******
- Verified Buyer
In late 1965, Brian Wilson was preparing material for what would become the PET SOUNDS album. He also released the experimental single "The Little Girl I Once Knew," but Capitol Records demanded a new Beach Boys album for the Christmas buying season. Since Brian was determined not to rush his new album, the group had already released live and Christmas albums the year before, and a best-of collection was ruled out because it would have signaled the end of The Beach Boys' career, it was decided to record a live-in-the-studio album with a party atmosphere (though the music was recorded informally at Western Studios on acoustic instruments, with the "party" sounds overdubbed later). Thus, BEACH BOYS' PARTY was born. It was a Top Ten album in late 1965, produced the hit single "Barbara Ann," and two B-sides: "There's No Other (Like My Baby)" was the B-side of "The Little Girl I Once Knew," and "Devoted To You" was the B-side of the Brother Records single "Gettin' Hungry," which was credited to "Brian and Mike."The album also includes three Beatle covers - "I Should Have Known Better," "Tell Me Why," and "You've Got To Hide Your Love Away," along with a comedy medley of "I Get Around" and "Little Deuce Coupe," and several other classics from the '50s and '60s. It was originally released as a "two-fer" CD (Party / Stack-O-Tracks) in 1990, 1997 (Canadian import), and 2001, and as an individual mono CD in 1994.The 2012 reissue of BEACH BOYS' PARTY not only contains the original mono mix of the album, but also the first-ever true stereo mix, and it is fantastic - the best-sounding of all The Beach Boys' reissues. In addition, the annoying scraping sound that appears after the first line of "Barbara Ann" on previous CD issues has finally been removed (thanks, Mark Linett). Although this is not The Beach Boys' best work, it is a lot of fun, and I recommend this new disc above all of the others (although I would keep the "two-fer," if you have it, for STACK-O-TRACKS).
