I think they only found something like an acetate source for the OMP vocal. They use an alternate take as the first part, and then the vocal starts. It starts a bit later than in the bootleg mix, I think because the alternate take they used had more space between the drums and 'You were my sunshine'.

The alternate take they used on disc 1 is take 4 I believe. The book says the master take was take 11, but that one's missing (also from UM 17, probably because they used it for the vocal overdub).

Just for fun, I wanted to make a mono mix with a clean start and with the vocal starting at the 'right' point. I used the instrumental take 9 from UM 16 (the take most similar to the vocal take (11), with the 'You were my sunshine' line starting in the same tempo and at the same point) and used it as the first part of my mix, before the vocal from TSS. I sounds not bad, but  I think I will listen to the TSS disc 1 mix most of the time, or the complete vocal mix or the instrumental take 9.

BTW - I really like that they used Barnshine as a fade to this track, it really works.

The new mix is great. It is a actually very similar to the mono mix with fire sound effects. I even think I can hear them faintly in the background..for example. It uses the same transition to the ending part as the fire sound efects mix (the 'quieter part with less instruments). For my 'basic Smile mixes' I'm going to make a stereo Fire from the sessions, without the vocal fly ins.

The new mix is great. It is a actually very similar to the mono mix with fire sound effects. I even think I can hear them faintly in the background..for example. It uses the same transition to the ending part as the fire sound efects mix (the 'quieter part with less instruments). For my 'basic Smile mixes' I'm going to make a stereo Fire from the sessions, without the vocal fly ins.

The only thing that really seems to be missing is Barnyard with stereo backing vocals and without fly-ins.

Aren't they releasing the album in a digital format? That way they could include in (in lossless of course) a a bonus item or something.

Does anyone know what they did with My Only Sunshine? It seems they took the vocal from a different source than the instrumental intro...the vocal fades in later than in the vocal bootleg mixes.

The mixes I made up till now are more 'basic' and somewhat 'historically accurate' mixes than real 'fan' mixes. I really enjoy the new mixes by Mark Linnett and Alan Boyd, there are just some tracks which could do with a more basic approach in my opinion. The mixes I make can only include basic edits and a simple fade out (when using the sessions discs).
Mixes I've already made include:

-I'm In Great Shape - Stereo instrumental track - the last take on the sessions disc, faded out.
-Look - Stereo instrumental track - stereo master take, faded out
-Barnyard - I think they could have included  the full mix with backing vocals, but they didn't, so I tried to reconstruct it as good as possible. - I replaced the verse fly-in vocal part with the instrumental part from the sessions disc, at that point there are no backing vocals so nothing missing up till that point. After that I just cut out the 2nd fly-in vocal part, and applied a fade out at the end. Untill we have the full mix, this might be a good basic barnyard in good quality.
-Cabin Essence - I tried to fix the edit/speed issue in the tag as good as possible.
-A less basic mix: Child Is Father Of The Man (Stereo backing track), assembled like the instrumental mono mix.

I still have to do a Holidays basic stereo mix.

I think the fly-ins are fine! I was expecting a disaster, but give or take a bit of clunky piano in Barnyard, it's cool.

I think they're fine as well, but I just thought it was nice to have some mixes next to the official ones. (Roll your own!...)

Do you think they might release a Barnyard mix including the vocals but without the fly ins? I find it strange that it is missing from theis set. Maybe they can include it with a digital download?

I already made two new mixes for IIGS and Barnyard. I'm planning to do some more 'basic' new mixes, which can only use small edits and a simple fade out. My IIGS mix is the last take on the sessions disc, faded out where the disc 1 mix ends. Barnyard is the disc 1 version, but with the first 'vocal' bars replaced by the piano from the instrumental (the backing vocals have not started at that point) and with the other vocal bars just cut out. I figured I could just cut them out without replacing it with the accurate animal sound parts or something, since track has a few edits already (the animal sounds are in a different order than the complete version from the bootlegs). At the end a simple fade out. I think I'll be listening to these basic mixes more than the official mixes for these tracks. The offical mixes are very well done, but I prefer a bit more historical accurate mixes, so without the vocal fly-ins.

