Beach Boys best
This CD opens with the classic Beach Boys song, "California Girls". It is the song that the group usually opens their live concerts with. Very cool. All their good songs are in this CD. Highly recommended.

Taking You Back In Time When The Beach Boys Were "Surfin' USA" and Having "Fun, Fun, Fun"
"The thirty splendid tracks on 'Sounds of Summer - The Very Best of the Beach Boys' vividly dramatize that legendary band's ability to evoke a vision of California as shimmering, rich and all-encompassing as the state itself...The Beach Boys had not simply defined their own sound, but they themselves had become one of the most significant musical forces on the scene." ~ Anthony DeCurtis ~

How could this collection be the very best of the Beach Boys without my all-time favorite "The Warmth of the Sun?" I was going to give it a four-star-rating due to the exclusion of that beautiful song, but on second thought -- with a set of thirty of their hit songs that are included in this collection, I believe it is arguably a five-star-material.

In my teen-aged years, I have loved the delightful and fun music of the Beach Boys. I was very impressed how their voices blended flawlessly into choir-like harmonies. With their combined talents and creativity, they composed and arranged their own songs. I never fail to listen to this compilation CD every once in a while whenever I want to turn back the hands of time and reminisce cherished memories of summers gone by. And this is also one of the CDs I listen to when I'm running on the treadmill as it is the perfect music that is so full of high spirit and energy.

I have seen one of the live concerts of the Beach Boys back in the Nineties. To me, it was one of the most exciting moments in my entire musical journey to have watched this outstanding group perform live before the eyes and ears of admiring and enthusiastic concert-goers.

This CD is not only meant to be listened to during summertime, but for all seasons through all the years. All the thirty tracks are fun to listen to, but my top twelve choices include the following.

1. Surfin' USA
2. California Girls
3. God Only Knows
4. Don't Worry Baby
5. Wouldn't It Be Nice
6. Do You Wanna Dance
7. Little Deuce Coupe
8. I Can Hear Music
9. Fun, Fun, Fun
10. In My Room
11. Surfer Girl
12. Kokomo

We're on the last leg of summer and in a few days, we'd all be saying...Goodbye Summer of 2008. "Wouldn't It Be Nice" to turn back the hands of time and listen once again to Brian Wilson, Carl Wilson, Dennis Wilson, Mike Love, Al Jardine, Bruce Johnson and David Marks collectively known as the famous Beach Boys? Relive the luscious sounds of the Sixties and enjoy the splendid sounds of summer with this highly recommended CD. A delightful listen.

"That beautiful season, the Summer!
Filled was the air with a dreamy and magical light
and the landscape lay as if new created
In all the freshness of childhood." ~ Henry Wadsworth Longfellow ~

Sing Along Time
Cool music of the days gone bye...great music for sing along while doing the boring exercise just pass'in the treadmill time away. Yes, singing on the treadmill in one's mind's eye...

Great songs
If you are a fan of the Beach Boys but not enough of a fan to own all of their albums, then this one is for you. It has alot of their best hits. I enjoy the whole album and it always cheers me up when I listen to it. Very upbeat and fun.

The Teenage Declaration of Independence
Sounds of Summer, yes! Year-round summer is what California has always represented to the rest of the USA. The Beach Boys sang the surfer lifestyle into American and world consciousness, and doing so declared California's musical and cultural independence from the East Coast. The Beach Boys also sang the independence of teenagers of the Baby Boom, with cars and purchasing power, from their parents' generation of frugal, anxious conformists shaped by the Great Depression. They sang the primacy of summer and outdoor life over the stuffy classroom and grimy workplace. There's not a word of piety or propriety in any of Brian Wilson's songs; the Beach Boys were prophets of a life style free of shibboleths, in a world of sun-tanned smiles and endless summer. How could anyone not be thrilled by such a prospect?

Musically, the Beach Boys were tight, driving, innovative, the best dance music ever, and they never went noir on us, never wallowed, never whined. You might say they never grew up, they lived in a false paradise of surf boards and bikinis, but I'd say 'more power to 'em'. The Miwok Indians of California used to believe that dancing kept the world in balance, and if the dancing stopped, catastrophes would erupt. The Beach Boys kept the world dancing, at least for a few decades.

This is a great, ample, well-engineered collection of the Beach Boys' greatest songs from their golden times. I doubt we'll ever hear their like.