Well, I'm glad you all love the record, but for me, it's halfway wonderful with some really avoidable tracks.

I found a great way to enjoy the good and leave the not-so-good.  Start it on track 9 - "Strange World" and let it play through, starting again on tracks 1 and 2 and then STOP THE CD.  Everything else (to me) is very forgettable and this way you have an artsy EP of what sounds like a more somber "TLOS", ending with "TWGMTR".  It has a real nice flow to it this way and you get to have the others as bonus tracks.  SCORE !

WHEW !!!!

Brilliant - thanks for all that!!!  Can't wait to see what's actually NEW on this upcoming thing!

Had Song Cycle been done as a stage show, it would be respected as great American theater.

to us old-timers, bootlegs were the doorway to all things SMiLE.  Yes, the band didn't get paid. But without bootlegs, we would only know the tracks by what was officially released.  On that note, I've been thinking alot lately about how I WAYHAY prefer my experience with SMiLE than what new-comers have had.  My older brother was a surfer (Long Island) and so I was weaned on the BBs since maybe age 8 (I'm in my 50's).  There was no internet to check on facts -hell, there were barely any books to find on subjects as clandestine as the SMiLE tracks.  A mention here and there, and of course the legend that Brian went mad and burned all the tracks.

Then in the early 1980's, the first boot came out that scrambled my brain.  And it even had tracks that weren't BB tracks but none of us knew!   So the imagined SMiLE was WAY different than what Brian delivered a few years ago.  Then the double boot, then Dom's book, little by little, we found out clues.  Each time something surfaced, it was utterly thrilling - like a terrific mystery novel.  Then over the last ten years, SO MUCH DETAIL and all the Sea of Tunes stuff, Secret smile, etc.  To most of you, it all came in one huge hurl of mp3's.  To some of us, each little shard that found it's way out of the vault would change the course of our week.  And out of habit, even in the last few years, a new cd of stuff would still stop me in my tracks.  Maybe somewhat because of the wonderful memories of all that wondering.  It was like visiting an old friend of mystery.

Just wanted to say that given the option of having it all at once, like the Inet has made possible to lots of you, I'd still prefer the way I saw it gradually come out over the last 20-odd years.  The countless hours spent listening and theorizing are like an old friend that I'm going to miss.  And in some ways, I may prefer the sound of some of the boots - they add a whole layer of "reach-for-it-but-can't-quite-grab" that clean masters are going to lack - those pops and crackles made a sonic stage that will be lost.  I'm sure some of you won't understand what I mean, but I"m sure some do.

BRING IT ON !!!

outstanding work, Paul!!!

If anyone else can help with this endeavor, please do !!!

Hokay - I've read about 30-40 pages of this thread to catch up with what's happened in SMiLE research since I stopped obsessing (after BWPS - been collecting outtakes since 1984).  The Durrie Parks matter - was it ever resolved?  Has anyone actually admitted to listening to what she has/had on acetates?  Seems like the thread was heavy on that subject early on, then got taken over by a LSD dissertation.

Don't overlook Bowie's original "Outside" album.  Cut to PIECES because of the record company, the original version is supposedly about 90 minutes long - here's what wikipedia has on it -

"Outside was originally conceived in March 1994, based on a three and a half hour jam session between David Bowie, Brian Eno and the other musicians involved in the project. Bowie wanted to release the raw versions of the jams as a double album titled "Leon", but was unable to find a record label willing to distribute something that was so uncommercial. A number of original tracks from this jam session have leaked on the Internet and are called by fans the Outside Outtakes.

The Outtakes appear on the final album in their rawest form as the segues that are scattered throughout it, albeit edited considerably. "I Am With Name", for instance is 22 minutes long in the Outtakes' version, as well as other songs (such as one noted by Reeves Gabrels to be titled "The Enemy is Fragile" and one with a similar sound to "The Motel" called "We'll Creep Together")."

If you haven't heard the Outtakes, hunt it down - hard to piece together Tah-RIPPY listening and something that should satiate the puzzle-solver in any SMiLE-o-phile!  His last great musical outting.

I think 5/11/66 was the first recording session of H&V?

If so, does anyone know if that session can be found on anything out there?

Thanks, guys!  Was asleep last night when I started the thread. 

Is there any place online that some kind soul has taken the time to actually detail what is on each cd/lp that is necessary? 

Fr'instance, where a song is listed, what version, and where to find it?

Seems like a good thing to do, so the geekier of us can put a pseudo-library reference together, including the new stuff once we have it.

Hokey dokey!

This is probably a good time to start a thread of what discs you SHOULD have to claim a complete SMiLE outtakes/bootlegs/extra tracks collection.  If this list exists elsewhere (and more complete) , please chime in.  

Since we're two months from TSS, let's make sure everybody is as up-to-date as possible!  I haven't been on the lookout for several years - if I'm missing something, let me know.

And if anyone wants to get REAL specific (as to which tracks are on what) please do!

30 Years of The Beach Boys  Box Set
Pet Sounds Box Set (for the Good Vibrations tracks, in case you don't want the separate GV box set)

Vigotone - cd version of the old three vinyl lp set
Secret Smile
Unsurpassed Masters 18
Heroes And Villains Sessions parts 1 & 2
Heroes and Vibrations
Project Smile for the fun of it

Am i missing anything?