An earlier classic from The Beach Boys – and easily one of their best records from the prime sun and surf era for the group – with rave up rockers and some sweet ballads! So much as been written about the foreboding behind-the-scenes circumstances in Beach Boys lore, even during these early years, it can steal away from the more innocent charms if you allow it to – but don't! This is all about soaring, groovy harmonies and impeccable production – on tunes that include "I Get Around", "All Summer Long", "Hushabye", "Little Honda", "Wendy", "Carl's Big Chance", "Girls On The Beach", "Drive-In", "Don't Back Down" and more. Includes the complete album in both the mono and stereo mixes. LP, Vinyl record album

A really cool little album from the Beach Boys – a set that definitely takes its "party" title seriously, in a way that has the group singing in a somewhat live and spontaneous manner! There's sort of a "live in studio" feel here – with production that's less polished than on other records, and instrumentation that's heavy on acoustic guitar and percussion – almost like the group are hanging out at the beach, riffing on some of their favorite tunes. The album features the group's famous take on "Barbara Ann" – plus versions of a number of other 60s classics, like "The Times They Are A Changin", "Papa Oom Mow Mow", "Mountain Of Love", "You've Got To Hide Your Love Away", "Devoted To You", "Alley Oop", and "I Should Have Known Better". LP, Vinyl record album

A definitive Beach Boys collection that graced many a stereo back in the 70s! LP, Vinyl record album

An under-discovered album from The Beach Boys – and one of our favorite records by the group! The set's kind of a slinking back to the personal, quirky territory of Smile, but with a somewhat more intimate, less-ambitious feel – one that comes off like a tapestry of simple expressions from the group – surprisingly heartfelt at times, fragile at others, and always with a soul-bearing quality that's really wonderful. This one's light years from their surfer pop of a few years before – even a strong maturation from the Pet Sounds set of just two years back – and the harmonies really have the group hitting new strides – hardly a copycat of earlier male group modes, pure harmony heaven for the late 60s! The whole thing's wonderful – and titles include "Friends", "Transcendental Meditation", "Anna Lee The Healer", "Wake The World", "Meant For You", "Busy Doing Nothin", "Little Bird", "Be Here in the Mornin'", and "Diamond Head". LP, Vinyl record album

A great early 70s entry from The Beach Boys – and a record that's nicely balanced between mature pop tunes and more experimental moments! The set kicks off with the sublime "Sail On Sailor" – a tightly compressed, wonderfully catchy number that's easily one of the group's greatest of the decade – and other tracks range from gentle ballads to playful numbers to others that explore more spiritual themes. All group members contributed tunes, and helped in production, but somehow we feel the tighter hand of Brian Wilson behind it all. Titles include "Sail On Sailor", "The Trader", "Funky Pretty", "Only With You", "Leaving This Town", and the "California Saga". LP, Vinyl record album

One of the greatest records of all time – and don't you forget it! Despite the countless lines of type that have been written about this record, nothing does it full justice like an all-through listen – something we're reminded of every time we put this one on the turntable, which is a heck of a lot over the years! Brian Wilson busted his ass making this little gem – and the rest of the world, and the band, were never the same again – awash in harmonies that most other groups tried to match, set to themes of young loss, longing, and frustration that really mark an emotional development – not just in the Beach Boys, but in pop music in general. And although some of the tracks are ones you've heard a million times on oldies stations, they somehow resonate together much more strongly here – taking on new meaning as the smaller elements of each song come into constellation with each other – creating a complicated tapestry of feelings set to near-godlike orchestrations. Titles include "God Only Knows", "Caroline No", "Pet Sounds", "I Just Wasn't Made for These Times", "Wouldn't It Be Nice", and "You Still Believe In Me". Includes Mono and Stereo mixes of the whole album! CD

Sweet and dreamy early work from The Beach Boys – an album that has their mellow harmonies taking shape wonderfully – as heard famously on the title track! That sublime gem begins the great little set– a record that has a few hits and some even better obscure numbers – the kind of special treasures that make digging through these early albums so great, as we try to piece together the earliest expressions of the Wilson family brilliance. Vocals are great throughout, and titles include "Surfer Moon", "South Bay Surfer", "Surfer Girl", "Catch A Wave", "The Rocking Surfer", "In My Room", "Hawaii", "Surfer's Rule", "Your Summer Dream", and "Little Deuce Coupe". LP, Vinyl record album

