2 Beach Boys albums on 2CDs – plus the bonus ep of material from Holland. The Carl & The Passions album was supposed to be a back to basics rocker, but it's a bit weak from this vantage point – although has some of those nice little later numbers that we always seem to overlook when shuffling through BB albums too quickly. Holland is a much more impressive effort – as it kicks off with the sublime "Sail On Sailor", proof that the group were ready to forge a whole new sound of 70s pop, plus a nice mix of tight pop songs and looser Smile-like tracks. Titles include "The Trader", "Funky Pretty", "Only With You", and the "California Saga". The CD also includes "Mount Vernon & Fairway" – a "fairy tale" that was included with the original LP as a bonus ep. The work's interesting – especially in that it shows that the group could still be pretty trippy and experimental – but gosh, we really have a hard time getting through it! CD

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Supreme love fest in action – and Brian's back at the production helm. Proof that therapy has some effect on the world – and with the tracks "Roller Skating Child", "Good Time", "Johnny Carson", "Night Was So Young", and "Airplane". 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". LP, Vinyl record album

2 early ones from The Beach Boys – records that show them growing a lot, musically and emotionally, and also showing a bit of the strain to fill so many albums with quality material. This 27 track set features some real gems – like the original and German versions of "In My Room", the obscure "Surfer Moon", and the incredibly haunting "Warmth Of The Sun", one of the first real moments of genius from Brian Wilson. Other titles include a few oddball numbers – like "Denny's Drums" and "Cassius Love vs Sonny Wilson" – plus classics like "Fun Fun Fun", "Don't Worry Baby", "Keep An Eye On Summer", "Our Car Club", "Little Deuce Coup", and "Surfer Girl". CD

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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

Packed with rare tracks – plus two great booklets, including the 125 page "Making Of Pet Sounds" by David Leaf. CD

A nice mix of hits and well-remembered tracks – definitely a summery vibe – 30 titles that include "Surfer Girl", "Good Timin", "Kokomo", "Heroes & Villains", "Come Go With Me", "Wouldn't It Be Nice", "Good Vibrations", "I Can Hear Music", "Wild Honey", "Darlin", "Do It Again", "God Only Knows", "In My Room", and "When I Grow Up". CD

American 60s hits, completely recast by the orchestra of Andrew Oldham – a cat you might know best as the manager of the Rolling Stones, but who also has a great way with a groove in the studio! The style is bouncy Brit pop of the 60s – which has these American songs really coming across in a cool and different sort of way – arranged to perfection by David Whittaker, who may well be the real leading talent of the set – able to beautifully balance electric basslines with larger orchestrations, and still keep things all tight and compact! There's some weird vocals buried in the mix, but most songs are instrumental – and titles include "Wendy", "Warmth Of The Sun", "Girls On The Beach", "Don't Worry Baby", "Big Man In Town", "Ronnie", "Save It For Me", and "Dawn Go Away". CD also features mono and stereo mixes of the whole album – and a version of the "Theme From The Dick Van Dyke Show". LP, Vinyl record album

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 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 aim to be the goofy 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. LP, Vinyl record album

Lots of early classics – "Boys Don't Cry", "Killing An Arab", "Let's Go To Bed", "The Hanging Garden", "Charlotte Sometimes", "Jumping Someone Else's Train", "A Forest", "The Walk", "Lovecats", "In Between Days", and "Close To Me". LP, Vinyl record album

A killer collection of rare tracks from the glory days of the So-Cal surf rock scene, plus some hot rod tunes too – a glorious mix of vocal and instrumental tracks, all of which show that there's plenty more to discover than just the Beach Boys, Ventures, and Jan & Dean! This hefty CD package actually brings together two album's worth of material – 29 titles in all, not the 16 mentioned on the cover – and almost all the music is pretty darn rare, from the farther reaches of the indie scene of the time – with plenty of fast-driving fuzz guitars on the instrumentals, and some great harmony vocals on the lyrical tracks – all packaged together with the wallop of a huge wave cresting on the shore! Titles include "Varoom" by Warner Brothers, "Swingin Hangout" by Mark Four, "Get A Board" by The Val Rays, "Don't Drag No More" by Suzan Lynne, "Go Mustang" by The Triptides, "Kick Out" by The Safaries, "Surf Bunny Beach" by The Surf Bunnies, "Don't Monkey With Tarzan" by The Pygmies, and "Side Swiped" by The Torquetts. CD

