To call this set a "very best of" is laughable at best. Out of the 20 songs collected, only seven were actual hits, the rest being good to great cover material that was album ballast or B-sides. While hits like "Surf City," "Sidewalk Surfin'," "Ride the Wild Surf," and "Little Old Lady From Pasadena" are aboard, the set is padded out with filler like "Hang On Sloopy," "Norwegian Wood," "Memphis," a bad live version of "I Get Around," and even an instrumental used to fill up one of their old album sides. Early hits like "Linda" and "Heart and Soul" help to fill out the set and their version of "Surfin' Safari" (with backing from
the Beach Boys) is a nice bonus, but this is a long way from the best or a very best. Nice clean transfers, but for completists only. ~ Cub Koda