Necessary additions?

[Phoenix]

As I said in the "revisiting the catalog" thread, I'm in the process of doing just that.  There's a lot of stuff out there, beyond the band's officially released albums:  Bootlegs, solo albums, side projects, tributes, etc.  How do you rate them as far as their importance to your collection?  Necessary?  Optional?  Avoidable?

Beyond the studio albums, I think the solo albums are right at the top, including Bruce, Blondie, and Dave's stuff, edged out only by some of the more important bootlegs, like the major Smile stuff, the Carnegie Hall concert, the Fillmore, etc.  I actually think Symphonic Sounds is about as close to an "official" album as you can get.  Unlike Stars And Stripes, it features some leads from the Boys, including turns from Mike, Bruce, and Matt Jardine (in his first officially released "Beach Boys" lead vocal).  I also think Songs From Here And Back is a necessary addition.  It's an officially/legally released live album with three exclusive solo tracks.  On the flip side, I find it hard to justify the inclusion of the NASCAR CD.

On the bootleg side, beyond Smile stuff and the better quality live offerings, I think the Unsurpassed Masters would be the next most important but I don't know how "necessary" I'd say they are.

Compilations are tough.  Endless Summer and Spirit Of America were so important, they helped put the band back on the musical map and arguably are what ensured their eternal legacy.  However, there's nothing new on them, unlike 50 Big Ones, Ten Years Of Harmony, or depending how you look at it, The Best Of The Brother Years, which included vastly different single mixes, not available on any of the studio discs.  And finally speaking of singles, another "must have" is a hand made collection of the singles/soundtrack songs currently unavailable at all, which is something I real wish the band would make happen because for some fans, that would be like a brand new album of all or almost songs unheard of to them. 

What do YOU think?  Are the alternate mixes important?  The UK mixes of Summer In Paradise?  Anything I'm missing?

[NateRuvin]

If you're a completist, I'd recommend those 1993 UK tracks, they sound a lot better than the US version(s), in my opinion.

[Mujan, 8@$+@Rc| of a Blue Wizard]

As I said in the "revisiting the catalog" thread, I'm in the process of doing just that.  There's a lot of stuff out there, beyond the band's officially released albums:  Bootlegs, solo albums, side projects, tributes, etc.  How do you rate them as far as their importance to your collection?  Necessary?  Optional?  Avoidable?

Beyond the studio albums, I think the solo albums are right at the top, including Bruce, Blondie, and Dave's stuff, edged out only by some of the more important bootlegs, like the major Smile stuff, the Carnegie Hall concert, the Fillmore, etc.  I actually think Symphonic Sounds is about as close to an "official" album as you can get.  Unlike Stars And Stripes, it features some leads from the Boys, including turns from Mike, Bruce, and Matt Jardine (in his first officially released "Beach Boys" lead vocal).  I also think Songs From Here And Back is a necessary addition.  It's an officially/legally released live album with three exclusive solo tracks.  On the flip side, I find it hard to justify the inclusion of the NASCAR CD.

On the bootleg side, beyond Smile stuff and the better quality live offerings, I think the Unsurpassed Masters would be the next most important but I don't know how "necessary" I'd say they are.

Compilations are tough.  Endless Summer and Spirit Of America were so important, they helped put the band back on the musical map and arguably are what ensured their eternal legacy.  However, there's nothing new on them, unlike 50 Big Ones, Ten Years Of Harmony, or depending how you look at it, The Best Of The Brother Years, which included vastly different single mixes, not available on any of the studio discs.  And finally speaking of singles, another "must have" is a hand made collection of the singles/soundtrack songs currently unavailable at all, which is something I real wish the band would make happen because for some fans, that would be like a brand new album of all or almost songs unheard of to them. 

What do YOU think?  Are the alternate mixes important?  The UK mixes of Summer In Paradise?  Anything I'm missing?

It was the two Greatest Hits/20 (more) Good Vibrations comps that made me a fan. They're extraneous I think if you have the studio albums already, but to show a newcomer what a band is all about...greatest hits packages can be a good tool. I typically dont buy them anymore--I see studio albums as works of art, and to me there's something almost blasphemous about taking songs out of their intended context. But then again, there's some like Carpenters the Singles 1969-1973 and The Association's Greatest Hits that have a cohesive flow all their own and stand up as well as any album Ive heard.

The SMiLE bootlegs, including non-music ones like The Psychedelic Sounds are completely indispensable if you're a fan of that album, especially if you want as clear a picture as possible about what the album would have become and even more especially if you are interested in making a fanmix. Ive listened to those session tapes on TSS and elsewhere as much as any finished BB's album sans Pet Sounds and SMiLE itself. I agree the Unsurpassed Masters are very necessary for a fan too. Great insight into how a masterpiece is made. Especially SMiLE and Smiley and Pet Sounds. I love bootlegs of Adult/Child--great insight into some good but buried music. Umm...Ive yet to hear some of the others, like these cocaine sessions and Brian playing Shortenin Bread with John Stamos and other things...but I really want to. These I see having value in terms of watching an artist "off hours."

