Pumping: The Beach Boys — Sounds Of Summer: The Very Best Of

For folks under 40 there's always a certain sense of caution about The Beach Boys because a) in their current state they're a sad casino 'n' county fair act and b) everyone over 40 has always told us they're one of the best bands ever (which instantly causes mistrust).

All that unease aside, listening to 30 of their hits back-to-back is pretty fun. And yeah, their collected work, when distilled this way, is better than 99 per cent of the shit metal and poet-dorks-with-beards crap we get each day.

I guess what's going on here is that it's OK to believe the hype about The Beach Boys.