Steve's Beach Boys Razor & Tie vs The New HDCD 2fers

[Michael]

Has anyone compared the newer Capitol HDCD Beach Boys 2fers with Steve's 40 cut Razor & Tie Compilation? I thought The DCC Endless Summer was much better than the Original 2fers from the early 90's. Curious as I do not own either yet. Any help much appreciated!

[Grant]

All I have is are the "Pet Sounds" box and the recent mono Capitol Greatest Hits volumes 1&2. I like the sound and the fact that the greatest hits CDs are in mono. I have heard the "Smiley Smile"/"Wild Honey" two-fer and I was impressed.

I have been looking to expand my Beach Boys collection and don't know where to begin as the BB were not part of my personal history.

Any suggestions on what the essential album titles are?

[PsychFan]

Grant,

If you want to go for actual albums as opposed to compilations, I would start with Pet Sounds and the Beach Boys Today! / Summer Days (and Summer Nights!!) two-fer. Today! is probably the strongest of their pre-Pet Sounds albums, with a fine selection of uptempo numbers and particularly strong ballads like "Please Let Me Wonder," "Kiss Me, Baby," and "She Knows Me Too Well." "Let Him Run Wild" from Summer Days is just as strong, and that album also had stronger uptempo material ("The Girl from New York City," "Girl Don't Tell Me," etc.).

Surfer Girl / Shut Down Vol. 2 is another very strong two-fer. If you enjoy the post Pet Sounds stuff as I do, definitely get both Smiley Smile / Wild Honey and Friends / 20-20. They're a little spotty but there's very strong material on both. From the post-Capitol period (after '69), the Sunflower / Surf's Up two-fer is also essential.

[lukpac]

Originally posted by Grant
All I have is are the "Good Vibrations Complete sessions" box and the recent mono Capitol Greatest Hits volumes 1&2. I like the sound and the fact that the greatest hits CDs are in mono.

Have you heard the stereo mixes?

Steve's CDs use the stereo mixes when available (as do the twofers) and sound great. I compared a few tracks on the Razor & Tie set to one of the twofers, and while the twofer wasn't bad, the R&T set was just that much better. VERY smooth sounding, very natural.

If you don't have any Beach Boys, the R&T set is the *perfect* place to start. Heck, even if you've got some already...

[Evan]

The Razor and Tie set is great and makes a wonderful gift also. No home should be without one :D

[PsychFan]

Forgive my ignorance on this, but I only became aware of the R&T set recently.

Are there Hoffman-mastered tracks here that are NOT on the three gold CDs Steve did for DCC? I have all of those, so I thought I had all the Hoffman-mastered Beach Boys material available. Am I wrong?

I'm a HUGE Beach Boys fanatic so I may NEED to get this set pronto ... Thanks.

[lukpac]

I'm not certain, but I don't think Little Saint Nick is on any of the DCC CDs.

[PsychFan]

Nope, it's not ... I guess the question is: Did Steve master the whole Razor & Tie set, or just selected tracks?

[Matt]

I think Little Saint Nick on the 40 Greatest Hits is the only place you'll find it the true stereo mix on CD (though the tape sounds pretty worn when you listen to it). I'm going by memory here, but I think Friends, Disney Girls, Kokomo, Sail on Sailer (EXCELLENT choice), and Rock & Roll Music are also on the 40 Greatest Hits and not the DCC titles. Do It Again is there, too; sounds much better than the Lp version they use on the box set, which apparently was a dub of the single with the sound effects "coda" added on the end.

It's only $25 or $30 for two discs, so it's a good deal. Personally, though, I would also get the box set and the "Today/Summer Nights..." two-fer someone mentioned, just because the latter is a really great two-fer, their two best albums outside of "Pet Sounds," and the former has the mono mixes of their hits. I have a slight preference for stereo sound, but with the Beach Boys singles, you really have to hear them in mono. "Catch A Wave," "Fun Fun Fun"...much better mixes in mono. "Wendy" in mono doesn't have that cough in the middle, too, though one may be used to that sort of thing (I can't imagine listening to "Pet Sounds" without some of that talking buried in the mix).

