SMiLE Sessions box set!

[Shady]

Hmm I see Mark's here – any clues to offer, Sir?!?!

Only if he wants a life sentence in prison 

[rab2591]

By the end of that month, we'll all have the set in our sweaty little hands -- get those white gloves ready! -- and we'll look back and chuckle about how impatient we were in late June.

Very good points. Indeed, it is just impatience.

As has been said before: what's another few months after 40 some years of waiting?

[Shady]

Jardine said that this boxset would be coming out in July (a month which starts in less than 48 hours).
Love said that this boxset would be coming out in August (a month which starts in less than 32 days).
Brian said.......well, nothing much.
Capitol said that this boxset would be coming out sometime this summer (which ends mid-september).

Point being: this box set was promised to come out sometime within the next 90 days and besides the press release (which came out FOUR months ago) there has been little (if any) official mention of this boxset. Just saying that if they want to make money off this thing they may want to start a little thing called 'promotion' very soon. (and I don't consider a poorly written Mojo article as promotion, either).

There may not have been another press release yet, but that doesn't mean there's been no ACTIVITY (or promotion) since mid-March (which was a little over 3 months ago, not four). In late April there was the RSD 78 of "H&V"/"Good Vibrations". In late May we had the flurry of interviews mentioning the project; and in June we had the MOJO 45 (which DOES count as "promotion") and even the articles (even poorly-written articles raise awareness in the public). So that's a little bit of promotion each month since March -- maybe not as much as WE'D like, but they haven't done NOTHING. (Also, as an aside, Capitol promised the set "this year" -- NOT "sometime this summer" -- so technically they have until the holiday buying season before we can all complain that they "lied" to us.)

With the betting money still on late September, my guess is that we'll get the next press release in early July -- possibly intentionally because Independence Day is a "Beach Boys" kind of holiday -- complete with release date, track list, and some sort of preview of the package art (SMiLE cover, dummy display of the deluxe set, etc.). Review copies (probably of only the 2-disc set) will go out in August, which means at least some of the tracks will hit the Internet the next day. If not, we'll start to get early reviews in late August. A preview "single" may be offered through iTunes or Amazon by late August / early September. Capitol may offer a track a week for streaming, or even give the entire "album" disc to NPR or Rolling Stone or other such sites by mid-September. By the end of that month, we'll all have the set in our sweaty little hands -- get those white gloves ready! -- and we'll look back and chuckle about how impatient we were in late June.

The world keeps spinning, Summer turns to Fall, and our lives will continue, hopefully a little better than they were before.

Some great points here

[Aegir]

I won't believe it's actually coming out until we have some concrete evidence. A single of two songs that have been already been released for almost 45 years, and Al and Mike talking about it coming out soon (which they've been doing for almost 45 years) means almost nothing.

[Andrew G. Doe]

You need to stop emailing Phil Cohen.

[Mike's Beard]

Let them take their time and get it right. If Craig's working on creds, Dom and VDP are writing contributions for the 60-page book and Alan and MArk are working on the blood & guts of the thing, I think there's enough credibility on board to ensure that it will come out.

And all the research that's being done by the good people on this board into pics that have "suddenly" appeared from nowhere… anyone else suspect that our honoured, more knowledgeable members and historians are being tapped for their expertise and research skills?   

Dom we know of... but VDP ? I don't recall hearing that... which of course means I probably wasn't listening at the right time.

Someone reported on this board around the time of his recent gigs that he was due to write 1000 words… of course, they might have been joshing/mistaken/red-herringing* knowing this board! 



* Copyright: Wee Helper's New English Grammaticals

1000 words? It takes VDP that just to say "hello".

[onkster]

Rumor has it that Durry once told VDP that "you had me at 'salutations'!" 

[PhilCohen]

Jardine said that this boxset would be coming out in July (a month which starts in less than 48 hours).
Love said that this boxset would be coming out in August (a month which starts in less than 32 days).
Brian said.......well, nothing much.
Capitol said that this boxset would be coming out sometime this summer (which ends mid-september).

