SOT source

[No. Fourteen]

If I remember the story correctly, the SOT “underground” releases used material that was acquired by a Capitol employee(?) during the production of the “American Band” film project. Was the party responsible for the coping of the material ever prosecuted?  Does he/she still work in the business?  (Has it ever been verified who was responsible?)

No….I’m not an attorney.

[Andrew G. Doe]

Originally, that was the widely held opinion, but in recent years there's been doubt cast on that theory. Another proposal was that they were somehow connected with Mark Linett, but that's been disproved by what was on the 1993 box set but not in the SOT series. He wouldn't anyway - he not that dumb as to jepoardise his career.

During the making of the 1985 video biog, the producers had to lay hands on 2-, 3-, 4- and 8-track consoles to playback/copy the session tapes so, really, could have been any one of quite a few people, some not actually employed by the production company.

[No. Fourteen]

Thank you for the info. 

[Mikie]

Originally, that was the widely held opinion, but in recent years there's been doubt cast on that theory.

And music producer/filmographer/musical archival restorer Ron Furmanek has been cleared of any wrong doing and is still very much in the business.

[The Heartical Don]

BTW: I always wondered how the 'stealing' of music for bootlegs actually happens. Is someone really walking out of a studio with a box, choc full of tapes, in bright sunlight? Or burglaring a studio in the middle of the night? Or secretly copying masters in the studio on an 8-track cartridge or something? IIRC, the SOT stuff was on tape meant for video, is that right?

(I am thinking of a large scale computer theft at my University. Somewhere in the late '80s, a crew of very normally looking folks stopped by with their truck. They all wore beige work coats, with some emblem to signify something (nothing, actually, as it turned out). They entered the largest building, which then had the state-of-the-art PC line. They greeted the doorman, and quietly disconnected a series of PCs. Took these out, loaded them into the truck, and drove off. No one saw any harm in this... everybody thought it was to renew or clean or update something in the sets.

Of course, they did not ever return.

Shows what belief in authority can do to you...)

[Andrew G. Doe]

BTW: I always wondered how the 'stealing' of music for bootlegs actually happens. Is someone really walking out of a studio with a box, choc full of tapes, in bright sunlight? Or burglaring a studio in the middle of the night? Or secretly copying masters in the studio on an 8-track cartridge or something? IIRC, the SOT stuff was on tape meant for video, is that right?

Well... in the admittedly individual case of the  second Smile CD boot, the source tape came from a friend of a friend of someone who worked fleetingly on Brian's first solo album who was given it to basically shut them up as they kept asking to hear said music. Or so I've been told.

[The Heartical Don]

BTW: I always wondered how the 'stealing' of music for bootlegs actually happens. Is someone really walking out of a studio with a box, choc full of tapes, in bright sunlight? Or burglaring a studio in the middle of the night? Or secretly copying masters in the studio on an 8-track cartridge or something? IIRC, the SOT stuff was on tape meant for video, is that right?

Well... in the admittedly individual case of the  second Smile CD boot, the source tape came from a friend of a friend of someone who worked fleetingly on Brian's first solo album who was given it to basically shut them up as they kept asking to hear said music. Or so I've been told.

Good hard factual info. Cheers for that.

[XY]

Whoever it was, heroes in the BB fan world.
And honestly, who wants to present names here?
Thankfulness should be shown in other ways.

[Andrew G. Doe]

BTW: I always wondered how the 'stealing' of music for bootlegs actually happens. Is someone really walking out of a studio with a box, choc full of tapes, in bright sunlight? Or burglaring a studio in the middle of the night? Or secretly copying masters in the studio on an 8-track cartridge or something? IIRC, the SOT stuff was on tape meant for video, is that right?

(I am thinking of a large scale computer theft at my University. Somewhere in the late '80s, a crew of very normally looking folks stopped by with their truck. They all wore beige work coats, with some emblem to signify something (nothing, actually, as it turned out). They entered the largest building, which then had the state-of-the-art PC line. They greeted the doorman, and quietly disconnected a series of PCs. Took these out, loaded them into the truck, and drove off. No one saw any harm in this... everybody thought it was to renew or clean or update something in the sets.