Groovy vocal group material from this legendary combo that went onto change the style of harmony vocals for the next 50 years! The group's led by Gene Puerling, who later went onto form the Singers Unlimited for MPS, and the orchestrations are by Frank Comstock – in a line with The Four Freshmen, Beach Boys, and Tamba Trio! LP, Vinyl record album

Groovy vocal group material from this legendary combo that went onto change the style of harmony vocals for the next 50 years! The group's led by Gene Puerling, who later went onto form the Singers Unlimited for MPS, and the orchestrations are by Frank Comstock – in a line with The Four Freshmen, Beach Boys, and Tamba Trio! LP, Vinyl record album

A really lost chapter in the career of Brian Wilson – an album produced by the famous Beach Boy for poet Stephen John Kalinich, done with a bit of music and vocals by Wilson himself! The record's quite odd – spare, thoughtful poetry – often recorded with slight production touches that make the vocals sound nicely weird – and occasional bits of music or other Wilson-like touches, but all in ways that are quite different from any Beach Boys work. Kalinich's words had an impact on the Friends album by the Beach Boys, but the feel here is a lot darker – and at the few points when Brian's background vocals come into play, it creates a great sense of contrast that hints at the darker corners of the late 60s world of pop in SoCal. Titles include "The Deer The Elk The Raven", "Candy Face Lane", "Lonely Man", "A World Of Peace Must Come", "If You Knew", and "America I Know You". Also features a bonus demo of "Leaves Of Grass". CD

One of our favorite moments from the 90s comeback years of Brian Wilson – a really special collaboration with Van Dyke Parks, the unsung LA musical genius who'd helped Wilson make so much great music back in the 60s! The collaboration is great – and both artists really hit a high point they hadn't hit in years – with the kind of special, personal, slightly-fragile songs that Wilson could still do very convincingly at this point in his career – set up by Parks with great instrumentation, and use of harmonized vocals that nicely step in a sideways direction from a more typical Beach Boys approach. Titles include "Orange Crate Art", "My Jeanine", "Movies Is Magic", "This Town Goes Down At Sunset", "Hold Back Time", and "Palm Tree & Moon". 2CD version is overflowing with bonus material – the unissued songs "Rhapsody In Blue", "Love Is Here To Stay", and "What A Wonderful World" – and a full bonus CD of instrumentals from the album! CD

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

Sunshine Pop from the top of the charts – a great look at some of the best-remembered tunes from this sweet 60s genre! Lots of other Sunshine Pop collections focus on the obscurities of the scene – but honestly, some of the hits really represent the best work of the groups included – the kind of sublime studio magic that few others could match back in the day – catchy pop, but with a darker psych undercurrent – all wrapped up with wonderful vocals and some really groovy instrumentation! There's plenty here you'll recognize – the kind of cuts that always make you sit up and take notice on an oldies radio show, but which you can never remember the artist. Titles include "Younger Girl" by The Critters, "It's Getting Better" by Mama Cass, "I Could Be So Good To You" by Don & The Goodtimers, "She Lets Her Hair Down" by The Tokens, "A Girl Like You" by The Young Rascals, "Darlin" by The Beach Boys, "If You Don't Want My Love" by Robert John, "Morning Girl" by The Neon Philharmonic, "Back On The Street Again" by The Sunshine Company, "Anything Goes" by Harpers Bizarre, "Love" by Mercy, "The Rain The Park & Other Things" by The Cowsills, "The River Is Wide" by The Forum, and "Look At Me Girl" by Bobby Vee & The Strangers. 26 tracks in all – with a great set of notes! CD

