"Straight from the Studio, Something Groovy is Coming..." (New Boxed Set)

[zaval80]

@HeyJude, are you familiar with the technology at all, since you mentioned it? I did a quick google search and found some stuff but I was wondering if you or anyone else recommended one program in particular. Just curious.

The best software available for free for AI treatments of sound can be accessed via the site mvsep.com. Not just my opinion, but firstly, from the leading lights of the Beatles board who obsessively restore their recordings to great results, no less from the highly-respected remasterer/remixer known in the Beatles world as "Lord Reith". If one sets up a free account on that site, it's possible to treat for free 1 file daily; the file should be less than 10 minutes in duration and less than 100 Mb in size; any format is good for them (though don't count too much on me in this, but better read the conditions on the site), including lossless, and the result can be preserved losslessly. If one uses a paid plan, the money will get the use of the more advanced possibilities. This does not mean all other sites offering similar services are useless; all I know their pros and cons, also knowledge tips, are discussed by remixers at https://forum.beatlegdb.com.

Other folks use the pricey commercial software, and some even develop their own (also in the Beatleg forum I've mentioned).

[FreakySmiley]

Add my name to the long list of folks that are disappointed by the lengthy delay with what is supposed to be a pre-order. I understand these things happen, and it's obviously not the end of the world that I can't hear this as soon as I would like, but it certainly is deflating after months of hype (and years of speculation, at this point). Between the early "VIP" access to the box, clearly very limited pressing(s), conflicting info leaks leading up to the full announcement, this has been (for me) one of the harder to swallow rollouts. I understand the stress of seeing "SOLD OUT" or being met with a six-week delay doesn't hold a candle to some of the more serious stressors in the world right now, part of my disappointment is that this music has been a long-awaited reprieve from the rest of the BS today. And yes, I think most people know that this CAN be streamed, but that doesn't exactly work for everyone -- whether it be due to the nature of their stereo setup, or lack of at-home internet access, or any other number of factors. Am I shaking my fist at the clouds in the sky? Not yet, but I am sighing heavily as I reach for something else to listen to, to tide me over in the meantime... 

[Rocker]

What becomes clear to me is what I said in the past: 15 Big Ones could've been a really strong oldie album. Some of the outtakes are better than a lot of the things on the album (including the originals).

[pixletwin]

Received my copy yesterday via FedEx. Fabulous.

[HeyJude]

Add my name to the long list of folks that are disappointed by the lengthy delay with what is supposed to be a pre-order. I understand these things happen, and it's obviously not the end of the world that I can't hear this as soon as I would like, but it certainly is deflating after months of hype (and years of speculation, at this point). Between the early "VIP" access to the box, clearly very limited pressing(s), conflicting info leaks leading up to the full announcement, this has been (for me) one of the harder to swallow rollouts. I understand the stress of seeing "SOLD OUT" or being met with a six-week delay doesn't hold a candle to some of the more serious stressors in the world right now, part of my disappointment is that this music has been a long-awaited reprieve from the rest of the BS today. And yes, I think most people know that this CAN be streamed, but that doesn't exactly work for everyone -- whether it be due to the nature of their stereo setup, or lack of at-home internet access, or any other number of factors. Am I shaking my fist at the clouds in the sky? Not yet, but I am sighing heavily as I reach for something else to listen to, to tide me over in the meantime... 

Disappointment is absolutely a fair reaction. And you've expressed it in a thoughtful, respectful way. I *would* definitely recommend streaming or snagging this digitally, because it's absolutely worth it. Even if you have to kind of rejigger things to make it work.

The label clearly went conservative on initially ordering copies and now it will take some time to catch up (the turnaround time on manufacturing a second run of sets is actually surprisingly not too bad compared to a lot of other products), and it will ultimately end up being a VERY GOOD THING that it has outsold those initial expectations, because it means it's more likely we'll get more similar releases in the future.

And I point out your thoughtful, polite expression of disappointment because there are a few fans on other boards who can't seem to express that frustration as an adult, and instead are foaming at the mouth, posting ALL CAPS diatribes as if anybody and everybody involved in this set, band, and label are conspiring against them. Embarrassing.

[MyDrKnowsItKeepsMeCalm]

I received the Japan 3CD set last week and I've been enjoying Disc 1. The sound is amazing. Pretty freakin' cool!

I hate that the US set rollout has been so slow though... that is super frustrating for those of you who ordered it. Hope that in the end they manage to beat that 6-week estimate.

[Don Malcolm]

I received the 3LP/3CD set early last week, from the UMe orders, which makes me think that things are going better with the rollout than what has been reported in that marathon kvetch thread over at you-know-where.

The packaging is really terrific, Howie's notes are great (as is often the case, cannily weaving in salient words from the band...), and I love the glossy cover for LOVE YOU (makes for a great contrast with the original).

Jude has already covered the return to form of the remixing efforts in exemplary detail, so I'll just echo his words. This wild, weird, sweet and dizzily disjointed klatch of music has never sounded better, and as a result is totally endearing.

Looking forward to hearing LOVE YOU in its entirety on Friday night!