I've listened some more tracks from the new box. The new Heroes And Villains and Wonderful mixes sound great, also the HAV stereo mix.
I find it strange that the box does not contain a clean Barnyard with vocals mix...I'm already trying to reconstruct it using the instrumental and the disc 1 mix, but after :35 every vocal part is missing. So, do you think it might become available anywhere in the future, maybe along with a digital download?

I really, really enjoy listening to the cd's, reading the book, playing the vinyl etc. This weekend I'll be doing nothing else.

Another thing I noticed is that the TOMP vocal part seems to be edited in the track: the vocal starts a bit later than in the bootleg vocal mono mix and the sound of the tracks changes a bit. Does this mean they only found a mono mix, maybe an acetate with the lead vocal?

[and]

Just another thing that surprised me a bit: He Gives Speeches music and lyrics are credited to Brian Wilson. I always thought Van Dyke Parks wrote those lyrics.

I'm sorry if this has been posted before, but the sessions notes in the book actually tell us that the Water Chant was recorded after Smile! (Although that's how I read it, the intro the track 18 on disc 1, recorded 10/67, Cool Cool Water Chant...)

Maybe they mean the da-da flyins? If not, that's VERY surprising. The Water chant always seemed like a SMiLE era piece to me.

No,, I think these are mentioned along with the Love To Say Dada session notes. I always thought the Water Chant was a Smile recording as well...

I'm sorry if this has been posted before, but the sessions notes in the book actually tell us that the Water Chant was recorded after Smile! (Although that's how I read it, the intro the track 18 on disc 1, recorded 10/67, Cool Cool Water Chant...)

I got the box today, it's fantastic!

CIFOTM: I think the second chorus might be from an acetate, there is a small change in the sound quality when it starts (a bit distortion or something).

It's great to hear it with new vocals.
I'm wondering, they changed the BWPS mix and the vintage instr. edit for disc 1...was it just to use another section, or is there evidence this is the structure that would have been used in 1966/67?

Just something very small I noticed about the CIFOTM chorus (with the vocals). It seems like there is an edit in the track at the last of 4 rounds of vocals. (The last "child, child...father of the man..."). You should focus on the snare drum (if that's what it is). On the bootlegs and the mono backing track, at that point the snare hits at the start of the measure , and not on the 2 and 4. In the new tracks, the snare doesn't hit on the "1" but on the 2 and 4. Does anyone else think they may have edited the track or backing track for the new release?

Longer samples of the 2-cd version (1 minute long), but worse quality, available here http://www.juno.co.uk/ppps/products/438651-01.htm
That new Child vocal  
And Barnshine is great!

The new CIFOTM vocals are great! It's actually very strange, but fantastic, to hear the song in a different way than all the bootlegs we had...I can't wait to hear the full mix in better quality.

I thought I'd continue this thread by asking are there any "essential" tracks that are still missing??

1. Barnyard (Vocal Session)
I'm bringing this one up because I am worried that the Barnyard track that is on CD1 will be edited and we won't have the full song... unless the Vocals were recorded with the Master Take. I'm not sure.

2. Water Chant

3. Little Red Book
I have always associated this song as being a possible b-side of H&V although now I've been told that it is a recording from 68. Is that right?

4. With Me Tonight
We got 2 minutes and 48 seconds of this tracks. Is that enough time for the 3 versions we know of?

5. Cabin Essence (Vocal Sessions)
This one surprised me the most! Were are the sessions for this?

Please correct me if I'm wrong. Any other thoughts?

A bit of a late reaction, but I was surprised with the absence of Water Chant as well. But, then I thought of the fact that the track is almost nothing but (backing) vocals. So...maybe it's included (with the organ I hope) in the backing vocals montage!

Once again, it's part of Da-Da.

Yeah, in a mono mix, but all the other tracks' sessions are present as well. So at first it seemed to me there isn't a stereo WC, while there is stereo Holidays, Look etc. But as I said, I think it might be present in stereo in the backing vocals montage.