Of course, they did not ever return.

Shows what belief in authority can do to you...)

To further expand, even back in the day there were ample opportunities: Chuck Britz routinely ran a 2-track slave during Brian's sessions for his own reference purposes, and for someone to copy that in the studio would be the work of moments. Artists have their own copies of work in progress lying around the house, and, again, I know of one instance when, a few decades ago, the band were out of town over a July 4th weekend and someone in their employ utilised the time to make high-quality cassette copies of everything in the archives they could lay their hands on. And of course, the classic example is the Preiss Smile tape, which was given to him by someone close to the band (semi-officially) for his authorised autobiography. Not so much theft, more... carelessness.

[Scotty]

During the making of the 1985 video biog, the producers had to lay hands on 2-, 3-, 4- and 8-track consoles to playback/copy the session tapes so, really, could have been any one of quite a few people, some not actually employed by the production company.

And not to forget they used for these transfers digital 14/16 Bit Sony PCM Betamax machines. That's the reason the sound quality of the SOT discs is so crystal clear.

[Andrew G. Doe]

During the making of the 1985 video biog, the producers had to lay hands on 2-, 3-, 4- and 8-track consoles to playback/copy the session tapes so, really, could have been any one of quite a few people, some not actually employed by the production company.

And not to forget they used for these transfers digital 14/16 Bit Sony PCM Betamax machines. That's the reason the sound quality of the SOT discs is so crystal clear.

That and coming directly from the raw multitracks with no compression or mastering EQ and almost no generational signal degredation. Oh, and the Ampex tapes that used a whale oil lubricant. 

[The Heartical Don]

During the making of the 1985 video biog, the producers had to lay hands on 2-, 3-, 4- and 8-track consoles to playback/copy the session tapes so, really, could have been any one of quite a few people, some not actually employed by the production company.

And not to forget they used for these transfers digital 14/16 Bit Sony PCM Betamax machines. That's the reason the sound quality of the SOT discs is so crystal clear.

That and coming directly from the raw multitracks with no compression or mastering EQ and almost no generational signal degredation. Oh, and the Ampex tapes that used a whale oil lubricant. 

You made my day, AGD. 'Moby-Dick' is my all-time favourite book. 'Pet Sounds/Smile' are my all time favourite disks.

I just knew there had to be some more or less metaphysical link in all of this...

[Andrew G. Doe]

During the making of the 1985 video biog, the producers had to lay hands on 2-, 3-, 4- and 8-track consoles to playback/copy the session tapes so, really, could have been any one of quite a few people, some not actually employed by the production company.

And not to forget they used for these transfers digital 14/16 Bit Sony PCM Betamax machines. That's the reason the sound quality of the SOT discs is so crystal clear.

That and coming directly from the raw multitracks with no compression or mastering EQ and almost no generational signal degredation. Oh, and the Ampex tapes that used a whale oil lubricant. 

You made my day, AGD. 'Moby-Dick' is my all-time favourite book. 'Pet Sounds/Smile' are my all time favourite disks.

I just knew there had to be some more or less metaphysical link in all of this...

Yes... whales died that we might one day hear Pet Sounds in stereo. Worth every last harpoon. 

[The Heartical Don]

During the making of the 1985 video biog, the producers had to lay hands on 2-, 3-, 4- and 8-track consoles to playback/copy the session tapes so, really, could have been any one of quite a few people, some not actually employed by the production company.

And not to forget they used for these transfers digital 14/16 Bit Sony PCM Betamax machines. That's the reason the sound quality of the SOT discs is so crystal clear.

That and coming directly from the raw multitracks with no compression or mastering EQ and almost no generational signal degredation. Oh, and the Ampex tapes that used a whale oil lubricant.  

You made my day, AGD. 'Moby-Dick' is my all-time favourite book. 'Pet Sounds/Smile' are my all time favourite disks.

I just knew there had to be some more or less metaphysical link in all of this...

Yes... whales died that we might one day hear Pet Sounds in stereo. Worth every last harpoon.  

  quite brilliant, arr arr...

