| Sounds of Summer: The Very Best of The Beach Boys | |
| Type: | Greatest hits |
| Artist: | the Beach Boys |
| Cover: | SOSBBCover.jpg |
| Recorded: | 1962–1988 |
| Label: | Capitol |
| Prev Year: | 2002 |
| Next Title: | The Platinum Collection (Sounds of Summer Edition) |
| Next Year: | 2005 |
Sounds of Summer: The Very Best of the Beach Boys is a greatest hits album of the American rock band the Beach Boys, released on June 10, 2003 by Capitol Records. The original collection was the most comprehensive single-disc compilation of the band's music, with 30 tracks including nearly every U.S. Top 40 hit of their career, except for "The Little Girl I Once Knew" (1965) and "It's OK" (1976).
On June 17, 2022, foreshadowing the band's 60th anniversary celebration, Capitol released an expanded three-disc edition of the compilation, including newly-remastered (and, in some cases, remixed) versions of the classic tracks.[1]
Before Sounds of Summer: The Very Best of The Beach Boys, The Beach Boys had released compilations including Endless Summer (1974) and three Greatest Hits volumes: Volume 1: 20 Good Vibrations (1995), Volume 2: 20 More Good Vibrations (1999), and Volume Three: Best of the Brother Years 1970–1986 (2000). Sounds of Summer reached number 16 on the US charts (their highest peak since 15 Big Ones in 1976), and stayed for 104 weeks. Currently certified triple platinum, The Very Best of The Beach Boys: Sounds of Summer was re-issued with a DVD component in 2004 with the regular edition remaining available.
In 2007, a follow-up album, The Warmth of the Sun, was released which contains other songs that were not included on Sounds of Summer.
In 2011, Mike Love stated, "Sounds of Summer: The Very Best of The Beach Boys is fast approaching selling three million copies – if it's triple-platinum, which is, you know, pretty good. And by the time this 50th celebration is over, it'll probably be more than triple-platinum."[2]
The album was re-released on February 7, 2012 as the Celebration Merch Set which featured the original CD along with a T-shirt celebrating the band's 50th anniversary.[3]
A three-disc expanded edition of the compilation was released on June 17, 2022, as part of the band's 60th anniversary, and contains 50 additional (previously released) Beach Boys songs.[4] The reissue was curated by Mark Linett and Alan Boyd.[5]
The collection features 24 new mixes including two first-time stereo mixes, as well as 22 "new and improved" stereo mixes, based on a new digital stereo technology, allowing for a separation the original mono backing tracks for the first time.[6] The new edition is available on three CDs or six vinyl records. All tracks from the original Sounds of Summer album were included in a new Dolby Atmos remix on the expanded Sounds of Summer.
In a perfect review for the reissue, Lee Zimmerman of American Songwriter said the effect of "leaving the listener breathless while experiencing ... seamless harmonies" was intensified by the "new stereo mix and the addition of lesser-known tracks", concluding that the collection could "never be bested."[7] While Gillian G. Gaar of Goldmine did lament how a major expansion "undercuts Sounds of Summer’s original concept", she praised the new mixes, complementing the newfound freshness and clarity of the handclaps in "I Get Around" and the tambourine in "Help Me Rhonda" in particular. Gaar gave the reissue a score of four out of five stars.[8]
DVD: Sights of Summer
Weekly charts
Year-end charts
| Chart (2003) | Position | |
|---|---|---|
| US Billboard 200[9] | 137 | |
| Chart (2004) | Position | |
| US Billboard 200[10] | 89 | |
| Chart (2005) | Position | |
| US Billboard 200[11] | 193 | |
| Chart (2019) | Position | |
| US Billboard 200[12] | 183 | |
| Chart (2020) | Position | |
| US Billboard 200[13] | 136 | |
| Chart (2021) | Position | |
| US Billboard 200[14] | 138 | |
| Chart (2022) | Position | |
| US Billboard 200[15] | 143 |