The Smiley Smile Message Board

Below is my incompete Beach Boys CD collection, My question for you is "what do I get next?"...

I was thinking about Party/Stack-o-tracks but is it really that essential? I have been after MIU/LA for awhile but it seems that is the rarest of the twofers by far, all the rest you can get for under five pounds, that one you are looking at £60 which I'm not prepared to pay for a single CD. I was also thinking about the live albums...

What do you suggest?

Surfin' Safari / Surfin' USA
Surfer Girl / Shut Down Vol. 2
Little Deuce Coupe / All Summer Long
Today! / Summer Days (And Summer nights!!)
Pet Sounds
Smile
Smiley Smile / Wild Honey
Friends / 20/20
Sunflower / Surf's Up
Carl & The Passions "So Tough" / Holland
15 Big Ones / Love You
Keepin' The Summer Alive / The Beach Boys
That's Why God Made The Radio

Brian Wilson
Imagination
Brian Wilson Presents Smile
No Pier Pressure

Pacific Ocean Blue

I suppose I'll get around to getting it all even SIP (surely it can't be as bad as it's made to seem). I'm a sucker for a career outtakes retrospective boxset, So MIC is right up my street, however I'd like as many of the original albums as possible before checking out the alternates...

What do you reckon?

 Think again.  :lol  Summer in Paradise is the worst album ever issued by a major group/artist.

  I'd give Brian's That Lucky Old Sun a spin - good album.
 

Check eBay for MIU / LA.  I got one for about $20 last year.  

Also, the Good Vibrations box set is a good starter.  It has some outtakes not on MIC, and it's much cheaper.  (I don't know why they couldn't have just released a 50th Anniversary boxset with ALL the rarities, but that's another matter all together).  However, if you buy the GV box, make sure it's an edition that includes the fifth CD. 

If I were you, my next purchase would be Brian's That Lucky Old Sun.  I really think it forms a bit of a trilogy with TWGMTR and NPP.  

At this stage, I'd just try to complete the collection, get the Christmas album, Party/Stack, and the live albums, then see about the rarer stuff when it pops up.  Quality-wise, the live album from the 70s is probably the best of those left.  I'd also get the Endless Harmony disc.

For starters, I would get both That Lucky Old Sun and Brian Wilson Reimagines Gershwin.  The iTunes version of the former album comes with some rather wonderful bonus tracks, and there was also a special edition best buy version that came with different bonus tracks that would probably be pretty hard/expensive to get now.  (The record company really milked us completist fans with the marketing scheme on that particular album, but IMO the bonus tracks are worth the trouble).  The Disney album is also fun but less essential.

Also, you'll want to get M.I.U. (if only for "My Diane") and L.A., which has some good songs on it.  Still Cruisin' has some not terrible tracks on it, but Summer in Paradise doesn't really.

Also, Brian Wilson Live at the Roxy is a nice live album, and features plenty of album tracks like Til I Die, Please Let Me Wonder, and Kiss Me Baby. 

If you can find it at a decent price, there's a Japanese version with about five extra songs. 

I didn't notice that Still Cruisin wasn't on your list.  Although its out of print, it can be found on the cheap pretty easily.

Thanks for the advice, I've been a fan of the group for a while just never got around to completing the discography. One thing, with the Endless Harmony album, aren't there two versions? What's with that? Also I see that their is in fact a 6 disc Good Vibrations box. What's with all the different permutations of these?

Regarding the differences between the 1998 Endless Harmony and the 2000 Endless Harmony CD's.

First of all, there are two different variations of the 1998 Endless Harmony CD. The track  "Radio Concert Promo 1" on "Version #1" was corrected for "Version #2". Both Version #1 and Version #2 cover graphics depict six Beach Boys behind a fence, circa 1966. The 1998 version(s) of EH were mastered by Andrew Sandoval and Dan Hirsch. Some suggest that the stereo remixes on these CD's are "wider."

