MIC versus 30 Years of the Beach Boys

[Iron Horse-Apples]

Try to forget how long we've waited for this box and lets try to get an impartial comparison here. Bear in mind MIC is replacing 30 years! How do they compare in terms of:-

Track list

Sequencing

Previously unreleased tracks

Sound quality

Packaging.

Overall impact on the listener (you)


As I'm still holding out for my box, I shall refrain from making my comparison just yet, but I'd be interested to know what you guys think.

[Rocky Raccoon]

For track list, I'm going to have to go with Good Vibrations.  While MIC has all the great unreleased stuff, Good Vibrations works better as an altogether sampler of the band's career and gives a better overview to the band in the 70s.  As for sequencing, both sets are more or less chronological which works.  As for unreleased tracks, I think it's about a tie.  Both sets have songs exclusive respectively that I think are essential for fans of The Beach Boys.  Sound quality and packaging are no-brainers, MIC all the way.  But overall, I give the edge to Good Vibrations just because it seemed more practical at the time.  CD career spanning box sets for big in the early 1990s as vinyl was on its way out and those boxes were a convenient way of having all these songs on CD.  Even though I wouldn't become a fan until years later, I can look at it objectively.  The Capitol twofers had come out but nearly all of the Brother/Warner/Reprise/Caribou albums were out of print so a lot of fans were getting these songs on CD for the first time.  Now times have changed, it's easier to get music, digitally or on CD and this sort of box set isn't really necessary, even though it's definitely welcome.  I totally get the criticism that there was no reason to repackage the hits again, I don't mind it because I'm still relatively new to the band (I've been a fan for maybe seven years) and I don't own all of the albums yet but I can imagine some of the longtime collectors are a little bit peeved, especially after all the money fans spent the last couple of years on reissues, concert tickets, DVDs, the Smile box, TWGMTR, and the live album. 

Good Vibrations in my opinion was the first cohesive look at the Beach Boys catalog as a body of work.  While MIC is a fantastic package, its concept is old hat and I think it should have maybe been a three disc set of all rarities instead.  But it's still great.

Track Listing: Good Vibrations
Sequencing: Tie
Unreleased Tracks: Tie
Sound quality: MIC
Packaging: MIC
Overall Impact: Good Vibrations

[Andrew G. Doe]

For overall impact, the 1993 box wins by a country mile, due to the inclusion of 30 minutes of Smile material. That really started turning people's opinion of the band around. I was there and the response was amazing.

[ontor pertawst]

Mainly, it sucks that Paul Williams isn't around to rave about THIS box for page after page. "Where is She?" alone would've prompted a pyrotechnic paragraph.