Point being: this box set was promised to come out sometime within the next 90 days and besides the press release (which came out FOUR months ago) there has been little (if any) official mention of this boxset. Just saying that if they want to make money off this thing they may want to start a little thing called 'promotion' very soon. (and I don't consider a poorly written Mojo article as promotion, either).

They are contemplating an excuse as to why the box won't appear at all. Unfortunately, they've run out of excuses altogether. They're hoping that we will forget the whole promise eventually.

Sadly, I think that you are correct. What began 45 years ago, in a simpler time(when the monetary stakes weren't so high, and there was a better balance between the art of music and the business of music) as a fairly light-hearted attempt to create a 35 to 40 minute $3.98 pop music L.P. aimed at an audience in its' early to mid-teens, has now turned into this heavy, paranoid, secretive CD box set project in which all of the box project's participants have been ordered to sign a secrecy contract forbidding them to publicly speak about the box set's contents until after it is released(and I would add, IF it is released), and the intended consumers of the box set get put through a prolonged, stressful anxiety. These tactics from Brother & Capitol create bad vibrations.

[vintagemusic]

Jardine said that this boxset would be coming out in July (a month which starts in less than 48 hours).
Love said that this boxset would be coming out in August (a month which starts in less than 32 days).
Brian said.......well, nothing much.
Capitol said that this boxset would be coming out sometime this summer (which ends mid-september).

Point being: this box set was promised to come out sometime within the next 90 days and besides the press release (which came out FOUR months ago) there has been little (if any) official mention of this boxset. Just saying that if they want to make money off this thing they may want to start a little thing called 'promotion' very soon. (and I don't consider a poorly written Mojo article as promotion, either).

They are contemplating an excuse as to why the box won't appear at all. Unfortunately, they've run out of excuses altogether. They're hoping that we will forget the whole promise eventually.

Sadly, I think that you are correct. What began 45 years ago, in a simpler time(when the monetary stakes weren't so high, and there was a better balance between the art of music and the business of music) as a fairly light-hearted attempt to create a 35 to 40 minute $3.98 pop music L.P. aimed at an audience in its' early to mid-teens, has now turned into this heavy, paranoid, secretive CD box set project in which all of the box project's participants have been ordered to sign a secrecy contract forbidding them to publicly speak about the box set's contents until after it is released(and I would add, IF it is released), and the intended consumers of the box set get put through a prolonged, stressful anxiety. These tactics from Brother & Capitol create bad vibrations.

Has anyone ever become suicidal after hanging out with you Phil ?


The Box set for the SMiLE sessions is coming out in all it's glory, just
like Capitol said it was going to.

The music business doesn't have money to throw around on expensive studio time
and engineers like Mark Linnet for no reason. Not in this climate.

Brian Wilson and company are all pushing seventy, and this SMiLE box and the 50th reunion, may be a last chance
for a big payday for Brian and The Beach Boys.

The one thing, EMI, Capitol, Brian Wilson, Mike Love and Al Jardine all have in common
is they could use the money. Brian Wilson may have more money than Al and Mike, and none
of them is in danger of living on skid row, but they spend a lot of money too, and they aint getting
any younger. There is almost no doubt whatsoever that this box set will appear this year.

What are you gonna say then ? that you knew it all the time? it was just a test?
I see you have made some progress, a couple weeks ago you were saying there would never
be a SMiLE box, now I see you have progressed to "possibly"

What does your doctor say about the paranoia?

[Runaways]

do we just ignore brian and van dyke who've said they've heard it??

[Shady]

Jardine said that this boxset would be coming out in July (a month which starts in less than 48 hours).
Love said that this boxset would be coming out in August (a month which starts in less than 32 days).
Brian said.......well, nothing much.
Capitol said that this boxset would be coming out sometime this summer (which ends mid-september).

Point being: this box set was promised to come out sometime within the next 90 days and besides the press release (which came out FOUR months ago) there has been little (if any) official mention of this boxset. Just saying that if they want to make money off this thing they may want to start a little thing called 'promotion' very soon. (and I don't consider a poorly written Mojo article as promotion, either).