[Cliff1000uk]

Hahahaaa!!!

Hence the numerous copies circulating in Japan, then?

[The Heartical Don]

Hahahaaa!!!

Hence the numerous copies circulating in Japan, then?

  very good, sir! Might have thought of that meself, but didn't...

[Bicyclerider]

Alan Boyd has insisted that tapes were signed out and signed back in appropriately by the Am Band producers and that they and/or production company personnel were not responsible for the leaked SOT tapes.  What I got from that is that someone working for the BB tape storage facility at the time must have been responsible - because only they would be able to copy tapes on the sly without documentation, or allow tapes to leave the facility and come back (or not) without documentation.  That person could have worked with someone with the Am Band production, or someone else entirely.

[Jason]

To further expand, even back in the day there were ample opportunities: Chuck Britz routinely ran a 2-track slave during Brian's sessions for his own reference purposes, and for someone to copy that in the studio would be the work of moments. Artists have their own copies of work in progress lying around the house, and, again, I know of one instance when, a few decades ago, the band were out of town over a July 4th weekend and someone in their employ utilised the time to make high-quality cassette copies of everything in the archives they could lay their hands on. And of course, the classic example is the Preiss Smile tape, which was given to him by someone close to the band (semi-officially) for his authorised autobiography. Not so much theft, more... carelessness.

Isn't it well-known that the 40 minute Help Me Rhonda vocal session is from Chuck's reference tapes?

[Andrew G. Doe]

To further expand, even back in the day there were ample opportunities: Chuck Britz routinely ran a 2-track slave during Brian's sessions for his own reference purposes, and for someone to copy that in the studio would be the work of moments. Artists have their own copies of work in progress lying around the house, and, again, I know of one instance when, a few decades ago, the band were out of town over a July 4th weekend and someone in their employ utilised the time to make high-quality cassette copies of everything in the archives they could lay their hands on. And of course, the classic example is the Preiss Smile tape, which was given to him by someone close to the band (semi-officially) for his authorised autobiography. Not so much theft, more... carelessness.

Isn't it well-known that the 40 minute Help Me Rhonda vocal session is from Chuck's reference tapes?

Allegedly. 

[Jason]

Not that I ever partake in the acquisition and perusal of unreleased recordings. That stuff is reserved for cheapskates, thieves, and Republicans.

[Mikie]

Al Jardine in a recent interview: “I saw it. There would be people rolling tape behind people rolling tape, secret tape machines running in different rooms when you're mastering. People were running two-track machines while we were mastering in another room, and they were taking it. They were just as good as masters. It's gotta drive poor Capitol Records crazy. I feel sorry for them, but well, hell, they made a shitload of money anyway."

The SOT's are in my top 3 all-time favorite unreleased recordings.  Maybe my favorite.  Wish to heck there were more tracks from the tapes that remain missing.  There are a few holes, but for the most part, a lot of is is still there.

The the Dumb Angel series is also a must-have.   But that's a whole other thread....... 

[Jason]

The "holes" in the SOTs have, in most cases, been booted since the SOTs came out in the late 90s. In particular, the Cabinessence sessions come to mind. Maybe not the same quality, but holes are plugged nonetheless.

[Mikie]

Gimme the vocal sessions for Good Vibrations. The SOT set as 3 CD's dedicated to it - most of which include the tracking sessions and the lead vocal with the alternate lyrics.  I would LOVE to hear a CD's worth of vocal sessions for that.

There's also quite a bit missing from a couple of early albums.  I'd like to hear the vocal sessions for "Fun, Fun, Fun" and the recently aquired "Don't Worry Baby". And the "I Get Around" vocal session where Brian threw Murry against the wall.....

[c-man]

The vocal sessions for "Fun Fun Fun", at least some of them, are in SOT.  IIRC, they're doubling the first layer of vocals, while at the same time Carl is doubling the guitar lead in the intro. 

[Mikie]

Sure, the vocal overdubs on Fun, Fun, Fun, but no early vocal takes like in "Dance, Dance, Dance" (which is hilarious).  Maybe there wasn't much exciting to hear anyway.......