Yes thanks.

OK, poor joke.

The more I watch this, the more irritated I get with it, especially the near-glorification of the drug influences by Loren Daro. Oh, and the totally dishonest editing that made it seem like Macca was there at the first night. Whoever is responsible for that should hang their head in shame.

The concert is good, but subtly manipulated. Not so subtle is the editing - I've never, ever seen a live show where the footage is cut across the tempo of the song. Disconcerting.

And, with an audience of maybe 300-400, the crowd reaction was never going to be anything like the first night at the RFH.

Don't get me wrong, it's good to have, but it could have been so much more. Hence, a 3.

Worth it just for...

1. Brian & Van Dyke performing a formative "Orange Crate Art"

2. Brian & his daughters rocking out on "Do it Again", the only one of the 'live' songs where he looked even half-interested.

Plus - blows the CD out of the water and clear across town.

Minus - where's the rest of the gig ?

Highpoint (non-musical) - Brian's shirt changing in mid-sentence.

Missed opportunity - four years in the making and what do we get ? 77 minutes of mostly incomplete live fragments. At the same time, and for the same price, I bought a DVD for a friend that contained a whole 2 1/2 hour concert and an hour of extras... and if Cliff Richard can do that, i'm damn sure Brian can too.

Worrying point - anyone else noticed how much more animated Brian was on stage back then ?

[NOT]

The book is a HUGE disappointment. After his great Look... boo I was hoping for the definitive story. It is OK if you know nothing, but it does make some very big unsubstantiated (and in some cases plain wrong) claims which undermine him when he reaches at other points. AND he virtually ignores the second coming.

BIG missed opportunity.

Beg to differ, but it's decidedly NOT OK if you know nothing, as it states personal theories and unsuubstantiated gossip (and in at least one case an outright lie) as fact. There's some good stuff in there, but on the whole, the sloppy research and inflexible attitude of the author undermines any claims to be the last word.

Which  version ? 1997 or 2004 ?

As Bubba states, it is the 2004 version. Nice color pic of Brian in the summer of 2004/European Smile tour at the end of the photo section.

Interesting, seeing as that's still in print. I think Omnibus would be most interested to hear about this.

[Smile]

I thought it was a good, solid attempt. Especially the bits that were, um, borrowed from my website and the old SmileShop Smile primer. 

Does anyone have an official count on approximately how many copies of this were sold in the US?  I've seen some sources that cite as many as 50,000 and some that cite as few as 5,000.  Also, when did this go out of print in the US?

According to Bruce, it shipped 145,000 (but how many were returned ?)... according to SoundScan it sold something like 54,000 (but many of those were as a freebie if you bought the 1993 box set from QVC)... and according to someone whose initials might just be TM, it sold 1000.

Which  version ? 1997 or 2004 ?

Same reason that I'm not in Leonardo's 'Last Supper' - I wasn't there. 

But dammit, that's the only reason!

Yeah, me an' Leo, back then we were like... that.

[ANY]

How Funky Pretty and Then I Kissed Her made it on there and Feel Flows and Farmer's Daughter did not, I'll never know.
But it's still the best box set ever.

Yeah, it's a bit of a poser. The selection criteria were as follows:

1. Top 40 hits

2. Recognised classic album tracks and single 'misses'

3. The unreleased stuff then to hand, trying not to duplicate the bonus tracks from the 2fers.

4. Tracks collated from the wishes of the fans (this included some of the unreleased stuff).

Brian had the final power of veto, resulting in the absence of "Let Him Run Wild" (he hated his voical) and "Mrs. O'Leary's Cow" (never considered - I'm reliably informed that it took some time to persuade Brian to allow ANY Smile meterial to be included). "Soulful Ol' Man Sunshine" was asembled for the box only to be handed the black spot by Carl because he flubbed two words.

BUT the question is why would a picture be chosen sans Brian, not why Brian is not in the picture. Someone needs to Photoshop Doe into the Last Supper, though.

Ummmmm... because that's how Brian wanted it ? He's got a huge solo color shot in the booklet.

That's crazy! Why the heck didn't he want to be on the cover?

Strange. I mean, i know he didn't care about limelight... but a photo on a album cover never hurt anyone.

:/


Hes on all kinds covers, and no  a photoshoot never hurt no one, I think the music is what mattered most,  ( it could have been wrapped in  brown paper bag and it wouldnt have mattered) and he would have rather the rest of the beach boys get their time in the lime light for the work they did then himself....

Hello ? Anyone listening out there ?

The back slick shot was taken when the band were on tour in 1966.

Brian wasn't touring in 1966.

Therefore, he wasn't in the picture.

Same reason that I'm not in Leonardo's 'Last Supper' - I wasn't there. 

As far as I Understand it, Jim Guercio spent a year or so winning the rights to the music, then... put it on the back burner.

"You're fucking with the formula again, Brian"

[POB]

No work is currently being done on the POB tapes, to my knowledge.

