Post Release MIC Track Discussion

[Jay]

I love all of the "new" vocals on Soul Searchin'. Are they 1996 vintage? I'm really glad that this and Still A Mystery were included. I wish they had kept the original lead vocal, but this new one is nicely done. I was reminded just how good these two songs were. Can you imagine these two songs, plus Getting In Over My Head, with some nicely done Carl-Al-Mike overdubs a la God Only Knows, would have sounded as part of a Beach Boys album back in 1996? Even though there aren't any other Beach Boys on it, I think I would have included the early version of GIOMH just because Brian's lead is so awesome on it.

Is it just me, or does the version of You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling have bottom end completely drop out after the bridge("I'll get down my knees for you" etc)? I kept feeling like my ears had popped.

[Amazing Larry]

The click is the sound of the NR kicking in.
If you're listening on good speakers you should be able to hear it.

Thank you, but which second is it?

1:01-1:02

[Quzi]

Is it just me, or does the version of You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling have bottom end completely drop out after the bridge("I'll get down my knees for you" etc)? I kept feeling like my ears had popped.

I had that happen to me on my first listening but it was later corrected.

[Ebb and Flow]

"Warmth Of The Sun" and "Fun, Fun, Fun" definitely now have stereo elements that were previously missing...stereo backing vocals for WOTS and stereo backing track for FFF.  Interesting that these new mixes aren't noted in the track listing.

I guess they found another session tape from Shut Down Vol. II (the session from New Years Day, 1964 specifically).  I'm still holding out for the tape for the single version of "Be True To Your School" to be discovered some day.

[Sunflowerpet]

Doesn't keyboard intro of "Barnayard Blues" sound very similar to piano chords of "Child Is The Father Of The Man"?

[MBE]

Mona Kana is much more blatantly Smile like from Dennis. I will listen again. Barnyard Blues is a nice little hidden gem.

[runnersdialzero]

The click is the sound of the NR kicking in.
If you're listening on good speakers you should be able to hear it.

Thank you, but which second is it?

1:01-1:02

The bigger problem is that the "Grand Coulee Dam" vocals are present in the second chorus on the 2011 mono. No idea how this even happened, but they still seem to be there on MIC if Spotify is using the right source for the track.

Could be wrong that they used the exact same mix with this error, we'll see. I was actually thinking they included the mono over the 20/20 stereo on the box to ensure a corrected mono mix was out there.

[Dave Modny]

Barnyard Blues is cool too. I didn't expect two 1974 Dennis leads. I wonder who is with him on Barnyard Blues?

[/b]



According to Alan Boyd...Carl and Ricky. 

[Nile]

What happened to the "tape burst" on "Country Air"?
it's buried in there somewhere, but in mono it's oohhoo sooo present..
i am not happy with this..but vocals are wonderfull i must say!

[MBE]

Thanks, I couldn't place Ricky but it's obvious now.

[MBE]

You know what? It does kind of have that Smile vibe at the start.

[SonicVolcano]

"Warmth Of The Sun" and "Fun, Fun, Fun" definitely now have stereo elements that were previously missing...stereo backing vocals for WOTS and stereo backing track for FFF.  Interesting that these new mixes aren't noted in the track listing.

I guess they found another session tape from Shut Down Vol. II (the session from New Years Day, 1964 specifically).  I'm still holding out for the tape for the single version of "Be True To Your School" to be discovered some day.

Fun Fun Fun had horns? I didn't even know this. Amazing.

[SonicVolcano]

Cabin Essence is a total mess, IMHO. What a horrible muddy sound.

[Disney Boy (1985)]

Cabin Essence is a total mess, IMHO. What a horrible muddy sound.

Damn! That's annoying to hear. The TSS version drives me nuts - they really messed up the chorus. Didn't think it could've sounded any worse? The band got it absolutely spot-on back in 1969 for 20/20 - if it ain't broke, don't fix it!

[Dunderhead]

God this oreo advertisement is annoying

[The Dumb Angel]

I was really excited for You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling. It's always been one of my favorite unreleased tracks, but I'm very dissapointed with it on the box set. It sounds too, I guess, over produced. Still, it's nice to hear the song in good quality.

[job]

Welp.  I couldn't wait to take delivery of the hard copy after work today so I bought the MP3 version off of Amazon last night at 2am.

I won't re-hash all the praise for the new stuff....I agree.  I will say that I really love the fact that they extended the heads and tails on many of the old faves.

Guess I will read the booklet tonight when my shipment arrives at home.

