The Smiley Smile Message Board

Given that so much Smile stuff is coming out, how about expanding the 1997 Pet Sounds box to include more takes?

Sorry, not for me. Of course many others will disagree. Others again will own certain unofficial sets, there are 2 with 8 CDs in total. But this person is entirely happy with what he's got in the 1997 set, and will get come Nov 1. It's sort of a completion, a closure, a fulfillment.

I care a lot about playability. Scientific research is all fine and dandy, but I'm not too keen on sets that I will take out of the cupboard, oh, every 5 years or so.

I have all the Pet Sounds I need with the box set.

For the more radical there's the Unsurpassed Masters set - And from that I really only listen to the WIBN session once in a blue moon.

The Official boxset is fine with me - everything good in one spot.

Ps...I'm really looking forward to these upcoming commemorative releases!

I too have all that I need of that material.   I also imagine that I will have all of the SMiLE I need with the new box.  And after a while, will place it on the shelf with the Pet Sounds box.  I find The outtake material is tiring and tedous after a couple of spins.

All of the above. But bring out a comprehensive Sunflower box and then you're talking!  8)

I'd LOVE to see a Warner years boxset. Dig out sessions/outtakes/alternative versions from the Sunflower to Holland period. I would pay a hefty chunk of change for that!

The question is, what on earth would they put on it? All the alternate mixes of note are on there, and it's not worth sticking more session material on as it's just not worth it to the hardcore.

Pet Sounds, that is, not a Warner Years box. Which would be amazing .

It's everyone's choice and preference, naturally. I'd personally like to have all of the available tapes in highest quality on a box set, because the SOT discs have some tape issues going on that detract from some of the tracks.

The Pet Sounds Sessions box struck a very nice balance between the hard-core fans' requests and the everyday listeners' requests. Outtakes are not for everyone, granted.

However...I do have a question for those in the thread that wouldn't want more session tracks:

How do you feel about the various comprehensive jazz box set releases, and I'm thinking specifically of box sets like Miles Davis' "Bitches Brew" sessions and the like? Is there an audience apart from the most ardent Miles Davis fans who would buy and repeatedly listen to those exhaustive box sets? I happen to own that set and others like it, but I don't listen all that often. However, I do listen to Brian Wilson sessions all the time - personal preference.

Is there as much of a market for exhaustive Beach Boys or Beatles session material as there is in the world of jazz?

Yes please, I would like some more Pet Sounds sessions. The title track, for example, is not represented on the SOT boxes.

What we need is a Smiley Smile / Wild Honey box set that contains two vinyl LPs of the albums, a bag of contraband, nitrous oxide chargers, and a copy of The Joyous Cosmology.

I wouldn't mind a 2 cd  version of "pet sounds" where we get the regular album mono/stereo (again) but on the second disc have out takes that weren't on the box set because you know it's only a matter of time beefore we get a "pet ssounds" reissue at least make it interesting the next time around that way we aren't just buying the same thing over and over again.

2 boxes:

1 from Smiley Smile to 20/20, all stereo, with outtakes and a selection of vocals-only/stack-o-tracks

2 from Sunflower to Holland, with outtakes and a selection of vocals-only/stack-o-tracks

It is, actually, but it's presented badly.  The Pet Sounds track is weird because it's very overdub heavy and neither the SOTs or the Box really make that clear.  The track is just all the percussion and the "James Bond" guitar, and then they overdubbed the other stuff track by track.  Would be fun to hear all those isolated.

There are huge gaps in the That's Not Me and IKTAA sessions that have never been fully explained.

But really, I'll not rest till the special 100th anniversary discrete multitrack edition comes out in 2066.

It and the Good Vibrations box need to be on vinyl now.

I wouldn't mind if they redid it and let me have a crack at the sessionography, like they did for the SMiLE box set. 
:)

I swear I posted this yesterday, but it disappeared somehow.....but....

Do we really NEED The Pet Sounds Sessions to be expanded??? IMHO, the only things of value they left out were the single version of "Wouldn't It Be Nice" and the vocal sessions for "I Know There's An Answer."

