MiC up for order on Amazon, August release

[pixletwin]

Maybe it's time for a Beach Boys boycott for a few months so everything sounds fresh to me again come the end of August.  

I'm way ahead. I sorted out my playlists to contain only songs that have never been played... so that mean no Beach Boys.

[Andrew G. Doe]

Jesus... some of you people... exactly WHAT would it take to entirely satisfy you ?  Wouldn't surprise me at all if Capitol read this and thought, f*** the ungrateful bastards, we'll pull the set.

[Mendota Heights]

Jesus... some of you people... exactly WHAT would it take to entirely satisfy you ?

Naked girls.

[HeyJude]

OK, I don't understand why so many smiley smilers taken it for granted that "of course" they have to include all the hits. WHY? WHY? WHY? #1) They released the Smile Sessions which had ZERO hits on it (basically) and they deemed that worthy enough to sell on its own. #2) I know it's not a totally fair comparison, but the Beatles Anthology 1 broke sales records and it didn't have a single previously released track on it. Same for anthology 2 and 3 although they didn't sell AS well....

With all due respect were you around when The Beatles' "Anthology 1" came out?  Because I was and it was literally one of the most ill received projects I've ever witnessed in my life from a major rock band.  The reason being despite the fact that The Beatles promoted "Anthology 1" as a rarities album, most of the general public that bought it assumed that it was going to be a traditional greatest hits type compilation and were in for a rude surprise when the set contained outtakes, demos and live performances and none of the CV they were hoping for.  Perhaps they assumed that since it was also marketed as the soundtrack to the "The Beatles: Anthology Television Special" that it would be a greatest hits type package I don't know.  But it wasn't well received at all by the general public which was indicated by the dip in sales for the other two installments in the series.

It wasn't that well received on the collector's market either...

I don’t think this assessment of the “Anthology” CD sets and the public’s reception is necessarily accurate. The reason there was a dropoff in sales from the first set to the second and third had mostly to do with the massive promotional machine going in November 1995 when the “Anthology” aired on TV and the first set was released. They basically took over the ABC network with Beatles promotion, literally calling the network “A-Beatles-C” in advertisements, changing the theme songs of sitcoms to Beatles tunes, running local news stories about the epic drop shipments Capitol/EMI was doing to allow ABC to “premiere” the new songs but still get the “Anthology 1” CD in stores two days later, and so on. Anything Beatles product they would have put out in November 1995 was going to sell in huge numbers. The second and third CD sets came in 1996, and the hoopla had died down. “Anthology 2” and “Anthology 3” both still debuted at #1 even though they sold in fewer numbers.

I’m also not sure that once people actually picked up “Anthology 1” and bought it, that they could possibly be misled into thinking it was a hits compilation, with a tracklisting that had stuff like “Cayenne”, “You’ll Know What to Do”, “In Spite of all the Danger”, and so on. It was heavily marketed as the first time after all those years that the Beatles put out a cache of unreleased material.

I would also argue that hardcore boot collectors enjoyed the “Anthology” sets as well, as they actually contained way more “unbooted” material than many fans thought the sets would.  

As far as the Beach Boys, they simply don’t yield sales apparently that would warrant Capitol/EMI/Universal putting out 6 discs (or several 2-CD sets) of nothing but unreleased material (the “Smile” set being an exception for obvious reasons relating to its infamy). I’m of a mixed mind about this though, because I don’t know what “casual” fan is going to buy a 6-CD retrospective on the Beach Boys that is marketed as containing 60 unreleased tracks, or rather, I don’t know what casual fan is going to enjoy a circa 1979 outtake recording of “Da Doo Ron Ron.” So in that sense, this set is already pitched at hardcore fans, so why not just fill it with all unreleased material? Why not? Because you have to convince Capitol and the group to put something out, and neither would sign onto a 6 CD’s of predominantly 70’s and 80’s outtakes. You have to sort of massage the situation into getting as much unreleased material out there as you can. That’s the compromise I’m sure the team putting this set together had to pitch to get anything released. Pitching to Mike Love a 6 CD set that is predominantly made up of outtakes from the darkest periods of the band’s career (to him in some ways, anyway), many focusing on Dennis and Brian, is not going to be easy. But a brightly-themed (visually) boxed set that includes “Kokomo” and “Summer in Paradise” and “It’s OK” that is a “career spanning” set which happens to include some unreleased material, including live and alternate versions of familiar classics, is much easier to pitch.

[JohnMill]

OK, I don't understand why so many smiley smilers taken it for granted that "of course" they have to include all the hits. WHY? WHY? WHY?

