Inside Pop Outtake reels: Any new developments?

[Jay]

Reader's Digest version: the trail ran cold and of course, now Oppenheim is no longer with us. Chances are those outtakes are still in his personal archive. Who knows, maybe one day when we're all singing along with Carl & Dennis...

The serendipitous part of the hunt was the discovery of his reel notations which, when translated, proved most illuminating in confirming what was - and wasn't - recorded at that session, and in debunking the then-recent claim that the cameras captured a set-to between Brian & Mike over the lyrics.

Is there a problem with trying to work with Oppenheim's estate? I mean, if you said that the reels are most likely in his archive, then somebody should be trying to work through that "lead". I would also donate a considerable sum in the effort to finding and properly preserving and transferring the reels.

[guitarfool2002]

I'm repeating what's been said many times: Keep in mind that even if the reels were to be uncovered, the assumption through research and interviews of the past says that the audio tracks were recorded separate from the film stock, and later synched up in the editing and production process. And the possibility is great that the film footage if it were found would not be with the audio tracks from those separate reels, which means the unused film stock would be silent. Of course having any footage at all, silent or not, would be an amazing historical find and well worth any efforts or financing to make it available, but there may be an even greater "what if?" aspect of it where the audio tracks to the film may have been kept separate and lost in the decades since.

If I'm wrong about any of that, please chime in and correct. I pieced that together from the real grunt work and legwork that was done by some of the great researchers like Cam who had actually spoken to some of the behind the scenes people involved with Inside Pop before the production notes surfaced in a college library archive. Cam, Jasper, Dan...they did all of us Smile fans a huge favor in tracking some of this stuff down in the first place...again, major thanks all around!

[Cam Mott]

Thanks Craig but I was only around the edges. As you know Jasper did the large majority of what was discovered and Dan went onsite and was hands on with the actual notes in archive.