Old fart checking in. The surf rock sound of the BBs started in 1962. Both groups had a very basic sound at first. However, the harmony of the BBs was and remained light years ahead of the Bs. The Bs had three average singers, with average voices singing in unison. The BBs harmony was true four part harmony. It was crisp and tight. Except for Mike Love, the rest of the group were actually very good singers. The three Wilson brothers are remarkable on "In My Room."

I started surfing the Gulf Coast in1963-4. In a junior jiver sense it was great fun to listen to the early surfing and car songs that the BBs produced. However, in 1964, with "Don't Worry Baby" the BBs raised the bar for all groups. The Association would be the only group that ever came close in harmonies. The great surfing songs, like Farmer's Daughter, Surfer Moon, Hawaii, Wendy and Don't Back Down we're still with us but, that was pretty much the end of their Surf Rock period.

1965, one year before Pet Sounds, the BBs moved up to Kiss Me, Help me Rhonda, Let him run Wild, and a personal favorite Please let me Wonder. The next year produced Pet Sounds, the greatest album ever by any standard.

I was still in high school with the British Invasion. Initially, the Bs had more to do with mop haircuts and Pierre Cardin suits than the actual songs. If you compare records side by side, the American sound engineers were better. Still I liked the Bs, they just did not have the harmony. It has been mentioned that the Bs played their instruments in the studio and the BBs did not. The reason was the BBs emphasis on getting the harmonies absolutely correct.

Even my children have admitted that my generation had the best music. Motown was turning out great groups with wonderful sounds. But now in the twilight of my years, if I want the comfort of an old song, it is almost always a BBs song. The Bs were great. For some reason, and I was listening to both on my car radio with the reverb turned up, most of my fondest memories are connected to a Beach Boys song.