[PsychFan]

Just to make sure ... is this the Razor & Tie set?

http://www.ccmusic.com/item.cfm?itemid=RAZ92262

Thanks.

[btomarra]

Just to make sure ... is this the Razor & Tie set?

Jeff, Yes it is. It's terrific. It's just missing Breakaway but other than that the sound is awesome. Steve does it again!

Brian

:D

[PsychFan]

Thanks, I'm off to order one now ...

[Larry Naramore]

Originally posted by Evan
The Razor and Tie set is great and makes a wonderful gift also. No home should be without one :D
BTW my birthday is June 3rd :)

[Grant]

Originally posted by Jeff Partyka
[B]Grant,

If you want to go for actual albums as opposed to compilations, I would start with Pet Sounds

Sorry about that, Jeff. I did mean that I had the Pet Sounds box. It was late and should've been in bed. I changed the post to reflect that. Thanks.

[PsychFan]

No prob. I was actually going to ask you about that GV Sessions box ... ;)

[lukpac]

Originally posted by Jeff Partyka
Nope, it's not ... I guess the question is: Did Steve master the whole Razor & Tie set, or just selected tracks?

The whole thing...

[CM Wolff]

While the R&T is a good sampler, the newest twofers are probably the best way to cover the Beach Boys. As mentioned earlier in the thread, Pet Sounds, All Summer Long/Today!, Friends/20-20, and Surf's Up/Sunflower are definitely must-owns. While everyone has their favorite BB periods, once you are hooked on the richness and lushness of these albums, you will not go back to the early surfing/car songs very often. (To make the easy Beatles comparison, these mid-to-late period BB albums are equivalent to Rubber Soul/Revolver, which you of course wouldn't forsake for Please Please Me or just the red/blue compilations.)

[jligon]

Originally posted by Grant

I have been looking to expand my Beach Boys collection and don't know where to begin as the BB were not part of my personal history.
Any suggestions on what the essential album titles are?

Yes, you should investigate more than just Pet Sounds. Contrary to popular opinion, their early stuff (pre-side two of Beach Boys Today) is VERY great and incredibly inventive. I'm possibly the biggest Beatles fan off all time but I have to say, in retrospect, that I actually think that Brain was the most creative pop songwriter of the sixties (especially 1963-1966). Lennon had McCartney and vice versa. Brian had...well, some help with the lyrics here and there.

I was lucky enough to pick up every album from the 60s for .25 cents a piece when I was first discovering them and I quickly determined that I loved almost everything I heard. If I had to prioritize my favorite releases from the 60s (minus Pet Sounds), it would depend greatly on my mood at the time but would probably be something like this:

1. Beach Boys Today
2. Surfer Girl
3. All Summer Long
4. Surfin' Safari (vastly underrated as far as I'm concerned)
5. Friends
6. Smiley Smile
7. Little Deuce Coupe
8. Surfin' USA

Capitol has paired all of my favorite LPs with, what I consider to be, one of their lesser efforts, in almost every case. Therefore, I have virtually everything from the 60s whether I want it or not. Fortunately, every LP has at least some great songs and most Beach Boys fans wouldn't want to be without them. Unlike others, I cannot recommend 20/20 or Wild Honey. Some Folks consider these classics but there are only a few songs off of each that I can tolerate. Brian's interest had already evaporated by this point. I also think that Summer Days was a step backwards following the remarkable Beach Boys Today album.
Good luck and have fun!

[pigmode]

Just ordered mine. :) Where can the other Razor & Tie Steve-Titles be found?

[Mal]

Here's a link to an old thread on the Razor & Tie Beach Boys CD. It includes a list of the tracks not found on the DCC discs as well as various comments by Steve H and others.....

http://www.stevehoffman.tv/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1269&perpage=20&pagenumber=1