SMiLE Sessions box set!

[atroxi]

Finally!



If only the turntables hadn't been ripped out of the room!   

(that's our old radio station, and that's a nice old (working!) RCA console...)

[37!ws]

What's weird is that the package WAS at a UPS facility in my town, then it went to ANOTHER town where it's "Out For Delivery." This isn't unusual, actually, this is how UPS always does it. It's just seemingly peculiar how things work, although I'm sure there's a reason behind the scenes. Kind of like how no matter where your start and end points are, a next-day package ALWAYS gets routed through Lexington, KY...

[The Heartical Don]

Stupid question: if one not wants to miss out on one single track from the current crop of releases, what must one buy then (i.e. which SS versions have the raritie the box does not offer)?

The box set is mandatory, of course. But then? Does the double CD set add anything? And the double vinyl sold separately?

[trismegistus]

Yep, according to Amazon, my copy's about 2 towns over. I downloaded the Heroes single off of iTunes to tide me over till it gets here.

[37!ws]

In terms of audio, the box has it all.

The stand-alone vinyl offers no more audio than the boxed vinyl.

The 2-CD set has no audio that's not on the 5-CD set.

[The Shift]

At last…

Gawd, I don't even want to break the shrink wrap.  This is one beautiful piece of packaging.  When I opened the Amazon box and glimpsed the artwork, i felt like I'd made contact with a dear, dear old friend I hadn't seen in decades.

Don't expect to hear from me for a long, long while.  No more harrumphing…

Hoorah!

[hypehat]

 

[The Heartical Don]

In terms of audio, the box has it all.

The stand-alone vinyl offers no more audio than the boxed vinyl.

The 2-CD set has no audio that's not on the 5-CD set.

Thank you, much appreciated!

[bgas]

At last…

Gawd, I don't even want to break the shrink wrap.  This is one beautiful piece of packaging.  When I opened the Amazon box and glimpsed the artwork, i felt like I'd made contact with a dear, dear old friend I hadn't seen in decades.

Don't expect to hear from me for a long, long while.  No more harrumphing…

Hoorah!

Yes, see this has me thinking: My box is scheduled to arrive tomorrow. and I was planning to open the shipping box, before mounting the box on my wall. But now I'm thinking maybe I should just leave it in the shipping box, thereby making it even more valuable to a future collector. What to do, what to do?

[37!ws]

So, bgas...you plan to not keep it???

[lance]

At last…

Gawd, I don't even want to break the shrink wrap.  This is one beautiful piece of packaging.  When I opened the Amazon box and glimpsed the artwork, i felt like I'd made contact with a dear, dear old friend I hadn't seen in decades.

Don't expect to hear from me for a long, long while.  No more harrumphing…

Hoorah!

I totally felt a weird pang when I ripped off the shrink wrap. But I did. Even though I can't listen to it at the moment.

[bgas]

Well, I plan to keep it as part of my collection, for the day when I hope  it will  increase the value of my Slicks, booklet, Color seps, etc...

[guitarfool2002]

At last…

Gawd, I don't even want to break the shrink wrap.  This is one beautiful piece of packaging.  When I opened the Amazon box and glimpsed the artwork, i felt like I'd made contact with a dear, dear old friend I hadn't seen in decades.

Don't expect to hear from me for a long, long while.  No more harrumphing…

Hoorah!

Yes, see this has me thinking: My box is scheduled to arrive tomorrow. and I was planning to open the shipping box, before mounting the box on my wall. But now I'm thinking maybe I should just leave it in the shipping box, thereby making it even more valuable to a future collector. What to do, what to do?

I don't think the shipping box adds any value to a factory-sealed item inside that cardboard box, unless there is some kind of graphic or artwork on the cardboard outer box to make it unique. It's basically just a mass-produced cardboard box with a shipping label otherwise, and in fact if you don't open it you won't know if the actual box set was packaged correctly or has any damage. Or if your order was packed correctly.

Scrap the cardboard, keep the box sealed. Then buy another to listen! My 2 cents.

[bgas]

At last…

Gawd, I don't even want to break the shrink wrap.  This is one beautiful piece of packaging.  When I opened the Amazon box and glimpsed the artwork, i felt like I'd made contact with a dear, dear old friend I hadn't seen in decades.

Don't expect to hear from me for a long, long while.  No more harrumphing…

Hoorah!

