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35 years after the teenaged Beach Boys created their first popular surfing tunes, Bruce Johnston was back in the studio - this time, with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. In 1998 he produced "Symphonic Sounds: Music of the Beach Boys," creating a remarkable soundscape while working with a full orchestra of nearly 100 musicians.

The original Beach Boys are well represented in the mix.

Mike Love does a note-perfect recreation of the original vocals from "Kokomo," and Bruce Johnston himself sings a sweet, simple version of "Disney Girls." Matt Jardine, the son of original bandmember Al Jardine, provided an appropriately professional version of "Darlin'." And the whole album is dedicated to Dennis Wilson, Carl Wilson, and their mother Audree Wilson, who had died the year before.

Through the careful use of medleys, over 33 of the band's songs get some orchestral attention.The album opens with a four-minute overture that whizzes through 12 different songs - but it closes with "The Water Planet Suite," a giant 23-minute medley of 11 Beach Boys songs. That track begins with the full orchestra - including flutes, French horns, and strings - assaying the complex melody of "Heroes and Villains," and then segues (with kettle drums) into a full-trumpet rendition of "Help Me, Rhonda." It's a little strange to hear familiar melodies converted into a score for classical musicians. But it's also an opportunity to appreciate hear old songs in a new way.

A few of the other songs are also augmented by surprisingly good vocals. Country/Christian singer Tammy Trent supplies a plaintively earnest version of "God Only Knows (What I'd Be Without You)." The "(Just for Fun...) All Surf!" track includes some unidentified vocalists (who sound a lot like the Beach Boys) singing along with the orchestra.
And Adrian Baker contributes an amazing multi-tracked vocal on "Warmth of the Sun." The a capella interlude closes a circle that began 35 years ago. "I decided to return to our vocal roots," Johnston says in the liner notes, creating the rich vocal-harmony sound that had originally inspired the group's music in the early 1960s.

The Beach Boys always suggested a young, romantic fantasy about life in Southern California. This album tries to augment that vision with a strangely lush sound. (One track even begins with the sound of waves breaking on a beach.) It's hard to believe it's been 35 years, but maybe this album supplies a kind of happy aending. Ultimately some of the Beach Boys grew up, took control of an orchestra, and then played through their youthful songs one more time.

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