Will we ever see a reissue of the Flame's stuff? I know Desper talked at one point of a set featuring the unreleased record produced by him and Carl? I don't even know if there would be any market for this or not at this point. I'd love to have something. I recently got given a copy of their self-titled LP and I really, really dig it. They fit in real well with early 70's power-pop ala Big Star and Badfinger. Big Star has done extremely well in the past 10 years compared to when they were first around based on word of mouth alone. Could The Flame not have a legacy in the same vein?

So, I've been toying with buying the Good Vibrations box recently. With this set on the horizon, does it make buying the Good Vibrations set irrelevant?

I'm not necessarily irritated about the track listing per say. I'm relatively indifferent, I just kinda would like for them to put out what would essentially be a budget set of this, including only the outtakes, demos, live cuts and what not. It'd be cool to do for people who don't have a lot of interest in a box set.

That would be good, yes. I don't see them doing it, but it would be a very nice thing to do. Of course, if they do (as people have suggested seems very likely) make the tracks individually available as MP3s, you could essentially do that yourself. Might even be a fun group project for some people on the board to come up with a listenable sequence for just the unreleased stuff and make cover art for it, so people could burn their own Made In California Redux.

Definitely could be an interactive thing to do for sure, but I'm one of those guys who really, really likes having a physical format of some sort. Which, obviously they're doing with the boxset, so I'll probably end up purchasing it anyway, it's just a mild hope of mine that they could have alternate versions of it. For some reason, I've never gotten into the whole cherry picking mp3s thing. If I'm hanging at home, I'm listening pretty strictly to vinyl, and if I'm in my car, I'm listening to CDs. I'd be fairly surprised, what with the recent cool factor and resurgence of the format, if they don't choose to do some type of vinyl release. They've proven to care about that type of thing, with The Smile Sessions and That's Why God Made The Radio even having a vinyl specific track listing.

I'm not necessarily irritated about the track listing per say. I'm relatively indifferent, I just kinda would like for them to put out what would essentially be a budget set of this, including only the outtakes, demos, live cuts and what not. It'd be cool to do for people who don't have a lot of interest in a box set. Every box set I've ever bought, I end up yanking the CDs anyway and putting them in my car anyway, though I could be in the minority here. That's not to say I think the packaging is poorly done either, it's really cool, just a little impractical for me personally. I think they did a great job with The Smile Sessions, releasing the big box, then the budget two CD set. I ended up purchasing the two CD set for my car, as I got it heavily discounted. But I only purchased it on vinyl when it was first released. Which brings up an interesting question. Has anyone heard of any plans to bring any of this material to vinyl? It'd be cool to put out a 4-LP set of the important stuff. Of course then you might have people complaining about what got left off, I just don't know how viable a 12-LP boxset would be as far as sales are concerned.

This record definitely has a soft spot in my heart being the only Beach Boys record of new material that I was able to purchase on release day. I can only imagine how cool it was for folks who've been following them for decades. I mean, it's pretty crazy considering their history that they were able to get back together and release it.
I revisited it last night, and my opinion of the record is pretty similar to what I felt a year ago, possibly mildly more negative now that the "new" factor has waned.

It's just a forgettable album. Neither good, nor bad as a whole, with some good, and some bad parts. Having never heard Summer In Paradise, I don't really know if I can call it the worst produced of their records, but it's gotta be close. I mean, the lead guitar in "Spring Vacation"?!?! Really Jeff Baxter? But the production, for me, can't hide that most of the songs are just bland. Sure, I know some folks love the suite at the end, and I think it's fine, but I think you'd be hard pressed to include any of them up to par with Beach Boys prime moments. And maybe that's where I'm looking at it all wrong, maybe it shouldn't be compared to the Beach Boys of old. With the lack of Dennis and Carl, how can it even be comparable?

In ten years, the production alone of this record will be seriously dated. To me, this was the first time the band, as a whole, sounded as though they were just going through the motions. Sure, you had some bad songs on some decent albums at times, "Sumahama anyone?", but it still sounded as though they were attempting to push forward. This record doesn't have that factor to me. And it doesn't need to, their back catalog speaks for itself. And how many people do you know at their age that have put out anything half decent? Even Sir Paul has been fairly meh since Chaos And Creation In The Backyard.

Don't mean to step on y'all's toes either, I know how defensive y'all get.

There are others - "East Meets West", "Happy Endings", "Lady Liberty", "Crocodile Rock", "Wipeout", "Still Cruisin", "Somewhere Near Japan", "Problem Child", "Hot Fun In The Summertime", and an argument could even be made for "The Beach Boys' Medley", which was a Top 15 hit. Again, I don't think the sales or musical merit (which is subjective) should dictate their historical significance. Each one of them had a purpose, a story behind them - THEY WERE LEGITIMATE RELEASES BY THE BEACH BOYS! To me, the perfect place to house all of these records would be a boxed set. 

The problem is that many of the singles that the band released after a certain point weren't very good. I do think that they had to make a decision based on perceived quality as well as whether things were released as singles or whatever.

Another problem is that record companies aren't museums, and they don't care about what is "deserved."  They're businesses that are motivated by making money.  It just isn't realistic to think otherwise.

If you think that certain recordings should be preserved for all to hear, you should try petitioning the Nationl Recording Registry or something similar.

I understand where you're coming from, I really do. And the record companies are totally fixated on what's going to sell, but it's still an odd decision putting all this on one box. Put your mind in the eyes of a casual music listener who's never heard the Beach Boys outside of a few hits. You really think they're going to lay down 100 dollars for a boxset of hits and rarities as opposed to 20 bucks for 50 Big Ones? That's already making a massive assumption that the average listener even buys CDs anymore, while most just illegally download. So knowing that, one would assume that a boxset of this nature would appeal only to the fans regardless of what's on it, so I can see why some feel it's a missed opportunity on the band's part. It sucks as a person who actually purchases their music and cares about rarities and outtakes when you have to buy two or three boxsets and multiple compilations and get stuck with 4 or 5 copies of I Get Around and Kokomo. Is that unreasonable to be irritated?

Is there any chance we'll ever see an official reissue of The Flame record? I know it was mentioned a few years ago, I think there was even talk about including the record they recorded shortly after that one that was never released.

As a new poster, and someone who's only gotten into the Beach Boys in the last couple years, I can say I'm excited about this box set for sure. The unreleased Dennis tunes should be wonderful, some of the live stuff will be great as well, particularly excited about the live "Wild Honey". Having said that, I can see why some people would feel slighted by the track list. As a longtime Springsteen fanatic, I think he's done a really fantastic job releasing archival material while not deluding his catalog. Just look at Tracks, or The Promise. I can say I was hoping the Beach Boys would go that route with this box. I mean, we already had the Good Vibrations box, with all the hits, then we had the 50 Big Ones with all the hits, and I'm not even going to bring up the countless number of greatest hits they've put out over their career. So the fact that they're including stuff like Good Vibrations and Kokomo just kinda seems meaningless at this point. I'd like to think that everyone who wants to hear those songs, already has them, and really wouldn't help sales of this set too much. However, this is all my opinion, and ultimately, the Beach Boys can do what they like, as it's their art. But like I said, I'm psyched to hear some of this stuff, and depending on the price of the set, I'll probably pick it up. I do feel bad for some folks who bought 50 Big Ones to hear the stereo mixes of Wild Honey and Darlin' though, as it seems they'll be on this as well.