SMiLE Sessions box set!

[puni puni]

Which tracks are going to be inevitably mono? I seriously hope they didn't skip the opportunity for stereo mixes

[Roger Ryan]

Could this be the "bells" intro that's been booted before.  Maybe those were mission bells?  What is a pak?

http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/65239 That post title gives one pause....

This might slightly more enlightening http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_C._Page#Founding_of_Mission-Pak

"The story of George C. Page embodies the American dream. His like will not come our way again."

LIKE BRIAN?!?!

Hmm, we know Van Dyke used the "orange crate" idea thirty years later and thought to include Brian in that recording...so maybe its origins started with something recorded for "Heroes...". Perhaps the Beach Boys harmonize on the old "Mission Pak" jingle mentioned in the wiki article!

[Andrew G. Doe]

If this leaks is anyone going to listen?

The very definition of "rhetorical question". 

[Roger Ryan]

Which tracks are going to be inevitably mono? I seriously hope they didn't skip the opportunity for stereo mixes

As mentioned before, all of Disc 1 through "Good Vibrations" will be in mono. Supposedly, the majority of the bonus tracks are in stereo. Given the state of the multi-tracks (or lack thereof), not everything could be mixed in stereo.

[guitarfool2002]

The H&V Waltz thing would seem to be that bit where it sounds like a pump organ playing chords which appear nowhere else on an "official" Heroes track - it's somewhere on the ol' "H&V Sessions" disc.

I remember a post describing three takes of Great Shape as well as the discovery of a full reel of takes. Wonder if any of that full reel is what appears on the box?

The Fender Rhodes version...I cannot wait to hear what the heck this is, among other previously unknown tracks!

The photo posted on Amazon - are those the pizza boxes mocked up to look like Smile tapes, from that infamous RoachClips pic?

[Mark H.]

I've only been waiting for this since 1977/78 - what will I do with my life now that many if not most of my questions will be answered?  Buying new underwear will be high on the list I'm sure.

[Bubba Ho-Tep]

To Bubba Ho-Tep - Remember that Alan Boyd mentioned that the "Vegetables Overdub" session featuring Brian attempting to add the keyboard went missing from the archives and I don't see anything specific to that in the track list. In this case, the SOT release may be the only way to hear it. Thinking about it, this may be one of the things Brian asked not to be included (given how many takes it took for him to get it right, this session might be quite embarassing to him)!

I see. Well, at any rate, I hope they were able to "fly it in" to their Vegetables mix, because I really like the part. I've done it myself using the primitive tools at my disposal.

Why no "OMP Part III" represented in the sessions? Will it be elsewhere? No "Barnshine" acetate with hidden vocal?

[Dunderhead]

Does anybody know what sessions the Heroes and Villains material on UM are from? The box doesn't include the very first May/66 session for Heroes, which would have been interesting to hear but I guess is lost or maybe was just really insubstantial. Here's my take on the Heroes portion of the box, it appears 10 of the 28 total sessions known for Heroes are included:

Then we have the verse and Barnyard from the next session on October 20th. Is this the only recording of Barnyard that was ever done? The one that's available on boots? I heard that it was originally discovered as a single track on a low quality 4-track tape. I wonder if they found multitracks for this or what.

Then we have 10/27 I'm In Great Shape. Is this the version with 3 different takes with Van Dyke participating?

Next we have "Intro "Early Version"" from December, no exact date. AGD has 5 Heroes sessions listed for December, 4 of them were vocal sessions at Columbia. December 19th was at Western. Is that what this is from? Why weren't they able to pin down an exact date. I had always assumed that "Bag of Tricks" was the "early version" of the intro but that's track number 8. So what precisely is this? When does the version on the GV Box date from? I think this may be "Intro-Alternate Version" available on Heroes and Villains Sessions - Volume 2.

The next 6 tracks are all from the first session of 1967, a session at Columbia.
7. Heroes And Villains: Do A Lot [Heroes And Villains Session: 1/3/67]
8. Heroes And Villains: Bag Of Tricks [Heroes And Villains Session: 1/3/67]
9. Heroes And Villains: Mission Pak [Heroes And Villains Session: 1/3/67]
10. Heroes And Villains: Bridge To Indians [Heroes And Villains Session: 1/3/67]
11. Heroes And Villains: Part 1 Tag [Heroes And Villains Session: 1/3/67]
12. Heroes And Villains: Pickup To 3rd Verse [Heroes And Villains Session: 1/3/67]

I think the Do A Lot here is available on the Heroes and Villains Sessions-Vol. 2 boot. "If there's not any more cooperation man, I'm splitting". The Vega-Tables version of this has vibes I think, and vocals were recorded separately from the backing track. Here it seems to all be live with someone playing the Piano.
Bag of Tricks is well known, and has two different versions on H&V Sessions - Vol. 2.
Bridge to Indians is also on H&V Sessions - Vol. 2. It's the very brief vocal snippet that appears right before Gee on the GV Box "sections" track. Part 1 Tag has three takes available.
Pickup to 3rd verse and Mission Pak are the only things that don't appear on the Sessions Boot. But they are likely vocal tracks or feature little more than piano.

