BEACH BOYS COMPENDIUM
BEACH BOYS COMPENDIUM
At the time of this writing, the Beach Boys have sold 146 million singles,albums and related. In the year, 1963 I heard their first album that summer. I was hooked. Since then I have attended 7 concerts, read every Endless Summer Quarterly since the beginning. That one had a drawing of Mike Love. I was there when they were first popular, when they fell from grace, and then when they resurrected.
My first contact with fans was with “Alyce” in her newsletter of Beach Boys Freaks United. Further, I also joined the Mike Love Newsletter under the editorship of Diane Ferrelli (DeConnick) and now with computer there are numerous websites dealing with the band including my own 56thst.com/ My other bands that I like are the Beatles and Rolling Stones. However, the Beach Boys are my #1. I have been within 20 feet of the group. All the shows were packed to capacity. So before one reads my imperfect ratings let me give you some interesting stats. They have more top 40’s than any other American band. They have performed 5,500 concerts. 95% of American households have the “top of mind” recollection. There
are atleast 10 books and 5 documentaries. They had one of the largest concerts in two big cities in one day. They have 55 hits in all countries.
I am retired, but was a junior college professor, tech writer, and editorialist. I have discovered numerous statistics about the group. So, I will try to indicate that my information comes from RANKER a professional periodical that tracks popular music. One interesting notes is that in the UK they have been in the Top 40, 225 weeks.
The ranking has 4 quartiles. As they do not have a “o” baseline and they have intervals that are not equidistant, they have an ordinal ranks. Further, the top 3 are all good and listenable. However the 4th level I do not favor. As an example, I have listen to them many times and I can not say that I like it. However, no collection can be without it. Further, the compilations are likely to have the best collections. They have a chance to pick and choose which fits in. They have so much to draw from.
So here are my choices. There will be more information about the band later. However my list may only have 90% of the total.
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PET SOUNDS/ PET SOUNDS BOX SET/BRIAN WILSON’S SMILE/ SMILE SESSIONS/GOOD VIBRATIONS collection/ SOUNDS OF SUMMER/ ENDLESS SUMMER/SPIRIT OF AMERICA/WARMTH OF THE SUN/BEST OF THE BEACH BOYS #1/ BEST OF BEACH BOYS #2/ SPIRIT OF AMERICA/KEEP AN EYE ON SUMMER/ MADE IN USA/PLATINUM SESSIONS/ 5O BIG ONES/
KEEP AN EYE ON SUMMER/20 GOLDEN GREATS/BEST OF BEACH BOYS BOX SET/SOUNDS OF SUMMER/50TH ANNIVERSARY/PET SOUNDS BOX SET/
SAIL ON SAILOR 1972/I CAN HEAR MUSIC/20/20/BEST OF THE BEACH BOYS #3/ GREATEST BROTHER YEARS/HAWTHORNE CA./HERE AND BACK/VERY BEST OFTHE BEACH BOYS 1977/ SUMMER LOVE SONGS/ HERE AND BACK/SMILEY SMILE/TEN SELECTION OF HITS by BRIAN /BEACH BOYS PARTY/SUMMER SONGS UNCOVERED AND UNPLUGGED/BECOMING THE BEACH BOYS-HITE& MORGAN/LOST AND FOUND 61=42
Now there is more, but I missed a few. I am still searching on E-Bay. Please recall that I have been a fan for so many years. As a pass time, the songs allow me to go back in time. I am so old that I recall my mother getting up in the middle of the night to put more coal in the furnace. That we used dry mops to clean the coal from the wall paper and that I rode the trolley. When rock and roll came into my life, I had to special order because they did not sell Black artist like Little Richard or Chuck Berry.
If you would rank the albums in another way, that’s good. It means that we share the band in our own special way. On my tombstone, I have my name and “Good Vibrations” and “Strawberry Fields Forever.”
Prof. Joel Snell
Master of Arts
Master Equivalency
Sociology/Social Psychology/
Social Neuroscience
Hastings College, Omaha University,
University of Nebraska-Omaha
Dana College
South Dakota State University
University of Nebraska-Lincoln