1. "Friends" (Promo, Early 1968), 2-3. "Do It Again" & "Good Vibrations" (Ed Sullivan Show,October 13, 1968), 4. 1968 German Tour Film, 5. "I Can Hear Music" (New Promo), 6. "I Can Hear Music" (Original Capitol Promo), 7-9. "California Girls", "Do It Again", "Bluebirds Over The Mountain" (German Beat Club Performances, December 12, 1968), 10.  ("Twien", Amsterdam TV Performances December 14, 1968) "Do It Again", "Friends", "California Girls", "Darlin", "Wouldn't It Be Nice", "Sloop John B", "Good Vibrations", "God Only Knows", "Barbara Ann",  11. "California Girls" (Kraft Music Hall, February 16, 1969 - Introduced by Don Adams and Don Rickles), 12-13. "I Can Hear Music", "Never Learn Not To Love" (The Mike Douglas Show, April 1, 1969), 14-15. "Break Away", "Surfin' USA" (German Beat Club, June 3, 1969), 16. ("Die Raiders En Die Beach Boys", Amsterdam TV Performances - June 30, 1969) "Good Vibrations", "Break Away", "I Can Hear Music", "Cottenfields", 17-18. "Break Away", "Celebrate The News" (The Mike Douglas Show" - July 8, 1969), 19. "Break Away" (The David Frost Show - July 30, 1969)

A nicely produced and assembled compilation of late 60's TV performances, mostly, with a few Promotional Films thrown in for era "completeness".

Hang Ten Media procured the best of sources that could be sought out regarding these pieces of footage/performances.   The vast majority of which are crisp and clear in video and virtually stellar audio throughout.  The oddity and probably the rarest segments of the compilation is the 1968 European Tour Film, shared here for the first time on DVD if I'm not mistaken.  And it's no wonder this hasn't been a widely shared or circulated film, much less released!  It is a very typical mini-documentary for the time, this- their '68 European excursion and showing the band land in London, a photo session, rehearsing, getting dressed, etc.  But also, each member of the band is featured in a brief personal segment which is pretty silly really.  The most interesting moment on the disc is the second part of the first Mike Douglas Show appearances on from April 1st, 1969 where the band plays a revamped version of a tune called "Never Learn Not To Love", written by convicted Mass Murderer Charles Manson!  (Wouldn't you like to hear a first-hand story about how they came by this one?) Here, it's Dennis Wilson taking over the lead vocals and Carl Wilson filling in on Drums for a very live performance and it's pretty cool really.  These American TV appearances really stick out as they are the only  segments in which the band is usually playing live, or with live vocals over a recorded backing track.  The rest just feels like novelty.  The Amsterdam "Twien" show segment is an excellent black & white affair but suffers in tolerance due to the running timer and a menu of information naming the artist, "Not For Broadcast" and other copy over the center of the video.  I could only take that for so long.

Collector's will appreciate the quality of assemblance Hang Ten has provided on this DVD, labeled as Volume 2 in what they call "The Beach Boys Video Archive", but it should be highlighted that there isn't a Volume 1 -yet.  The order of releases will not be sequential and in fact may just meander through the order of volumes, which will no doubt throw many people off and have them seeking the missing pieces.  While the disc gets high marks all around in terms of quality, as happens with these era-themed projects - the actual experience can suffer from extreme repetition.  It doesn't matter how much you love a performer, you will get bored with repeated run throughs of the same tune or tunes.  In this case "Friends" burns out fast!...along with "Do It Again" and "I Can Hear Music".  You have been notified up front!  I found the whole thing quite enjoyable in smaller doses and if you are Beach Boys fanatic - you'll have the luxury of high quality dosage at any level.

The menus are basic but effectively produced for the presentation using period photography and lively colors.  What they do is exude the mood of the period.  Nicely done.  A very nice release and it will be much more effective when there are several volumes to put along with it.  But a fantastic first piece to the series, keeping in mind it's Volume 2!