The next 6 tracks are from another session at Columbia, January 5th session at Western and and a January 20th session at Columbia aren't represented.
13. Heroes And Villains: Children Were Raised [Heroes And Villains Session: 1/27/67]
14. Heroes And Villains: Part 2 (Cantina track) [Heroes And Villains Session: 1/27/67]
15. Heroes And Villains: Whistling Bridge [Heroes And Villains Session: 1/27/67]
16. Heroes And Villains: Cantina [Heroes And Villains Session: 1/27/67]
17. Heroes And Villains: All Day [Heroes And Villains Session: 1/27/67]
18. Heroes And Villains: Verse Edit Experiment [Heroes And Villains Session: 1/27/67]

The Children Were Raised section here I guess is the "often wise" version. This session seems to be represented on the H&V Sessions Boot as well. All Day is the "early" version of Dada. There are two versions of the Cantina section here, I wonder what the difference is? Maybe one has vocals and one doesn't? "Whistling Bridge" is available as "Dumb Whistle", that's pretty well known.
Finally there's "Verse Edit Experiment", on the H&V Session Boot there appears between the other tracks in this cluster, tracks labeled "Mix Session" and "Test Edit", that seem to be unextraordinary fumblings with vocal mixes. I reckon "Mix Session" may be what "Verse Edit Experiment" is.

The next session is a Western Session from Feb. 15th. Five Heroes sessions occurred between 1/27 and 2/15. One at Western, four at Columbia.
19. Heroes And Villains: Prelude To Fade [Heroes And Villains Session: 2/15/67]
20. Heroes And Villains: Piano Theme [Heroes And Villains Session: 2/15/67]

"Prelude to Fade" is widely available, for my money "Piano Theme" is probably the Bicycle Rider theme. I think this session is represented on the H&V Sessions boot as well.

The next six tracks are from Feb. 20th. AGD's site does not have a session listed on this date. 2/21, 2/24, and 2/26 are listed as vocal sessions, 2/27, and 2/28 were Western sessions. It seems the 2/20 session was a vocal session. Is this a previously unknown session, or is it a revised date for one of the three Columbia sessions?
21. Heroes And Villains: Part 2 [Heroes And Villains Sesssion: 2/20/67]
22. Heroes And Villains: Part 2 (Gee) (Master Take) [Heroes And Villains Sesssion: 2/20/67]
23. Heroes And Villains: Part 2 Revised [Heroes And Villains Sesssion: 2/20/67]
24. Heroes And Villains: Part 2 Revised (Master Take) [Heroes And Villains Sesssion: 2/20/67]
25. Heroes And Villains: Part 3 (Animals) (Master Take) [Heroes And Villains Sesssion: 2/20/67]
26. Heroes And Villains: Part 4 [Heroes And Villains Session: 2/20/67]

What exactly are these? We know what Gee is, which leads me to believe these are all vocal bits or have vocals maybe. Actually attempting to parse out which section is part 2, part 3, or part 4 is difficult. UM 17 has Part 2 as the "False Barnyard" Fade section. Following the "Prelude to Fade" bits on the H&V Sessions Boot there are some funny little lyrics recorded over the fade section. Maybe that's from this session. Maybe one of these is "Barnshine". I don't think that "Part 2" here is an actual whole song, I doubt it's the B-side of the 45. I think it's some different gos at the fade section.
Part 3 (Animals) is a mystery to me, possibly something Barnyard related? Does anybody have any idea what Heroes sections Brian was calling Part 3 and Part 4? These maybe are new.

2/27 was a session at Western, at least two vocal sessions took place between 2/20 and 2/27.
27. Heroes And Villains: Part Two (Master Take) 2/27/67 [Heroes And Villains Sesssion: 2/27/67]
28. Heroes And Villains: Fade 2/28/67 [Heroes And Villains Sesssion: 2/27/67]

Notice how track 28 is listed as being from two different sessions. Not sure if that's just an error or what. In any event we know what the fade is, no mystery there. Of course that raises questions whether "Part 2" is also the fade, as listed on the UM 17 boot. Sort of uncertain as to what these two pieces represent.

