THE BEACH BOYS
Greatest Hits Volume 3 -
Best Of The Brother Years (EMI)
Reviewed by Bill Holmes

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Amusingly, the recent television epic about the Beach Boys would lead the uninformed viewer to conclude that the band turned into an oldies act in 1970 and treaded water for the next thirty years. Perhaps series producer and latter-year live drummer John Stamos wanted to avoid incriminating himself any further by screwing up an era that he had firsthand knowledge about. Lord knows he butchered the first era. Thankfully, reality outlives fiction, and a third collection of Beach Boys hits focuses on the post-Capitol Records period. (Think beards).The Brother Years finally opens the vaults on classic records like Holland and Surf's Up and Sunflower, and the entire catalogue is scheduled for re-release beginning this year. Hooray!

You might be surprised to not see "Heroes And Villains" here - it was the first record released as a single on Brother Records, but that was under the Capitol Records arm. Under Reprise, Brother was an independent label rather than a vanity tag. Out of fashion with the changing times, and with an ever-retreating Brian Wilson contributing less and less, it was time for the others to pick up the slack. The first half of this collection is studded with the gems of that era - Al Jardine's first solo contribution "Susie Cincinnati", Bruce Johnston's fragile "Disney Girls", Carl's inspired "Long Promised Road" (his first vocal composition) among them. Yet there's Brian with the beautiful "This Whole World" and resurrected session tracks like "Surf's Up", "Marcella" and "Sail On, Sailor" (Blondie Chapin's stirring vocal fooled many people into thinking it was Carl).

The latter third of this disc makes the Beach Boys look like an overpaid cover band, but truth be told, collections of hits began to spawn at such a rate it seemed like the catalogue was one big Venn diagram. "Rock And Roll Music", albeit a hit, is paper thin, but "Peggy Sue" and "Come Go With Me" are fine, and they all charted. I'll take their spot-on version of "California Dreamin" over tripe like "Kokomo" any day. For originals, 1979's "Good Timin'" was their biggest hit in nine years (and for good reason) while Mike Love's "Getcha Back" (co-written with Terry Melcher), outshines his later collaborations with Brian ("Goin On" and "It's O.K.").

If the Beach Boys sailed under your radar after "Good Vibrations", you're not alone. But even though the hits were few and far between, their willingness to attach their peerless harmonies to new musical styles led to some wonderful songs. The Brother Years is yet another tasty slice of what arguably is America's Band.

© 2000 - Bill Holmes