SURFING WATERS BOTH DEEP AND SHALLOW

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[This review was written and originally published 2006, March 5th.]
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GREATEST HITS, VOL. 3:
BEST OF THE BROTHER YEARS, 1970-1986
by The Beach Boys
released: Feb. 1, 2000
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THE BEACH BOYS are one of those bands that have provided the soundtrack to my life. Growing up in Southern California, their music really does become a part of one's experiences.
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Examples: I can't hear 'Help Me, Rhonda' or 'The Girls On The Beach' without recalling my years of bodysurfing the waves near Santa Monica's Lifeguard Station #26. 'Good Vibrations' automatically transports me back to Santa Monica High School -- located conveniently 2 blocks from the Pacific Ocean. (Sometimes the sound of the surf called more insistently than did the school bell.) Samohi's official school song, 'Hymn Of Praise' written by Ken Darby from the Class of 1927, starts out,
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Oh Samohi, dear old Samohi
Queen of the setting sun
For you we toil, for you our banners fly
We win for you when victory's won!
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But every pep rally I attended from '74 through '77 ended more "excitationally" with...
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Good, good, good, good vibrations
(oom bop bop)
I'm pickin' up good vibrations
She's giving me excitations
(oom bop bop)
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'In My Room' humorously reminds me of the time in 1986 when I found it on a jukebox in a Reno lounge and drove every other patron out of the place with it. I was in the bartender's doghouse, but what are ya gonna do with a liquidated cowboy who wants to hear 'In My Room'... 18 consecutive times?
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And while the richly melancholic 'The Warmth Of The Sun' is my all-time favorite Beach Boys song, there is a lot to be said for many of the tracks found on this compilation.
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This is the final part of Capitol's Beach Boys Greatest Hits trilogy series. This one -- which features 20 of The Boys' late period minor hits and non-hits -- will be ignored by the casual Beach Boys fan, and that is an unfortunate mistake. True, these "leftovers" were recorded and released after the height of the band's popularity and creative success according to the music critics, but the Beach Boys --though they had largely moved away from their gorgeous and complex trademark vocal harmony arrangements -- were still making some magic music. And some of it as sensitive and more intense than anything that preceded it.
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For every lightweight and silly 'SUSIE CINCINNATI' and 'PEGGY SUE' on this collection, you'll also find a brooding 'TIL I DIE', or nostalgic 'DISNEY GIRLS (1957)', or yearning 'SURF'S UP'. No, we didn't need another version of 'ROCK AND ROLL MUSIC' or 'COME GO WITH ME', and yet I'd hate to have missed out on the world-weary but defiant 'LONG PROMISED ROAD' (my personal "Fight Song") or the intricate protest song 'THE TRADER', with its catchy movements that force my toes to tap or my feet to stomp.
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Some of these songs, being more melodically subtle and lacking that instantly recognizable sound of The Boys' early hits, will require a bit more patience from the listener, but with time, that open-minded patience will certainly be rewarded. Of course, 'SAIL ON, SAILOR' you probably already know (I invented my pen name while it was playing through the sound system in a Coco's Restaurant); the lovely 'GOOD TIMIN'' is reminiscent of that lush harmonizing adopted from The Four Freshmen during The Beach Boys' infancy. And the well-chosen closer, 'CALIFORNIA DREAMIN'', with its urgent tenor sax solo actually eclipses the classic Mamas And Papas version. (Yeah, I couldn't believe it either!)
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If all you desire is a balanced career retrospective of some of The Beach Boys' best music on a single disc, then go with 'Classics: Selected By Brian Wilson'. But the REAL fan will want the 3-part Capitol compilation series: 'The Greatest Hits, Vol 1: 20 Good Vibrations'; 'The Greatest Hits, Vol. 2: 20 More Good Vibrations'; and this disc, 'THE GREATEST HITS, VOL. 3: BEST OF THE BROTHER YEARS, 1970 - 1986'.
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~ Stephen T. McCarthy
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