Sweet and dreamy early work from The Beach Boys – an album that has their mellow harmonies taking shape wonderfully – as heard famously on the title track! That sublime gem begins the great little set– a record that has a few hits and some even better obscure numbers – the kind of special treasures that make digging through these early albums so great, as we try to piece together the earliest expressions of the Wilson family brilliance. Vocals are great throughout, and titles include "Surfer Moon", "South Bay Surfer", "Surfer Girl", "Catch A Wave", "The Rocking Surfer", "In My Room", "Hawaii", "Surfer's Rule", "Your Summer Dream", and "Little Deuce Coupe". Includes the complete album in both the mono and stereo versions. CD

Early work from The Beach Boys, but Brian Wilson's genius is already starting to show – tucked in between some more obviously poppy numbers that first put the group on the map! The album obviously features the big title hit, but there's some other great gems here that are much lesser known – our favorite of which is "The Lonely Sea", an incredible number filled with sadness and longing, and a real precursor to the Pet Sounds years! Other titles include "Finders Keepers", "Lana", "Farmer's Daughter", "Noble Surfer", "Stoked", "Surfin USA", "Miserlou", "Shut Down", and "Let's Go Trippin". LP, Vinyl record album

The album that first launched the Beach Boys on an unsuspecting 60s scene – and a record that really raised the bar for rock and roll at Capitol Records! Although based around their early "Surfin Safari" hit, the album already shows that the group's got way more to offer than filler between the singles – a rich approach to their music that takes the 50s harmony styles of The Four Freshmen, and turns it on even more youthful, yearning themes – sometimes with a gimmick, sometimes with a surprisingly upfront sense of emotion. Titles include "Heads You Win Tails I Lose", "Cuckoo Clock", "Moon Dawg", "The Shift", "Ten Little Indians", "Chug A Lug", "Surfin Safari", and "Little Miss America". LP, Vinyl record album

Double LP reissue of these two post-Pet Sounds albums – Wild Honey, the stripped down, back-to-basics record that they put out after the failure of Smile; and 20/20, a weird mix of stuff, but a record that also contains some of the lost tracks from Smile. Loads of great tracks, including "I'd Love Just Once to See You", "Let the Wind Blow", "Country Air", "I Can Hear Music", "Cabinessence", and lots of other nice moments from this point in their career. Still essential stuff. LP, Vinyl record album

... CD

... LP, Vinyl record album

... LP, Vinyl record album

One of the greatest records of all time – and don't you forget it! Despite the countless lines of type that have been written about this record, nothing does it full justice like an all-through listen – something we're reminded of every time we put this one on the turntable, which is a heck of a lot over the years! Brian Wilson busted his ass making this little gem – and the rest of the world, and the band, were never the same again – awash in harmonies that most other groups tried to match, set to themes of young loss, longing, and frustration that really mark an emotional development – not just in the Beach Boys, but in pop music in general. And although some of the tracks are ones you've heard a million times on oldies stations, they somehow resonate together much more strongly here – taking on new meaning as the smaller elements of each song come into constellation with each other – creating a complicated tapestry of feelings set to near-godlike orchestrations. Titles include "God Only Knows", "Caroline No", "Pet Sounds", "I Just Wasn't Made for These Times", "Wouldn't It Be Nice", and "You Still Believe In Me". This 40th Anniversary includes the stereo and mono versions of the original album, plus "Hang On To Your Ego" – and the tracks include "Wouldn't It Be Nice", "I Know There's An Answer" & "Hang On To Your Ego", "God Only Knows", "Don't Talk (Put Your Head On My Shoulder)", "Caroline No", "Pet Sounds", "I Just Wasn't Made for These Times", and "You Still Believe In Me". Also included is a nearly hour long DVD – which includes Making Of Pet Sounds featurette (new edit of a 1997 promotional piece with previously unseen footage), a Pet Stories featurette (interview material from from the Brian Wilson Presents Pet Sounds Live In London video from 2003), footage of Brian Wilson in the studio with Sir George Martin, plus original 1966 promotional films and a photo gallery! CD

