Listening to it right now.

Where did these come from?

Do you really think these were whipped up in a few months, or was Brian sitting on some of these for 30 years?
Some of these are better than they have any right to be.
From There to Back Again is a real surprise - I think there's maybe one duff song on the whole disk (more listens will tell) - a better average than some of the 60's stuff!

http://www.hulu.com/watch/ad/100571

You can also go to allmusic.com and flame the creep who's dissing The Beach Boys (...They went on Jimmy Fallon last night to croak through a few songs and pretend to play their instruments.) if yer in the mood.

Just in case nobody's mentioned it, an FYI  about live streaming -
CBS has confirmed that FreeCast.com's online stream will provide additional coverage from the event that will not be aired on television; however, FreeCast says the aim of the online stream is not an alternative to CBS's coverage. "The online coverage is more a second screen," said Mobley.

So for us Britishes, is it worth staying up? About an hour into the show, says Probyn, but if it's 9 in the morning in LA now, and the show starts at 7pm.... Which means I will be up about 5 in the morning? Or have I parsed this wrong?

You guys in GB are 8 hours ahead of us on the west coast. Don't know about you - but us techies in silicon valley have DVR's, so that's how I'm handling this situation! Besides, I'm hoping it'll have replay value.

Oh yeah, according to the DVR info the show starts at 8pm our time.

[Barnyard]

To me it's all one big psychedelic song with themes.

To clarify "psychedelic", that means (to me) a variety of odd sounds and noises that somehow fit into a polyphony of music; the more the merrier so to speak. Things like the "boing, boing, boing, boing" in Cabinessence simply reek psychedelia.

If I were to pick one, it would probably be Barnyard just because of all the wild out there noises going on. When you hear it you say "psychedelic", and if you were in a chemically altered state - well it would be mind blowing. Love to say Dada would be a runner up - it's completely bizarre and shouldn't work, but it does.

God, I love this album.

Like Dr. Tim says, in the U.S. shrink wrap was (is) the norm. I always thought it was weird to take the cover to the register to get the filed LP's in the UK! Seemed so, I dunno, unhygienic! Who knows where their hands have been, they work in a record store for crying out loud.

The downside to old, old shrinkwrap would be the extreme possibility of the shrinkwrap shrinking even more, causing warpage. This is fairly typical of some I've found from the 70's and 80's, depending on how they've been kept. They get "bowl" shaped.

I came across several cases of LP's recently, some of which still had shrink wrap on them from the 60's and 70's. I found the shrink wrap almost as interesting as the LP's, as they had the original store stickers and prices on them. Department stores that used to be huge here such as the Emporium or Woolworth's, now long defunct. And those prices! $1.99 (ouch!) to $5.99.

As for $4k, well did they get it? That seems absolutely insane - but who can tell. I've seen extremely mint copies going for a few hundred, but I'm unaware of any particularly rare copies floating around - perhaps a forum member could set me straight on that. Now, out of the wrap and signed by the boys would be another matter entirely! For $4k I'd think it'd go in a heartbeat!

I hope they play Kokomo in the first 10 minutes or that   woman who is always in the seat in front of me and incessantly screams "do kokomo!!1!11!!!" at all the BB and BW shows won't shut up until they do it!

Finally acknowledged it and gave it a 10
http://www.popmatters.com/pm/review/152324-the-beach-boys-the-smile-sessions/

I have those weird things happen on an all too frequent basis (not always BB's) but this one is pretty good. This happened a couple of months ago while it was still nice and warm. I was playing Today! in the car, and jumped out to run into the market for some stuff. Stopped in the middle of "she knows me too well". Go inside and I'm poking around in the produce section (I do eat my vegetables) and I'm humming along to the music when I suddenly had an attack.

Agh!

It was "she knows me too well" playin in the market, almost exactly where I left it off in the car! What are the chances of that?

Ok, my market has excellent taste in music, don't be surprised to hear XTC or Bird and Bee or David Bowie in there. But in the big music wheel of life... That one definitely had alternate reality Dr. Who type stuff conjured up in my brain for a couple of minutes. Getting back in the car just verified how weird that was.

PopMatters has listed SMiLE Sessions as #1 of the 25 best "reissues" of all time!
http://www.popmatters.com/pm/feature/151768-the-25-best-re-issues-of-2011/
I agree.

Sorry, that list is just 2011, but it's still nice to see it on top.  I kept waiting for PopMatters to give TSS a proper review.  They had plenty of room for Achtung Baby!

Whoops yes - this year.
I'm thinking we won't see PM do a review as it's really getting to be a bit late.
A U2 review pretty much says it all.

PopMatters has listed SMiLE Sessions as #1 of the 25 best "reissues" of all time!
http://www.popmatters.com/pm/feature/151768-the-25-best-re-issues-of-2011/

I agree.

I think every single person on this board has run this scenario through their minds a zillion times.

For me, I think there's basically 2 routes

1) Brian finishes SMiLE, it's a failure in the US and big in GB (like PS). The band/label are upset and "x" and "y" happens. The toll it takes to complete is overwhelming, and in light of its perceived failure he continues copious drug intake/mental decline and dies from one of many possible causes. WH never happens as the band is devastated and disintegrates for a period.

