Audio CD review:
Beach Boys - Classics: Selections By Brian Wilson

Beach Boys - Classics: Selections By Brian Wilson

Band: Beach Boys Title: Classics: Selections By Brian Wilson Rating: Release Date: 02 July, 2002 Media: Audio CD Tracks: 1: Surfer Girl 2: The Warmth Of The Sun 3: I Get Around 4: Don't Worry Baby 5: In My Room 6: California Girls 7: God Only Knows 8: Caroline, No 9: Good Vibrations 10: Wonderful 11: Heroes And Villains 12: Surf's Up 13: Busy Doin' Nothin' 14: We're Together Again 15: Time To Get Alone 16: This Whole World 17: Marcella 18: Sail On, Sailor 19: 'Til I Die 20: California Feelin'

Editoral Review Fortunately for fans, Wilson has also chosen some of the band's best-beloved songs for this collection, including the deceptively simple but symphonically constructed "California Girls," the wistful "Surfer Girl," and the rowdy and harmlessly macho "I Get Around," as well as the band's artistic high-water mark, "Good Vibrations," all of which reminds fans once again what a sublime poet he is. Just when you thought that the Beach Boys canon was complete, the band's mad genius, Brian Wilson, has taken it upon himself to compile his 20 favorite hits from his band's oeuvre, and believe me his favorites are as idiosyncratic as you might think. Most of the Beach Boys' mindless hot-rod songs and surf anthems are absent; instead, Wilson has selected some of the band's more reflective and intelligent tunes, including the brooding "In My Room," the equally downcast "'Til I Die," and the melancholy "The Warmth of the Sun" (which, Wilson reveals in the brief accompanying notes, was written as a tribute to President John F. Kennedy on the night of his assassination). These strangely confessional notes are worth the price of the entire CD, shedding a brief light on some of the dark corners of Wilson's troubled life, as well as including warm remembrances and snatches of Beach Boys trivia--that "California Girls" is his favorite song, and that he considers the chord pattern on "This Whole World" to ramble. Also included in the collection is the recently recorded "California Feelin'," a song Wilson wrote in the early '70s but never was "officially" recorded. It gives an interesting trajectory to the disc, showing the changes in Wilson's voice and delivery and marking the psychic journey from Beach Boy to man. --Jaan Uhelszki .. You can see a complete list of all Beach Boys discography, or go back to the Beach Boys tabs