Endless Harmony 2000, mastered by Mark Linett:

1. New artwork to match the artwork for the VHS/DVD companion documentary (A picture of all six Beach Boys sitting in a yellow car, with trees and ocean in the background).
2. The same corrected "Radio Concert Promo 1" track as on the second 1998 EH (Version #2).
3. Track #4, the Live 1966 concert medley has been sped up slightly. The track is also included in its entirety; part of the chatter before the song starts was edited out on Versions #1 and #2 (1998) .
4. Track #5 has been changed to a vocals-only acapella mix of "Surfer Girl" as opposed to the "Binaural Mix" (instruments on one channel, vocals on the other) that appeared on the Version #1 & #2 CD's.
5. Tracks #7 and #8, the stereo remixes for "Kiss Me Baby" and "California Girls," have been remixed yet again compared to the stereo mixes on Versions #1 & #2.  Some say that this version of the disc has vocals noticably out of sync on "California Girls."
6. Track #10, the "Heroes and Villains" demo, is edited differently featuring a different beginning as opposed to a fade in. There are also other slight sonic and editing differences throughout the track.
7. Track #14, the live 1980 version of "Darlin'," is a different mix. Versions #1 and #2 (1998) of the CD feature the mix of the song after overdubs, while the 2000 (Version #3) feature a mix without any additional overdubs.
8. The bridge between Track #14 and 15 is silent, as opposed to the way the two tracks were cross-faded on the first two versions of the CD.
9. Liner notes are pretty much the same on all 3 versions of Endless Harmony except for the inclusion of the copyright holders of the individual songs on the 2000 release.

- From The Beach Boys FAQ

Good Vibrations: Thirty Years of The Beach Boys (Box Set)

US version has four CD's and one 'bonus' disc, "Sessions."

European Edition is the same as the US version with one addtional CD with five songs on it.  

If you don't mind early '80's AOR, than I would recommend Carl's solo albums. You can't get his first one on cd, though.

I totally forgot to mention Pet Projects, a collection of some of BW's non-Beach Boy productions.  There's also The Big Beat 1963 which has some more of those.  The former is on CD, the latter is only available on iTunes.

Which DVDs do you currently have?

I'd say that Endless Harmony is essential. 

There's also a two-fer with the American Band document on the Boys produced in 1985, and the excellent Don Was Brian doc I Just Wasn't Made for These Times. 

The Pet Sounds box set
Hawthorne, Ca cd has some good rarities on it

Some outside projects:
The Flame (solo album with Blondie and Ricky produced by Carl)
American Spring (Marilyn and Diane Rovel)
Western Justice (Jack Reiley)
A World of Piece Must Come (Stephen Kalanich poetry with background music by Brian)
David Marks and the Marksmen
Moon (another David Marks band)
Postcard from California (Al Jardine solo)

My suggestions would be:
first and foremost: The Christmas Album. This was a real production effort from Brian and a very important step forward in his evolution as an artist. Definitely a need-to-own record, in my opinion.
The 1973 In Concert album is absolutely essential. The band transformed those songs into something new. To me, this live album sums up everything that made the Beach Boys great in the 70s.
A compilation of Brian's outside production work in the 60s (there are a couple) - the volume of work the man was doing is astounding!

And I'll add my voice to the That Lucky Old Sun and Gershwin chorus. Also, you really should own Gettin In Over My Head - it gets ragged on to no end here, but it actually has some amazing songs and productions on it, particularly if you haven't heard the Paley sessions that so many of those great songs and productions came from! 

Word of warning, as fantastic as this album is, to get it on CD is going to cost you a pretty penny.

Might as well just complete the catalog really. 

I agree with BJL that GIOMH doesn't deserve the negativity it gets.  Sure, they could've trimmed some fat towards the end, but there's some really good stuff there.

And Orange Crate Art is a good listen. 

Well said, but the OP is better to spend a ludicrous amount on American Spring than a ludicrous amount for SIP!

Wish some niche label, or even one of those Ruskie pirate houses would get a new edition of American Spring or Spring out the in the fields.