There clearly *is* also a market for Beach Boys rarities releases -- if every Monkees album can be reissued as 3 CD box sets, and if you can get a 5-CD Captain Beefheart rarities set, then it makes sense that there should be similar releases for the Beach Boys. But that's not what this box set is, and *nobody involved with it, or who knew anything about it, ever claimed it was anything other than what it is*.

See but The Monkees are not as high profile as The Beach Boys are.  When The Beach Boys release a major release it's always newsy.  Again this is subjective but in my opinion there is a difference between having a fanbase and having a following.  The Monkees have a following, The Beach Boys have a fanbase.  The Beach Boys also translate over better to the general public than The Monkees ever will so The Monkees can release really anything they want and it will sort of fly under the radar.

This is actually my argument as to why there has been virtually nothing in regards to archival releases from The Beatles since "Anthology".  The Beatles are the kings of newsy releases to the point of where anything they release out into the open market has the stigma about it where it has to be something of significant musical relevance.  That in a way is a shame as it's keeping a lot of Beatles rarities still locked away in the vaults from gaining official release.  

Basically what I'm trying to explain is bands like The Monkees can fly under the radar with stuff like "Beefheart" because really nobody outside of their fans really cares.  To most people they were a bunch of Beatles knock offs who happened to have their own television show.  

[JohnMill]

Jesus... some of you people... exactly WHAT would it take to entirely satisfy you ?  Wouldn't surprise me at all if Capitol read this and thought, f*** the ungrateful bastards, we'll pull the set.

Eh I got my Paul McCartney "Wings Over America" set to keep me happy then. 

[Matt Bielewicz]

While I do believe that the general public is far more likely to buy one of the myriad of Beach Boys' greatest hits compilations on shelves right now, there is the consumer out there that as Beach Boys fan is going to want to pick up as much Beach Boys music as they possibly can within the scope of one package.  For them MIC is going to be their "greatest hits experience".  They are going to have all their favorite hits alongside a lot of stuff that will be completely unfamiliar to them.

Right, absolutely. That's how I experienced the GV box in 1996. I already knew some of the hits, and I'd bought a hits compilation to expand that knowledge a bit. That told me I wanted to know more... so I shilled for the box. And what a treat it was...! Listening through that was such a blast, and like you, I envy any 'new fan in the making' for whom MIC offers the same experience.

MattB

[guitarfool2002]

Jesus... some of you people... exactly WHAT would it take to entirely satisfy you ?

Naked girls.

Endless supply of money that I don't have to work for.  

[AndrewHickey]

hahaha - Captain Beefheart has a 5 CD rarities set?!?! WOW. I hear you that this box set was never billed as being that. Fair enough. I'll move on.... to demanding a Beach Boys rarities box set!!!!!! By the way, I think the examples you mention completely undermine the claims by others that Capitol HAD to include the hits. I think the fairest defense of the box set is the point you've made several times today that this is pretty much what they SAID it was going to be all along. Fine.... now bring on the rarities box set please!!!!

Yep -- Beefheart had a box set called Grow Fins, made up entirely of unreleased material. The CD version's out of print, but it can be bought as MP3s -- and very good it is too. http://www.amazon.com/Grow-Fins-Rarities-1965-1982/dp/B0010WN8DI

And I agree with you for the most part, but Capitol *did* have to include the hits for a box set of this type. The fact that "a box set of this type" is not what you want -- or indeed what I would have chosen all else being equal -- unfortunately doesn't matter. For what they said they'd do, this looks pretty much perfect.

[Matt Bielewicz]

hahaha - Captain Beefheart has a 5 CD rarities set?!?! WOW. I hear you that this box set was never billed as being that. Fair enough. I'll move on.... to demanding a Beach Boys rarities box set!!!!!!

OK... but what would go on it after this?? Seriously, that's a genuine question that I'd be interested to hear you consider.

[drbeachboy]

I've just noticed Good Time is listed in the Sunflower era not Love You. I'll be glad to get a decent sounding version of the original mix.

The background vocals are really cool on the original version. I never understood why they were mixed so low on Love You.

[Mendota Heights]

Jesus... some of you people... exactly WHAT would it take to entirely satisfy you ?

Naked girls.

Endless supply of money that I don't have to work for.  

Naked girls who put out I should add.

[JohnMill]

OK, I don't understand why so many smiley smilers taken it for granted that "of course" they have to include all the hits. WHY? WHY? WHY? #1) They released the Smile Sessions which had ZERO hits on it (basically) and they deemed that worthy enough to sell on its own. #2) I know it's not a totally fair comparison, but the Beatles Anthology 1 broke sales records and it didn't have a single previously released track on it. Same for anthology 2 and 3 although they didn't sell AS well....