One of the greatest records of all time – and don't you forget it! Despite the countless lines of type that have been written about this record, nothing does it full justice like an all-through listen – something we're reminded of every time we put this one on the turntable, which is a heck of a lot over the years! Brian Wilson busted his ass making this little gem – and the rest of the world, and the band, were never the same again – awash in harmonies that most other groups tried to match, set to themes of young loss, longing, and frustration that really mark an emotional development – not just in the Beach Boys, but in pop music in general. And although some of the tracks are ones you've heard a million times on oldies stations, they somehow resonate together much more strongly here – taking on new meaning as the smaller elements of each song come into constellation with each other – creating a complicated tapestry of feelings set to near-godlike orchestrations. Titles include "God Only Knows", "Caroline No", "Pet Sounds", "I Just Wasn't Made for These Times", "Wouldn't It Be Nice", and "You Still Believe In Me". Also features bonus tracks "Unreleased Backgrounds", "Hang On To Your Ego", and "Trombone Dixie". CD

The slimmed-down, single LP effort that Capitol issued after the collapse of the legendary Smile album – and a pretty sublime set nonetheless! Sure, some might argue that you can't enjoy Brian Wilson's genius until you've listened to 20 bootlegs of the sessions with dozens of takes on the tunes – but honestly, this slim little set is more than enough to prove to us that the man's a genius – and it's filled with really wonderful tunes that still stand as some of the most incredible moments in 60s pop! Production is amazing, vocals are wonderful, and the quick changes of theme and setting really keep things interesting – all without making us feel like we're getting hit over the head with some cheap gimmicks. Titles include "Vegetables", "Heroes & Villains", "Fall", "Little Pad", "With Me Tonight", and "Wind Chimes". LP, Vinyl record album

An incredible record – and quite possibly our favorite Beach Boys album ever! Sunflower is the kind of record that's easy to pass by when you're first getting into the group, but later on – after digging for gems on records like Wild Honey or Friends, you'll come back to it as a totally solid record, filled with loads of excellent little songs like "Slip On Through", "This Whole World", "Cool, Cool Water", "Tears In The Morning", and "Add Some Music To Your Day". The whole thing holds together better than any other post-Smile album we can think of – and it's an endless treat that we're always coming back to! LP, Vinyl record album

... 7-inch, Vinyl record

... CD

The Beasties' masterpiece – and one of the original nightmares for sampling opponents everywhere – the cut & paste hip hop classic Paul's Boutique! The Dust Brothers unapologetic way of weaving very famous samples with the deepest soul, funk and film score obscurities would steal the show if not for the infectious, boisterous rhymes of the Beastie Boys – they couldn't possibly have cared less about alienating the massive frat boy fan base built with License To Ill, and it's a joy to behold. It's one of those mindblowing pop transformations on par with the Beatles (who the Beasties and Dust Brothers were so brazen to sample several times on this album) and the Beach Boys on the pop maturation scale from earlier hits to later artistry – even if the wild lyrics and deft back & forth rhymes by the Beasties are the antithesis of maturity. From classic rock dinosaurs to soul and disco classics, from the Jaws score to "Dueling Banjos", it all finds it's way into the beatcraft – and both mainstream pop and underground hip hop are better now because of this record. Tracks include "Hey Ladies", "Shake Your Rump", "High Plains Drifter", "Shadrach", "Johnny Ryall", "Eggman", "Car Thief", "What Comes Around", the "B-Boy Bouillabaisse" suite and more. CD

One of LA's best arrangers cooks up a very cool batch of instrumental cuts to honor the surfing crowd – and it totally transcends the genre! It evokes the mood and the style nicely, but it's not run of the mill surf music at all – but more of a 60s LA studio instrumentals celebration with a larger sense of arrangements, and some groovy guitar solos by a young Glen Campbell. Kind of close to a mid-period Beach Boys sense of arrangements-meet-surf sounds, and a nice Capitol sound to it. Titles include "Murphy's Grey Wet Suit", "Quigg Rides Again", "Surfing Baja", "Goofy-Foot Glen, "Come September", "End Of The World", "Easy Surf" and more. LP, Vinyl record album

