Speaking earlier about Past Masters: I like most of them a lot but they are a "warts & all" experience as that unnamed engineer says. On mine Country Air has some heavy distortion going on. It sounds like maybe the organ was the cause. Any else notice this?

On my first trip via Southwest to California in May, as we landed at LAX, "California Girls" started playing on the PA system on the plane. It was... pretty great.

- AI - John Williams - I could hardly believe this was him when I saw the credits--I usually associate him with more over the top, blockbuster themes, but this was really subtle and beautiful--really helped make the movie work.

Same here. Standard Williams only works for me about 40% of the time, but his AI score was very restrained and haunting.

The DVD-Audio 5.1 version is very nice in surround. It also plays on most standard DVD players.

http://www.amazon.com/I-Music-Motion-Picture/dp/B00005M986/ref=sr_1_3?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1311719554&sr=1-3

I'm sure in 50 years "The Beach Boys", "KISS" & "Chicago" will still be performing. 

I wish they all could be double-barreled guns.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UW1DY2oTjug

I made the mistake of listening to these Recordings of Shortwave Numbers Stations late one Saturday night when everyone else had gone to bed. Not a good idea.

http://www.archive.org/details/ird059

If this point has already been made, I apologize. Hoffman repeatedly and smugly denied that SMiLE was being released in the earlier deleted SMiLE thread. Yes, there was a thread 30 or 40 pages or so long that he put in the corn field. He insinuated several times that he had the "inside track" on what was really happening, and that it simply was not being released. He also tried to make anyone who persisted on discussing it feel like a moron.

Then when it became apparent the the release was indeed happening, he started back-tracking with the lame explanations mentioned above. When his forum members called him on it, he had two threads deleted and started his new, happy sanitized thread, which has been heavily pruned already. He is trying to somehow make this release announcement HIS announcement, although in fact he has nothing to do with it. He is seething over not being involved, and over the huge amount of attention the SMiLE project is generating.

He is, however, remastering The Doors Live at The Matrix.  

He is a piece of work.

This is a great thread, whether the damn thing gets an official release or not. Andrew G. Doe and Phil Cohen are very entertaining, opinionated, and informed gentlemen, and the great thing is they are debating a lot of points without attacking each other, regardless of comments from the peanut gallery trying to inflame the discussion. The Hoffman forums are much worse for losing Phil, as well as the defection of a few others who have had enough of Steve's nonsense, but it is still a great place to discuss pertinent topics such as "I want some BIG JOHN'S BEANS 'N' FIXIN'S. Where are they?", "Would The Beatles have stayed together had World War III broken out in 1968?" or "What's the temperature right now where you live? (Part 4)". 

By the way, seventeen potential buyers of this release died while I was typing this. Hurry up, Capitol.

Warmth of the Sun is shockingly great - especially since I can't tolerate Willie Nelson!

Been playing catch-up with a few BB CDs I missed somehow. Listening to this one for the first time. I was expecting something awful but I'll be playing this fairly regularly. It doesn't have that sterile 80s production and nothing on it is unbearable. The vocals and harmonies are not cocainey-ragged. Livin' With A Heartache and Santa Ana Winds are great songs. So there. 

Reading that thread on the Hoffman board was like drinking a Bud Light after sipping cognac.

Nahh - they drink Kool-Aid over there... 

indeed. I wonder how Mike will feel about giving his opinion knowing that many of the people reading his interview/statement will think he's full of merda.

I think it's important that the guys all promote this if they want it to sell. I think Mick Jagger's full-of-it, too, but he (& Keith) made himself pretty accessible for the Exile reissue (which was mainly packaged air IMHO) and probably really helped sell it.

Listening to it for the first time now (just got back from Half price Books 20% off sale, scored BW88 again, my copy skips).

Much better than I feared, a couple of keepers on it. Hate the drums /synths too. The vocals seem stronger than I would have guessed. Now to get KTSA...

It's my favorite Beach Boys album. The PastMasters CD is a real fun listen.

 I also love regarding the Friends-20/20 2-fer as one album.