Totally agree Hey Jude.  Speculation is what the message boards are for.  In the old days we'd meet other fans and speculate in person or over the phone.  This is the same thing.  I think it's a lot of fun.  Some people get annoyed by it.  They don't have to read it.

There wasn't a SMiLE copyright (digital only) release in 2016 or 2017 but we got a huge 5 CD box packed to the 80 minute mark on each disc a few years prior which sounds like what they are planning to do with Feel Flows.  My only gripe with that was hearing of a 6th disc worth of music being dropped from the box (could have been internet rumors).  They could have done a digital release with that extra SMiLE material plus a stereo mix of the album.  But next Friday could still be the day for some 1969 stuff.

I miss Borders, and I’m sure at some point Barnes & Noble will join them in the graveyard as well (I'm down to two locations within reasonable driving distance, where it used to be like 5 or 6). But Borders had *awful* prices. Barnes & Noble is overpriced, and Borders as I recall was even worse.

Most of the stores I remember, both in my youth and even more recently, seem to be have disappeared. Tower Records, Circuit City, Toys R Us (recently re-opened a couple locations, but it’s more a PR thing than back to being a real chain), Kay Bee, Borders, Suncoast, “The Wherehouse” (probably more regional), Blockbuster Video, Hollywood Video, the list goes on and on.

And the funny thing is, the big box stores (Target, Walmart, etc.) aren’t really filling those niches. I recall a year or two ago when Toys R Us went under, all the articles said Target and Walmart would move in on that market/territory and stock more toys. Newp. They suck.

And, more unsurprisingly, stores are continuing to carry less and less music and movies. I’m guessing music will be completely gone from Target, Walmart, and Barnes & Noble (a little rack of overpriced “collectible” vinyl doesn’t count) in the next few years (I think “Best Buy” has already eliminated it). I’d expect physical video media to follow suit in the next several years, perhaps relegated to the same sort of cheapo DVD rack you see at Rite Aids and 7-11 stores.

Sorry to keep it going off-topic but I remember all those stores you mentioned as well including Sound Warehouse (or Sound Whorehouse as my friend called it).  Bill Gates said it many years ago - that all physical media would be gone in the near future.  I'm sure he never saw the resurgence of vinyl coming, and ironically that's something I have zero interest in.  Yes, I love my album covers but that's it.  I found the prices at Borders to be reasonable.  I always shopped there over Barnes and Noble.  Of course Tower Records was my favorite.  I would regularly go to three in the Chicago area (Lincoln Park, Schaumburg and Bloomingdale for you locals).  You are correct - all physical media will be sold less and less in big box stores and sadly many big box stores and malls will be gone.  I don't really buy any physical media anymore unless it's a must-have which is rare.  I don't mind going to our local Half Price Books for books and movies or simply just going to the library.  I take out a movie or two, watch them, and I'm done.  Why would I want to own most of them?  Anyway I hope to see a physical Feel Flows box based on what we're hearing it could be.

I didn't shed a tear when LPs were replaced by CDs in the late 80's.  While I missed my album covers, I was fed up with dealing with vinyl, not to mention I couldn't play my records in my car so it was good riddance from me.  If I want better resolution audio than CDs I'll go for high res digital audio.  My Smile Sessions vinyl sits in it's box.  I should probably just give it to my brother.  He's on a vinyl kick these days.

I suppose the 4th Quarter Christmas season release having to come out ASAP doesn't need apply because they have a rough idea of how many units will ship to the die-hard fans.  The greatest hits crowd probably doesn't even know much about the 1969-71 period anyway.  That being said with Sunflower (making Rolling Stone's Top 500 albums of all-time) and Surf's Up considered classics by music fans in the know, you think there would be some promo for the set via interviews and reviews.  I think they should do a physical box (and maybe companion smaller set like Smile Sessions) and really hype it up.  It would be so great for the band's legacy especially if the masses who are unfamiliar discover this era.  And if that's the case here's my prediction:

- We will get a digital only release in December with 1969 live material (if any) and some 1969 studio sessions (APPETIZER)
- There will be a glorious Feel Flows box next year with a decent amount of press coverage and build-up (MAIN COURSE)
- There will be a 1970 December digital live release (DESSERT)

Very nicely done!  I might want to play this live with a friend, so thanks for the inspiration.

Come on guys - pick ONE.  Make it hard on yourselves.  Pick the ONE show you'd go back in time if asked right now.  You only get one. 

Whiskey November 4, 1970 with all six of them would be my choice.

I think her reluctance to let anyone in the house was more for tension (for the audience watching) more than anything.  In the end it turned out to be true.  The guy was sleeping and she didn't want him to fall asleep later when they were watching TV together.

Much better quality here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=up163cMB9rs

Thank you for sharing.  That being said, this doesn't work for me.  A lot of these songs are sub-par to begin with and with most in uncompleted form it doesn't feel like an album at all.  We'll see what we get to work with in 2024.

Kind of sad to see Buffalo Springfield only a few weeks before their last show.  Note Jimmy Messina holding Winnie The Pooh.  He had replaced Bruce Palmer on bass (who had been deported).  Neil just wanted out.  Such a turbulent short lifespan for a great band. 

