 | SOUNDTRACKING Soundtracking is a semi-weekly column featuring indie, alternative, and all around amazing music - published by music correspondent Laura Cushing on Gather.com. Soundtracking includes interviews, contests, CD reviews, band and concert news, music trivia, playlists and much more!
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This Week on Soundtracking - Win a Beach Boys limited edition CD box set!
You may recall back when Soundtracking gave away a signed Beach Boys lithograph, now we're hosting another great Beach Boys giveaway!
If you love the Beach Boys, you've come to the right place! On June 10th, Capitol/EMI released a boxed set of the first complete collection of The Beach Boys' early Capitol Records singles, spanning the years 1962-1965. The Beach Boys: U.S. Singles Collection – The Capitol Years (1962-1965) captures all of the earliest fun-in-the-sun highlights from America's Band. Each of the deluxe boxed set's 16 CDs includes original singles A and B-sides plus additional mono, stereo mixes and live recordings. Eight previously unreleased mixes are among the new collection's 66 tracks! And Gather has a boxed set to give away in a drawing thanks to the generosity of Capitol/EMI. All you have to do is let us know what your favorite Beach Boys song is in the comment thread below. We will announce the winner on Tuesday, June 24th in the Music Essential!In 1961, The Beach Boys began singing about America 's newest craze, surfing. What followed was a wave of hits that vividly expressed the lifestyles, dreams and ambitions of America 's youth. Their signature sound full of sun-drenched harmonies, golden melodies and descriptive lyrics delivered a taste of the free and easy California lifestyle to listeners around the world. The music of The Beach Boys brings optimism and a beam of Southern California sun wherever it is played.
For more than four decades this iconic band has recorded and performed the music that is the world's favorite soundtrack to summer. The Beach Boys was originally comprised of the three Wilson brothers: Brian, Carl and Dennis, their cousin Mike Love, and school friend Al Jardine. In 1962, Hawthorne neighbor David Marks joined the group for their first wave of hits on Capitol Records, leaving in late 1963. In 1965, Bruce Johnston joined the band when Brian Wilson retired from touring. They have been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1988 and are winners of The Recording Academy's Lifetime Achievement Grammy Award.
Here are six of my favorite songs from the boxset, uploaded with the kind permission of Gather and Capitol/EMI for you to enjoy! Click on each link to listen here on Gather - each opens in a separate window.
1. 409 Live Version
This live song was recorded in Chicago on 3-27-65, and was previously unreleased.
2. Ten Little Indians
Quirky, politicially non-correct these days, but cute for the time it was recorded in. Mono single, charted 12-1-62.
3. Surfin' USA
Original stereo mix from Surfin' USA.
4.Don't Worry Baby
Original stereo mix from Shut Down, Vol 2
5. Help Me Rhonda
This is an instrumental, a mono backing track from Beach Boys Party!/Stack-o-Tracks twofer
6. The Warmth of the Sun
Mono single (Brian Wilson / Mike Love)
What is your favorite Beach Boys song? Let us know in the comment thread below for your chance to win a boxed set from Gather and Capitol/EMI.We will announce the winner on Tuesday, June 24th in the Music Essential!
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| Laura Cushing, Music Correspondent - Soundtracking | ||||
Laura's column, 'Soundtracking' is published every Saturday in Gather Essentials:Music. Soundtracking is your guide to indie, alternative, and all-around-amazing music -- featuring musician interviews, CD reviews, MP3 mixes, and discussions. Laura Cushing is a 38 year old writer from the New Jersey Pines. In addition to music journalism, she writes fiction and poetry. Keep up with Laura's music series by joining her network, or subscribing to her content. | ||||
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Comments: 81
I love SO many of their songs!
I want to go on a 'surfin safari' and 'catch a wave' down in 'Kokomo' because 'I get around' and have 'fun, fun, fun' in my 'little duece coupe' for 'all summer long'
I'll have to go with I Get Around for my favorite song.
thanks for the article, Laura, nice job.
What other than: I wish they all could be California Girls!
Heh, heh, heh!
The group: We Comment Back
Man this is a tough one. I love them all!!! I cant choose just one. My favorite Beach Boys Song would be whatever one I am listening to at the time.
I will put this in the Friday editon of Today On Gather.
My favorite song would be "Barbara Ann" although I love them all....:)
Another great article
I saw the Beach Boys in concert when I was in college in the 70's. They were the only concert at the time where everyone stood up and danced through the entire thing. It was really fun, and I'd forgotten about it until I read this!
Good Vibrations is another I always liked. I better stop now before I give you a whole list.
1. The Beach Boys are a California group.
2. I am a "California Girl", born and raised
3. Brian Wilson is a California boy.
4. All the Beach Boys EVER sung about were California stuff, which means they're going to want a "California Girl" to win this thing, don't ya think?
5. Just look at the votes so far -- just look at 'em -- "California Girl" is winning hands down -- it is the foreshadowing or a subconcious suggestion of what these people really want!
6. I own NO Beach Boys' anything -- Imagine it! Isn't it a crying shame -- a California Girl with no Beach Boys anything -- what can I say? I was too young. (I think).
7. You could really incorporate a number of Beach Boys songs into the completion of this contest --
don't worry baby,
wouldn't it be nice,
fun, fun fun,
good vibrations,
california girls
and so forth by
my winning.
All's well that end well.
For the Little Surfer Girl.
Makes perfect sense, doesn't it?
Brian wrote and arraigned all of the Beach Boy tunes and crafted the greatest pop album of all time, Pet Sounds. These days he tours with a terrific 10 piece band (8 voices) and they perform all of their great tunes with the musicianship and vocal dexterity that Brian intended to apply. Mike Love just sleepwalks through the hits and puts forth no effort at all. There is a reason why Love is playing county fairs and Brian plays prestigious concert halls. In my neck of the woods, Brian will be playing three nights at the Hollywood Bowl in September, what a perfect end to summer!
Oh yeah, two greatest Beach Boy (Brian Wilson) songs. Good Vibrations (a perfect pocket symphony) and God Only Knows.
I love hearing the boys get angry.
Of all the Beach Boy singles, Dance, Dance, Dance stands alone.
It's a perfectly crafted Brian Wilson hit, right down to the sleigh bells and the dueling electric and acoustic guitars that render the four bar hook. It's a record that grabs you by the throat and doesn't let go, modulating into a fresh key at just the right moment and leaving you wanting much more even as the harmonies fade into the reverb.
For years, I sought out a stereo mix and rolled my own when the stereo backing tracks appeared on the original Beach Boy Box "bootleg" disk. Listen without the vocals and you'll begin to get a feel for the Brian's sheer genius as a producer.
Dance DJs know that the tune is an ideal segue from Bob Seger's Katmandu and dovetails nicely into Mony Mony by Tommy James. But of all three, Dance, Dance, Dance is by far the best, extolling the exuberance and energy that were part and parcel of early 60s rock n roll.
i would have to say
Surfin' USA
Dropping by with a 10 for you
Flippity Floppity, Zippity Zee
And a great big HI from Pooh and Me!
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