The Smiley Smile Message Board

How much do these go far? Do they surface on eBay too often?

I always thought that it was Candix Records that put out Surfin', not X records.

we have:
X 301
Candix 301
Candix 301 (ERA)
Candix 331

Don't ask me which order, but it was discussed previously on this board.

pictures?: http://www.kt.rim.or.jp/~face/bb5/index.html   > and check out 1961

Briefly...

"Surfin'/Luau" was first released 11/61 on Candix 331. The 2nd release the following month was on X 301: this happened because the original pressing plant wanted paying and the owners of Candix had to go somewhere else to keep the supply going. In January 1962 there was a 3rd release, on Candix 301 (evidently someone screwed up the numbering sequence).

The X pressing is far and away the rarest of the three.

There is definitely a lot of fakes of it out there.

Which version is more valuable than? The first pressing (Candix 331) or the rarest pressing (X 301)?

I'm inclined to think that while the X-Records pressing might be the most valuable, the Candix 331 pressing is probably the rarest. It's only in the past 3-4 years that the true chronology of this release has been understood (sterling work, Andrew & cohorts!), and until these facts were unearthed, it was assumed that the first issue was the X-label, and the last issue was the Candix 331 (a pretty logical assumption, really).
Thus for the past 3-4 years, the value of the 331 has increased somewhat, while the value of X301 has levelled off.

The Candix 301 with the ERA notation seems to be the most common one.
There are two up for sale on ebay at the moment: one for about $400 in excellent condition, the other for about 130.

Relatively few of X 301 were pressed up - maybe 5000. I recall a figure for Candix 331 of about 13,000 and Candix 301 of over 30,000, but this is top of the head stuff. I'll check.  They're all rare, but I'd say that X is both rarest and most valuable.

Oh, and there's a Canadian pressing on London.  ;D

[double post]

Is X 301 the most valuable commercial Beach Boys release?

The Ariola single probably is. Refined Texas Crude (a va radio only LP with Dennis singing back up with one group) Disco Celebration, the 1990 vinyl CBS reissues, and the vinyl Summer In Paradise are also scarse. The 1994 vinyl Capitol reissues are getting hard to find. They ware worthy as Pet Sounds has all three bonus tracks and Stack O Tracks is in real stereo. That doesn't mean all of these records will cost you a lot, but they are very hard to find.

I didn't even know it was released on vinyl...

S. Korean pressing, bought if for the cover only... well worth it.

And there's a cassette version as well.

Hey S-H, isn't that South Korean cover a little different to both the other covers as well?... I haven't seen it in a while so I can't remember exactly

Does the vinyl of SIP have the same cheap, shrill sound as the CD version?

the artwork is almost the same as the 1st US CD-version. Only difference is that a small part of the lower side of the artwork was cut off. On the backside part of the upper side was cut off, and the text on the back was shifted upwards a bit.

Can't really remember if the sound was different in comparison to the CD. Don't know if I want to check that right now...  ::)


Btw, this topic started out with X-records... what went wrong ?   ;D   

In reading this, it made me pull out my "new" copy of Surfin that Jim Allen gave me last June when I met up with him at Chez Jay's. Under the Beach Boys it says 301. How do you tell which is which?

I'm just happy to have it!

Well, one 301 label says "Candix", while the other says "X" - that help any ?  ;D

It does sound warmer on vinyl  much less tinny. It's still a bad album though.. The pressing is quiet and the cover is well made.

Well, I know it's still a bad album no matter what the format. But I actually do listen to it every now and then for a good chuckle...plus the cover songs (minus Surfin' and Forever) and Lahaina Aloha are guilty pleasures for me.