The Smiley Smile Message Board

Where is a good place to buy good vintage early Beach Boys albums on vinyl?  Everytime i find vintage early vinyl by them at record shops, the record condition is horrible from being played too much. (the records usually have girl names on them, so i think the worn out albums were owned by the girls screaming on the 1964 live album.)  ;D

eBay...also use Google to find local stores.

Rockaway.com
They supplied/loaned me a PILE of NM cond. first pressing Beach Boys vinyl for our Dennis Wilson documentary shoot. If you want the real stuff in great shape they can set you up. They also have some awesome rarities.

Agreed on their normal selection; however, you should expect to pay them more than practically anyone else in the world, because that's their pricing.
 Really, if you take the time, Ebay is a good bet; but Gemm and Musicstack can be good places also.
there's a record store here in town that gets some nice stuff. PM me with a list and I'll let you know. 

Not sure if any of you are lucky enough to have a Tower Records near you anymore but I am and Tower have a lot, a least here in Dublin anyway. Picked up my sunflower, pet sounds, Today!, Summer Days,  vinyl's there..

By the way for anyone who for feels like picking up a Pet Sounds vinyl, to my horror they sell it in Urban Outfitters, I guess Pet Sounds really is a hipster album

Thanks for the tips and help, i checked rockaway.com, they were expensive, but had the goods. (yikes about duophonic pet sounds). Ebay sounds like a good idea and i would totally give up my local shopping mall for a tower records like that.

Record Surplus in West LA on Pico is THE place!

They have a constant stream of Beach Boys stuff coming in. And you can find an original copy of something like Wild Honey or Friends sometimes for like $6 or even less! Generally their prices are getting way too high all-around, but insane deals are always sprinkled in there.... Hell, you can even find Zappa stuff in great condition there for like $5 bucks which is pretty unthinkable!

Also, if you tell the guys there what you're looking for, they'll make sure to have it the next time you come in!

It really depends on if you want first pressings, or just good vinyl to listen to. I always insist on orig. issues because of their significance as artifacts, plus I like newish cond. Ebay can be a crapshoot if that is your criteria because everyone over grades so their stuff sells, and a lot of dealers don't know a first pressing from a hole in the head. If they say its orig. and Excellent or VG+ it can be poor and a common reissue from my experience. But I've picked up some nice orig. sealed and mintish vinyl from some honest ebay sellers, so as i said its hit and miss. An ultra savvy ebay veteran like Bgas has no problem there because he knows what he's doing. Yes Rockaway you pay top dollar, but everything is guranteed, no BS, they will work to meet your needs, and you end up with very cool stuff instead of disappointing garbage.

Neal at Record Surplus is an old friend and he knows his stuff. But they're often cherry picked to death for the same reasons they are good, because you can find things that are worth more than they price them for, therefore dealers are constantly trawling their bins. But yeah, its always worth a look, and through the years I've found some pretty amazing things there.

is that a rare record or something?? i thought the mono was the desired pressing... i have both, so am just curious...

I just hate duophonic after a great experience with duophonic summer days, which was about the worst sounding album mix i have ever heard.

It's rare in that all copies haven't been rightfully destroyed!!!!  :p

Jon, it's good for us to be getting the word out about Record Surplus! Get us nerds in there rather than the dealers!

The grading system they use there is a model of honesty and they make sure that if they're going to charge you a high price for a near mint disc, they're going to match it with a near mint cover or knock the price down a bit if both the cover and vinyl aren't of corresponding quality!

My stylus actually broke halfway though, so the music gods took mercy on me. Shame my east coast area doesn't have such great stores...

I've just been lucky with my local record stores/ebay, although some are a lot more common than others - I still find multiple copies of Holland, Surf's Up, and Concert 64, stuff like that, in the bins. But it's mostly just hits compilations and duophonic things. Which is annoying, seeing as if I had no qualms about it I could own Little Deuce Coupe, Surfer Girl, Wild Honey.... gah.