The last Spoonful long player with chief songwriter/arranger John Sebastian – a solid effort in a (thankfully) similar vein to their earlier classic work, but with hints of the sprawling efforts that blanketed late 60s pop. There's still a few big hits in the mix – "Six O'Clock, "She Is Still A Mystery" and "Money", none of which seemed to find their way onto oldies radio playlists the way the group's earlier efforts did. Thanks to that lack of saturation it's pretty deeply satisfying all the way through – warm to our hearts the same way a lot of early 70s Beach Boys stuff is! Digitally remastered with 3 bonus tracks/alternate versions. LP, Vinyl record album

Pre-moog work from Hugo Montenegro – but a set that's still pretty darn groovy! The Beach Boys reference in the title is very well put, as Hugo's using some cool harmony vocals for the record – a chorus that definitely takes some of its inspiration from Brian Wilson, singing here both with lyrics, and some wordless modes – not on every track, but used enough to give the record a really Sunshine Pop sort of appeal! Other instrumentation is great too – electric bass underneath fuller strings, offbeat woodwinds, fuzzy guitar, and even a bit of whistling – which has a cool sort of electronic feel. The blend of sounds is amazing – very unique, and already showing that Montenegro's one of the hippest talents of the 60s. Titles include "Classical Gas", "Rosemary's Baby", "Night Rider", "Lady in Cement", "A Future Left Behind", "Tony's Theme", and "Good Vibrations". LP, Vinyl record album

A brilliant second album from Sagittarius – one of the shining stars of the Millennium universe at the end of the 60s! The album's got a deeper, more cerebral feel than the group's first – nicely spacious at points, kind of taking a cue from post-Pet Sounds Beach Boys, but also bringing in some mellower elements too – all produced with sublime sounds by the great Gary Usher, who also gets a bit of help in the studio from Curt Boettcher. Most tunes were written by Usher – and titles include his famous "In My Room" collaboration with Brian Wilson – plus "From You Unto Us", "Gladys", "Will You Ever See Me", "The Blue Marble", "Lend Me A Smile", "I Can Still See Your Face", and "Cloud Talk". LP features 2 bonus tracks – "I Guess The Lord Must Be In New York City (mono)" and "Navajo Girl (mono)". LP, Vinyl record album

A rare full album from The Tradewinds – a wonderful harmony pop group with a Sunshine Pop feel! The Tradewinds have a style that's heavily in a Beach Boys mode – sunny California harmonies on the vocals, and a sort of post-Pet Sounds approach to songwriting – one that makes for some really compelling songs in the set! The group's best known for their "New York's A Lonely Town" hit, but the whole album is great – filled with inventive songs, compelling vocals, and cool arrangements from Jimmy Wisner and Artie Butler – two very groovy talents. Titles include "Mind Excursion", "Bad Misunderstanding", "Only When I'm Dreamin", "Small Town Bring Down", "To Be With You", "Little Susan's Dreamin", and "Huggin In The Hall". LP, Vinyl record album

A lost gem from Brian Wilson's dad! As the cover says, "The talented father of the famous Beach Boys presents instrumental interpretations of his and other compositions." Basically, Murry was getting the squeeze from Brian, and this was Murry's way of saying "hey, I can do complicated baroque sort of arrangements too!" Funny thing is, despite the conflict he and Brian were having, the album's actually pretty great – and about halfway between Pet Sounds and an LA hip easy sort of approach. Of course, half of the credit goes to Don Ralke, who arranged and conducted the set – and probably gets more of Brian's feel down than his dad ever could. Titles include "Leaves", "The Plumber's Tune", "Love Won't Wait", "The Happy Song", "Betty's Waltz", "Painting With Teardrops", and a pretty nice version of "Warmth Of The Sun". LP, Vinyl record album

