Beach Boys’ 60th Anniversary Celebrations To Launch With Expanded ‘Sounds Of Summer’

A year-long celebration of the Beach Boys’ 60th anniversary will be launched in June by UMe. The campaign will include new music releases, official new music videos for classic songs, immersive Dolby Atmos mixes, and more. It begins with Capitol/UMe’s June 17 release of a newly remastered and expanded edition of the group’s career-spanning greatest hits collection, Sounds Of Summer: The Very Best Of The Beach Boys.

The album was first released in 2003, when it reached the US Top 20 and was on the Billboard 200 chart for exactly two years. on the chart for 104 weeks. It was certified platinum in 2004, double platinum in 2005, and triple in 2012. It will now feature a vastly expanded tracklist and improved audio quality.

The original 30-track retrospective will be augmented with another 50 beloved songs for a total of 80 tracks, embracing the Beach Boys’ earliest hits and fan favorite deeper cuts, spanning their 1962 debut LP Surfin’ Safari to 1989’s Still Cruisin’. The group’s total worldwide sales now stand at over 100 million records. The collection is previewed today with the new stereo mix of “Good Vibrations,” now streaming and available for immediate download.

The Beach Boys say in a statement: “It’s hard to believe it’s been 60 years since we signed to Capitol Records and released our first album, Surfin’ Safari. We were just kids in 1962 and could have never dreamed about where our music would take us, that it would have such a big impact on the world, still be loved, and continue to be discovered by generation after generation. This is a huge milestone that we’re all very honored to have achieved. And to our incredible fans, forever and new, we look forward to sharing even more throughout the year.”

UMe president & CEO Bruce Resnikoff says: “The Beach Boys have created some of the most iconic and beloved music of all time. An indelible and important part of America’s cultural fabric, their timeless music has been a ubiquitous soundtrack for generations and continues to influence, inspire, and delight. We at UMe remain honored to further the Beach Boys’ legendary catalog and look forward to celebrating them all year long along with their millions of fans around the world.”

Sounds Of Summer has been assembled by Mark Linett and Alan Boyd, the team behind 2013’s Grammy-winning SMiLE Sessions and last year’s acclaimed Feel Flows – The Sunflower and Surf’s Up Sessions 1969-1971. The upcoming set includes nearly every US Top 40 hit of the group’s career, including “California Girls,” “I Get Around,” “Surfer Girl,” “Surfin’ U.S.A.,” “Fun, Fun, Fun,” “God Only Knows,” “Good Vibrations,” “Be True To Your School,” “Wouldn’t It Be Nice,” “Kokomo,” “Barbara Ann,” “Help Me, Rhonda,” “In My Room,” and many more.

The 50 additional tracks are a broad mix from the Beach Boys’ wide-ranging catalog, such as “All Summer Long,” “Disney Girls,” “Forever,” “Feel Flows,” “Friends,” “Roll Plymouth Rock,” “Sail on Sailor,” “Surf’s Up,” and “Wind Chimes.”

There are 24 new mixes in the set including two in stereo for the first time, plus 22 new, improved stereo mixes. Some feature the latest digital stereo extraction technology, so that the team were able to separate the original mono backing tracks for the first time.

The expanded Sounds Of Summer will be available digitally, in a 3CD softpack, and as a Super Deluxe Edition 6LP vinyl boxed set on 180 gram black vinyl. The latter comes in both a standard set and a numbered, limited edition version featuring a rainbow foil slipcase and four collectible lithographs. Both will feature color printed sleeves replicating the original “Capitol Catalog” sleeves that highlight the entire Beach Boys discography.

All of the formats will include a booklet with new liner notes and updated photos. The original 30-track edition will also be available in newly remastered and upgraded form on single CD, double gatefold LP on standard weight vinyl, or as a higher-end limited edition numbered version pressed on 180 gram vinyl with a tip-on jacket and a lithograph.

All 30 tracks on disc 1 of Sounds Of Summer have been mixed in immersive Dolby Atmos. This follows the release for the past holiday season of the group’s Christmas Album mixed in spatial audio, and continues the initiative to present their catalog in the new, enveloping audio format.

The Beach Boys’ music will also be featured in several innovative official new music videos now in the works, as well as a collection of lyric videos and visualizers.

The next phase of the celebrations will feature Capitol/UMe’s release in the fall of two less celebrated but pivotal albums, 1972’s Carl and the Passions – “So Tough” and 1973’s Holland. The surviving Beach Boys are also participating in a feature-length documentary now being made, as well as a tribute special, exhibitions and events, brand partnerships, and much more.

Pre-order Sounds Of Summer: The Very Best Of The Beach Boys – Expanded Edition, which is released on June 17.