Have only seen one copy of Friends in the flesh, the only BB's vinyl I truly desire besides the 3 platter Smile boot, in Music & Video Exchange in Notting Hill, which was £30 and had the dubious distinction of being a 'FIRST MONO PRESSING'  ::)

If you want Pet Sounds on vinyl and aren't fussed about a '66 pressing, Urban Outiftters sell the 2006 remaster which is sensational, and well worth the shame it would take to go into a shop that sells decent if exorbitantly priced clothing  ;D

You can find that Pet Sounds pressing at Best Buy stores too!

It felt really weird strolling into Best Buy recently to grab the new Radiohead on vinyl!  :p

All of my original BB vinyl was left to me from my dad. An original (and very, very used) Pet Sounds, Wild Honey, Friends, Sunflower, the Endless Summer and Spirit of America comps, and the GoodVibes/LGAFAW 45(also very, very used).
Managed to grab copies of Little Deuce Coupe and Smiley Smile in some local stores as well. I'm lacking mostly in the older ones, which i intend to fix ASAP

Oh, and how dare I forget "Sound Station" in Westchester near LAX!

The place is filled to the brim with good stuff and they actually NEVER rip you off there! They may not have everything you're looking for, but when you do find something good, it's always a steal   ;)

Don't forget your wallet! And make sure it's stuffed with wads of $20's and $100 dollar bills! This place is for collectibles. Records and rarities and harder to get stuff to complete your collection when you can't find it anywhere else. I use to get stuff at Rockaway until it skyrocketed in price in the 90's. Or should I say 80's. Does Wayne still work there? I bought most of my original vinyl Beach Boys and Beatle albums (all new to mint to mint - condition) in local record stores in and around S.F. and L.A., the Capitol Records Swap meet in L.A. (later Pasadena), Music Man Murry, Tower, Record Factory, Amoeba, Al's Record Barn, Streetlight Records, Let It Be Records, Recycled Records, Rasputin's, Moe's, Village Music, Midnight Records, Goldmine, Discoveries, Peter, and Derek, among other sources.

Where would I get my vinyl records now if I were starting over?   EBay.  No doubt.

YEP, Ebay. You're liable to find some sellers that overgrade there; but there are lots of sellers that undergrade too, cuz ebay has a-lot of the smaller sellers scared they'll get the boot if their feedback isn't perfect. So they only sell stuff where ther can't be any problems/misunderstandings. 
 Rockaway does have stuff that won't make your nose bleed, but usually the condition suffers; tho like Jon says, they have primo stuff almost all the time. I like them, you just have to be choosy, when you shop there.

I suppose it's all about location, cuz I'm ptretty sure there are stores on the east coast/most big towns that have good stuff.

It seems wrong somehow to buy old vinyl online. I've built up my collection over years of pounding the streets of places I visit on holiday. Best hobby in the world. The hunt is half the pleasure of vinyl.

I remember the joy of finding (in the 90s before the CD reissues) Sunflower in a flea market in Bristol for £3. 15 Big Ones and MIU for $5CA each in Toronto. LA Light Album for £3 at a record fair. Surf's Up, Carl's solo albums and the 7-inch Spanish version of Kokomo in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Best find was Pacific Ocean Blue with insert for £7 sitting on the desk of Plastic Wax in bristol, it had just come in that morning and hadn't been put out. The guy hadn't even priced it yet, and i casually enquired how much, careful not to give away my extreme excitement because i would have paid a lot of money for it.

Anyway, Boston/Cambridge, Mass is chock full of places that sell vinyl. You'll never know what you'll find until you show up :)

I agree the hunting and chatting with the shop owner and all that is a real thrill. I hate buying anything online.

If your town has any Half Price Books, those are great places to go to find the occasional rare item for super cheap. The people that work there don't really know records so original pressings and cheap Pickwick reissues will sell for the same price. Obviously, you can get nice books there too. Last summer I pick up The Nearest Faraway Place for $6.00 and an autographed copy of The Lost Beach Boy for $4.99.