Also, I wonder if the Made In California boxset was the tipping point for Capitol to end the boxset releases for the Beach Boys? For some reason I think it didn't get the greatest of sales. But yet the SMiLE Boxset was on the Amazon charts for a good long while, if I recall correctly. MiC is a terrible barometer of possible boxset success for this band as many of us owned the majority of the songs on that boxset anyways, and thus were more unlikely to buy it (I got it, but it really wasn't a necessity as the Smile Boxset was). And many hardcore fans don't really dig Friends and 20/20 that much either, so it's hard to expect people to shell out money for songs they don't really care for in the first place. But Sunflower and Surf's Up? They are legends in the music community as a whole, making it on Rolling Stone lists and plenty other top-album lists. You've got a goldmine with those two albums, but the people who release this stuff need to be smart about how they do it.

Anywho, those are my thoughts about it all. I think the releases that Alan, Mark, and others have worked so hard on since MiC have been incredible, and I think that they deserve our support. I also think that people who run the finances ought to be shown the possible success of the Sunflower/Surf's Up material, and how it, of anything post-Smile, deserves a boxset.

If the Monkees can have boxsets for all of their albums (including the later ones), I would think Sunflower and Surf's Up could as well. 

Agreed. I think the reason Made in California wasn't a great success was because it wasn't classy and elegant enough. As for its image, there should have been better album artwork, and a better name for the box set. As for the content, it had too much previously released material on it to buy the whole set, unlike these new releases.

I agree with the idea of a Sunflower and Surf's Up Box Set for next year, that way hopefully the Fred Vail country album will finally see the light of day.

I'm blown away by the alternate "Bluebirds Over the Mountain"! It's sounds like a brand new song. Not sure that it would have performed any better as a single at the time, but I definitely prefer this version, by far.

My girlfriend is not usually a fan of the BB (though she loves Good Vibrations and Vega-tables among others), so much to my surprise I was just listening to the alternate Bluebirds Over The Mountain and she came in the room when it finished asking what song was that?  When I told her she was really surprised that it was The Beach Boys!  Pretty cool!

I never really thought of a Beach Boys influence on Queen and I'm a huge Queen fan, but there was definitely one on Yes.  I always thought the organ break (and the band coming in as it modulates) on Little Girl I Once Knew sounded like early late-60's Yes.  In spite of Yes being mainly a prog rock band they were regularly a harmony singing band and once Steve Howe joined quite a few songs had three part harmonies.  When Trevor Rabin joined they added even more layers.  In the 80s the songs Leave It and the intro to Rhythm of Love were very Beach Boys-esqe.

Your sequence is nearly identical to mine. Bravo. 

What's your sequence?

I find the early version of Big Sur starts to drag and gets a bit repetitive, so I keep Disney Girls in the sequence. I do like how you end side A with Surf's Up. It works.

Don't Go Near The Water
4th of July
Long Promised Road
Disney Girls
Feel Flows

Lookin' At Tomorrow
A Day in the Life of a Tree
'Til I Die
Wouldn't It Be Nice (To Live Again)
Surf's Up

Ah very similar ... though in mine above, "Surf's Up" begins "Side 2".

Donny, your track seems to have been taken down.  Can you at least post your running order?

Ken, I just sent you an email.  Thanks for the heads up and good luck on hitting your number.

I was going to be in Detroit and thought about going to the May 4th show in Windsor, only to see it postponed.  We'll see if the timing is right in November.

Count me in the "I'm not buying this or ever listening to any of it again" camp. 

I love the historical perspective on these types of things.  Just because something charted doesn't mean it was that big of a smash hit or the other way around.  Fun to see lots of summer and sun songs on this August chart.

Good Timin and Back Home have always been criminally too short.  I probably would have started this album with River Song, then Good Timin'.  But in spite of a great idea, half of this material is still pretty weak and nothing special to me.  Shortenin' Bread, Barnyard Blues and Rollin' Up To Heaven are all meh which makes this too inconsistent to enjoy for me.  But thank you for sharing your project.

I would like a more full In Concert album with more of the Carnegie Hall show.  It would be great to have a 4 cd set of songs from the Ricky and Blondie era.

You'll probably get it... but you'll have to wait until 2022.

Like every year in the competition - Beatles.  Except 1966 where I'd flip a coin, and maybe give it to the Beach Boys. 

Beatles for me.

Beatles were doing it better in 1965.  Yes, there are some Today tracks that were very mature for their time, but a few tracks that were just decent.  They even had to have a do-over with Help Me Ronda/Rhonda on the next album which was kind of lame (although a superior re-make).  The Beach Boys were even covering three Beatles songs on Party.  Help! was a transitional album that most bands would kill to have.  Rubber Soul is a watershed album combined with a double A side of Day Tripper and We Can Work It Out.  I love the Beach Boys, but The Beatles are tops for me in 1965 based on Rubber Soul and the single alone.  Add the Help! LP and the two B-sides and it's over.

Keep the a capella versions coming.