This one [waves sleeve].

Cool, huh ?

 

[Bamboo]

Very much doubt it. I would imagine the engineer for that would be Tom Murphy - he did the Bamboo stuff.

Well I never read about a Spring reissue
I thought it was mentioned somewhere here though
It should be re-released if you ask me

as for the smile bootleg? Any ideas?

Spoke about a reissue with Marilyn last year - she really wants to do it, but it's a  money thing: she wants to do it right. Plus, of course, she has a life. 

The photo was taken while the band was on tour. Hence no Brian.

The booklet orders were dated 12/8/66 (for LA, 100,000 copies) and 12/19/66 (Scranton, 300,000 copies). Both plants were required to deliver by the first week in January. There's also an 11/14/66 memo concerning a change to the front slick (from stereo to DuoPhonic). To the best of my knowledge, the back slick never progressed beyong an artists proof - apparently the version we know has, in its original state, notations indicating many changes.

Yes, I have that similiar question.  I bought his book last week and read it in two days.  Unfortunately due to the amount of space he had to cram all this information in, there's very little chance of ellaboration or examples given for claims like this.  I wish the book were double the length, at least, just to flesh out some of the stuff he says.  Some of the writing in the Christmas section was confusing.

Know what you mean - I had a limit to adhere to, or so I was told, so in the end the equivalent of four pages of text were taken out. So, when I saw the completed book, I wasn't AT ALL happy with the amount of blank paper scattered throughout. At a rough estimate, it totals something like ten full pages. 

At some time in the indefinite future I'm going to explore the possibility of liscensing the text back from Omnibus, adding to and expanding it, and publishing it privately, or maybe as an eBook.

But don't  hold your breath...

I have enjoyed your book since I picked it up 2 weeks ago.  I have one question for you though...in the prologue to the Pet Sounds song discussion, you mention that Brian, in his quest for perfection, actually re-did alot of the group vocals himself, in effect wiping the group and making it a solo performance in spots.  You then state that a listen to the box set vox only disc plays this out.

While it is obvious that Don't Talk and Caroline No are straight solo efforts, I am wondering what vocals you are talking about. Could it be, my guess, I Just Wasn't Made For These Times and/or You Still Believe In Me? To my ear, Wouldn't It Be Nice is clearly the Beach Boy blend, as are the vox on I'm Waiting For The Day, God Only Knows, and Sloop.

I appreciate your elaboration...and your book.

"IJWMFTT" is almost a BW solo vocal effort - there are seven tracks of vocals, and all but one are all Brian.

Take off "The Waltz" (because it stinks the place up) and replace it with "Still Surfin'".

I'd include "Rock & Roll To The Rescue", too.

[That shot is taken in the back yard at Bellagio. It's the on-camera source of lighting that makes Brian and everyone look as if they are not part of the shot. It was late in the day and the flash was needed to highlight the group. Photoshop was years away from being invented. The steps the guys are sitting on lead up to the pool through a hedge-lined pathway. There were several three-step landings on the trek to the pool area. That day everyone was in the studio when a record company photographer showed up for some picture taking. You can tell from the dress that no one took this photoshoot seriously. Brian is in his housecoat, Bruce doesn't have shoes on, Dennis is in his bathing suit, and Mike even forgot his hat! Taking a quick break from the studio, everyone dashed to the backyard for some shots. The dogs were back there too. You can see my dalmation, Mr Spock II, wandered into the photo as it was being taken. Judging from the dog's size and the project were were working on in the studio I'd place this photo close to 1973.]

Brian Wilson looks like he was put there by use of Photoshop. Am I right or is it real? What year was this picture taken?

That shot is taken in the back yard at Bellagio. It's the on-camera source of lighting that makes Brian and everyone look as if they are not part of the shot. It was late in the day and the flash was needed to highlight the group. Photoshop was years away from being invented. The steps the guys are sitting on lead up to the pool through a hedge-lined pathway.  There were several three-step landings on the trek to the pool area.  That day everyone was in the studio when a record company photographer showed up for some picture taking.  You can tell from the dress that no one took this photoshoot seriously. Brian is in his housecoat, Bruce doesn't have shoes on, Dennis is in his bathing suit, and Mike even forgot his hat! Taking a quick break from the studio, everyone dashed to the backyard for some shots.  The dogs were back there too.  You can see my dalmation, Mr Spock II, wandered into the photo as it was being taken. Judging from the dog's size and the project were were working on in the studio I'd place this photo close to 1973. ~swd

Photo was in the Tom Nolan 2-parter that featured in Rolling Stone #94, 10/28/71 &  #95 11/11/71, along with a shot of Brian wearing the exact same threads taken in The Radiant Radish. The interviews were conducted, in the main, during the late stages of recording Surf's Up (reference is made to Brian's 29th birthday) Excellent articles, and the source for much info.