If anyone knew and appreciated the songs from The Beach Boys best, it would be their main creator and composer of music, Brian Wilson. Limited to a selection of only 20 songs by The Beach Boys is a tough ask for anyone to pick, but Brian Wilson went ahead with this selection of classic tunes by The Beach Boys for this compilation. With a career spanning many album releases and plenty of different Pop/Rock stylings, The Beach Boys are one of the most iconic Pop/Rock groups to this day. Let’s take a good listen to this compilation and we shall hear if it is as consistent and interesting as promised.

Surfer Girl begins with some clean electric guitar and some awesome harmonies from The Beach Boys. It launches into a good song about being passionately in love with a lady who loves surfing, of course. A good musical statement and with some basic Pop/Rock playing to boot. This is exactly what people in Miami, Florida need to hear each morning before going swimming in the ocean on a hot summer’s day in tropical/subtropical weather. A good song with purely great singing, a good key change and decent instrumentation to match it. Sweet.

The Warmth Of The Sun begins with some multitracked harmonies and clean, crisp guitar parts that sound excellent. This is an overlooked gem by The Beach Boys, and it sure sounds cool and sweet musically. A really pretty, classy and different listening experience that works incredibly well, this is a joy to listen to. With a mixture of emotions in the lyrics, this is a really good tune to listen to in that sense. 1960s romanticism is present throughout the lyrics here, and although this is a bit of an oddity to have on a compilation, it still is a really great listening experience. A cool and inspired tune to listen to, this does sound pretty, lovely and great. A nice song, it fades out sweetly.

I Get Around is an awesome singalong, fun-in-the-sun-styled piece of music. It sounds really pretty and excellent musically and has some excellent lyrics throughout. Handclaps galore, along with soaring harmonies and other great Pop/Rock sounds are present in this song. A gloriously good listen, with a key change in the second half. This is about going around and picking up ladies in the car for fun. Amusingly good, this is an enjoyable and wonderful song that is barely over two minutes long. A good tune.

Don’t Worry Baby begins with some good drumming and some really great harmonies. Excellent instrumentation, including guitar and keyboard, are both here. This is an amazing-sounding tune that still sounds fantastic, positive and awesome to this very day. A great tune to listen to, this sounds like a musical emotional rollercoaster in a single song. Simply put, this is great Pop/Rock music that should be heard more by others out there. The second half has a clanging guitar part as a solo section, before the wonderful singing and harmonies resume. A really great listening experience overall, this is a great song that is short and sweet. Magical.

In My Room begins with some watery guitar parts and has some awesome arrangements and sweet singing throughout. This sounds incredibly well done and musically delicious, and it sounds fantastic and awesome. A great listening experience about spending time alone in one’s bedroom at home. This is a good listening experience if you are a loner per se. A really cool tune, all the same, this is worth listening to for the delicious musical arrangements and sounds present. An awesome song.

California Girls – Remix begins with some excellent instrumentation, and many layers of it, namely keyboards and percussion. It quickly launches into a great version of the original song and it sounds fine, fantastic and interesting. A great version of the classic song by The Beach Boys which is about lusting after different types of ladies that a young man may desire across the USA. This sounds like a great remix that people should hear of the original song, and it is an enjoyable, rich and pleasant listen. Only Brian Wilson would really understand this sort of music and its broad appeal. A fantastic listen from start to finish.

God Only Knows is the famous song from the Pet Sounds album released in 1966. It has layers of keyboards, percussion and pretty singing throughout. A wonderful, wonderful tune to listen to, this is a very loveable and loving sort of listening experience. A great piece of music and musicianship throughout, this is exactly the sort of thing young couples should hear at times, provided that they like The Beach Boys. Seriously enjoyable music, this sounds different and refreshing throughout. The multitracked and layered vocals at the end are fantastic. A really great song to listen to, to this day.

Caroline, No – Stereo Mix/Original Speed begins with some different percussion, before launching into an excellently mixed and melancholy tune throughout. This is a song with an interesting story behind it if you wish to Google the matter. Regardless, this is a real joy to hear, with saxophone, harpsichord, muted guitars and soaring harmonies to complement it. A really awesome listening experience, this has some interesting trumpet and other instrumentation to conclude this song with. A really great listening experience.

Good Vibrations is one of the greatest pieces ever recorded by The Beach Boys. It begins with a keyboard, muted guitars and pleasant singing. It launches into a really timeless, forward-thinking and listenable tune that everyone ought to know in the 21st century. A really interesting, dynamic and pleasant musical listening experience, this is exciting, interesting and tremendously cool. The chorus in particular sounds super amazing, and is a real winner. Likely inspired by LSD or Marijuana use, this is a superb and cool musical experience that sounds totally awesome. In the second half, things get subtle and sweet in a breakdown with heavy bass guitar playing, which is different. Harmonies then enter, and we gradually end the tune with some great singing and note-perfect musicianship. Absolutely brilliant.

Wonderful begins with some really soft singing and organ to match. This is a pleasant listening experience that sounds great, especially with one’s eyes closed and relaxing to at home. A really different, interesting and musically well-structured listening experience. This breaks into a strange live recorded piece with The Beach Boys singing at a party in the second half of the tune. Eventually, this swings back to the main section of music at hand and ends with pretty organ playing and whispered lyrics. Fantastic.