[Rocker]

I thought this was the fitting thread for posting this:



Al Jardine and Mike Love sing "TM Song" (Mike Douglas Show 1976)


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oh-waA6-oI8

[Rocker]

Looks like "Carl's Song 1" later became "What you gonna do about me?".


The Beach Boys - Carl's Song 1 - It Could Be Anything (2025 Mix / Visualizer)


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xVpTmTfe2QM




What You Gonna Do About Me?


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IsGKEgyWKaw

[HeyJude]

Looks like "Carl's Song 1" later became "What you gonna do about me?".


The Beach Boys - Carl's Song 1 - It Could Be Anything (2025 Mix / Visualizer)


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xVpTmTfe2QM




What You Gonna Do About Me?


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IsGKEgyWKaw

From the '75 version, it appears it first morphed into a track that was booted years ago usually titled "Where We Are", which is a track a lot of fans assumed, based on its sound, came from the early 80s, but apparently came from circa 1978.

And then, I would agree that portions appear to have been repurposed for "What You Gonna Do About Me" for the '81 solo album.

[HeyJude]

I received the 3LP/3CD set early last week, from the UMe orders, which makes me think that things are going better with the rollout than what has been reported in that marathon kvetch thread over at you-know-where.

The packaging is really terrific, Howie's notes are great (as is often the case, cannily weaving in salient words from the band...), and I love the glossy cover for LOVE YOU (makes for a great contrast with the original).

Jude has already covered the return to form of the remixing efforts in exemplary detail, so I'll just echo his words. This wild, weird, sweet and dizzily disjointed klatch of music has never sounded better, and as a result is totally endearing.

Looking forward to hearing LOVE YOU in its entirety on Friday night!

A refreshingly calm and enjoyable reaction to the set to read!

Yes, I think the initial *decision* to go "D2C" with this release, and to be conservative with how many copies to manufacture on the initial run, has somehow morphed into the comical levels of histrionics on other boards.

The reality is that a company made X units of a product, sold it exclusively direct to consumer, and more people wanted to buy it right at the outset than they expected. So then they made more and put the set back up for sale. That it's selling better than they thought it might, and they're having to ramp up production, is a good thing!

They hedged on the initial run, they sold all the allocated copies, and so they fired up the presses and made more, and sold more. Not complicated in the slightest.

I do think they should have put *into* all the press releases that the physical boxed set was only being sold D2C via Capitol, Universal, and the band's official site. That would have made it crystal clear from the start. Though, as I've mentioned before, doing that would have ironically led to a *quicker* sellout on that initial run!

[Rocker]

Looks like "Carl's Song 1" later became "What you gonna do about me?".


The Beach Boys - Carl's Song 1 - It Could Be Anything (2025 Mix / Visualizer)


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xVpTmTfe2QM




What You Gonna Do About Me?


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IsGKEgyWKaw

From the '75 version, it appears it first morphed into a track that was booted years ago usually titled "Where We Are", which is a track a lot of fans assumed, based on its sound, came from the early 80s, but apparently came from circa 1978.

And then, I would agree that portions appear to have been repurposed for "What You Gonna Do About Me" for the '81 solo album.

Yes! You're right. I totally forgot about "Where we are" but for some reason found myself singing it to myself the other day. Now it all makes sense  Thanks for the heads-up

[Rocker]

Just wanted to point out how well some of the uptempo Love You songs sounded in concert (imo anyway). It's a shame they didn't do more of them. "Let us go on this way" certainly would've gone over great.


The Beach boys Live '77　Honkin' down the Highway

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ZG70NX5fTg



The Beach Boys - Roller Skating Child (Live 1979)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Cu0SCxEths



They obviously also played "Airplane" and "Love is a Woman" but I don't think those worked too well.

[HeyJude]

Just wanted to point out how well some of the uptempo Love You songs sounded in concert (imo anyway). It's a shame they didn't do more of them. "Let us go on this way" certainly would've gone over great.


The Beach boys Live '77　Honkin' down the Highway

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ZG70NX5fTg



The Beach Boys - Roller Skating Child (Live 1979)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Cu0SCxEths



They obviously also played "Airplane" and "Love is a Woman" but I don't think those worked too well.

They even rehearsed "Let Us Go On This Way" for the 76/77 tour:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pa2imKj1TRo

[Rocker]

From the Grammy Museum:


Celebrating The Beach Boys' We Gotta Groove: The Brother Studio Years


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mt8_BDu3duM

[HeyJude]

Howie and James and everybody did a great job with the Grammy Museum presentation. I wish they could do one of those every month with engineers, musicians, etc.

[Dan Lega]

I was mostly pleased with the sound of the new set, until my memory was jogged by something I read on the other board.  I now remember listening to the new "Love You" and thinking that many of the backing vocals didn't pop out, they didn't have the same balance to the rest of the track as I remembered them having.  But, I shoved it to the back of my mind thinking I probably am just not remembering correctly.  Then someone on the other board said that there was more reverb on the backing vocals of the "Love You" songs than was originally there -- which could totally make the backing vocals disappear into the background more!  This is not good audio engineering!  If they're supposed to be presenting the album as it was released, then why change it by adding more reverb to isolated parts (or whole parts) than was there originally?  Why brickwall it into making it sound louder?  You know, if we want it louder we can just turn up the volume ourselves, don't you?  Please stop arbitrarily messing with the master tapes!

