Very Best of

I purchased this 2 CD set for my neighbor who grew up during this generation of music and he RAVED about it! It arrived literally in 2-3 days, delivered right to his door and surprised him by taking him back to the good old days. CD was really a great bargain for the price, thank you from my neighbor and I for making his day!!!

I purchased this CD hoping to find a version of "Linda" that didn't have the studio chat intro; no such luck. This CD has the same chatter as another greatest hits CD I purchased. I think the only way to get the actual 45 release version is to buy the two-disc set of Liberty Singles release; if the price ever drops! Anyway, I also wanted "Heart and Soul" and that's a great version. "Hang on Sloopy" is pretty good, except, again, too much studio chatter and lame humor about flies and butts inside the track. For me, that ruined the cut, but the original by the McCoys is better anyway. I like Jan and Dean and saw them live once, later in their career at a county fair. Like most CD's, there are some throw away cuts here, but by and large, if you can't find the songs elsewhere, this is worth the money; especially if you can find it in good, used condition.

Jan Barry and Dean Torrence met at University High School in West Los Angeles during the mid-1950s and by June 1958 broke in the national Top 10 chart as Jan and Arnie with their single "Jennie Lee." The following year as Jan and Dean, they again entered the Top 10 chart with "Baby Talk" which inspired Brian Wilson to write "Surfin" which became the first hit from the Beachboys.Jan and Brian Wilson during the winter of 1963 wrote "Drag City." Jan produced the song with a group of session musicians which included Glen Campbell.Jan and Dean more than the Beachboys were the early heralders of the Southern California lifestyle and were the seminal messengers of the idyllic sun, fun and cars lifestyle. This is a great album which features more than the hits and includes songs that later became hits for groups such as the Beatles, Four Seasons, Beachboys, and the McCoys. More than Surf City, this is Southern California in the late 50s and early 60s. Enjoy.

I hate these cardboard cd holders ,when are they going back to the jewel cases

This CD has all the important recordings of Jan & Dean(and Arnie) before Surf City. These are the songs that influenced the Beach Boys before they made hits. In fact, these recordings also influenced several other artists to come out of the West Coast. Before Jan and Arnie and Jan & Dean, most of the music came from the East Coast. Great CD!

Most of the songs I have never heard.

This CD rocks like when these songs were new and blazing away on everyone's transitor radios (you do remember that was when transitor radios were as fascinating as cell phones are now?) Jan and Dean takes you on a wonderful trip back to a time when it seemed the sun was always shinning, the surf was always perfect and no one dare to say they didn't surf....except me, I don't even swim!

Having been a teenager when this part performed I was delighted that some of the hits were included but the majority of the ongs were either recrding that had been hits for other artists and then perform by Jan and Dean or perhaps "B" sides of their singles. So if you are a fan and enjoy the sound that perhaps this is for you.

身もふたもない言い方かも知れないが、日本でジャンとディーンと言うとほぼ"サーフ・シティ"と"パサディナのおばあちゃん"の２曲のみで覚えられていると言ってもいいわけで、この２曲さえ押さえておけばベスト盤として認知される。実際、アーティスト単体のベスト盤と言うよりも、ビーチ・ボーイズやベンチャーズ、アストロノウツなどと一緒にサーフィンものの編集盤に入っている方が収まりがいいグループなのかも知れない。ビーチ・ボーイズを聴いていると、なんともれなく、おまけでジャンとディーンが付いて来る！みたいな。しかし、(マニアの人には釈迦に説法だが)実は彼等のデビューは1958年とビーチ・ボーイズよりも早く、ブライアン・ウィルソンに"サーフ・シティ"を提供してもらう前にも、"ベイビー・トーク"や"ハート・アンド・ソウル"などのヒットを本国アメリカで放っていたのである。本盤はその頃の音源をまとめたものであり、音楽的なリーダーであるジャン・ベリーのソロ曲や、ディーン・トーレスが兵役についていた間、言わば第３のメンバーであるアーニー・ギンズバーグとジャンの連名で発表した楽曲も収録されている。サーフ・ミュージックで一代を築く前のドゥーワップ時代の彼等を堪能できる２枚組なのだ。この頃の音源で構成されたCDは他にもあるが、１曲あたりの値段の安さは圧倒的である。とは言え、日本のかつてのエレキ少年の視点で編まれた作品でないのも明らかだ(英国編集)。先述の２曲が目的なら、他に選択肢はいくらでもある。素直にキャピトル/EMI盤の中から選ぶべきだと思う。が、これもまた彼等の栄光が詰まったご機嫌なアルバムなのだ。ビーチ・ボーイズの盟友というパブリック・イメージにとどまらない、彼等の違った一面を聴いてみたい人にお勧めである。

