Beach Boys Albums

i have recently come to my senses and fallen in love with pet sounds.
which other beach boys albums are worth aiming my ear towards?

http://www.ilxor.com/ILX/Pages/Search/search.jsp

The Today/Summer Days, Summer Nights twofer is the closest to Pet Sounds at a distant 2nd.

Brian Wilson's Smile is the next in line after Pet Sounds, but brace yourself, it's not the beautiful, melancholic piece that Pet Sounds is. It is heavily orchestrated and sweeping though.

Friends & 20/20 twofer is the superb post-Pet Sounds easy listening purchase.

The Smiley Smile/Wild Honey twofer is the post-Pet Sounds weirdo freakout purchase.

The Sunflower/Surf's Up twofer, followed by the Holland/So Tough twofer are the purchases you make when you're a devoted fan. These do pay off.

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Does anyone know the details of the new stereo mixes?

Some songs that have previously only been available on mono (or just with stereo instrumental tracks because of overdubs) are now available in stereo on the new remasters, but even though they are obviously stereophonic, the mix on some of these tracks seems considerably more narrow than on the others. One example here is "I Get Around", which has previously only been available in mono. The new version is clearly stereo, and even including the vocals in stereo so it's not just the stereo instrumental and mono master that have been mised together.

Same about "Good Vibrations". The song has been available in stereo mixes done by stereo enthusiasts earlier on, but those mixes have only had the backing track in stereo whereas the vocals have all been monaural and mixed in the middle. Now there is also some stereo in the vocals, but just some (like the vocals in the main chorus are all mono, for instance, like they are on most of their 64-65 output).

I also notice the single version of "Help Me Rhonda", which has been available in stereo versions earlier, but with just the backing track during the solo. Now the solo, which must have been an overdub, has been added. Maybe some technology that has arrived making it possible to "save" overdubs from the master?

Does anyone know anything about the background of this?

stereo mixes of beach boys songs are probably the least exciting thing that i could think of from this band.

The stereo Smiley Smile mix is a bit of a revelation, but Good Vibrations has had the vocals separated from the mono mix digitally. So it's a little messed.

Past stereo mixes have been a mixed bag, some sound incredible, some are sloppy and pointless. I'd much rather get mono digital releases of the early LPs but that's just me...

Well, they're on there too - listening to the early stuff is so good in mono, even on lesser records like Little Deuce Coupe

The new editions also contain the previously missing early mono versions.

Needless to say, I skip them completely, but they are there, and from a completist point of view, that is a good thing.

Well there's a new one -- a copyright extension comp like the Beatles one that came out today:

http://www.examiner.com/article/brian-wilson-s-the-big-beat-1963

http://www.amazon.com/The-Beat-1963-Various-artists/dp/B00H4R77YY

Interesting...

looks kinda good

yeah I'm a little curious. The other comp I have of BW productions (Pet Projects) is pretty great, lots of gems on there.

I love Pet Projects (search: "Thinkin' 'Bout My Baby" - Sharon Marie; "Guess I'm Dumb" - Glen Campbell), but this one seems to be designed to slip by unnoticed - the cover design gives no hint of its contents or significance. I wonder if we'll see an outpouring of collections of this sort in the next five years, given what a fertile and fabled era the mid-to-late '60s was in music.