They are contemplating an excuse as to why the box won't appear at all. Unfortunately, they've run out of excuses altogether. They're hoping that we will forget the whole promise eventually.

Sadly, I think that you are correct. What began 45 years ago, in a simpler time(when the monetary stakes weren't so high, and there was a better balance between the art of music and the business of music) as a fairly light-hearted attempt to create a 35 to 40 minute $3.98 pop music L.P. aimed at an audience in its' early to mid-teens, has now turned into this heavy, paranoid, secretive CD box set project in which all of the box project's participants have been ordered to sign a secrecy contract forbidding them to publicly speak about the box set's contents until after it is released(and I would add, IF it is released), and the intended consumers of the box set get put through a prolonged, stressful anxiety. These tactics from Brother & Capitol create bad vibrations.

Has anyone ever become suicidal after hanging out with you Phil ?


The Box set for the SMiLE sessions is coming out in all it's glory, just
like Capitol said it was going to.

The music business doesn't have money to throw around on expensive studio time
and engineers like Mark Linnet for no reason. Not in this climate.

Brian Wilson and company are all pushing seventy, and this SMiLE box and the 50th reunion, may be a last chance
for a big payday for Brian and The Beach Boys.

The one thing, EMI, Capitol, Brian Wilson, Mike Love and Al Jardine all have in common
is they could use the money. Brian Wilson may have more money than Al and Mike, and none
of them is in danger of living on skid row, but they spend a lot of money too, and they aint getting
any younger. There is almost no doubt whatsoever that this box set will appear this year.

What are you gonna say then ? that you knew it all the time? it was just a test?
I see you have made some progress, a couple weeks ago you were saying there would never
be a SMiLE box, now I see you have progressed to "possibly"

What does your doctor say about the paranoia?

You seriously think any of the beach boys reasons behind giving this box the go ahead is about a pay day?

None of them need the money, I'm sure the millions they make from the hits ALONE is enough..

SMiLE has nothing to do with money, if it was it would have been released long ago

[18thofMay]

Phil and Bill are both treading water on the same subject, SMiLE.

[vintagemusic]

No I just think money is one of several components. When you are pushing seventy
and used to the good life, money is most certainly a factor. it is certainly a factor for
EMI.

No I think  people have said in other posts, Wilson has loosened up about SMiLE since
releasing his version in 2004. I think the small reciepts from his concerts, and his huge overhead
for his lifestyle and the security of his wife and family play into it certainly. I think Jardine and Love
probably need the money more than Wilson.

But no it's arguably the greatest album, or one of the greatest albums ever done, so any author
would want to show that to the world.

Not that I am a big believer in the altruism of record companies. But I don't think EMI or Capitol would
spend a million bucks on studio time, engineer fees, artwork rights, Paying Dominec Priore and whatever
other costs are involved unless it was a sure thing.

[Shady]

Oh, I'm sure money is a factor for EMI but I would think the last thing on Brian's mind is "hey I might make another couple of million with this boxset"

All the BB are as you say are pushing or already at 70, none of them need or care about the payday, smile's finally being released I'm sure they are just glad that's finally happening.

[bgas]

Oh, I'm sure money is a factor for EMI but I would think the last thing on Brian's mind is "hey I might make another couple of million with this boxset"

All the BB are as you say are pushing or already at 70, none of them need or care about the payday, smile's finally being released I'm sure they are just glad that's finally happening.

I'm not as sure of that. I think they all want the money; why shouldn't they have the chance to get it?
 And if it's not about the Payday, why keep up the relentless pace of touring for the BBs? Because they enjoy it SO much?
The biggest benefit of releasing the Smile Sessions, is not being continually hammered with When are you goiing to release Smile? Why won't you let it come out?

