CDs of the week: The Beach Boys, Dusty Springfield and The Who

Smile is an infamous collection of songs that (along with large quantities of LSD) broke its composer in 1967. Now Brian Wilson is a successful, if shaky, touring musician who remade the complete album with his current band in 2004. So as the real Smile recordings finally get their first official release, with the original cartoon cover on either a two-CD set for around £12 or a CD and vinyl 140-track magnum opus for around £120, much of that darkness is replaced by a happy ending.

Although you'll never hear a spookier version of You are My Sunshine, and Surf's Up still carries a bruised beauty, what emerges when the tracks are arranged in the intended order on the first disc is a thing of joy and considerable silliness.

There's the song about Vega-Tables and the cry of "You're under arrest!" in Heroes and Villains, while even Mrs O'Leary's Cow, otherwise known as the infamous Fire suite, sounds like a child's idea of scary. Meanwhile, Good Vibrations remains one of the most magical pieces of music ever conceived - it's impossible to hear too much of it broken down into its constituent parts on the extra discs.

The Sessions majorly improve on the Smile recorded by Wilson with The Wondermints thanks to unsurpassable harmonies from the real Beach Boys in their prime. At last you can play it next to Sergeant Pepper or Pet Sounds and play the What-Might-Have-Been game, or just play it for itself and gasp at pop genius being pushed to its limits.
DAVID SMYTH

VARIOUS ARTISTS
The First Rock and Roll Record
(Famous Flames)
****

We all have our theories about the first rock 'n' roll record. I say that as a man of a certain age, being well aware that rock 'n' roll is not exactly a type of music that trips off the modern tongue. Be that as it may, everything that happens now was as a result of this musical tumult, in the same way that The Beatles, Led Zeppelin and the Rolling Stones took inspiration from a simmering stew of influences that coalesced to make rock music: country, R&B, blues, swing, ragtime, gospel.

This is a delirious collection of 50 years of 20th century music, starting with the scratchy Camp Fire Jubilee (1916) and ending with Presley's Heartbreak Hotel (1958). You will enjoy making the connections and be surprised by some of the contributors. Judy Garland as the template of Amy Winehouse, anyone? Or Lionel Hampton as crazed rocker. Most fascinating was the tussle between the Bible and the Devil. What wriggled free from this confrontation was rock 'n' roll, a naughty little sprite, but hardly the end of the world.
PETE CLARK

THE WHO
Quadrophenia
(Super Deluxe Edition)
****

Complete with everything barring a Vespa, this five-disc collection tells you everything you wanted to know about The Who's classic 1973 album - and plenty that you probably didn't. Alongside the original 17 tracks are 25 demos, a hardback book featuring a 13,000-word essay from Pete Townshend, and a studio diary. Yet if any album is deserving of further analysis - particularly in a year when disaffected youth has made the headlines once more - it's this tale of teenage angst and rebellion. Most of the enjoyment is to be found in the demos, embryonic versions of Is It In My Head? and The Dirty Jobs, which capture The Who at their raw and raucous best. For completists, perhaps, but also completely brilliant. 
RICK PEARSON

DUSTY SPRINGFIELD
Goin' Back: The Definitive Dusty Springfield
(Universal)
****

Perhaps only Aretha Franklin rivals Dusty Springfield as the greatest soul voice of the 20th century. The lavish, beautifully presented Goin' Back, with its four CDs, three DVDs and two whopping books goes some way to explaining why, even if neglecting her albums in favour of hits, rarities and soundtrack contributions is a missed opportunity. Still, what's here cements this complex, shy, bolshy, awkward woman's reputation.

She did joy (I Only Want to Be With You), pain (What Do You Do When Love Dies) and, most heart-stoppingly of all regret (almost everything else) as if she had lived every line. And the fascinating TV appearances corralled here suggests she invented the notion of passive-aggressive.
JOHN AIZLEWOOD

VARIOUS ARTISTS
100 Years of the Blues
(Universal)
*****

Most jazz fans own at least one blues album, and a Christmas gift of this fine four-disc compilation should rectify any significant omissions in their collection. Released to mark the centenary of Robert Johnson's birth, its 91 tracks follow the blues train from the Mississippi Delta through urban Chicago and the Britblues revival to the rock-pop-soul stations of today. The icons are all here - Elmore James, Muddy Waters, Chuck Berry, Howlin' Wolf, The Rolling Stones - but also such unheralded yet no less influential artists as Albert Collins, T-Bone Walker, and Rory Gallagher. If hard times are coming back, better get yourself ready.
JACK MASSARIK

ANDA UNION
The Wind Horse
(Hohhot Records)
****

Anda Union are a 10-strong group from Hohhot, the capital of Inner Mongolia. They come armed with impressive throat singing skills, accompany themselves on cello-like horsehead fiddles and various lutes, and are trying to raise the profile of music in danger of being lost. It is very beautiful, Galloping Horses is a showstopper. This is their debut CD and I'm sure we'll be hearing a lot more of them in 2012.
SIMON BROUGHTON