The Beach Boys With The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (2018) CD-Rip

Ever since Elvis Presley's catalog was refashioned into the symphonic If I Can Dream in 2015 -- a number one hit in the U.K., it reached 21 in the U.S. -- other estates and legacy acts have been eager to get in on the action. The Beach Boys were one of the few active groups to submit their classic catalog to Royal Philharmonic Orchestra overdubs, and they're both an obvious and curious choice. Obvious in the sense that they appeal to nostalgists looking for a spin on familiar material, curious in the sense that their big hits are either simple surf tunes or compositions so grandiose, they already seem orchestral. Accordingly, the songs on The Beach Boys with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra either seem weighed down by an orchestra ("Fun, Fun, Fun," "Help Me Rhonda") or the strings seem extraneous ("Wouldn't It Be Nice," "The Warmth of the Sun," "Good Vibrations," "Heroes and Villains"). Nothing here is exactly an embarrassment, but none of it seems necessary, nor is it particularly distinctive: it's just an exercise in mawkish nostalgia, nothing more and nothing less.