Sounds of Summer - The Very Best of the Beach Boys

iTunes Review

If any one band evokes the warm weather, cool ocean breezes, and the adventurous surf of summertime, it’s the Beach Boys. “Surfin’ Safari,” “Surfin’ U.S.A.,” and “Surfer Girl” make the connection obvious while other paeans to teen romance and experience — “Fun Fun Fun,” “Be True To Your School,” “When I Grow Up (To Be A Man)” — further the adolescent hi-jinks. But the band always aspired to be more than simply a ‘flavor of the month’ pop craze. Their creative lead singer and spirit, Brian Wilson, was an enormously ambitious and unusually creative record maker who heard angelic harmonies in his head and literally went mad trying to capture those sounds on tape. While his songs have since become a natural part of musical conversation, there is great complexity embedded in these familiar hits, from “I Get Around” to “California Girls” to “God Only Knows” to “Good Vibrations.” The arrangements grow more elaborate, the harmonies flow more ominously, and the melodies were both accessible and exploratory, leading to many gorgeous surprises.