[Dunderhead]

To be honest I don't even like SMiLE that much. It's impossible to listen to, all of the material is spread out over a half dozen bootlegs and you have to listen to 3 minutes of false starts just to hear 30 seconds of anything that sounds good. I'm not a big fan of a lot of SMiLE songs, Wonderful especially has always kind of bored me. The better parts, Cabinessence and Surf's Up, have already been released. I feel like a lot of the important details on the other songs that would have made them really excellent are missing, so most of the fun of SMiLE rests in imagining all the stuff that isn't there. Even after all these years Heroes and Villains still feels incomplete, I'm just waiting for a mix of the song that finally lives up to the hype, but who knows if one even exists. I really liked BWPS when it first came out, but it's not something I listen to much anymore and I've developed an aversion to the production and feel of that album. My enthusiasm for the whole enterprise is really fading fast, I don't know what they're doing but it seems like we're being set up for another disappointment and I really wish that they would just move on this already and strike while the iron is still hot instead of letting the thing burn out yet again.

Part of me thinks SMiLE has never been released because there's nothing to release. The main reason I'm interested in this box set at all is due to the possibility for substantial brand new never before heard material. What are the chances that any of the stuff we've been dreaming about over the years even actually exists?

I dunno taking SMiLE at face value of everything I've actually heard, it's far from my favorite Beach Boys material. I'm hoping I'll be proven wrong and tomorrow I'll log on to find a whole slew of new information about all the great stuff we've never heard. But at this point who knows, I'm pretty sick of this old song and dance.

[PhilCohen]

To be honest I don't even like SMiLE that much. It's impossible to listen to, all of the material is spread out over a half dozen bootlegs and you have to listen to 3 minutes of false starts just to hear 30 seconds of anything that sounds good. I'm not a big fan of a lot of SMiLE songs, Wonderful especially has always kind of bored me. The better parts, Cabinessence and Surf's Up, have already been released. I feel like a lot of the important details on the other songs that would have made them really excellent are missing, so most of the fun of SMiLE rests in imagining all the stuff that isn't there. Even after all these years Heroes and Villains still feels incomplete, I'm just waiting for a mix of the song that finally lives up to the hype, but who knows if one even exists. I really liked BWPS when it first came out, but it's not something I listen to much anymore and I've developed an aversion to the production and feel of that album. My enthusiasm for the whole enterprise is really fading fast, I don't know what they're doing but it seems like we're being set up for another disappointment and I really wish that they would just move on this already and strike while the iron is still hot instead of letting the thing burn out yet again.

Part of me thinks SMiLE has never been released because there's nothing to release. The main reason I'm interested in this box set at all is due to the possibility for substantial brand new never before heard material. What are the chances that any of the stuff we've been dreaming about over the years even actually exists?

I dunno taking SMiLE at face value of everything I've actually heard, it's far from my favorite Beach Boys material. I'm hoping I'll be proven wrong and tomorrow I'll log on to find a whole slew of new information about all the great stuff we've never heard. But at this point who knows, I'm pretty sick of this old song and dance.

I haven't listened to any Beach Boys music since two months ago, because this total secrecy about the "Smile" box has become a bummer. I DO believe in the quality of the "Smile" songs and arrangements overall, but my view is this: "Smile" would have been better than "Smiley Smile", but Brian had peaked with "Pet Sounds" & the "Good Vibrations" single. I hope that the surviving members can put aside their egos and past hostilities so that the box set can be released. But I'm not counting on it. If there is newly discovered material, the collection could be interesting, but if the "new" material is merely ProTooled "Outfakes", then we may not be missing much. If the set gets released, I'll admit that I'm surprised.

[ReggieDunbar]

Money:

Mike pays 20% gross of the tour fees directly to BRI.
As an example: During the time period 1998-2005 Mike payed 11 million dollars from touring to BRI.
This means that Al and Brian received 2,75 million dollars each from Mikes touring. That's a lot!


//RD

[buddhahat]

To be honest I don't even like SMiLE that much. It's impossible to listen to, all of the material is spread out over a half dozen bootlegs and you have to listen to 3 minutes of false starts just to hear 30 seconds of anything that sounds good.

Jesus, this thread is turning into a downer - Bill Tobleman come back, all is forgiven!