A 50th anniversary celebration of Italy's Capital Radio in 1968 – a set that combines familiar English rock of the late 60s with a huge amount of Italian pop as well! The mix of modes is great – and the 2CD package goes a long way towards illustrating the way that non-Anglo countries on the European scene were served some of the hipper British and American music of the time, in ways that effortlessly blend with more homegrown efforts of the era. Given that American radio was almost completely closed to non-English language tunes, there's a generosity to the spirit here that's really great – and which goes to show why Anglo rock dominated the globe so much in the following decade. Yet here, the time is 1968, the place the Italian scene – illustrated in a set of 42 tracks by artists who include Equipe 84, Caterina Caselli, Gianno Morandi, The Byrds, Beach Boys, I Dik Dik, I Nomadi, The Who, Lucia Dall, Temptations, The Band, The Rokes, Lugi Tengo, I Camaleonti, Buffalo Springfield, Velvet Underground, Otis Redding, Francoise Hardi, Giorgio Gaber, Fabrizio De Andre, Canned Heat, New Trolls, The Monkees, Serge Gainsbourg, and Mina. Even includes "I Sole E Di Tutti" by Stevie Wonder – an Italian version of "A Place In The Sun"! CD

Music from the Beach Boys, Danny & the Juniors, the Everly Brothers, the Newbeats, the Edsels, Curtis Lee, Big Joe Turner, Fats Domino, Shades Of Blue, the Shields & more. CD

Includes music from Dion, Del Shannon, Bruce Channel, Jan & Dean, The Kinks, The Beach Boys, The Shirelles, The Shangri-Las, Chris Kenner, Dionne Warwick, Bobby Lewis, and more – 20 tracks in all. CD

A huge look at the Liverpool scene in the UK – but one that doesn't focus on the generation of the Beatles and Brit Invasion groups – and instead brings some great attention to the city's contribution to the post-punk years and beyond! The package is tremendous – 100 songs in a huge booklet of notes – tracing an evolution from the late 70s years, when Liverpool was as creative and fervent of a scene as other North England territories, like Manchester and Sheffield – but also one that could quickly develop some tuneful aspects too, which no doubt helped the rest of the UK music scene of the 80s find a way to expand in some great global directions! Throughout the whole time covered here, there's a great tension between experimentation and commercial success – one that's covered beautifully by the many tracks in the collection, and also documented in the hefty notes within. There's far too many tracks here for us to list – but let us say that the package is overflowing with work by artists as diverse as Dalek I, The Wild Swans, China Crisis, Pink Industry, Care, Box Of Toys, Deaf School, Big In Japan, Pale Fountains, Icicle Works, Dead Or Alive, The Lotus Eaters, Frankie Goes To Hollywood, Mr Amir, Brenda & The Beach Balls, Jegsy Dodd & The Sons Of Harry Cross, The La's, Jactars, Magic Carpets, Barbel, The Walking Seeds, Thomas Lang, Ministry Of Love, Nightmares In Wax, OMD, The Planets, Spitfire Boys, Geisha Girls, Royal Family & The Poor, Public Disgrace, It's Immaterial, The Balcony, The Yachts, Teardrop Explodes, Original Mirrors, The Press Gang, Moderates, Egypt For Now, Those Naughty Lumps, Flock Of Seagulls, Freeze Frame, Echo & The Bunnymen, and many more! CD

A great look at the changing tone on the American scene at the end of the 60s – that moment when Vietnam, social unrest, and many other problems weighed heavily on the country's consciousness – and made their presence manifest in all sorts of pop music as well! We're not talking about the familiar sounds of the Woodstock generation – but instead more mainstream artists who had never touched on politics or social issues before – but suddenly found themselves singing alongside the underground about the bigger problems of the day. This package is a superb look at that moment – put together by the team who've given us the great English Weather and Paris In The Spring collections for Ace – with the same care for choice of tracks, and a wealth of wonderful notes that really get at the nature of these unusual tunes. Titles include "Clean Up Your Own Back Yard" by Elvis Presley, "Wine In The Wind" by Anita Kerr Singers, "Paint Me Black Angels" by Eartha Kitt, "This Crazy World" by Paul Anka, "Questions" by Bobby Darin, "Do You Believe This Town" by Dean Martin, "Cardboard California" by Buddy Greco, "Cherrystones" by Eugene McDaniels, "Save The Children" by Teresa Brewer, "Welfare Hero" by Johnny Tillotson, "What Do We Do With The World" by Bing Crosby, "4th Of July" by The Beach Boys, "Mr Businessman" by Ray Stevens, "Paint America Love" by Lou Christie, "Hitchhiker" by The Four Preps, "Brand New Day" by Della Reese, "Saturday's Father" by The 4 Seasons, and "Southbound Jericho Parkway" by Roy Orbison. CD

