Mutsuyuki Motomura And The Jugong Boys & Co. Neapolitan Recorder Concertos (2020)

Beginning their career as the most popular surf band in the nation, the Beach Boys finally emerged by 1966 as America's preeminent pop group, the only act able to challenge (for a brief time) the overarching success of the Beatles with both mainstream listeners and the critical community. From their 1961 debut with the regional hit "Surfin'," the three Wilson brothers - Brian, Dennis, and Carl - plus cousin Mike Love and friend Al Jardine constructed the most intricate, gorgeous harmonies ever heard from a pop band. With Brian's studio proficiency growing by leaps and bounds during the mid-'60s, the Beach Boys also proved one of the best-produced groups of the '60s, exemplified by their 1966 peak with the Pet Sounds LP and the number one single "Good Vibrations"…

Beginning their career as the most popular surf band in the nation, the Beach Boys finally emerged by 1966 as America's preeminent pop group, the only act able to challenge (for a brief time) the overarching success of the Beatles with both mainstream listeners and the critical community. From their 1961 debut with the regional hit "Surfin'," the three Wilson brothers - Brian, Dennis, and Carl - plus cousin Mike Love and friend Al Jardine constructed the most intricate, gorgeous harmonies ever heard from a pop band. With Brian's studio proficiency growing by leaps and bounds during the mid-'60s, the Beach Boys also proved one of the best-produced groups of the '60s, exemplified by their 1966 peak with the Pet Sounds LP and the number one single "Good Vibrations"…

Clocking in at 26 minutes, Weather feels more like an EP than an LP, but there's a reason for the brevity. While Huey Lewis & the News were completing their first album of original material in nearly 20 years, Lewis was diagnosed with Meniere's disease, an affliction that effects hearing. Meniere's meant Huey could no longer hear notes clearly, which meant that he had to retire from performing, which in turn meant that the music the News completed for their new album would in effect be their final album. Since Huey Lewis & the News wrote and recorded Weather without planning it as a goodbye, the album has a light, breezy tone, and that amiability is actually a fitting farewell for a group who always were a hard-working rock & soul combo.

20-tracks, Japan only Greatest Hits, released in 1991 by Toshiba-EMI Ltd.. Includes 26-page b/w booklet with pics and lyrics in English and Japanese.

This really is the ultimate Beach Boys "best of". It's got all the obvious classics (California Girls, Fun Fun Fun, Good Vibrations, Little Deuce Coupe, Help Me Rhonda, God Only Knows, Darlin', I Get Around, Wouldn't It Be Nice) plus the well-known songs by other writers that they covered in their own unique way (Do You Wanna Dance, Then I Kissed Her, Sloop John B, Cottonfields). But what's best about this compilation is that there's no significant song left out. Whereas other best of's omit the truly beautiful classics such as In My Room, Bluebirds Over the Mountain and Caroline No, they are all here.