Think the genius of Brian Wilson was only tapped by his partners in The Beach Boys? Think again – because as this lovely little set will show, a huge amount of other artists drew from the songwriting genius of Brian Wilson in the 60s – not just to cover the big hits of his famous group, but also to dig much deeper into the full spectrum of his songbook – and come up with their own versions of album tracks from Pet Sounds, Smile, and other gems of the time! The collection is wonderfully free of overdone hits – and instead is full of lots of our favorite songs from Wilson – and not just tunes he wrote for the Beach Boys, but other artists as well. And although Brian himself only produced a handful of cuts on the set, most of the 25 numbers have a very unified feel – thanks to a host of contemporary producers really working hard to explore things in the same way as Wilson in the studio. There's a few cuts from later years, but most are late 60s vintage – and titles include "Here Today" by Bobby Vee, "Guess I'm "Dumb" by Johnny Wells, "Time To Get Alone" by Redwood, "Farmer's Daughter" by Basil Swift & The Seegrams, "Girl Don't Tell Me" by Keith Green, "She Rides With Me" by Joey & The Continentals, "My Buddy Seat" by The Hondells, "Don't Hurt My Little Sister" by The Surfaris, "Caroline No" by Nick DeCaro, "Good Vibrations" by Hugo Montenegro, "You Still Believe In Me" by Kristy MacColl, and "God Only Knows" by Betty Everett. CD

Jenny McCarthy aside, a nifty compilation of surf rock with tracks from Dick Dale, the Beach Boys, the Ventures, the Champs, Link Wray, Preston Epps, Jan & Dean, the Chantays, the Trashmen, the Sufaris & the Lively Ones. CD

Featuring Fats Domino, The Beach Boys, Robert Parker, The Silhouettes, The Rollers, The Senors, The Larks, Human Beinz, Bobby Freeman, Five Keys, The Rivingtons, Johnny Darrow, and Johnny Otis. 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

Includes tracks by Led Zeppelin, Elton John, Allman Brothers Band, Beach Boys, Rod Stewart, Cat Stevens, David Bowie, Todd Rundgren, and the Who. CD

The sounds of summer in the years before the Beach Boys and surf music – songs that proclaim the glory of the warmest months of the year, but in raunchy styles from the early years of rock and roll! Artists run the gamut from rockabilly singers, to R&B groups, to some surprisingly strong contributions from more pop-oriented acts – and as with other Bear Family packages of this nature, the whole thing is plenty playful – put together with a good deal of wit in the song choices and presentation! Titles include "Sunday Barbecue" by Tennessee Ernie Ford, "The Sun Is Shining" by Elmore James, "Banana Split For My Baby" by Louis Prima, "Summer's Coming (demo)" by Ronnie Dawson, "Strollin On The Beach" by The Hollywood Flames, "Beach Time" by Roger Smith, "Suntan Tattoo" by The Valiants & Sandy Vale, "Summertime Love" by Roy Head & The Traits, "Beach Comber" by Jo Ann Campbell, "Night Theme' by The Mark II, "Moonlight Swim" by Nick Noble, "26 Miles" by The Four Preps, "Sunglasses After Dark" by Dwight Whitey Pullen, "Summertime Rock" by Rodney & The Blazers, and "The Big Beach Party" by The Jades with Pacer's Music. CD

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 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

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

Perfect summer pop! After Murray Wilson was kicked out by his sons, the Beach Boys, he went on to prove to the world that he could create another group that was every bit as good as them. Truth is, he failed, but that doesn't stop the Sunrays from being a fantastic bit of 60's pop surf harmony sounds, noteworthy as much as for their keen attempts to sound like the Beach Boys, as for their failure to not reach the heights that Brian and the other Wilsons did. The songs are totally nutty, too, and the lyrics are more messed up than the Beach Boys' ever were. Our faves include "A Little Dog & His Boy", "Tears In My Eyes", and "Have To Be Myself". Scary proof that Murray have have had more to do with the BB's sound than we all thought! LP, Vinyl record album