Beach Boys - The Warmth of the Sun
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Free Music Notes for The Warmth of the Sun
Free Music Review: Almost perfect companion to "Sounds of Summer"
Hit: 4 Stars
If this had included the songs "Girls on the Beach" and "Caroline, No" it would have been perfect!Free Music Review: 1/2 -- impressive mix of album tracks and hits, but it's a bit lacking
Hit: 3 Stars
Released in 2007 to compliment 'Sounds of Summer: The Very Best of The Beach Boys,' 'The Warmth of Sun' does an adequate job of filling that role. Containing 28 tracks spanning 1962-1986 (that's 24 years), this is a solid collection containing some of the best Beach Boys music released that should have made onto 'Sounds of Summer' but were left off.
First, I'll start with the positives. It's got tracks spanning the early surf and car years of The Beach Boys ('409,' 'Little Honda,' one of my personal favorites, 'Wendy' and 'Catch a Wave'), their psychedelic late-'60s era (the incredible 'Friends' and 'Break Away'), their '70s years on their own Brother Records label ('Surf's Up,' 'Disney Girls (1957),' which I really don't care for, and 'California Saga (On My Way to Sunny California),' among countless others), and their 1980s comeback period after Dennis Wilson had passed away (their 1986 cover of The Mamas & The Papas' classic 'California Dreamin',' featuring The Byrds' Roger McGuinn on guitar) all appear here. And it has all been digitally remastered to sound great. The sound quality is excellent!
But there are plenty of negatives, too. While this did feature 28 tracks, and all of them (for the most part) are excellent, it's missing WAY too much. How did 'Disney Girls (1957)' get included and yet, NOTHING from 'Pet Sounds' appears!?! That means, there's no 'You Still Believe In Me,' 'Caroline No' or 'That's Not Me,' all glaring omissions that should easily appear here. Now, I know, they can't fit, but I would substitute some of their more mediocre recordings to include these.
And, other than 'California Dreamin',' their late-1970s and early-1980s comeback period is ignored. I would like to see 'It's Gettin' Late,' a minor chart hit in 1985 for the band, and 'Still Cruisin'' appear on a collection, and I think they would fit quite nicely with the theme here: the lesser-known Beach Boys tracks.
And finally, it would be nice to see a 'SMiLE' outtake appear here, like 'Cabinessence,' the 66-second long 'Our Prayer' (which is a beautiful acapella from the Beach Boys), or 'Wonderful' appear here.
Overall, there's plenty on this album to recommend. The sound quality, the selection of tracks (when's the last time you saw 'Feel Flows' on a compilation!?), and the fact that it fills about 78 minutes of the 80 you can fit on a disc make this a great purchase if you are a new Beach Boys fan who bought 'Sounds of Summer' but you want to dig deeper into their legendary catalogue. But there needs to be another collection released to compliment 'Warmth,' in my opinion. While it's doubtful that will ever happen, I think it'd be quite necessary, because there's plenty great album tracks from The Beach Boys that were omitted from this album.
My advice: If you are a new fan of The Beach Boys, go buy 'Sounds of Summer,' a 30-song collection that contains most of their big hits and several key album tracks. Then, if you find yourself wanting more from The Beach Boys (which you probably will), I recommend this album, because it compliments the other set nicely. Then, if you still find yourself wanting more, go buy the two-fer studio albums (and 'Pet Sounds,' their masterpiece), which I strongly recommend.
Recommended if you enjoyed 'Sounds of Summer' or any other compilation of theirs and you want to dig deeper into their legendary catalogue without buying the studio albums.
Free Music Review: Sounds Of Summer It's Not
Hit: 2 Stars
Don't be confused by references to the great Beach Boys CD "Sounds of Summer." Although the tunes are extremely well remastered and edited for excellant sound quality, they are much more obscure then the songs on "Sounds of Summer." I am a Beach Boys fan and I only recognized a third of the tunes on this CD. And half of those because they were someone else's hits. I enjoyed many of the songs I had not heard or had forgotten but this is nothing like the hit after hit of "Sounds Of Summer."
So, unless you are a big Beach Boys fan on a limited budget and haven't purchased all the Beach Boys' albums already (or such a Beach Boys freak you can't stand to live without every recording), I would say most listeners would be better off passing this one up.
Free Music Review: Recycled Package #102
Hit: 1 Stars
Do you know how long it has been since the Beach Boys released an album with new original material? I do. That would have been in 1992, fifteen years ago, when they released the totally execrable "Summer in Paradise," an album so bad that it could have been recorded by Aleutian Eskimos pretending to be the Beach Boys. Do you know how many compilations or collections of old material the band released since then? I do. If you include imports and all of the collections that they licensed to others, there have been 101 separate releases. That is not a misprint. In the past fifteen years, one hundred and one cd's have been issued containing recycled material. While Mike Love and his cohorts complain about (and sue) Brian Wilson in absentia, they write nothing of consequence, but repackage everything they can get their hands on, especially the stuff that features the real mainman, Brian Wilson. I can understand when an old band tries to coast on its reputation, but 101 re-packaged pieces of product is so far beyond the pale and so abusive of the band's core audience that it's a wonder anyone cares any more.
I, for one, cannot review "The Warmth of the Sun" on the merits of its songs, because it would be painfully redundant to do so. All that exists here are a few classic tracks intermingled with a few obscurities. As a rule (and especially when applied to the Beach Boys catalog), the more obscure the tune, the worse it is, and this collection practically screams that point. So, why would you buy this collection? I don't know. Maybe if you never bought a Beach Boys album in your life, this would be worthwhile, but with 101 other compilations to choose from, I see no particular advantage for this specific collection. Perhaps you are so masochistic that you feel compelled to buy anything that has the band's name attached. If so, I feel so truly sorry for you, as well as your ex-wife, your estranged children and your mortgage company.
Meanwhile, Mike Love is probably sitting at home right now, arranging the next batch of songs for next week's compilation. That can't be healthy for him, so let's do him a really big favor. Let's ban all future recycled collections credited to the Beach Boys. If our goal is achieved, we might force Mike to do something with an iota of creativity attached. Wouldn't that be nice? D- Tom Ryan
Free Music Review: Lackluster
Hit: 1 Stars
There are very few really good songs on this CD. Most of these songs must have been the "B" sides of thier hit records because neither I nor any of my friends had heard most of them. Even after listening to the CD several times, it still didn't "grow" on me. I real waste of money.