Plenty of surf number stepping out here – but often with that great second-chapter Beach Boys mode – that pre-Pet Sounds style that's often got some darker currents underneath! The pair are great in the lead, and get a bit of harmony support from The Fantastic Baggys – and some great instrumental assistance from Hal Blaine – who's really knocking it out of the park with a host of west coast wonderfuls – all produced by Jan with a nice echoey vibe! Titles include "Ride The Wild Surf", "Tell Em I'm Surfin", "The Restless Surfer", "Skateboarding (part 1)", "Surfin Wild", and "The Submarine Races". LP, Vinyl record album

A pair of Persuasions albums on a single CD – with bonus tracks too! First up is I Just Want To Sing With My Friends – a great little record from the Persuasions – and a bit different than their earlier work, too! Unlike a lot of the group's other records from the early 70s – most of which are all-acapella – this one features the group's rich harmony vocals backed by some heavier funk arrangements. Far from wrecking their sound, this approach actually makes them sound a lot better – and pulls them more into a contemporary soul vein, and away from the roots and rock crowd – finally letting The Persuasions shine in the same galaxy as other 70s harmony soul groups! Titles include "Persuasions Theme", "I Just Want To Sing With My Friends", "A Lonesome Love Song", and "Island". More Than Before is a record that returns the Persuasions back to the all-acapella modes of their roots – a live recording by A&M Records, done with little in the way of added percussion or fanfare – which makes the whole thing feel as if the group were still singing on a street corner – although one that's also located in front of a very appreciative audience in LA! Titles include "Occapella", "Lay Back", "We're All Goin Home", "Gonna Keep On Tryin Til I Win Your Love", and "Beauty's Only Skin Deep". CD also features bonus tracks – the great "Darlin", a sweet soul remake of the Beach Boys tune – plus long and short versions of "One Thing On My Mind". CD

One of the strangest ideas for a Christmas record we've ever seen – but a nicely deep concept that certainly wins over our ears! The tunes are both early numbers penned by Murry Wilson – father of the Beach Boys, but done in the days before the rise of that group! "Happy Happy Holiday" is done in a sing-song style that might have fit the Wilson Brothers well, but with maybe more open twanging guitar in the mix. "Teeeeexas" is a country-styled tune – about a homecoming to the Lone Star state – with plenty of steel guitar in the mix. Nice cover too – by Peter Bagge! 7-inch, Vinyl record

What can we say? This is one of the greatest albums of all time! The record's got a sound that's completely unique – as crack LA garage punk rock meets Hollywood baroque production, and the result is an amazing bit of loud guitar noise backed by strings and horns, all graced by the godlike vocals of the great Arthur Lee. Forever Changes is a milestone in rock – an incredibly bleak document about insanity, escape, and the coming revolution that never happened. Think of all the best moments of Wild In The Streets, Zabriske Point, and Invocation of My Demon Brother rolled into one – and you'll only have a tiny slice of the picture! A record that will haunt us until the day we die – filled with incredible songs like "Alone Again Or", "Old Man", "Daily Planet", "Red Telephone", and "Maybe The People Would Be The Times Or Between Clark & Hilldale". This fantastic package is the most comprehensive we've ever seen of the album – one that maybe even outdoes efforts like this for records by The Beach Boys or Velvet Underground! CD1 features the album in stereo, CD 2 features the album in mono, CD 3 features an obscure alternate mix, and CD4 features singles and outtakes – including "Wonder People (outtake)", "Alone Again Or (mono single)", "Laughing Stock", "Your Mind & We Belong Together (tracking session highlights)", "Wooly Bully (outtake)", "Hummingbirds (demo)", "A House Is Not A Motel (single)", "Red Telephone (tracking session)", "Live & Let Live (backing track)", "Andmoreagain (alt electric backing track)", and "A House is Not A Motel (backing track)". Also comes with a DVD that features 24/96 remaster of the album – and a rare promo film from 1968! Also includes the album on 180 gram vinyl. And includes a booklet with liner notes, including track by track notes by author Ted Olson. CD

