Sloop John b

Bryn Terfel's first studio album in over five years featuring wildly romantic "Sea Songs". Shanties and songs about the sea and seafaring in a folky guise such as "Wellerman", "Bold Riley", "Drunken Sailor" or "Sloop John B", with guests such as Sting ("Green Willow Tree"), Simon Keenlyside and the enchanting Welsh folk group Calan, and the a capella choir "Fisherman's Friends".

This reviewer is a bit torn over how to approach this triple-CD EMI import of Beach Boys material, mostly because it's almost too good at what it does. It does encompass, in its nearly three-hour running time, almost anything that all but the most totally immersed and dedicated fan could want – the only notable exceptions are a handful of tracks from the '70s Brother Records library, such as "Add Some Music to Your Day" and "This Whole World," but even that end is covered decently, with the inclusion of such tracks as "Sail on Sailor," "Marcella,"…

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.

As compilations go this is up there with the best. 28 tracks of the Beach Boys at the top of their form (or close to the top, anyway). And at the price this is great value. It's easy to forget just how important the Beach Boys were to the progression of popular music in the 1960s. Brian Wilson used to watch what the Beatles were doing and try to match them on the artistic level. The Beach Boys 'Pet Sounds' was born of this rivalry and Paul McCartney regarded it as one of the greatest popular-music albums ever made. It spurred the Beatles to complete 'Revolver' and then make 'Sgt Pepper'. Brian Wilson was the Beach Boys' creative genius and when he broke down they lost their leadership position. However they left a huge repertoire of major hits, many of which are captured on this compilation. Some of the most finely crafted pop-music recordings ever made are here. Pete Doggett has written a paragraph in the accompanying booklet giving a little background to each of the tracks, which makes for interesting reading.

The best Beach Boys album, and one of the best of the 1960s. The group here reached a whole new level in terms of both composition and production, layering tracks upon tracks of vocals and instruments to create a richly symphonic sound…