Sadly, I think that you are correct. What began 45 years ago, in a simpler time(when the monetary stakes weren't so high, and there was a better balance between the art of music and the business of music) as a fairly light-hearted attempt to create a 35 to 40 minute $3.98 pop music L.P. aimed at an audience in its' early to mid-teens, has now turned into this heavy, paranoid, secretive CD box set project in which all of the box project's participants have been ordered to sign a secrecy contract forbidding them to publicly speak about the box set's contents until after it is released(and I would add, IF it is released), and the intended consumers of the box set get put through a prolonged, stressful anxiety. These tactics from Brother & Capitol create bad vibrations.

Phil Cohen, can you do us a favour in return for enduring your superhuman levels of negativity? When The Smile Sessions finally are released sometime this year, can you post an acknowledgement that your consistent doubts and naysaying were misplaced? Perhaps, and here's the rub, in a cheerful tone, maybe a few Smileys dotted about?

[The Shift]

… the intended consumers of the box set get put through a prolonged, stressful anxiety…

Please don't worry on my behalf. This kind of stress I can deal with. It's called "excited anticipation".

Anyone else here feeling hard done-by?

[buddhahat]

… the intended consumers of the box set get put through a prolonged, stressful anxiety…

Please don't worry on my behalf. This kind of stress I can deal with. It's called "excited anticipation".

Anyone else here feeling hard done-by?

Smile I can cope with. If I could only get something to aid the prolonged, stressful anxiety caused by the non-release of Pleasure Island .... 

[MaxL]

I think Jardine and Love probably need the money more than Wilson.

Love? Definitely, what with the upkeep of his many mansions and the alimony to his ex-wives.

But seriously, I don't think money is behind the Smile box at all. Well, not to Wilson and friends at least. The record company most definitely has it's eyes on the dough, but since when has that been news?

[The Heartical Don]

… the intended consumers of the box set get put through a prolonged, stressful anxiety…

Please don't worry on my behalf. This kind of stress I can deal with. It's called "excited anticipation".

Anyone else here feeling hard done-by?

No, not at all. I am grateful that it will appear. For me, it'll be the gift of music, of course; but also a melancholic reminder of a period in which there was quite a lot of hope and expectation in the air, not only in pop. Call it a time of promises. I find our own age pretty sad, dull, egotistical, money-driven, and exploitative of people, to put it mildly. Robert Christgau's review of BWPS was right, totally right. IIRC he wrote about it as a work to cherish, to brighten the mood, in desolate times when rich men are stealing your money.

[brother john]

To be honest I don't even like SMiLE that much. It's impossible to listen to, all of the material is spread out over a half dozen bootlegs and you have to listen to 3 minutes of false starts just to hear 30 seconds of anything that sounds good. I'm not a big fan of a lot of SMiLE songs, Wonderful especially has always kind of bored me. The better parts, Cabinessence and Surf's Up, have already been released. I feel like a lot of the important details on the other songs that would have made them really excellent are missing, so most of the fun of SMiLE rests in imagining all the stuff that isn't there. Even after all these years Heroes and Villains still feels incomplete, I'm just waiting for a mix of the song that finally lives up to the hype, but who knows if one even exists. I really liked BWPS when it first came out, but it's not something I listen to much anymore and I've developed an aversion to the production and feel of that album. My enthusiasm for the whole enterprise is really fading fast, I don't know what they're doing but it seems like we're being set up for another disappointment and I really wish that they would just move on this already and strike while the iron is still hot instead of letting the thing burn out yet again.

Part of me thinks SMiLE has never been released because there's nothing to release.

I know how you feel. To much of Smile is indulgent. If Brian had managed to finish all the good songs he'd just about have an EP-worth of material, but all the rest of the stuff I would classify as 'musical curiosities' or bonus track material - largely childish, irrelevant scribbling. The best stuff is fabulous, but there isn't that much of it.

[PhilCohen]

You say that I'm negative, but at least I acknowledge the quality of the "Smile" songs and recordings, but we are now seeing a sour grapes "Smile was never any good, anyhow" attitude taking root here. Before such attitudes spread like wildfire, Capitol & Brother should come to their senses, and realise that it is now in their best interests to reveal some information and reassert that this box set is still going to happen.