Pop Kulcher

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Member Since: 7/1/2002
Total Mixes: 376
Total Feedback: 895

Everybody's Gone Surfin': The Ultimate Beach Boys, Volume 1 (1961-1965)

Artist Song
Beach Boys  Surfin' 
Beach Boys  Surfin' Safari 
Beach Boys  409 
Beach Boys  Summertime Blues 
Beach Boys  Surfin' USA 
Beach Boys  Farmer's Daughter 
Beach Boys  Shut Down 
Beach Boys  Surfer Girl 
Beach Boys  Catch A Wave 
Beach Boys  Little Deuce Coupe 
Beach Boys  In My Room 
Beach Boys  Be True To Your School 
Beach Boys  Little Saint Nick 
Beach Boys  Fun, Fun, Fun 
Beach Boys  Don't Worry Baby 
Beach Boys  The Warmth Of The Sun 
Beach Boys  This Car Of Mine 
Beach Boys  Louie Louie 
Beach Boys  I Get Around 
Beach Boys  All Summer Long 
Beach Boys  Little Honda 
Beach Boys  Wendy 
Beach Boys  Drive-In 
Beach Boys  Don't Back Down 
Beach Boys  Don't Hurt My Little Sister 
Beach Boys  She Knows Me Too Well 
Beach Boys  When I Grow Up (To Be A Man) 
Beach Boys  Dance, Dance, Dance 
Beach Boys  Do You Wanna Dance 
Beach Boys  Good To My Baby 

Comment:

Tracklist, continued:

31. Help Me, Rhonda
32. Girl Don't Tell Me
33. California Girls
34. Then I Kissed Her
35. You're So Good To Me
36. Let Him Run Wild
37. Barbara Ann

Having finally completed my collection of essential Beach Boys albums (i.e. everything up through 1977's Love You, plus the box set and the unofficial Landlocked/Adult Child unreleased albums), it was time to swap out my old 2-cd mix with a more complete 3-cd compilation, neatly broken into three discs dedicated to the three great eras of Beach Boys music: 1961-1965 (the surf years); 1966-1969 (Pet Sounds, Smile, and their aftermath); and 1970-1977 (the steadily declining but still intermittently wonderful years before Brian totally checked out and they became a touring novelty act).
Volume 1 (2 & 3 will follow over the next two days -- they're all burned, but too much typing for one night) covers the early years, everything relevant leading up to 1966's Pet Sounds. This one I could pretty much pick without any thought. Given the short song lengths, I could fit 37 tracks on the disc, pretty much everything one could ever want from their first half decade. Indeed, a good 30 or so of these are undeniable rock standards, well known to everyone over the age of 30, so the only challenge is finding an extra half dozen songs to round out the disc.
Think about that for a second: 30 or so songs over a period of roughly four years that nearly everyone within a certain age group can probably sing (or at least hum) by heart. I don't think even the Beatles could claim that. Now, much of this wasn't nearly as groundbreaking as the early Beatles -- recycled Chuck Berry riffs, songs about surfing and cars and girls, etc. But are they great nonetheless? Of course. I might never really need to listen to "Fun, Fun, Fun" again, but as a start-to-finish package it's pretty tough to argue with any of this. But, of course, it's on the next volume that things really start getting interesting...
image for mix

Feedback:

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Rob Conroy
Date: 7/18/2007
Wow. As is often the case with the two of us (yes, I have a three-disc Beach Boys set of my own posted a few years ago), our favorite bands almost always overlap but our choices of favorite tracks are almost always considerably different. Most of this is classic, of course, but, as is often the case, you and I disagree substantially on what the best tracks from, say, 1964 are (I'm absolutely mystified as to how "Please Let Me Wonder," "Kiss Me Baby," or "In the Back of My Mind" wouldn't be on a mix of this type, let alone "Dance, Dance, Dance," "Your Summer Dream" or "Hawaii"). I'd personally forego "409," "Surfin' Safari,"
Be True to Your School," and their near-execrable covers of "Louie Louie" and "Then I Kissed Her," as well. But hey, it's *your* mix, my friend, not mine....
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Mark Petruccelli
Date: 7/18/2007
Unbeleivable run. I'm just building my Beach Boys collection (had Endless Summer and Spirit of America on Vinyl, which pretty much got me through the 70s). Excellent installment.
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sphere
Date: 7/18/2007
A flawless mix... looking forward to the coming volumes. I too recently recollected all their albums from 77 back but would be hard pressed to pick a collection like this.
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Sean Lally
Date: 7/18/2007
Yep - undeniable.
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Media Vixen: Radio Sally
Date: 7/18/2007
The Beach Boys are a tough one for me. Growing up in California meant I was subject to the myths they created/propagandized, which wasn't as much fun as you might think. Which is not to say that I didn't like them. Ambivalence, I guess. Notwithstanding the reference to god, God Only Knows gets me EVERYTIME. Ditto, WOULDN'T IT BE NICE? This is excellent work.
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Mike Eternity
Date: 7/18/2007
How did "Farmer's Daughter" get on here? Not saying it's a bad choice but was it really popular? I still got a lot to learn about the band, I guess, even though I've been a big fan since birth, practically. But I only own 2 albums so far, so I'm looking forward to your next 2 comps here as primers for their later phases. True they weren't as clever as The Beatles, but their timelessness is still based on many impressive factors. This is a great first mix, although like Rob I might find substitutes for "409" (that one always bugged, imo) and "Then I Kissed Her" (which I don't find execrable, but do think would've at least been less annoying without the gender switch), but I wouldn't dare argue with a Single Artist mix as strong and necessary (despite the deluge of Beach Boys hits CDs over the years, there's still that impression that the band is underrated because it's only their biggest hits being repackaged over and over again, whereas it's clear you've put serious personal thought into these) as this.
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Mike Eternity
Date: 7/18/2007
P.S. I actually quite like "Farmer's Daughter", sorry if I gave the wrong impression. And I love the simple but highly effective cover art you got there
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doowad
Date: 7/20/2007
Perfect concept and execution
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Mixxer
Date: 7/20/2007
Yup, I can hum along with most of these. I agree it is amazing when you think about it. Time to catch a wave, man.