Now... that being said... I'm all for remasters!  I'd love to hear things I never heard before!  Of course, a remaster could be a disaster!  But it seems like that is what they've been doing anyway!  Changing the reverb on different elements within the song, or on the whole song; "brickwalling" it to make it "louder;" flying in vocals from a studio version of Back Home into what was supposed to be a live version; and they cut out minutes from some of the Dennis songs they've put on some of the recent sets, much to the detriment of the original songs!  If you're going to do a remaster, then do a real remaster.  Don't say you're trying to present the music faithfully to the original intent and then not do it!  So... if you're going to do a remaster, then really do a remaster, and we can have an argument about how successful it was or not.  If you're going to present it as originally mastered, then do it!  Use a vintage record as your guide and get it as close to that as possible!

Also, one other change I WISH they WOULD make is with "Caroline, No."  Since I've heard the correct speed version I can no longer stomach the sped up "original" version!  It sounds horrible to my ears.  I wish they would release a version of Pet Sounds with the normal speed version at the end instead of the sped up version!  Maybe someday I'll finally be able to burn myself a disc of Pet Sounds like that!  <sigh>  (I've never been great at computer stuff.  And I don't have the setup now to do it, anyway.)

[Dan Lega]

Just gave a real good listen to Disc 3 of the set and thought I'd relate what stood out to me from what we're presented, and pose a few questions.  First off, Mony Mony, Running Bear, Shake Rattle & Roll, and On Broadway all sound very good.  Like with the Adult/Child songs, these previously bootleg-only songs sound much better than they ever did.  But what's the deal with that lyric sheet that is pictured on the next page of the discography?  It looks like it has chorus words for "Shake Rattle & Roll," but the Boys never use those exact lyrics in their version.  And the bottom portion of this 'chorus' looks more like "Rock 'n' Roll Music" lyrics than "Shake" lyrics.  And to further muddy it there's a big arrow which goes down from the second portion of the lyrics to words that say, "to bridge." 

And then below that are lyrics aren't on the recording, and that even A.I. can't find me a song that matches those lyrics.  Here they all are, including instructions and the chords written for some of them...

B
Solo -- OO she shake...
           She rattle and OO she   {were there more words which are trimmed from the picture?)
           She rattle and (xxxxxxxxx)  {yes, words crossed out inside parentheses.}

Duet -- OO she shake
           She rattle and OO she  {appears some words were cut off}
           She rattle and                      l
                                                      l
Chorus -- Rock, Rockin' and a Roll     l
                       Rockin' and a            l
               Rock, Rockin' and a Roll     l
                        Rockin' and a           l
                                                      l
                                                      l
                                                      l
                                                      l
                                               to bridge  {the downward line, with an arrow point at end, comes from beneath the "duet" portion}

(F#) Would you like to (E) come  wo   (I don't know if more words are cut off, or if he started to write the next line there, but decided to write it on another line?)
(F#) Would you like to join my
        Friends and (E) fam-i-ly

My baby likes to hear that rock 'n   (again, the rest of the line may have been trimmed from the picture)
                 music
And after school / (wi???) She wants to let her   (more lyrics may have been cut off)
And when I take her out she...  (definitely more words were cut off here)


So if anyone has a clue as to what's going on here, please let me know!

As for "Short Skirts," I bet it had to have had a melody, and probably some lyrics which were never put to tape (or erased,) as I don't think they would have sung backing vocals on it if there weren't a melody and lyrics to go with it already.

The next track, the backing track of the "TM Song" is perhaps the most surprising to me, as it's just wild!  There may be nothing else like it in the history of Rock 'n' Roll?  The instruments used are your standard fare, but the orchestration of them is just plain-out wacky.  I love it!

Then, with "Honkin' Down The Highway," they certainly didn't do Billy Hinsche any favors by doing nothing, it seems, to enhance his vocal.  First off, it's a little quiet, and thus, buried in the mix a bit.  And second, it sounds like it's totally dry, without any reverb or echo to flesh it out!  I can only imagine they were thinking, well, we don't want to show up the Beach Boys, so we'll leave his vocal unenhanced so that no one thinks, hey, anybody can sing a Beach Boy song!  I don't think they needed to worry, though, as even with enhancements I doubt it would have come close to challenging Alan's version for supremacy!

I also love the backing track to "Solar System," as it's piano playing harks back to "Heroes & Villains" and "SMiLE!"

The vocals only version of "The Night Was So Young" is a definite highlight, too.  I'd also like to hear a vocals only version of "Rock 'n' Roll Music!"  I bet those stacked "AAAAAAAHHHHH's" in the verses would be glorious!

My last thought is on "They're Marching Along."  I've never been a big fan of the song, but I was just listening to the frantic piano playing Brian is doing and thinking, I wish there were a different melody and totally different words to this song.  I think the track could go in a completely different direction?! 

Anyway, them's my thoughts on disc 3.