I remember getting into a conversation about the SOT catalog with some dude at the first BW show I went to, in June 1999 at the Beacon in NYC. He said someone sent him a VHS tape in EP mode that had the audio of some of the SOT volumes and that the Pet Sounds volumes were amazing. I said "Yeah, but do we REALLY NEED more Pet Sounds stuff after PSS?" He insisted yes...

Agreed.

Well if he didn't have the SOT PS audio then yeah you do need more PS sessions than what is on the official boxset.  The "Pet Sounds" album is historic and while you might only listen to the sessions once or twice all the way through every serious Beach Boys fan should have the opportunity to peruse through them at least once.  The official boxset is good but I think the term "Highlights From The Tracking Date" says everything you need to know about how the sessionography was treated on that boxset something they've remedied on this upcoming SMiLE set. 

Now do we need another "Pet Sounds" session boxset?  Probably not just due to the fact that between the bootlegs and the box set that is already out there, the type of fan that these sets are marketed to probably already has everything in hand already.

How about a bonus disc for the eventual 50th reissue?  Include a small sample of what's on the box set and a few tracks that are new.  Here's what would be nice to see.

The uncirculated "missing" takes from IKTAA and That's Not Me, or at least an expanded highlight of what's on them.
Vocal session highlights
Isolated instrumental overdubs
Isolated backing vocals (maybe put into a montage ala the SMiLE box)

Wrt this, I don't think I see your point? The SMiLE box isn't presenting every single session. There are over 30 hours of tapes!

Yeah but they are doing a much better job in terms of formatting.  PSS much like "Beatles Anthology" did a lot creative editing to the original session tapes which included a lot of cross-fading.  The Highlights From The Tracking Date sequence is a prime example of this where you had maybe five minutes of material which encompassed an entire tracking session.  It was classier than what The Beatles did with Anthology because they weren't trying to create new takes out of several different outtakes but instead just condensing what they had.

On the "SMiLE sessions" although they are not giving us complete session tapes in a lot of cases they are giving us individual takes of songs.  The H&V sessions are a good example of this.  They aren't for example giving us one long track and listing it as "Session Highlights from ________" but instead are giving us a track devoted to the Cantina section, a track devoted to All Day and so on and so forth.  Now some of this is just due to the fragmentary nature of the SMiLE recordings but on that same token I believe that as of right now it's one of the most appealing treatments an archival release has gotten up to this point.  I really think Linett and those working with him were very aware of what the collector wanted with this set and responded with a set that would reach that market whereas a lot of box sets are marketed to the general public.

I'd like to put Al and Bruce in charge of putting together a rarities package...if they were given a time frame/due date and permission from Mike, Brian, and from Dennis & Carl's estates, I think they could put together a great package. Honestly, I think it'd be awesome if they were given an idea like: "here's an album from the Beach Boys, had it come out in 1975," using outtakes/unreleased tunes from Sunflower, Surf's Up, So Tough, and Holland, there could be one helluv an album. We all know Dennis has some beauties stashed away, Bruce could pull out 10 Years of Harmony from So Tough, Carl's moog experiments would be more than welcome or his collab with T. Almer: Then I'll be Someone or just some samples of his leading productions, Al's always got some stuff like Ride Arabian Ride, Canyon Summer, and Dr. Tom. Of course Brian has some great stuff from that era: material from Kalinich sessions, the Clagin' jam, Snowflakes (Spring outtake), Spark in the Dark, Walkin', Soulful Old Man Sunshine, and of course early demos/sessions for Funky Pretty, Marcella, Til' I Die, Day in the Life of Tree, This Whole World, Mt. Vernon and Fairway, etc.

Then throw a "Beach Boys Live-Early 70s" set (still with Bruce/Al in charge of putting the tracklists together)...much like the Hallmark compilation that was put out for Father's Day some five years ago or so....combine shows from which the Grateful Dead were involved, Beachago shows, the famous Carnegie Hall shows, the shows in 73-75 that put the Boys back in the spotlight, a few more Blondie/Ricky involvements/tunes wouldn't hurt, etc.

I'd love to see a proposed track list of either "proposed album theme"