I recently moved to Chicago and have been disappointed at the independent record shops here. Any place I've been with records worth having are super expensive. I got spoiled as an Ohio State, there were 5 (now 4 since The Singing Dog closed) really nice record stores in the campus area.

I used to have every album from Surfin Safari up to Beach Boys '85 on original vinyl.

When the two'fers came out on CD I sold them all.

There aren't many things I regret in life

But that is one of them

 

:-\

Cripes.

Ok, gotta shake it.

Two sources for vinyl that I'll let you know about  ;D are gemm.com and elusivedisc.com. The latter has all kinds of vinyl related goodies and hardware as well. New and rare/collectables.

Gemm has sources from all over the world, I've had some luck there with really obscure things - although they're a bit well known now. In fact I just got a newsletter for the first time ever - after over 15 years of shopping there.

Of course it's hard to beat local stores as you can lay hands on the disc in question.

I've also had tremendous luck (as others have mentioned) on ebay. I've ordered many albums that really were mint or better, only once did I get burned. And for $15 it's hard to get too pissed - just give 'em a bad rating.

Dude.  :'(

Oh no! They sell Pet Sounds in a popular clothing shop!  ::)

God forbid that an overpriced clothing chain takes part in that mortal sin called "cross-merchandising." :lol

I will check these websites out, and i will ask urban outfitters when they are getting copies of smiley smile, love you, and the early surf and car albums. ;D

check the ebay, but wherever you shop, keep your peepers peeled for the 80's capitol green label represses (check for the green sticker). those are yum; i ended up getting originals, and then picking up the green labels when i saw them. they can usually be had on the cheap and are really incredible sounding.

I just had a perfect example of what's not good about ordering from sources like e-bay.

Nothing to do with the seller, quality of item or the way it was packaged.

I got back home yesterday and looked over at the mailbox, and there leaning next to it in the sun was my LP. The mailman (probably not the regular) didn't come up and put it on the front porch as they do all over-sized items. It was 102° here in the shade yesterday. Who knows how long the thing had been sitting out there, leaning at an angle, soaking up the heat. And yes, the box was HOT. So, I ran inside, pulled it out of the packaging and put it flat on a table with a stack of books on top of the LP.

I haven't had a chance to see if it's messed up or not - but there's an advantage to buying in a shop!

Yeah, like going home on the tube, and it being rush hour on the Central line where 100 people cram into tiny carriages really quickly, and your new flimsy vinyl gets caught in the throng and snaps   :'( :'( :'(

I'll take my Rural problems over your Urban ones any day friend!
I don't miss that lifestyle one bit.


Now you have me confused.
The Green Label ones were late 60's to early 70's, mostly lime green with the "new logo" (funky "C") on them. Also, if I'm not mistaken (and somebody here surely knows) many were also the Record Club versions - the ones with a black "C". I had always assumed that record club LP's were pressings from an older master and not as good, but some folks here swear by 'em.

http://www.friktech.com/btls/capitol/capitollabels.pdf
http://www.friktech.com/btls/rci.htm
http://www.shaded-dog.de/label/Capitol.cfm

All of the ones produced through most of the mid-late 70's were a typo solution that sort of bled off the bottom of the label. The links here shows red only - I'm inclined to believe that - but I can always go fish some out and look!

I'm not aware of any green label in the 80's, as I thought they went to black in the 80's, and then returned to the rainbow. I think I have a 180 gram that's black only that's old - the newer ones are the rainbow.

Any label aficionados out there?

The 80's green label is dark green like this one (not my auction):

http://cgi.ebay.com/BEACH-BOYS-BEACH-BOYS-CONCERT-LP-CAPITOL-NM-/110710319969?pt=Music_on_Vinyl&hash=item19c6d96b61

And yeah, these are amazing pressings.

Ah-ha!
I haven't seen those!
And, being my cynical self, I would assume anything printed in the '80's as "A Capitol Value" when LP's were on the steep decline was total crap.