This LP ( CD ) Contains Most Of The Duo's Output From LIBERTY Records That Charted.One Day, I Would Like To See A Compilation Of Much Of Their Charters For Other Imprints ( Not Re-Recorded ) Such As Marty Melcher's ARWIN Label ( With Arnold P. " Arnie " Ginsburg As Jan & Arnie ) As Well As Lou Bedell's DORE Label, Up To Joe Johnson's CHALLENGE Imprint ( Initially Launched By Gene Autry )William Jan Berry Lived In Bel Air ( 1111 Linda Flora Drive ) And Had A Garage With Two Ampex Machines And A Piano, Provided By His Father. Jan Would Later Own His Own Home Nearby.Joe Allison Of LIBERTY Records:" Even Though Jan Lived Up In Bel Air, He Went To University High, Was In A Club Calleds The Barons And Started A Group With That Name "" He Knew A Bunch Of Guys That Were Into Music Like Sandy ( Sander ) Nelson And Bruce Johnston And Even Brian Wilson Who Lived Down In Hawthorne "" That Garage Was A Crude Studio By Today's Standards, But I Ask You, What Kid Had Two Ampex Recorders ? "" He'd Have Some Guy Beating On A Trash Can For Percussion And That's How It Started "" Jan Knew Where To Go And What To Do And Took A Tape To One Of The Outfits In Town That Did Acetates, And A Guy Named Joe Lubin Overheard One Of Those Raw Demo Conversions And Got Together With Jan, Polished The Track Up With Better Instrumentation And Put The Thing Out, It Was " Jenny-Lee " ( ARWIN # 108 )That Was With Jan & Arnie. The Duo Was Part Of A Roster Of Artists That Played The Very First Rock 'N' Roll Concert At The Hollywood Bowl In August 1958 ( Jan Would Appear There Again With Dean In 1959 )Joe Allison: " The Boys ( Jan And Arnie ) Went Out On Tour And Even Were On A Sam Cooke Junket Up North "" That's How Jan Met Herb Alpert And Lou Adler Who Were Working For KEEN " ( Records )" Arnie Saw A Lort Of Stuff He Didn't Condone Like Drug Use , So He Opted Out "" It Was A Year Later That Adler And Alpert Took Jan And Dean To DORE And Did Their LP With Them "" Baby Talk " ( DORE # 522 )Was One Of The Biggest Hits For DORE. The LP ( DORE # 101 ) Did Well In California.Joe Allison: " You See, ARWIN Had Been Nationally Distributed By DOT That Lubin Had Arranged, But Because Of All Of These Commitments To The Army Reserves By Both Arnie And Dean, DOT Got Nervous And Pulled Out "" So After " Gas Money " ( ARWIN # 111 ) Jan Tells Joe That He Feels ARWIN Isn't Doing Enough And He's Leaving "" They Bounced Around A Bit, DORE And CHALLENGE And Then They Came To Us " ( LIBERTY Records )Dean ( Ormsby ) Torrence Became The Other Half Of The Duo On A Perminent Basis.He Owns Kittyhawk Graphics And Designed The Logos For The Boys MAGIC LAMP* RIPPLE And J&D Labels.( Bassist Joe Osborn Stated That It Was His Money That Financed MAGIC LAMP )In Addition, Dean Designed LP Covers For Acts Such As Chicago ( Transit Authority ) And The Turtles Among The Many.After Splitting From Jan, Arnie Did One Record For ARWIN As A Member Of The Rituals. ( The Group Recorded Three )Arnie Went On To Further His Education Eventually Acting As An Information Officer For The U.S. Goverment In Russia.( In 1962, I Saw Arnie Sitting Atop A Bus Stop Bench At Santa Monica City College )" Dean Was Always Cool, But Jan Seemed To Be A Pretty Spoiled Kid, With Tantrums And All If Things Didn't Go His Way, But That's Pretty Common In This Business "" Unlike Arnie And Dean, Jan Never Signed Up For The Military ( Reserves ) So He Really Got Upset When He Got His Induction Notice To Go For His Physical "" That's What Did It, He Was Haulin' In His 'Vette All Heated Up After Getting His Letter And He Was Going To His Local Draft Board And Bang! Right Into A Parked Truck "" The First News We had Was That He Was Dead, He Looked It, That Was In April, 1966 "" It Would have Been In Bad Taste To Re-Release " Dead Man;s Curve " But Other ( Record ) Companies Tried To Encourage Us To Do It "Jan Berry Passed Away On 26-March-2004 After A Seizure Directly Attributed To His Car Accident Years Before.Martin Melcher: 20-April-1968 Launched ARWIN Productions With Then-Wife Doris Day ( Kopplehoff )Joe Osborn: 14-December-2018 Well-Known Session Musician. One-Time Member Of The Wrecking Crew.Gene Autry ( Orven Grover ) 02-October-1998 Singing-Cowboy Made Good. Multi-Millionaire.Joe Johnson: Reportedly Still Alive In Nashville. One Time A&R Director At COLUMBIA. Co-Founded CHALLENGE Records. Later Director Of FOUR-STAR Records ( Once Owned By Bill McCall )Even San Diego's Hit-Making Cascades Recorded Briefly For ARWIN , After Their Hits With VALIANT RecordsMany Thanks To Joe Allison, Mary Johnson, John Gunmoe Of The Cascades, And The Hollywood Phantom

Nice collection, and very good value for a 20 track cd, i only gave this four stars because there are some track i would never like to hear again.

At last a Jan and Dean album with the ORIGINAL recordings, last one I bought had a terrible re-recorded version of "The little old lady from Pasadena" on it, this compilation is great.

Love the surfer sound, the influences of beach boys and finding out that some of them sang on the singles, class