Customer Reviews

U.S. Singles Collection: The Capitol Years 1962 - 1965 [+Digital Booklet]

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

There have been many "Re-Mastered" Beach Boys sets available over the years, but this particuar set covering their 7" single releases from 1962 - 1965 has to be the best yet.

The Re-Mastered sound quality of these early Capitol recordings is absolutly pristine and you won't find better on any other Beach Boys collection.

I only trust that whoever decided to put this collection together gets a Mastering award and a Packaging award for a job exceedingly well done and that they continue the experience and release a second boxed set covering the singles years beyond 1965.

As a Mastering Engineer of 35 years, never have I heard the Beach Boys sound as brilliant as this, well done to all concerned.

Warren Barnett

Mountain Moss Mastering

(Sydney, Australia)

A lot of fun for the serious fan of Brian Wilson and his band. This collection is worth the price to hear "She Knows Me Too Well" in stereo. Nicely packaged. If you do not have California Girls and Please Let Me Wonder in stereo these are included here as well. When I first saw this I thought it was a gimmick that I didn't need until I realized that there were new stereo mixes involved. If only it could include a full stereo mix of I Get Around and for the next set Good Vibrations. But if you want to see how the band emerged singles-wise, this is pretty cool.

...This is the kind of product that will keep them relevant. They can't go on anymore putting out disposable (c)rap music and expect to compete with the web or direct artist-to-audience business models. Anyway, this marvelous set is a visual, musical, and audio delight. I don't know if the material has been remastered specifically for this set or if is a re-release of the same masterings, but the sound quality is first-rate. Oh, and the music? Yes, of course much of it has been released many times over, as another reviewer noted, BUT HOW MANY BEACH BOYS NEWCOMERS ARE EXPECTED TO BUY THIS SET ANYWAY? THIS IS A NICHE PRODUCT AIMED AT THE MORE-THAN-CASUAL FAN, although (as is true with BB music generally), casual fans will certainly enjoy the music. And there are some nuggets that are (at least for me), new finds. I.E. the live version of "409" on the first disc is not one that I've heard before and crackles with energy (as do many live BB recordings from their first surge of popularity). The tactile and visual qualities of this set are also wonderful -- the colors and varying textures of the box, as well as the reproduction 45 sleeves inside and the hardcover, "sand covered" book convey the optimism and happiness of a better time. Highly recommended.

What can i say about this Box of Classics Beach Boys Cd's. Well the first thing is the price. Its is a bit much, But once you open the box, You can see a lot of care was put in to this.The sounds is the best you're ever find in any Beach Boys CD. This is the way I see it, If you are a very hard core Beach Boys fan then this one is for you. Enjoy

Love this! GREAT remasters and reproductions of the covers! Always wanted to have these covers and this was a great way to get them in CD format! A++++

Am I the only one who noticed that the stereo mix of she knows me so well is missing the guitar and doubled vocal tracks? Someone really missed the boat here. If those elements are missing, then it should be mentioned somewhere as it is in Pet Sounds. Also, the remixes are not faithful to the e.q. of the mono mixes. I shouldn't complain, but if you're going to do it, Capitol, do it right.

Most of the good and bad of this singles collection has already been mentioned by other reviewers

1st- the Production is the best, the Studio, and Engerning- produced a Capitol is absolute incredible (thanks, Brian and Chuck--just compare the Litte Deuce Coupe CD (orig 1963)-Stereo and Mono to the way overrated Beatles Box (ST and Mono for 1963-65)

I am a STEREO person- If there is a great stereo mix it needs to get out now once and for all

If "Dance, Dance, Dance" for the Great "Beach Boys Today" LP can come out in STEREO then why can't the full CD, etc.

