For all of its well-deserved accolades, the Beach Boys’ 2012 reunion was missing two irretrievable elements. This remastering of a 1976 performance at Anaheim Stadium makes clear just how important the late Carl and Dennis Wilson were.

I try my best not to judge an album by its cover or a band by its name. But every now and then one of those things catches my attention.

Operating out of Alhambra, California, the Second Helping signed on the dotted line with the local Viva label, where they issued three singles during their livelihood.

From San Diego, California came the Monroes, whose impossibly infectious “What Do All The People Know” stalled at the #59 spot on the national charts in the spring of 1982.

Copping a cue from the Beatles, the Byrds and the Vejtables, the Whatt Four figured it would be quite hip to misspell their name. Yes, that was the thing to do back then, and such a practice continued on

Pressed in very sparse quantities on the Liverpool label in the fall of 1966, this single quickly drifted into darkness with the assumption it would never be heard again. But you can’t keep a good disc down

A trio from Southern California, the Eddies include twin brothers, Dean and Dale, who share lead vocals and play bass and guitar respectively, while Len Curiel is the drummer.

Some one hit wonders are deserving of the status simply because they lack quality material to make a further stand. But that is definitely not the case with the Syndicate of Sound

Although the mystical name suggests a psychedelic consciousness, this Southern California act actually specialized in jugband-styled folk rock.

JL Stiles comes out of a blues-playing tradition, but he moves far afield of anything so straight-forward on House of Murmurs, a layered, connective album that can’t be anchored to any one specific genre.