The goal of this comp was to present the best and most interesting tracks while also maximizing the listening experience by removing anything I felt got in the way and took me out of the moment. This is not a career spanning comprehensive collection though it does cover a good chunk of their output.
If you're looking for more, head on over to Paul's Albums That Should Exist blog. Shortly after I started working on this he posted two fine collections over there. There might be some overlap between mine and his but each of us took a different approach.
Side One
01 Wouldn't It Be Nice
02 She Knows Me Too Well
03 Surfer Girl
04 Farmer's Daughter
05 You Still Believe In Me
06 Girl From New York City
07 Catch A Wave
08 In My Room
09 Help Me Rhonda
10 Little Deuce Coupe
11 Be True To Your School
Side Two
01 Sloop John B
02 Good Vibrations
03 Fun Fun Fun
04 God Only Knows
05 California Girls
06 Loui Loui
07 Surfers Rule
08 Wonderful
Reality Notes
The Beach Boys have released several vocals only mixes in recent years including the entire Pet Sounds album. There are also many unofficial tracks to be found on various bootlegs. I have a three disc collection that gathers as many of these as possible that I no no longer recall where I found them.
That three disc boot sounds like a mix of vocals only mixes, reverse karaoke (OOPS, Out Of Phase) and what could be surround sound channel isolation tracks. The success rate for isolating the vocals is hit and miss so I went through them all and chose the best and most interesting to fill out this comp.
Once I had my tracklist I took each track and I trimmed and edited each one to remove or minimize any between vocal noise and pre/post song chatter and intros/outros. Even some of the cleanest mixes were tightened up by shortening any long quiet passages to make the listening experience smoother. Overall, eight of the nineteen tracks here recieved internal edits and most tracks had the beginnings and endings trimmed.
I included two songs that I found interesting but do not really fall in the same area as the rest. Good Vibrations features only the lead vocal and prominent jaw harp and sounds like an early take before the harmonies and final lead vocal were recorded. Wonderful, which closes the album, features an isolated overdub track full of strange sounds and noises and some background vocals. I thought it gave the album a nice fun ending.
The three disc bootleg did not have a cover when I found it so I made one for it. I reused that cover here.
Sources
Good Vibrations: 30 Years box set
Pet Sounds: A Cappela
Vocals Only (bootleg)