Thanks!

Anybody know a bit of history behind these?
It'd be interesting to know the period these were printed, pre CD (early 80's) or post (mid-on).

For the most part, the 80's green labels are very good.  Stay away from "Today", and "Summer Days" which are rechannelled.  Pet Sounds is ok, but I still like the Warner cut of that one.  I also like the Capital original of "Friends" over the green label- there seems to be more dynamic range.  The rest are fine.  "Surfer Girl" lp is superb- they conquered all the heavy sibilances that are on all the other presses.

I have the 2xcoloured vinyl (green and gold) Pet Sounds set, which sounds absolutely amazing.

Is the PS remaster mentioned above in Urban Outfitters any better?

It's the 2006 180g Capitol remaster, and it sounds great to these ears!

I found my vinyl copy of Pacific Ocean Blue in the £1.00 bin in a second-hand record store in Guildford, it was out of print at the time, couldn't believe my luck, bought it and left quickly thinking the guy obviously didn't realise what it was ! The actual record was a bit worn and scratchy, the inner sleeve had been replaced by the one from "Saturday Night Fever" but it sounded tremendous - bassy and huge. My first introduction to this wonderful album. I bought the deluxe double CD edition when it came out a couple of years ago, which sounds pretty good, but will continue to enjoy the deep vibrations and the subtleties of the vinyl, particularly on the tracks Moonshine and Time.

The dark green Capitol label probably dates to at least October 1980 when, according to Brad Elliot's book, reissues of truncated 10 track versions of Surfin' Safari, Shut Down Vol 2 (retitled Fun Fun Fun), All Summer Long, Summer Days and Summer Nights (retitled California Girls), and Beach Boys Today (retitled Dance Dance Dance) were once again released.

In April 1981 I purchased green label reissue copies of Wild Honey, Friends, and 20/20.  At that time they didn't have the "A Capitol Value" sticker on them, and they were priced $5.99.  In August 86 I purchased eight more of the green label LPs, with "A Capitol Value" stickers on them, and price tags of $3.99, $4.99, and $5.98.  (Chronologically, starting with Party, and including Concert, the green label reissues, thankfully, were no longer stripped of two tracks.)

In Oct 94 I purchased the entire original Capitol LP series once again, when all of the non-greatest hits albums were reissued, except for the Christmas Album.  By now we were firmly entrenched in the CD era, so Capitol went to extra trouble to make these album reissues appealing. They were all done with the original Capitol rainbow label (except for Smiley Smile with the Brother label) and matched the originals that had fold-over covers, along with a booklet for Concert, pics for Party, and book for Stack o Tracks.

Hmm, so it appears as if the green label was around from 80 to about 86? Interesting.

I'm pretty familiar with anything in the 90's, or the 60's and 70's.
Any BB's I purchased was in the 70's or recent reissues/remasters. While I was still buying vinyl in the mid 80's on, I can't remember any groups being on Capitol any time in the 80's. Oh wait, I can think of 2 Capitol records in early 80's - The Tubes, but those were custom labels I believe. Now I have to go dig through my LP's to see what might be on a Capitol label during that period.

Thanks!

The dark green label probably was available past '86, but I don't know exactly how long.  I'm guessing that label was used only for their less expensive "value" reissues.

Always intrigued me that the cuts that were deleted from these two issues (namely In the Back Of My Mind, Amusement Parks U.S.A. and I'm Bugged At My Old Man) were released in mono on the Be True To Your School compilation. Begs the question why those two LPs weren't released thus.

I missed these somehow, or ignored them, maybe.  But you'e saying that Concert, Party and SOT were almost identical to their earlier releases?  Do they have newer catalog numbers on them, so they can be differentiated from the outside( if they're sealed) ?

Very easy to identify the 1994 reissues - they all have bar codes on the back with new catalog numbers.  Rather than the original 60's album cover construction with slicks pasted on gray paperboard, (except for 20/20, which originally featured the new Unipak construction), the '94 reissues use the modern method of printing the artwork directly on white paperboard.  On most of the '94 reissues, the cover art covers the entire front, so there is no white border (or in the case of Friends, a black border). 