With all due respect were you around when The Beatles' "Anthology 1" came out?  Because I was and it was literally one of the most ill received projects I've ever witnessed in my life from a major rock band.  The reason being despite the fact that The Beatles promoted "Anthology 1" as a rarities album, most of the general public that bought it assumed that it was going to be a traditional greatest hits type compilation and were in for a rude surprise when the set contained outtakes, demos and live performances and none of the CV they were hoping for.  Perhaps they assumed that since it was also marketed as the soundtrack to the "The Beatles: Anthology Television Special" that it would be a greatest hits type package I don't know.  But it wasn't well received at all by the general public which was indicated by the dip in sales for the other two installments in the series.

It wasn't that well received on the collector's market either...

I don’t think this assessment of the “Anthology” CD sets and the public’s reception is necessarily accurate. The reason there was a dropoff in sales from the first set to the second and third had mostly to do with the massive promotional machine going in November 1995 when the “Anthology” aired on TV and the first set was released. They basically took over the ABC network with Beatles promotion, literally calling the network “A-Beatles-C” in advertisements, changing the theme songs of sitcoms to Beatles tunes, running local news stories about the epic drop shipments Capitol/EMI was doing to allow ABC to “premiere” the new songs but still get the “Anthology 1” CD in stores two days later, and so on. Anything Beatles product they would have put out in November 1995 was going to sell in huge numbers. The second and third CD sets came in 1996, and the hoopla had died down. “Anthology 2” and “Anthology 3” both still debuted at #1 even though they sold in fewer numbers.

I’m also not sure that once people actually picked up “Anthology 1” and bought it, that they could possibly be misled into thinking it was a hits compilation, with a tracklisting that had stuff like “Cayenne”, “You’ll Know What to Do”, “In Spite of all the Danger”, and so on. It was heavily marketed as the first time after all those years that the Beatles put out a cache of unreleased material.

I would also argue that hardcore boot collectors enjoyed the “Anthology” sets as well, as they actually contained way more “unbooted” material than many fans thought the sets would.

You ever get a chance to watch the footage of the midnight release for "Anthology 1"?  It's so patently obvious to anyone who watches that footage that the people lined up think they are going to be buying a traditional Beatles box set or something of that nature.  No two ways about it.

I agree that the numbers for "Anthology 1" were bumped by the heavy promotion by ABC but I really can't complain at all about the promotion regarding the "Anthology" project in general as that was one of the finest media blitzes the world has yet seen possibly only rivaled by "The Beatles Are Coming" campaign of 1964.  Sales dipped by and large due to the fact that The Beatles released a product geared towards a more hardcore fanbase (which again wasn't exactly satisfied by it either) and the general public rejected it once they realized what it was all about.  I'm not denying the points brought up in your posting didn't contribute to the dip in sales for the subsequent volumes but to me it's always been as clear as day why the sales dipped having experienced it firsthand around a decade ago.

[pixletwin]

Weird. I was there at the midnight release of Anthology I and the emphasis seemed to be mostly on Free As A Bird and the never before released tracks. I recall local news stations also reporting that angle.

[AndrewHickey]

hahaha - Captain Beefheart has a 5 CD rarities set?!?! WOW. I hear you that this box set was never billed as being that. Fair enough. I'll move on.... to demanding a Beach Boys rarities box set!!!!!!

OK... but what would go on it after this?? Seriously, that's a genuine question that I'd be interested to hear you consider.

I could easily see a three-CD set with Adult Child, the other late-70s/early-80s things like Stevie, Carry Me Home, River Song with Blondie on vocals, the box set tour rehearsals, some of the Celebration material, the 80s singles, the Love You demos...
Nobody who doesn't visit this board would buy it, but you could put a good set together.

[JohnMill]

Weird. I was there at the midnight release of Anthology I and the emphasis seemed to be mostly on Free As A Bird and the never before released tracks. I recall local news stations also reporting that angle.

I'm just going by the footage I've seen.  Your personal experience is your personal experience.  Generally speaking though, I can report as fact that there was a lot of griping the following day from people who thought they were purchasing something akin to the GV Box Set but for The Beatles obviously.

[TimmyC]

Jesus... some of you people... exactly WHAT would it take to entirely satisfy you ?  Wouldn't surprise me at all if Capitol read this and thought, f*** the ungrateful bastards, we'll pull the set.

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!! I'm sorry Capitol. You know I'll find a way to come up with the money.

This whole thing is just.... so.... EMOTIONAL!!!!!!!!!!!  

[guitarfool2002]

In all fairness I agree with JohnMill about Anthology 1 (more "1" than the rest), and the notion that it was misguided in some ways. The fact that they played with the editing of takes and had modern interview clips fading into some really, really juicy and special tracks just killed me and I'm sure a lot of fans.

