SOUNDS OF SUMMER is finally here!!!
Revamped. Remixed. Remastered. . . Reimagined.The Beach Boys remain an ageless delight with the new 80-track, expanded Sounds Of Summer covering most of this group’s incredible highlights – many of which remain markers to our own greatest memories.
Sounds Of Summer is perhaps pop/rock’s most generous and intoxicating sampler to date. A specially curated project spotlighting the band’s most brilliant and accessible music. This set was designed to intrigue the converted with brilliant new stereo mixes -- and serves as an invitation for the new and uninitiated to dive in and discover themselves in a catalogue that in 2022 is now going 60 YEARS STRONG.
This collection isn’t just some random scoop of greatest hits – it’s been carefully designed as a ride – bouncing through the years and touching on all the journeys that mark our experiences. It’s not chronological because one doesn’t think chronologically, your heart doesn’t beat chronologically – and you don’t LOVE chronologically. This is about EMOTION. Passion. Fun. Adventure. LIFE. The Beach Boys are both then and now.
Unforgettable hits such as “Fun, Fun, Fun,” “Help Me, Rhonda,” “Don’t Worry Baby,” and “Surfer Girl” sit alongside such Pet Sounds benchmarks as “Wouldn’t It Be Nice,” “Sloop John B.,” and the miraculous “God Only Knows.”
Deep album tracks are seeing new 2021 remixes – “Marcella,” “Let Us Go On This Way,” “Baby Blue,” and “You Need A Mess Of Help To Stand Alone” – with Sounds Of Summer showcasing first-time stereo versions of “Surfin’ Safari” and “Roll Plymouth Rock.” The compilation boasts new DEFINITIVE stereo takes of “Shut Down,” “I Get Around,” “Good Vibrations” – and so many more. Hearing is TRULY believing.
2022 will see more groundbreaking music released in celebration of the band’s 60th anniversary, with a deep dive into The Beach Boys’ brilliant studio and live work of the early-1970’s. It remains a great time to love this group.
Sounds Of Summer features a smattering of tracks produced by Bruce Johnston upon his return to the fold -- first behind the boards in the studio and then as a performer in 1978: "I suppose I was some sane voice that was kind of on the inside. And it was, 'Come down and organize the troops. And that's how it started up. And then, God bless Dennis (Wilson), in the middle of it, he said 'Bruce, get on the plane tonight. We're playing in Mobile. I want you on that stage with us.'"
Al Jardine told us that ultimately The Beach Boys' biggest hits serve a larger purpose than just entertaining fans:
"Each song, or each track selection, is a special little messenger. And they convey a certain optimism, I think. And collectively, they're extremely powerful and it reminds of a better time -- a more positive time of growing up and experiencing things as a culture."
During his 1981 appearance on NBC's Tomorrow Coast To Coast with Tom Snyder, Carl Wilson spoke about how The Beach Boys were able to flourish in the wake of the British Invasion when so many American bands fell by the cultural wayside: "Just before the Beatles happened here, in this country, we were the biggest group at that time. And I think that we were well-enough established and, y'know, well-loved enough to withstand that. And our records were really very good -- we know how to do what we do."
Dennis Wilson's songwriting became a staple and high point on the band's albums towards the end of the 1960's. During his 1976 chat with legendary New York DJ Pete Fornatale, he couldn't help but gush when he recalled his brother Brian bringing in new music for the group to record: "Are you kidding? We would be in a studio and he would play us a song, we'd listen and we'd start crying. It was so great. I mean, it was, like, 'How could this possibly be happening? How'd you write that?'. . . The group prefers. . . would prefer to have Brian do it all -- to write -- 'cause we love his music. Only because we love his music. Not because there's a lack of talent or weakness, it's just that we really love his music."
Sounds Of Summer features dozens of Beach Boys album tracks every bit as brilliant as their major hits at the time. Among the standouts on the new set is the 1967 Wild Honey "hit-that-never-was" -- "Aren't You Glad." We asked Brian Wilson what he remembers about the fan favorite: "It was Bruce on piano. Mike said, 'Let's write a rhythm & blues kind of a song' -- I said, 'Okay, let's try it!' We did it, and it wasn't really rhythm & blues; it was inspired by rhythm & blues: (Sings) 'Aren't you glad now darlin', there's you and me, me and you' -- y'know, like a rhythm & blues lyric -- a Motown lyric."
Mike Love is proud that The Beach Boys’ music remains a positive and unifying force: "Sounds Of Summer appeals to all ages. More and more generations have enjoyed The Beach Boys. If you're five-years-old, or 55-years-old, or 85-years-old, you kind of like The Beach Boys because of the harmonies."
SOUNDS OF SUMMER. 80 tracks. 60 years. Play it loud and often. Listen alone and share it with the crowd. “The smile you send out returns to you.” The Beach Boys for everyone.