includes several songs (like "Surfer Girl," "Don't Worry Baby," "Wouldn't It Be Nice," "God Only Knows," etc.) that you would probably expect to find on such a compilation (and on almost every, if not every, typical Beach Boys best-of), as well as some that you might not. Most of the songs are from the '60s, but "Our Sweet Love," from the 1970 Sunflower album, is also included, as well as an unreleased early-'70s Dennis Wilson composition, "Fallin' In Love," which I think may be the most beautiful track on this CD, at least production-wise. One song that would have been perfect for inclusion is "Forever" (another Sunflower song and another Dennis composition); I'm surprised that it was left off. The fact that there are several "new" stereo mixes is another definite plus, although, like some other people, I would prefer that Captitol put together a complete compilation CD of new stereo mixes --- or even better, reissue the '60s albums in "new" stereo mixes (except Pet Sounds, which they've already done that with) --- instead of continuing to put out "new" stereo mixes like they have been. Nevertheless, this is a very good collection, especially if a collection of the group's "love" songs is what you're looking for. (I wrote this review under the link for the VERY expensive Japanese release of the CD because of something weird at Amazon. I was going to write it under the link for the U.S. release, but for some reason Amazon said that only one review per customer was allowed but that I could I could edit my existing review --- which I hadn't written yet!)

We've heard most of these before, but it's a great mix of songs for a summer's evening, or even a lazy summer afternoon. Kudos to Mark Linett on the remastering, but I will add my voice to the ever growing chorus of people who like the new stereo mixes, and say "OK, now can we have complete stereo versions of Beach Boys Today and Summer Days?"