Yes, see this has me thinking: My box is scheduled to arrive tomorrow. and I was planning to open the shipping box, before mounting the box on my wall. But now I'm thinking maybe I should just leave it in the shipping box, thereby making it even more valuable to a future collector. What to do, what to do?

I don't think the shipping box adds any value to a factory-sealed item inside that cardboard box, unless there is some kind of graphic or artwork on the cardboard outer box to make it unique. It's basically just a mass-produced cardboard box with a shipping label otherwise, and in fact if you don't open it you won't know if the actual box set was packaged correctly or has any damage. Or if your order was packed correctly.

Scrap the cardboard, keep the box sealed. Then buy another to listen! My 2 cents.

Sure that makes the most sense. Unless, Deepdiscount has a special mailer, which I won't know till late tomorrow.

[The Heartical Don]

At last…

Gawd, I don't even want to break the shrink wrap.  This is one beautiful piece of packaging.  When I opened the Amazon box and glimpsed the artwork, i felt like I'd made contact with a dear, dear old friend I hadn't seen in decades.

Don't expect to hear from me for a long, long while.  No more harrumphing…

Hoorah!

Yes, see this has me thinking: My box is scheduled to arrive tomorrow. and I was planning to open the shipping box, before mounting the box on my wall. But now I'm thinking maybe I should just leave it in the shipping box, thereby making it even more valuable to a future collector. What to do, what to do?

I don't think the shipping box adds any value to a factory-sealed item inside that cardboard box, unless there is some kind of graphic or artwork on the cardboard outer box to make it unique. It's basically just a mass-produced cardboard box with a shipping label otherwise, and in fact if you don't open it you won't know if the actual box set was packaged correctly or has any damage. Or if your order was packed correctly.

Scrap the cardboard, keep the box sealed. Then buy another to listen! My 2 cents.

Sure that makes the most sense. Unless, Deepdiscount has a special mailer, which I won't know till late tomorrow.

How do you know the SS set actually is in the shipping box if you don't look inside? I mean, if the  Amazon employee responsible had drunk the night before, for all I know there might be a James Last box set inside.

[guitarfool2002]

At last…

Gawd, I don't even want to break the shrink wrap.  This is one beautiful piece of packaging.  When I opened the Amazon box and glimpsed the artwork, i felt like I'd made contact with a dear, dear old friend I hadn't seen in decades.

Don't expect to hear from me for a long, long while.  No more harrumphing…

Hoorah!

Yes, see this has me thinking: My box is scheduled to arrive tomorrow. and I was planning to open the shipping box, before mounting the box on my wall. But now I'm thinking maybe I should just leave it in the shipping box, thereby making it even more valuable to a future collector. What to do, what to do?

I don't think the shipping box adds any value to a factory-sealed item inside that cardboard box, unless there is some kind of graphic or artwork on the cardboard outer box to make it unique. It's basically just a mass-produced cardboard box with a shipping label otherwise, and in fact if you don't open it you won't know if the actual box set was packaged correctly or has any damage. Or if your order was packed correctly.

Scrap the cardboard, keep the box sealed. Then buy another to listen! My 2 cents.

Sure that makes the most sense. Unless, Deepdiscount has a special mailer, which I won't know till late tomorrow.

How do you know the SS set actually is in the shipping box if you don't look inside? I mean, if the  Amazon employee responsible had drunk the night before, for all I know there might be a James Last box set inside.

I was thinking that too - likewise you'd hate to have it be the Jimmy Buffett box set inside after preserving it for decades as a collector's item. Or a limited edition pressing of Uncle Kracker's "Smile" single...

[Wrightfan]

Still in transit so it will probably be delivered in the afternoon.

Was hoping for the morning but oh well. A few more hours won't kill me.

[bgas]

I certainly hope not...

[P.J.]

Still in transit so it will probably be delivered in the afternoon.

Was hoping for the morning but oh well. A few more hours won't kill me.

Same here. Mail doesn't arrive till way past 1pm. I will be at work. I will probably have to wait until tomorrow since I live in an apartment complex and the mailbox isn't big enough to leave in. Gonna pick it up from the Post Office tomorrow. 

[Heysaboda]

The Beach Boys official Facebook page is encouraging fans to post photos of their SMiLE collection...

Boots that is. Dead serious.

I can't imagine who would be dumb enough to actually post those photos along with their full name and email address...