2) Brian finishes SMiLE, and it's a smash hit and/or at the very least a moderate success in US, and huge in GB. The band/label say, hey! that wasn't so bad - let's have more please! Brian (having learned from his mistakes) goes on to work with the BB's streamlining his production for perhaps the true prog/psychedelic movement beating Pink Floyd, King Crimson, Hendrix et al to the punch, do the Monterey festival and BB's retain their street cred. Eventually the BB's grow up and move off into the same WH direction, Brian taking a backseat role in the band if at all, instead moving on to produce the greatest acts of the 70's. He never really gets involved in drugs, and the huge boost to his ego keeps his mental state in balance for decades to come. And of course, Dennis is still with us. Sometime in the latter part of the first decade of the 21st century after producing dozens of hit bands and scoring a hundred films he creates his first album in years "Gershwin Re imagined".

I'm not sure the reviewer was meaning that as a dig, if he is he's wrong.

Let's face it, Mike can be entertaining to poke fun at. He's like a professional wrestler turned heel. A lot of people hate him, a lot of people love to hate him, and a lot of people love him and wouldn't have him any other way. There's two sides to every story, and I've pretty much gone full circle on the dude.

Anyway, I don't want to quote anything from the book without Jon's permission - but I will this one caption because it might perhaps describe what this chapter is all about: There is something about Mike Love that gets under the skin of many people. In some ways he's been his own worst enemy, and in other ways he's been unjustly vilified. For sure, he's has been (sic), and still is, a magnet for controversy.

The author just puts it out there the way it is and the way we all know it. He lays out reasons for why, and arguments for "why?". It's a good book (in spite of that one error in the caption!) and is an interesting and fun read.

...Why did he sell my surfboard?
He cut off my hair in my sleep

I wish I could see outside
But he tacked up boards on my window
(Gosh it's dark)

I can't hit the surf, can't drag
Can't do a doggoned thing
(Wish I could)

I tried to call up my chick
But he jerked my phone right out of the wall

They gave me some breadcrumbs
And a little glass of water
And they're out there eating steak
(Smells so good)

I ripped up my wardrobe
And I'm growing a beard
Oh when will they let me come out

I'd listen to my radio
But he took it and he's using it in his own room
(Now it's gone)

 

This breaks me up every time.
I love the Gosh it's dark

oh well, you seen one mustache you seen 'em all!

On page 3, 12 Feb 2011 where Brian has a cigarette in the green shirt - is that Freddy Mercury (with camera) on his right?  

I was just talking to a visiting friend of my wife who took his date (and now wife) to the BB's in '63 at the SJ Civic.
Bunch'a clean cut kids in red striped shirts.

He was asking if they still did shows there at the Civic (he lives in SoCal now).
I told him about SMiLE and seeing Brian recently. Both of those things surprised him - Brian more than SMiLE!! LOL
As you can guess I'm in the south bay but did go to school in Eugene for a bit.

[10!]

Smile Sessions is now on Pitchfork Review and gets a 10!

http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/16000-the-smile-sessions/

The full box set (CD's, vinyl etc.) is breathtaking. I'm still working my way up to pulling off the shrink wrap - a few more things to do before the day ends.



It's 3D and just gorgeous. Coolest box set on the planet. I had no idea it would look like that light up version Brian is showing off.

Oh well, the tubes are warming up for a long evening!

[Smile Sessions on All Music dot Com!]

Anyone with Amazon Prime, don't panic yet.
I've had things ship Sunday and arrive on Monday.
Depends on the shipper they use.
Last week I ordered a toner cartridge on Sunday, and it was here Monday morning.

This is pretty cool this and had to share - Smile Sessions on All Music dot Com!
http://www.allmusic.com/

I've taken a screen snap for posterity!
I still have to keep pinching myself.

Where do you live that your mail is delivered by Pennsylvania Dutch mennonites???

Ouch!

Yup, $142.32.

They never tell you when a price adjustment (+ or -) is made unless you check your cart.
Hopefully it won't adjust back up!

With Amazon Prime, you always get it the day of release - I have on more than one occasion gotten new releases on the Monday before! [fingers crossed]

Some great setlist ideas and I'm sure the audience (all 6 of them) would really go for it!

There were people at the BW show I was at in August whining about not getting Kokomo, so I'd happily take the above set(s) first!

Brian has always had a peculiar tone of voice. On the Howard Stern show someone called in just to ask what was up with his voice. But he didn't specifically mean the style of speech but the tone.

Actually that's a really interesting point - and something I've wondered about may be related.

When did Brian start talking out of the side of his mouth?
 
He sings in a similar fashion. The first time I remember this was when he did an interview with Mike Douglas back in what - 1976? After his first "bed binge". I was wondering if he'd had a stroke myself back then. It just seemed really odd and I was taken aback - but figured we were lucky he was alive and kicking.

I also wondered if he started doing that to somehow compensate for the deafness in his right ear, and it just became more prominent over the years.

It's odd, but I do believe it has an effect on the tonality of his voice, aside from whatever register he can muster.

oh ho ho hum. okay, "Font" I guess was too specific of a word. but even if these characters were hand-drawn, they clearly follow a consistent letterform.

the reason I asked is because for awhile I've wanted the phrase "The smile that you send out returns to you" as a tattoo.

If you're interested, then I suggest you research Art Nouvea type. You can find fonts on the internet (many free to download), but your best choice would be books for truly old letter forms.

Typically, general rules are followed but modifications are made depending on the artist - these are called "swashes" which may be applied to the ascenders, descenders, shoulders, bowls, bars and arms of a letter. Note the "A" and "O".

Then again, if you're taking this to a tat artist - just print out the card and they'll be able to replicate it? It's not like you're gonna be sticking your arm in a laser printer.