At the same time, those fans who felt left out because they thought they were buying a hits package - honestly, that's their own fault for not reading the tracklists and all of that, and also those fans would have the "number ones" collection of hits soon available anyway.

You can't please everyone, absolutely true, but I think the sentiments of some here are also more than valid who feel they have already purchased multiple greatest hits collections in the past ten years and feel like they're buying those same mixes again in order to get the true gems of this set which have been unavailable anywhere.

[Nicko1234]

Jesus... some of you people... exactly WHAT would it take to entirely satisfy you ?  Wouldn't surprise me at all if Capitol read this and thought, f*** the ungrateful bastards, we'll pull the set.

 

Ungrateful? When Capitol start giving away things for free then they might expect gratitude. Until then it is perfectly legitimate for people to post positive and negative comments about things that cost them money.

[TopCat]

An interesting selection, although I'll be skipping Barbara Ann (as usual). Plenty of good things in the listing.

Assume that the 'hidden tracks' will include something with Zeppo -- otherwise it would look like he never existed.

[JohnMill]

So ahem what is that rare Dennis Wilson track bandied about last week that is supposedly better than WIBNTLA?  Has it been confirmed to be on this box set?

[Paulos]

Jesus... some of you people... exactly WHAT would it take to entirely satisfy you ?  Wouldn't surprise me at all if Capitol read this and thought, f*** the ungrateful bastards, we'll pull the set.

Are you Steve Hoffman in disguise?

[TV Forces]

Jesus... some of you people... exactly WHAT would it take to entirely satisfy you ?  Wouldn't surprise me at all if Capitol read this and thought, f*** the ungrateful bastards, we'll pull the set.

Looks like the town curmudgeon woke up to demand we all bow down and kiss Capitol's ass for their $130 glorified greatest hits box.  I, for one, LOVE "deep cuts" boxes with only like 4-5 rarities on them.  Yes!  I'm so appreciative that I wasted money on the 2CD 50 Big Ones and 2CD/vinyl Smile for those exclusives to be included here as part of the "60 unreleased tracks" which is mainly made up of live tracks, stereo remixes, and backing tracks.  "Wouldn't It Be Nice To Live Again" is a big draw, but "Wouldn't It Be Nice If This Tracklisting Didn't Suck"?  

Can't wait to hear "Vegetables" live from 1993!  Hopefully John Stamos is singing lead?  Looks like the box set of the year is not even in front of the Nilsson and Monkees boxes coming next month.. and that Monkees album sucks.

[Matt Bielewicz]

To me, the craziest expression of regret I've seen so far concerns 'Walkin'.

OK, scratch that. It seems some people out there are actually beat up that My fushenliggen Solution isn't getting out of the vault on this. That has to be the most downright unlistenable musical effort I've ever heard BDW put effort into. And that includes the 'remake' into Happy Days on Imagination, which somehow manages to be even WORSE. Amelodic dissonant awful 70s Halloween prank outtake remade as ghastly smooth AC schlock... with a truly taste-shredding sax solo. It's like someone reached into my soul, found the worst possible music they could in existence for me, tailored it for me, mashed it together, and released it. With a 1998-vintage 'barking' über-multitracked Brian Wilson vocal. Geez. Never again.

So no, I am not upset about My Solution not making it. That one can stay buried forever as far as I'm concerned. If you want it, it can be found... go seek. But be careful what you wish for...!

To paraphrase a recent poster, it makes Battle Hymn Of The Republic sound like Good Vibrations. Just my opinion. YMMV...

[guitarfool2002]

Weird. I was there at the midnight release of Anthology I and the emphasis seemed to be mostly on Free As A Bird and the never before released tracks. I recall local news stations also reporting that angle.

I'm just going by the footage I've seen.  Your personal experience is your personal experience.  Generally speaking though, I can report as fact that there was a lot of griping the following day from people who thought they were purchasing something akin to the GV Box Set but for The Beatles obviously.

I saw both sides of that, but I do have to agree most of the hype for "Anthology 1" for the general public was centered around Free As A Bird as the first new Beatles recording in years, followed by the first release of the rare material like the Quarrymen acetates, I don't recall as much buzz around the set as a greatest hits package. But again, that was my experience living in Boston half a block from the Tower Records store where every Monday night they'd do some event around the new releases.

ABC the night of the premiere even had a clock counting down the minutes until they showed the new video. That was a little tacky but not unexpected.  

And ultimately the people buying Anthology for all its flaws were getting perhaps 85% or more of material they had never been able to buy officially, and remember most music-buying folks at that time had no idea what "Unsurpassed Masters" or "Ultra Rare Trax" were, let alone owning any of the sets, so it was all new to them.