I'd be careful about doing that. Nothing like leaving yourself open to legal action.

Same thoughts.

But it has to be said that it's quite an unusual thing, perhaps an industry-first?

It's interesting that this represents an "official" acknowledgement by the Powers That Be of the Fans and Scholars who kept the flame going, since '66 and '67.

Impressive.

I've only been a BW/BB fan since '98, but, wow this is such a major major event.  SMiLE even got a notice on LA's local news radio KNX1070.

Having Brian's music finally released -- it's simply a glorious day!

P.S.

My order from Amazon shipped yesterday, to arrive today.  (I'm in California.)

[GoofyJeff]

The Best Buy I went to was a joke. I went looking for the 2-CD set to tide me over until I get the big box from Amazon. I'm searching everywhere and not finding it. Then I notice a stack of the big boxes by one of the employee lookup computers. Holy foda is that thing gorgeous!!! Finally some Best Buy chick asks me if I need any help. I ask if they have the 2-CD set. She looks in the computer and sees they're supposed to have 8 of them and directs me to the "B for Beach Boys" section if it wasn't with the new releases. I told her I already looked there. At this point Missy became confused and talked to some other chica putting out new releases. This girl tells Missy that everything is out and points her to the stack of the box sets. Finally a manager comes over and I ask him. He says everything is out. I'm like well this girl tells me your computer says you have 8 of them but all I see is the big box set which I'm getting from Amazon. He says he'll check in back. 10 minutes later he rudely says "here ya go"

But, no matter. I have the 2-CD set and my box is on its way to me from Amazon. All is right with the world. Now if you'll excuse me, I have some listening to do....

[bgas]

Still in transit so it will probably be delivered in the afternoon.

Was hoping for the morning but oh well. A few more hours won't kill me.

Same here. Mail doesn't arrive till way past 1pm. I will be at work. I will probably have to wait until tomorrow since I live in an apartment complex and the mailbox isn't big enough to leave in. Gonna pick it up from the Post Office tomorrow. 

Or maybe they'll just leave it by the box(in the hallway?) The post office, if that's who is delivering it, does strange stuff; if it's not insured or marked so they have to have a signature, they'll probably just leave it for you.

[Justin]

The Best Buy I went to was a joke. I went looking for the 2-CD set to tide me over until I get the big box from Amazon. I'm searching everywhere and not finding it. Then I notice a stack of the big boxes by one of the employee lookup computers. Holy foda is that thing gorgeous!!! Finally some Best Buy chick asks me if I need any help. I ask if they have the 2-CD set. She looks in the computer and sees they're supposed to have 8 of them and directs me to the "B for Beach Boys" section if it wasn't with the new releases. I told her I already looked there. At this point Missy became confused and talked to some other chica putting out new releases. This girl tells Missy that everything is out and points her to the stack of the box sets. Finally a manager comes over and I ask him. He says everything is out. I'm like well this girl tells me your computer says you have 8 of them but all I see is the big box set which I'm getting from Amazon. He says he'll check in back. 10 minutes later he rudely says "here ya go"

Classic Best Buy. 

Nothing worse than hoping to find something at Best Buy on the day its released and walking away pissed.

[Jeff]

In terms of audio, the box has it all.

The stand-alone vinyl offers no more audio than the boxed vinyl.

The 2-CD set has no audio that's not on the 5-CD set.

Unfortunately, that's not true.  The H&V parts 1-2 single is on the 2-CD set but not the 5-CD set.

[Heysaboda]

Got my box set today, grabbed a six pack, turned off all the lights (which served a dual purpose, 1--successfully deterring the trick or treaters, and 2--setting the mood for SMiLE), put on my headphones and listened to disc 1 in its entirety.  I must say, even with the fly-ins and missing vocals on a few tracks, I believe this is THE definitive SMiLE.  I've argued on this board and in other places that BWPS was the finished SMiLE, but I am presently rethinking that idea.  I mean, BWPS is great and all that, but THIS is the real deal.  The sequencing and editing just flows, and the clarity of these mixes is almost beyond description.  I am not a big fan of mono, but the mix on this is so balanced, I didn't even give any thought to the lack of stereo separation.  I feel like for the first time ever, I really "get" SMiLE (and I've been listening to the boots and various mixes for years).

Btw, I didn't drink the whole 6-pack, just two beers--one for each "side".  

It will be a glass of Merlot for me.  I'm one of the effete elite!