An all new recording of the lost Beach Boys masterpiece! Brian notoriously sabotaged the original album by refusing to complete some sessions, and literally destroying the masters for others. Needless to say, an official release of the unearthed Beach Boys/Van Dyke Parks epic Smile – the most famous "lost" album in the history of recorded media – is sadly impossible. Of course many of the original Smile tracks filtered out onto subsequent underrated Beach Boys albums, mostly in unfinished (but still mindblowingly great) versions, due to Brian's meltdown. Nonesuch Records, Brian Wilson and his great 10 piece band have taken their best shot at a completed vision – and it works quite well! The old Smile tracks have the unassailable beauty brought about by Brian's painstaking, tortured efforts, and they were unquestionably influenced by his heavy intake of psychedelic chemicals. Now they have ProTools. Still, the cleared psyches and enhanced technical capabilities cannot hamper the bruised beauty these tunes had from conception, and it's been adapted very, very well even it doesn't quite carry the doomed genius of Brian's late 60s work. Comes in a great deluxe package with a thick booklet. Tracks include "Our Prayer/Gee", "Heroes & Villains", "Good Vibrations", "Roll Plymouth Rock", "Barnyard", "Old Cabin Essence", "Wonderful", "Surf's Up" and more. CD

A surprisingly sweet solo effort from Beach Boy Dennis Wilson – a record of surprising depth and darkness, and arguably stronger than most of the albums at the time from the larger group! Dennis produced the album himself, with some executive help from James William Guerico – whose guidance here seems key, given the overall quality of the set. There's some echoes of Beach Boys' styles in the music, but the sound is much more personal as well – Wilson's ragged vocals in the lead on all numbers, sometimes upfront and fragile, sometimes given a bit more umph through the use of processing – at that level that the whole group would often experience in the studio during the 70s. The album's as much of a showcase for Dennis' writing skills as it is for his vocals – and songs are co-written with co-producer Gregg Jakobson, as well as Carl Wilson, Mike Love, and Karen Lamm-Wilson. Titles include "River Song", "Friday Night", "Thoughts Of You", "Dreamer", "Time", "You And I", and "What's Wrong". This expanded Legacy edition is really amazing – with a 24-page booklet with notes and photos – plus session bonus tracks that include "Mexico", "Holy Man", "Only With You", and "Tug Of Love". Also features a full bonus CD with the sessions for the unreleased Bambu album – with tracks that include "School Girl", "It's Not Too Late", "Under The Moonlight", "Are You Real", "He's A Bum", "Cocktails", "I Love You", "Constant Companion", and "Time For Bed". CD

Includes performances by Joan Baez, Kris Kristofferson, Country Joe McDonald, the Beach Boys, Merry Clayton, and Linda Ronstadt. LP, Vinyl record album

A wonderfully groovy set of Christmas tracks – one done in a style very similar to the Get Easy Snow compilations – as you might guess from the title! The selection here is great – with a few perennial favorites, a few rare gems, and a great middle stretch of wonderful bits from some of the grooviest artists of the 60s and 70s – a great antidote to some of the too-played holiday music you might hear during the 12th month of the year! Titles include "Santa Claus Is Definitely Hear To Stay" by James Brown, "Close Your Mouth It's Christmas" by Free Design, "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus" by Jimmy McGriff, "Snow" by Claudine Longet, "Black Christmas" by The Emotions, "Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer" by The Temptations, "Christmas Gift" by Margie Joseph, "Winter Warm" by Bob Crewe Generation, "Snow Flakes" by The Ventures, "Winter Symphony" by The Beach Boys, "This Christmas" by Donny Hathaway, "Children Go Where I Send Thee" by Kenny Burrell, "We Wish You A Merry Christmas" by Ray Anthony & His Bookends, "Swinging Christmas" by Helmut Zacharias, and "Jingo Jango" by Bert Kaempfert. CD