[Dunderhead]

I was really excited for You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling. It's always been one of my favorite unreleased tracks, but I'm very dissapointed with it on the box set. It sounds too, I guess, over produced. Still, it's nice to hear the song in good quality.

There's too much echo on the vocal for my taste

[The Dumb Angel]

I was really excited for You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling. It's always been one of my favorite unreleased tracks, but I'm very dissapointed with it on the box set. It sounds too, I guess, over produced. Still, it's nice to hear the song in good quality.

There's too much echo on the vocal for my taste

Uh-huh. I actually prefer the cruddy quality bootlegged version over the released version.  

Other than YLTLF, I'm really enjoying everything that I've heard so far. The '68 performances are incredible! They absolutly nailed Little Bird, and Friends.

[Matt Bielewicz]

Impressions so far - I like all the new mixes, which have done much to bring some of the sloppy originals up to scratch. I know, that comment will have many reaching for their knives, but can anyone really say the original Do It Again 'stereo' mix (if you can call it that) was a fine piece of mixing? Beautiful song, instrumentation and arrangement — *terrible* mix.

The booklet is beautifully done, and not the cheese-fest that the art for the GV box was.

One more observation for now — I really love the fact that the set brings out the Beach Boys' close and rewarding relationship with the art of the shuffle rhythm over the decades. It's not a form that the public immediately associates with the band, and even fans like us might have struggled to think of examples beyond California Girls until a couple of years ago. But then we got That's Why God Made The Radio and now, alongside TWGMTR, MiC brings out Why Don't They Let Us Fall in Love, Soul Searching, and Why, which might be my favourite track of the whole set so far. For the next ten minutes, anyway...

[Micha]

The click is the sound of the NR kicking in.
If you're listening on good speakers you should be able to hear it.

Thank you, but which second is it?

1:01-1:02

The bigger problem is that the "Grand Coulee Dam" vocals are present in the second chorus on the 2011 mono. No idea how this even happened, but they still seem to be there on MIC if Spotify is using the right source for the track.

Could be wrong that they used the exact same mix with this error, we'll see. I was actually thinking they included the mono over the 20/20 stereo on the box to ensure a corrected mono mix was out there.

I'm told that they used actual Brian 1966 test mixes for the TSS version. So the "Grand Coulee Dam" vocals are in Brian's mix. For me it's not a problem, I only hear it when I listen very, very closely. I even think it's nice that the two chorusses aren't exactly the same.

And at 1:01-1:02 you mean that tiny little scratchy sound? Well, I listen to old LPs frequently, so I never noticed that slight bug, and won't in the future. Oh, and I always turn the treble down ab bit, which even reduces that.

Cabin Essence is a total mess, IMHO. What a horrible muddy sound.

The muddy sound is what I like most about this mix. Makes it sound contemporary and authentic. I wish Surf's Up would sound like that! AND be in mono. (Which the TSS version is, of course.) And Wonderful too!

[Joshilyn Hoisington]

Having heard a lot of the other unreleased stuff before, I went straight for disc 6.

Slip On Through vocals only is amazing.  Those guys were just geniuses at putting together vocal tracks.  Love hearing Mike's ribbon-miked bass vocals.  We're getting closer and closer to a full a capella Sunflower.

Another thought I had:  Don't Worry Baby, with the false start, it's pretty interesting how underwhelming and light the track is without the vocals.  I would love to just hear the full track without vocals.

[hypehat]

Argh, post It's About Time the live tracks become awful. The Boxset Tour tunes are sung really poorly, Sail On Sailor is dominated by crappy synths.... Summer in Paradise is Summer In Paradise.

Listened to the first five discs on my proper stereo today - the mastering is great, big and bassy and the new stereo mixes rule. Very pleased with this!

[Mr. Cohen]

I'll say this about "Rock & Roll Music"... yeah, the mix is nice, but almost too nice. Before, for example, I thought subtle drones in the chorus were in fact purely background vocals. Now, I know it's a combo of instruments and vocals. It's like a magician being forced to show you his tricks.

"Sail Plane Song" was a chance for the producers to show off, which is kinda odd, I thought. I doubt much of the mix is vintage.

And gosh darn, what's with all the added reverb on some of the songs? It's a bit extreme, so "wet", like Brian Wilson was secretly a dub reggae artist this whole time.


Otherwise, it's an excellent work.

[hypehat]

And gosh darn, what's with all the added reverb on some of the songs? It's a bit extreme, so "wet", like Brian Wilson was secretly a dub reggae artist this whole time.

What do you mean, 'secretly'? Haven't you been paying attention?