Heroes and Villains is a classic piece of marvellous melodicism by The Beach Boys. This is very much a California-centered piece that is a fictional story about a villain (along the lines of an outlaw) who falls in love with a Spanish American lady. It is full of interesting musical changes, and twists and turns. Really excellent and loveable music from start to finish, this sounds like a great reaction to the sort of music on The Beatles Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band album that was released in 1967. Towards the middle, it launches into a glorious section of music that sounds amazingly great, eventually leading into a fantastic and suspenseful song section that is very musically loveable and colourful too. There is some twinkling harpsichord, leading into the climax of the song which is sung slowly and beautifully. A great, great tune to listen to. This sounds really clever and extraordinary musically. A top listening experience.

Surf’s Up begins with some awesome piano, horns and other pretty musical touches throughout. This is another fantastic song to listen to by The Beach Boys, the harmonies present on this song are just superb. Indeed, this song is amazing to this very day, even if it is from a completely different musical era than today’s AI-run music world. Towards the middle, this tune stops briefly, only to let in the next section of piano-driven music with pretty vocals. An awesome listen, this has a bunch of improvised tempo changes and continues nicely throughout. Nice music that sounds soothing and relaxing. The piano and vocals present in this song are irresistibly beautiful. Towards the end, there is a mixture of vocals, piano and studio trickery to grab your attention. A brilliant listen that never gets old. Really great music. It fades out nicely.

Busy Doin’ Nothin’ is a cool listen with clarinet galore, chiming acoustic guitar and bells throughout. This is a relaxing, interesting and pleasant listen throughout, this is a song about taking one’s time in life and relaxing as they go about their day-to-day business. A rather odd, yet cool musical statement that sounds really quirky and excellent, The Beach Boys do impress on these tunes. A really decent and enjoyable listen, this sounds very pretty and like something out of an old-fashioned musical era, but with a continuing appeal over time. Nonetheless, this is cool. A good listen overall.

We’re Together Again is a very short piece of music under two minutes long. This is a great song to play to someone who you just managed to get back into a relationship with, should you have had a split in the first place. A bit odd, but understandable. Nonetheless, a good listening experience with gorgeous harmonies and pleasant singing, along with other touches throughout. A great, great listening experience, despite this obviously being crafted for unusual experiences. It ends with repeated vocals, along with chugging piano and harpsichord. Excellent.

Time To Get Alone is a passionate and lovable song from the start of the tune. This is a song about being deeply in love with someone else who genuinely cares about you. An awesome and pleasant tune with plenty of romanticism abound, this is obviously a fine and fantastic piece about relationships. It has some harpsichord, xylophone, quiet guitars and pleasant vocals throughout. A really lovely and different tune, this is exactly what you need to hear if beginning a relationship with a partner. Great, great music. Worth hearing.

This Whole World begins with guitar in the right channel, before launching into a great Pop/Rock song with church bells thrown into it for good measure. A really cool, sweet and interesting listen with some lovely and pretty musical arrangements throughout, this sounds grand and pretty to this day. This is another romanticism-based tune that does well. There is a xylophone in it, too. Towards the end, this launches into a variety of harmony-based singing that is gorgeous, before fading out.

Marcella is a strange tune, with some interesting keyboards and is a rather 1980s-sounding piece of music. Even so, this is The Beach Boys alone and it does sound really awesome and great. A cool, catchy and quirky piece of music about a particular lady, this does sound really great. A bit simplistic as a song, but something that works on a musical level, this sounds very singalong and excellent as a result. This piece of romantic lust is matched by some cool instrumentation, such as a slide guitar part, which is unusual for The Beach Boys. A bit weird for these guys, having said that. It breaks into a musical section with sleigh bells and good singing, this is a dramatic and sweet listen. This song is fairly unheard of in The Beach Boys’s back catalogue. It fades out slowly at the end with a repeated refrain. Good.

Sail On, Sailor begins with some great piano, and keyboards and launches into an unusual tune that is an oddity on this compilation, much like the rest of the songs present here. Nonetheless, this does sound decent, and quirky and holds a lot of interest to it. It is a very different listening experience that covers sun, surf and love-based concepts musically. Typical stuff by The Beach Boys. The keyboards on this song are really weird as well. Despite that, this is an okay listen. This compilation has some of the most unusual song selections on it. Regardless, an enjoyable song. This sounds pretty and dramatic throughout. It has a repeated chorus, all the way through to the fade out.

‘Til I Die sounds a bit dreary from the beginning. This is the last main track on this compilation, before the bonus track. It is a song about loss and regrets, and this music is quite good for that purpose. However, this is a weaker track on this release, and it suffers as a result. A really pretty, gorgeous and interesting listen anyway, this does sound like a life-affirming song. The second half of the song has multiple harmonies, keyboard galore and a downtempo feel to it all. Again, this is short at under three minutes long. It’s okay, but only okay.

California Feelin’ is a song re-recorded from a demo that was previously unused for The Beach Boys. It is a simple, lovely and enjoyable song that definitely should have been recorded earlier on. Despite that, this sounds very pretty, anthemic and it works well here. It finishes the compilation nicely and has some lush guitars present throughout. A really cool, interesting and excellent piece of music, Brian Wilson obviously knows how to make good music that has lasting appeal. This is a clear example of that ethos. In any case, a very, very good listening experience that sounds great and dramatic. A singalong tune, this ends the release on a high note. Sweet, the ending is fantastic.

This is a good compilation that, in all honesty and fairness, does not make it a great listen. The selection of tunes is not the greatest, and to be fair and frank, there should be more of them on this album. Despite that, this is clearly aimed at those who love The Beach Boys and want to hear the best of a side of them rarely looked into. Brian Wilson is a genius. Period. Should you listen to this compilation? Yes, but only after hearing some of the other material by The Beach Boys. Otherwise, you may be disappointed.

Good but different.

8/10