Little Deuce Coupe/All Summer [Original recording remastered, Best of]

That aside, some of the car songs are just too weak to stand up on their own. "Ballad of Ol' Betsy" features lovely harmonies (Betsy, by the way, is a 30-year-old car that's about to collapse), and "Be True to Your School" broke out of the genre and gained a longer life. But swamped in car jargon, the Boys just lost me on this one.

Meanwhile, "All Summer Long" features the fabulous "I Get Around," the memory "All Summer Long" (which was included in the film "American Graffiti," even though the song wasn't recorded until after the film took place), and the lover's lament "Wendy." Too bad it also includes some weak lyrics ("Drive-In," "Do You Remember") that already point toward the Boys' penchant toward nostalgia (in 1964?), as well as the filler piece "Our Favorite Recording Sessions" (false starts, bad harmony notes, etc.).

Still, give Brian Wilson some credit -- he managed to put some pretty good music out while touring at a breakneck pace. It's hard to have sympathy for artists who take three to five years between albums when Wilson put together a new LP every four to six months. And please note the rating is relative to other Beach Boys albums of the era (and is dragged down by "Little Deuce Coupe") -- they were still way ahead of virtually everybody else at this point.

Bonus tracks include "All Dressed Up for School," recorded in 1964 but never issued, and alternate versions of "Be True to Your School" (the more familiar version with the cheerleaders), "Little Honda," and "Don't Back Down."

"I Get Around" was the Beach Boys' first #1 hit in the U.S., but the other songs here are equally breathtaking -- like "Little Honda" and "Hushabye", two of the more overlooked tunes in the Beach Boys' catalogue.

The vocals on "Hushabye" are classic Brian Wilson. If you listen to this song with headphones, it's guaranteed to get those goose bumps at strict attention. The same goes for "Little Honda" -- if you can get past the lyrics.

Truly, there isn't a bad cut on "All Summer Long", and it is the first Beach Boys album that established the group as a worthy pop rival to the Fab Four. The classic rivalry continued until the unfortunate demise of "Smile" -- and with it the Beach Boys' careers.

As for "Little Deuce Coupe", it's a fine album and a worthy successor to "Surfer Girl". "Cherry Cherry Coupe", "Ballad of Ol' Betsy", and "Custom Machine" are all fantastic. But "All Summer Long" is the seed that would flower into "Today" -- and eventually "Pet Sounds".

What I would like to add is a comment on the great liner notes, nine pages which include a track by track commentary, all written in 1990 by David Leaf, author of the Brian Wilson biography The Beach Boys And The California Myth. The insert also contains a complete discography of the contents, along with numerous photographs and album/45 rpm/poster reproductions.

Easily one of the better Beach Boys compilations still on the market.