I would recommend to Capitol to get out now (before us original BB fans hit 70) to put together a final and complete STEREO BOX SET----this could also include rarities (I have several true unreleased stereo versions of H & V, for example)-

How can they put our for the umteenth time Good Vibrations outakes (some 12-14 inst inst breaks, etc.) and a STEREO backing track without A Full stereo- It would do just as much justice to the song as the Pet Sounds CD.-

I would not put a 2nd singles box- for $100 bucks- we have all that- If necessary- they could just sequence it as it came out as singles

Maybe when Capitol hears what the real fans want- they will do this- but, if we keep buying their stuff alike this Singles Box- They will keep putting out them- We need to decide what we want

and that can only occur by determining what we buy and they will change in a heart beat- because it is all about money and they need to make some on a product like this and only we can determine that

Billy Boy

If you're a serious Beach Boys fan, then this Singles box set if for you. I've struggled a long time to assemble my own set of the mono Beach Boys singles and it's not easy. This set makes it all perfect. The original mono mixes for the singles (and one EP) and then bonus tracks of stereo mixes or other rarities. Plus reproductions of all the single picture sleeves. I do wish they had included The Beach Boys first single on the Candix label as a bonus disc. I can't wait for Volume 2 which should include Caroline No as released by Brian Wilson.

Also I can only hope that this set is a template for a possible release of The Beatles' singles on Capital Records.

The merits of this set as laid out in strictly musical terms already have been discussed. This is essential pop music and would be an awesome addition to any collection. Beautiful package, cool book and the sounds . . . well, let's just say that they are as fresh and innovative today as they were way back when.

For many of us, however, this set is much more than the temporal sounds that emanate from the tiny, round aluminum circles contained herein. Within this box is the sound of a different America and a different world; a sound from a time that saw everything as a possibility, and the future as some sure-to-be-terrific adventure. The Beach Boys represent this time, this America, maybe better than any band in the history of popular music. With 40-odd years of hindsight, however, we now see how much both America and the Beach Boys have changed - and lost. Never a band to hide its (sad) emotions, the poignancy this reverse view of time elicits is staggering when you hear the music literally jump out of this box and into your ears. Packaged as updated 45 singles, the set further removes the listener to a more innocent time; a time before albums were 40-minute statements and taken as whole works of art. Once upon a time the Song was the Thing, and the Beach Boys ruled that very magical universe.

The Beach Boys traveled many diffcult roads during the years that followed their heydey as chronicled in this collection. Brian went nuts. Dennis lost the fight of his life, succumbing to the evils of excess. Carl lost to an even more insidious enemy, as cancer removed his angelic voice from this world and carried it to its most logical venue. Thankfully, then, we have this music to remind us just how talent, heart, desire and true love of craft can translate into the finest canon of popular music ever committed to tape. I say this with no apologies to the Beatles, the Stones - or anyone else.

So, the Beach Boys (despite both Mike Love's & Al Jardine's most pathetic attempts) are no more. And neither is America - at least not the one we once knew, or the one we once dreamed of. Buy this box, load your multi-disc tray and shut your eyes, however, and you are quickly transferred - if only temporarily - to a time when for both the Beach Boys and America, anything was possible.

Presumably - and hopefully - there will be a second collection of Beach Boys singles, none of which will be as celebrated as the songs contained in this set. Nevertheless, some great songs followed, and many of them had very little to do with the Genius of Brian Wilson. When/if that set appears, we can then discuss its merits as the soundtrack to the Downfall of America, the End of Innocence and the withering-on-the-vine of America's most important and influential band.

It's absolutely disgraceful how Capitol treats its Beach Boys fans regarding the release of their stereo mixes. Every few years we have to purchase yet another redundant collection of songs just to get a few new songs in stereo. Last year it was "The Warmth of the Sun" (You're So Good To Me, All Summer Long), in 2001 it was "Hawthorne,CA" (Heroes and Villains, Dance Dance Dance), in 1998 it was "Endless Harmony" (California Girls), in 1996 it was "Pet Sounds", and on and on. This latest collection is the most absurd yet: $132.98 for two new stereo mixes (When I Grow Up To Be A Man and She Knows Me Too Well). At this rate the stereo Good Vibrations will cost $10,000 in 2025!! There's no reason (other than greed) why they couldn't have included "I Get Around" and "Help Me Rhonda" in stereo here as well. Bootlegs of these recordings exist with just one or two overdubs missing. There are many good homemade stereo versions of Good Vibrations out there on the web. PLEASE, Capitol, release these recordings while we are all still alive to buy them!!