The next session is from Western 3/1, the last sessions before this one were 2/27 and 2/28.
29. Heroes And Villains: Verse remake [Heroes And Villains Session: 3/1/67]
30. Heroes And Villains: Organ Waltz / Intro [Heroes And Villains Session: 3/1/67]

I imagine the "Intro" here is the one we know and love, perhaps these were overdubs on the original track. I have no idea what "Organ Waltz" is, somebody said earlier in the thread that they heard a boot of Van Dyke playing the intro on Organ, I don't think I've ever heard that, and the date here is after Van Dyke left isn't it? In what way was the verse section remade? A total rerecord? Are we getting closer to the Smiley version of the song at this session?

The final session on the box is 6/14, the only Heroes session following 3/1 was a 3/2 session at Western. The 6/14 session is a Smiley session that took place in Brian's home studio:
31. Heroes And Villains: Chorus Vocals [Heroes And Villains Session: 6/14/67]
32. Heroes And Villains: Barbershop [Heroes And Villains Session: 6/14/67]
33. Heroes And Villains: Children Were Raised (Remake) [Heroes And Villains Session: 6/14/67]
34. Heroes And Villains: Children Were Raised (Master Take Overdubs Mix 1) [Heroes And Villains Session: 6/14/67]
35. Heroes And Villains: Children Were Raised (Master Take A Capella) [Heroes And Villains Session: 6/14/67]

It seems these are all vocal bits. Children Were Raised and Chorus vocals sound self explanatory. Barbershop is totally unknown to me, maybe just an outtake or rehearsal or something, done on the fly by the guys.


So there are possibly a few new things here, chime in if you have a guess.

[Lowbacca]

Still not available on either Amazon UK or FR. Strange.

Or German amazon...

[jc22]

So pleased this is going to be out 1 Nov (31 Oct in UK). Really thought it was going to come out next year. Wasn't really allowed to divulge here last month that it had been given a very tentative release date of 31 Oct (in the UK), but was thought very likely to be pushed back. However, releasing it in time for Christmas makes perfect sense of course. Looks very similar in style to the Bowie 'Station to Station' box set that came out last year (also on EMI) and will probably be about the same price in the UK.

[puni puni]

Which tracks are going to be inevitably mono? I seriously hope they didn't skip the opportunity for stereo mixes

"Good Vibrations" will be in mono

Ughh, the first version of Good Vibes with the electric guitar and theremin in the verses is my favorite. What a shame. （ ´,_ゝ`)

[hypehat]

Something tells me that will be somewhere on the entire disc devoted to a single song... 

[guitarfool2002]

I have no idea what "Organ Waltz" is, somebody said earlier in the thread that they heard a boot of Van Dyke playing the intro on Organ, I don't think I've ever heard that, and the date here is after Van Dyke left isn't it? In what way was the verse section remade? A total rerecord? Are we getting closer to the Smiley version of the song at this session?

I answered that one a few posts ago - "H&V Sessions". Totally unique and musically unlike anything on any other H&V track we've heard so far.

[puni puni]

Something tells me that will be somewhere on the entire disc devoted to a single song...  

Yes, but will it be in STEREO?

!!!

[Bubba Ho-Tep]

Question #147: Will Look retain it's "12th Street Rag" riff?


IF disc 1 is edited like BWPS, how can we cobble our own Smile together is all the other discs are stereo?

[JohnMill]

Something tells me that will be somewhere on the entire disc devoted to a single song... 

I don't want to start an argument but I really don't understand what the gripe is.  "Good Vibrations" is a landmark Beach Boys song, perhaps the landmark single of the entire decade (depending on your POV).  If any song deserves to have a disc devoted to tracing it's evolution it's this song.  Besides they've already included almost everything I can think of on the other four discs and what they haven't included can be for the most part easily found elsewhere.  Truthfully out of the all of the SMiLE songs there are probably only two tracks that you can devote an entire disc to ("Heroes And Villains" & "Good Vibrations") without it getting extremely repetitive.  Don't get me wrong I love all the SOT stuff but I can't remember the last time I listened to all the "Vega-Tables" sessions or "Elements" sessions in succession.  30 minutes non-stop of "Mrs. O' Leary's Cow" - no thank you.