Concert uses a mono cover, but is actually in stereo.  The pictures inside Party do not have perforations, but instead black dots printed where the perforations were on the original pictures.  The Smily Smile Brother label also features the Capitol logo.  The Stack o Tracks booklet looks identical to the original, but has the new catalog number on the back.    The '94 20/20 is a fold-over cover, but does not use the original thin cover Unipak design, which probably hadn't been used on album covers for around 20 years.  All of the Duophonic/rechanneled stereo albums are presented in mono, even though some say "Duphonoic for Stereo Phonographs" or "For Stereo Phonographs". The discs are in plastic innersleves, rather than paper.

I'm guessing not many of the '94 reissues were sold, as during this time we were firmly entrenched in the CD era, with many people gladly dumping their old LPs.  Today vinyl is enjoying somewhat of a resurgence, but the eternal mystery is why Summer in Paradise and Stars and Stripes have never seen release on vinyl.  (Actually maybe those albums were released on vinyl somewhere in the world, but the owners of such albums may be reluctant to reveal their ownership.  Ah, heck, I may as well admit it, I'd buy 'em both if they were released on vinyl at a reasonable price.)

Summer In Paradise was released on vinyl in Korea, and I think Australia.

You were aware that Summer In Paradise was in fact released on vinyl, albeit only in South Korea?

EDIT: ah, Mikie beat me to it. Forgot the name of the label, but it was Korean, and released in that country + Australia only, as far as I can recall.

In case one needs proof: found this on the web, but if necesary I can make better pictures as I have a copy as well.
(http://i52.tinypic.com/14bulbp.jpg)

And Stars and Stripes, while not making it to vinyl, did make it to the test pressing/acetate  stage, as I have one(  maybe the only surviving one?)
 The labels have xerox copies of the graphics glued on and hand printed side info.
 Smells just like an acetate should!  10 inch, not 12.  Front and back covers with the two sides showing:   

    (http://i730.photobucket.com/albums/ww302/bgasnow/P1010001-24.jpg)

    (http://i730.photobucket.com/albums/ww302/bgasnow/P1010002-25.jpg)

Summer In Paradise (vinyl) was issued on the "Sampony/Sung Eum" label.

Thanks for the info, guys.  My collection is obviously woefully incomplete!

Nice one !

Even if it sucks I would love Stars and Stripes on vinyl just to have a complete collection.

Only seven songs, however...

An improvement, surely?

Damn that's beautiful, I do love the SIP packaging. I'm actually curious about this SIP vinyl release. Here was I thinking I could call it a day ending with the Still Cruisin' LP  :-\

Does it sound better?, I mean less compressed, clinical and cold ?

Quit it, QUIT IT!!!!  You can't be saying you'd really listen to this, are you??

Well, "Lahaina Aloha" I would, don't know if I could stomach much more of it..

I feel sorry for you (irony-free). Many, many people did such things in the earlier days of CD, the CD series were often seen as the 'definitive editions', esp. if they contained bonus cuts. Vinyl seemed to be history; and well, it actually was and is: great, original history. So there...

My personal history would be oh so much more complete if I owned that SIP vinyl slab!!!!!

The last two copies sold on Ebay went for $67 and $106. more than I'd want to spend...

Considering the music you're getting, that has to be one of the worst purchases ever in terms of value for money.....


Does that mean that every Beach Boys album is on vinyl in some form (lets say the S&S acetate counts....)?

Worth every penny if it takes them out of circulation-just pure junk. :o

$67... that could very well be the one I bought a few years back.... did it for the cover by the way.



Better isn't the right description, but the sound is less sterile compared to the CD. It's the first (US) mix, in case you wondered.

The $67 copy auction ended one year ago yesterday; and from the looks of it, you weren't the winner

That's funny!  ;D

nope, I got mine 3 years ago.