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1962年、ジョン、ポール、ジョージ、リンゴという4つの個性ビートルズが英国で正式にデビューを飾る約1年前、米国カリフォルニア産の驚異の才能ブライアン・ウィルソンを中心とした世紀のポップバンド、ビーチボーイズは既にデビューしていた。
海と車と女の子、カリフォルニアのぬけるような青い空と海をテーマにした、一聴してかなり能天気なサウンド。しかし聴けば聴くほど、涙が出るほどにせつないメロディーと透き通るほどに澄み切ったハーモニーの虜になるはずだ。ブライアンのイノセントでピュアな感性と、ソングライター、アレンジャー、プロデューサーとしての天才的な才能。それがもっとも輝いていた60年代の楽曲を中心に、ブライアン本人が選曲した19曲＋新録1曲、全20曲のタカラモノ。（高山武樹）
From Amazon.com
Just when you thought that the Beach Boys canon was complete, the band's mad genius, Brian Wilson, has taken it upon himself to compile his 20 favorite hits from his band's oeuvre, and believe me his favorites are as idiosyncratic as you might think. Fortunately for fans, Wilson has also chosen some of the band's best-beloved songs for this collection, including the deceptively simple but symphonically constructed "California Girls," the wistful "Surfer Girl," and the rowdy and harmlessly macho "I Get Around," as well as the band's artistic high-water mark, "Good Vibrations," all of which reminds fans once again what a sublime poet he is. Most of the Beach Boys' mindless hot-rod songs and surf anthems are absent; instead, Wilson has selected some of the band's more reflective and intelligent tunes, including the brooding "In My Room," the equally downcast "'Til I Die," and the melancholy "The Warmth of the Sun" (which, Wilson reveals in the brief accompanying notes, was written as a tribute to President John F. Kennedy on the night of his assassination). These strangely confessional notes are worth the price of the entire CD, shedding a brief light on some of the dark corners of Wilson's troubled life, as well as including warm remembrances and snatches of Beach Boys trivia--that "California Girls" is his favorite song, and that he considers the chord pattern on "This Whole World" to ramble. Also included in the collection is the recently recorded "California Feelin'," a song Wilson wrote in the early '70s but never was "officially" recorded. It gives an interesting trajectory to the disc, showing the changes in Wilson's voice and delivery and marking the psychic journey from Beach Boy to man.
--Jaan Uhelszki
