The Smiley Smile Message Board

I was curious if there were any internal documents or reports available for the 1966 Michigan shows, especially anything related to how and for what purpose remote/mobile recordings were arranged and done in what seemed to be an official capacity. Were the shows recorded for and by Capitol, or was this something Brian himself may have wanted captured on tape?

One source I can't recall says that Brian flew to Michigan to rehearse the band because the premiere of Good Vibrations was important to him and he wanted to rehearse them so that the band performed it well. That's fine, but to set up a remote recording and capture the shows on multitrack suggests there was a live release in the works. The only evidence of any plans came after the fact, a year later when those concert recordings were mentioned in the Wild Honey memo, where that project was going to include songs from various live shows like Michigan recorded over the past year or so.

So was this an "official" Capitol sponsored live recording, or was this something Brian and the band did on their own?

Wasn't it thought of as a filler for Smile? Like Party! was for Pet Sounds...  I believe I have read something like this, but I can't say how true that is

Perhaps after the fact it was, but as far as the scheduling when the concerts were recorded they had the next few months already lined up. Good Vibrations was set for release within weeks, Smile was still being recorded and was on track for a January release as far as Capitol was concerned, and there were still singles being played (though not as much) on the radio from Pet Sounds.

The only mention of a possible release for these tapes was in the Wild Honey memo, and there it would have been a case of picking a few tunes from various shows rather than a full-on "Live In Michigan" concert album.

I haven't found anything suggesting this was an "official" Capitol recording - even news blurbs or press releases stating the Beach Boys would be recording their concert tonight - and that was a big deal and standard practice to get good crowds and loud crowd reactions for the recordings.

Or am I missing some things?

Don't think so - try nearly two weeks previously.

Wasn't that for the Lei'd in Hawaii-stuff ?

True that! The single was already Hitbound on KHJ survey last week of Sept. 1966, "premiered" on KHJ Boss City TV show...wish video existed of that.

It's part of the memo which is crossed out that says: "The Letter" was recorded "live" in Hawaii this last summer. It is to be part of a new, up-coming "live" album which will contain highlights from a variety of shows.

I'm assuming the variety of shows would have been the shows like Michigan and whatever else was in the vaults besides Hawaii which was already mentioned by name. Assuming that might confirm that recording Michigan in October 1966 was done for a live album to be released in later 1967? Without confirmation it's just a guess.

Surprising to find this kind of thing on the net.  Sure my post will be yanked ASAP.

"THE PHILIP COHEN COLLECTION: BEACH BOYS - MICHIGAN 1966"

Scroll about half way down.

http://bigozine2.com/roio/

Question - "Did Brian actually appear on Johnny B Goode?