[Dunderhead]

I have no idea what "Organ Waltz" is, somebody said earlier in the thread that they heard a boot of Van Dyke playing the intro on Organ, I don't think I've ever heard that, and the date here is after Van Dyke left isn't it? In what way was the verse section remade? A total rerecord? Are we getting closer to the Smiley version of the song at this session?

I answered that one a few posts ago - "H&V Sessions". Totally unique and musically unlike anything on any other H&V track we've heard so far.

Any idea where this one is from? It's not on the H&V Sessions as far as I can tell. http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y180/ska_vs_emo/HeroesAndVillainsSessions-Vol2Ba-1.jpg?t=1203908922

In retrospect I think "Part 2" from Feb. 20th consists of things like "Sweedish Frog" and some of the different things like "doo-doo-doo Heroes and Villains/doo-doo-doo..."

Could you possibly be thinking of "Heroes and Villains" from the Cocaine Sessions boot?

[FatherOfTheMan Sr101]

Part 2 is the "Slow Harpsichord" part, then Swedish Frog.

[JohnMill]

The organ waltz I believe is on "Heroes and Vibrations" if I'm remembering correctly.  Brian is instructing Parks how to play this or that and Parks plays his tooty organ piece.

[Ron]

The photo posted on Amazon - are those the pizza boxes mocked up to look like Smile tapes, from that infamous RoachClips pic?

Amazingly... they do look the same.  

[Dunderhead]

The organ waltz I believe is on "Heroes and Vibrations" if I'm remembering correctly.  Brian is instructing Parks how to play this or that and Parks plays his tooty organ piece.

The only problem with that is that the session 3/1/67, after Van Dyke supposedly left.

Just went through Heroes and Vibrations, it's not on there.

[Andrew G. Doe]

I have no idea what "Organ Waltz" is, somebody said earlier in the thread that they heard a boot of Van Dyke playing the intro on Organ, I don't think I've ever heard that, and the date here is after Van Dyke left isn't it? In what way was the verse section remade? A total rerecord? Are we getting closer to the Smiley version of the song at this session?

I'm pretty sure that's the so-called 'bells & whistles' version of the "Fire" riff (as per the 1993 box)... mainly 'cause I can't think of anything else that fits the description.

[Dunderhead]

I have no idea what "Organ Waltz" is, somebody said earlier in the thread that they heard a boot of Van Dyke playing the intro on Organ, I don't think I've ever heard that, and the date here is after Van Dyke left isn't it? In what way was the verse section remade? A total rerecord? Are we getting closer to the Smiley version of the song at this session?

I'm pretty sure that's the so-called 'bells & whistles' version of the "Fire" riff (as per the 1993 box)... mainly 'cause I can't think of anything else that fits the description.

I agree that's part of it, I think it's the final overdubs for that section. But the "organ waltz" is a weird descriptor, I mean, why wasn't it called that on the '93 box? Why the need for "/", intuition tells me they may be two different pieces of music, but I could be wrong.

[hypehat]

Something tells me that will be somewhere on the entire disc devoted to a single song...  

Yes, but will it be in STEREO?

!!!

Sessions highlights are supposed to be in stereo, according to the highly esteemed Senor Linett.

Something tells me that will be somewhere on the entire disc devoted to a single song... 

I don't want to start an argument but I really don't understand what the gripe is.  "Good Vibrations" is a landmark Beach Boys song, perhaps the landmark single of the entire decade (depending on your POV).  If any song deserves to have a disc devoted to tracing it's evolution it's this song.  Besides they've already included almost everything I can think of on the other four discs and what they haven't included can be for the most part easily found elsewhere.  Truthfully out of the all of the SMiLE songs there are probably only two tracks that you can devote an entire disc to ("Heroes And Villains" & "Good Vibrations") without it getting extremely repetitive.  Don't get me wrong I love all the SOT stuff but I can't remember the last time I listened to all the "Vega-Tables" sessions or "Elements" sessions in succession.  30 minutes non-stop of "Mrs. O' Leary's Cow" - no thank you.

Gee, people seem to be getting in the wrong end of the sandpit with me today. There's no gripe! I thought he was unaware of the fact that his favourite sessions excerpt might somehow appear on the entire good vibrations disc! And I misunderstood him as well, it would seem.

Time to start giving this book 100% of my attention as opposed to the current 70/30 split with it and the board....

[guitarfool2002]

H&V Sessions, it's on there somewhere I just can't recall the details. Listen for a pump organ part in 3/4 "waltz" time and without hearing what will be on the box set I'm betting that's what it is.

Pump organ + 3/4 time + "heroes" tape reel = most likely the track in question.