I thought I'd continue this thread by asking are there any "essential" tracks that are still missing??

1. Barnyard (Vocal Session)
I'm bringing this one up because I am worried that the Barnyard track that is on CD1 will be edited and we won't have the full song... unless the Vocals were recorded with the Master Take. I'm not sure.

2. Water Chant

3. Little Red Book
I have always associated this song as being a possible b-side of H&V although now I've been told that it is a recording from 68. Is that right?

4. With Me Tonight
We got 2 minutes and 48 seconds of this tracks. Is that enough time for the 3 versions we know of?

5. Cabin Essence (Vocal Sessions)
This one surprised me the most! Were are the sessions for this?

Please correct me if I'm wrong. Any other thoughts?

A bit of a late reaction, but I was surprised with the absence of Water Chant as well. But, then I thought of the fact that the track is almost nothing but (backing) vocals. So...maybe it's included (with the organ I hope) in the backing vocals montage!

Does anyone else think the part 2 of ILTSDD master take is actually different to the part 2 that's on disc 1 and that we're used to hear since the bootlegs and the box set? That one seems much faster...

Yes, you're right. Strange.

They strangest thing is that they call it the 'master take' but actually don't use it! There might be some info about it in the book.

Does anyone else think the part 2 of ILTSDD master take is actually different to the part 2 that's on disc 1 and that we're used to hear since the bootlegs and the box set? That one seems much faster...

I really love all the samples from TSS. Just to hear everything in good quality after years of bootlegs is great! One thing I noticed immediately is how good CIFOTM sounds. it sounds much better than the small sample from Radio 4.

[Albums]

We've had ML positively encourage fan mixes of TSS material, but the set's release will have ramifications for the whole Smile 'back catalogue' of boots and officially remixed materials.

Here's a list of categories of mixes that I think we'll need. What do you lot think? What have I missed or got wrong? What do you want to see emerge from the home and pro studios of our illustrious engineer/producer/musician Smile brethren?

Albums

Stereo Smile Discrete Tracks: a stereo version of discrete tracks which follow previous and current official versions, but conceptualised as individual tracks

Historical Smile: Recreations of Smile as it 'might have been' if released in '67

1. Do you mean for example: A stereo mix of Look, but without the Child vocals, or Holidays without the whispering wind vocals?

2. Do you mean something like CIFOTM, but edited like the vintage instrumental mono mix?

Mono - pah.

Old stuff sucks.

Weren't people stupid in the old days eh?

WRONG

Mono is an art form, to be appreciated by those of us with ears.

A crisper yet rounded sound. Depth is the key rather than width.

When I got the Beatles Mono box I finally got mono. There is something special, focused and more powerful about the sound. Stoked that the disc 1 approximation of Smile is going to be this way.

I totally agree with this. Many stereo mixes are mixed too wide, or too much in the left or right ear. Any song always sounds good in mono.

You definitely need to hear JMZ's SMiLE mix then - much better stereo. Purple Chick is kinda clunky and the pitch shifts f*ck me off.

Yeah, I have it. It's a great fan mix, some stereo tracks sound really good.

Purple Chick set the standard for me with his Smile reconstruction. Just imagine how an improved stereo fan mix by Purple Chick himself would sound with this new, upgraded source material.

In any case, the reconstruction on disc 1 is going to be some sort of definitive mix for me. I think it's just great to finally have a finished, official Smile cd, standing next to all the other Beach Boys albums.

On thing I would have liked to be included extra are some clean mono and stereo mixes of some of the songs (Look without the flow in vocals, Holidays without the ending vocals, etc).

Anyone else here reading this with their lower jaw in their lap ? 5CDs of material and you want more ?  Move over, Oliver twist...

O, I really, really didn't mean to sound spoiled or unsatisfied with what we get. I am very happy that TSS is coming out, I'm totally happy with what I get, but just like some people would have wanted the CIFOTM mono mix to be included, I just named a few things that would have made TSS box set extra good for me.