The Beach Boys was an American success story until the release of the masterpiece “Pet Sounds” in 1966. After that, Brian Wilson completely collapsed, resulting in the recordings of the sequel “Smile” could not be completed but put on the shelf. That it has become one of the most talked about and mythical cult albums of all time, and that it was reconstructed in 2004 by Wilson and other musicians, is a story that goes hand in hand with the fact that Beach Boys as a group lost both popularity and relevance without the dominant musical genius at the helm .
The box with five CDs that has now been released, dedicated to the albums “Sunflower” (1970) and “Surf’s up” (1971), is part of what can be called a restoration of the group’s production after “Pet sounds”, with the only sporadically present Wilson. It follows re-releases of “Wild Honey”, “Friends” and “20/20” and is just like these an almost over-ambitious nerdy documentation of the recordings, including unreleased songs (which of course existed as bootlegs), alternative versions and mixes and recordings with either only vocals or only instrument instruments. Great for us fanatics, premium for those moderately interested.
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