I personally dont assign any value to Endless Summer, but Im sure many do. To them, its what made them personally a fan and I respect that even if I hate that album and everyhing it did to their image.

I dont consider any of the solo albums as particularly important in terms of being necessary for a Beach Boys fan except Pacific Ocean Blue and BWPS. Why those? The former represents the road sadly not taken. Had they supported Dennis, used his songs on their albums and encouraged his songwriting, we could have had songs like those being the highlights on their 70s albums. We could have had much better albums from that decade that better stand the test of time, instead of the mixed bags of the early seventies, the banal tripe that is 15BOs, and the nostalgia-cheese-fests of the late decade and into the 80s. And why BWPS? Because it's Beach Boys material. Even though  I think it's flawed and not accurate to the original intent, it's still the most complete SMiLE we have. It represents what the project, for better or worse, ultimately became and the band's founder and leader finally overcoming his demons and finishing his best work.

Things like Stars and Stripes and the NASCAR CD and the million other cheap, hastily assembled comps are garbage. Not fit for any collection except the most fanatical completionists. Something like SIP is, to me, akin to Velvet Underground's Squeeze or The Doors' An American Prayer. That is, it's an incredibly flawed product that isnt really part of the discography. It's essentially a Mike Love album featuring the Beach Boys in all but name. And truthfully, I think even he resents it now so I think all concerned are more than happy to just let it be forgotten as it should be.

[Jason Penick]

NECESSARY: Any compilations you can get your hands on featuring Brian's outside productions from the early sixties. Also the Capitol Lost and Found collection and the Garage Tapes boot for a rare look at the group's formative years.

[Andrew G. Doe]

A small correction: Lost And Found 1961-1962 is on DCC, not Capitol.

[Wirestone]

Lord -- Psychedelic Sounds are "complete indispensable" and none of the solo albums are being particularly important?

Really?

[Andrew G. Doe]

If you're "revisiting the catalog", then by definition you're excluding the boots. Every last one. So, that's that sorted.

Now, depends on the depth and virulence of your obsession. Some will be happy with the better known compilations as an adjunct to the studio/live releases... others will hunt down every last release the band were in some way involved with.

Solo albums ? Essential.

[Malc]

'Official' catalog or otherwise but, to me, the Dumb Angel Rarities series fills in many of the necessary gaps and I'd put them 'up there... somewhere' ...

[Mujan, 8@$+@Rc| of a Blue Wizard]

Lord -- Psychedelic Sounds are "complete indispensable" and none of the solo albums are being particularly important?

Really?

In my opinion, yes. Within the context of The Beach Boys story/entity, I don't see any of the solo albums as particularly relevant except the two listed. It'd be like including all the individual Beatles' solo efforts to the Beatles' discography. Im sure some collectors would pride themselves in doing so, but I personally think it's extraneous.

As for psychedelic sounds...some of it is completely irrelevant crap like the lifeboat tape. Some of it is boring and probably not very important, like Torture and toot toot dot dot. But then some of it is, I think, very fascinating and even fun to listen to. I take Brian's contemporaneous interview about spoken word humor being on the new LP, as well as the offbeat humor present in the Cantina H&V and Smiley Smile very seriously. I think a good number of these tracks like the falling into piano/mic, Taxi Cabber, Smog, etc had a good chance of being rerecorded later with the Boys or Wrecking Crew for use on the album. George Fell seemingly grew out of that idea of a comedy sketch about falling into an instrument. It was recorded during a Surf's Up session while the musicians were on the clock and time was money. Perhaps more significantly, the Undersea Chant would eventually become the Water Chant, and the Breathing Skit is the most plausible candidate for Air we have. I believe these two skits were working drafts of two of the lost elements. And that leads us to the most important track on this bootleg...

The Vegetable Fight. Yes, 22 minutes is very excessive, but it was never intended to be released that way--that's just the uninterrupted session. I do think Brian wanted to use some of the highlights from it for Vega-Tables, (think Youre Under Arrest w/ Heroes) or as a linking segment to it, or hidden track at the end of whatever side that song was on. He used Hal Blaine, a man he was presumably paying to be there and do this. He's VERY focused on the tape. He lays out specific scenarios and actively directs Hal and I believe it's Vosse, with what he wants done. It was important...even if only for that day/week/month...but it's undeniably a piece of the SMiLE puzzle and an insight into the development of that album.

So that's my argument for Psychedelic Sounds being important to collectors. It's obviously not something you'd show your friends (unless they're also SMiLE buffs) or listen to in the car. But it's not supposed to be. It's still a very valuable peak into the mind of Brian around November~December 1966 just when SMiLE was supposedly nearing completion and just before it all went off the rails in 1967. Im not saying the tracks here would have been on the album as is necessarily, but I do think they're working ideas to be developed further and rerecorded professionally with the band or studio musicians. Some of them were. And as SMiLE is arguably the best work Brian ever did, the climax of his songwriting career and the most legendary "lost" LP ever...yeah. Pretty important for a collector, I'd say. Even if they never actually listen to it.