Jim--Mine is just the "distributed by ERA" version...but a beautiful mint label--those primary colors in the art-font
lettering.  Love it.  And thanks for the kind words.  I was a kid in his twenties, no kind of writer, just in love with Brian's music.
Teaching physics in a high school and getting girl students in the typing/business classes to create those reminder
postcards so that subscribers to the fan journal would send in their 5 dollars.  (The girls actually did that during
their classes...hah).  I remember handing a copy of the journal to Dennis Wilson and having him say "Add Some Money?"
He was skeptical of someone using the Beach Boys name. I explained carefully to him that I lost money
every year.  Thank you for what financial support came in...
 

I never developed a really great collection, but have some items that are special...and I reckon that's the
case for most people here. There are three singles that I especially fancy... Surfin on Candix (I paid $25 a long
time ago), the party 4-song EP, and the Kenny & Cadets single.  What's nice is that they're all in terrific
condition.  I think the K&C item was the last time I purchased a collectable...about 20 years ago.  Hey
Lee...do you remember? I'm pretty sure it came from Wayne at Rockaway...somebody had found a box
of them in a garage?  Please tell me it's genuine (pink label with blue lettering)

 

Wasn't it Marty Heidegger who said, after biting into a very stale potato chip, "What the hell is this?"?

Don Malcolm, you are clearly one of the good guys.  But gosh--dating ourselves.

[ As I recline uncomfortably here on a rusty chaise longe with my rifle and sign that says "Get off my lawn" ]

Those were amazing days, and definitely before anybody was talking about a song called "Thank Him"
(and 60 other unknown songs)

Sounds like some ordinary human scuttling.  Mikie, you will want to save that nugget
for when you are interviewed for the David McCullough biography of B.W.

Hey, probably been gone over already...but Lee or others... I mentioned my love
for "Bobby Left Me".  Is that Hal on drums?  And any chance that's Brian himself
pounding out those eighth notes on the piano in the fade?  Wouldn't that be cool.   

Jim, What a beautiful post. I think I made it to one Capital swap.  Think I handled a Help Me Rhonda acetate and put it down.  I did purchase
a large MIU album promo poster, with the period babe on a beach holding the colorful umbrella.  I've got that in a big frame to this day.  But that is all.

I'm happy to say that one of the last things I said to Bob H. was I love you.  He had been Emailing materials about some leftist left coast doings.
Harmless stuff, really. I wrote him an Email saying something like, "I love you Bob, but stop sending me that stuff."  Hah.  Bittersweet.

Wonderful people in the Beach Boys universe.

Does anybody know what became of Mike Clark?  Peter?
 

Yes.  With Brad, it was more like imminent surcease.

But you had to love the guy...his energy, hopes. And for those of us
who got to see him in a traditional dirndl ... great legs!

Gerhard!  I hope you and yours are well.  What a pleasure.

 

Jim Murphy... you brought a tear to my eyes.  Those good guys who are gone...  Plus Bob H.

Coming back to me now...Seems that great Brad E. Survivors interview should have been in the book.
But the Brad E. items were stepped around.  He might have been planning something of his own.
I don't really recall.

When you mention a voice sounding like Brian...it makes me think of the old debate with the
song Twelve-o-Four, which sure as hell sounds like Brian. 

Hi Lee!  And AGD! That new disc looks to be fabulous. Love that track, Bobby Left Me.
I wish the young ones here could feel the mystery and excitement that permeated the
early days of collecting.  Communication and sharing were positively 19th century.  Dudes
on the West Coast had a leg-up.  And so much was unknown.  Great days in the 1970s.

Mine is numbered 110 (of 150?).  Guess I really didn't rate that highly.

My acetate didn't come with the box.  I must have thrown it in there later.

By the way, the original outer plastic sleeve has a decal that says "Series Vol. II"
So, yikes, someone wasn't careful. The album label says "mfd. in Paraguay".
I wonder what those Paraguay guys are up to today.

Brother Mikie!  Merry Christmas.   Got some time between shopping and making candles...
My old Honeys box says "The Definite Album Vol. III"
I just dragged it out of a closet.  Inside it's got an acetate of "Darlin I'm Not Steppin Out on You."
Sheesh.  Forgot all about this stuff.

Whoa...just got wind of this discussion from MSNBC.  I'd like to stand up for my dear (and old) friend, AGD.
We were just pups when he visited the new land some 30 years ago and bunked with me for a month.
Took time out from his investigations to advise me on a teeth-cutting political-community project--making
the Irish in Minneapolis attend to a dress code.  For the record, it was AGD who convinced me
it should be not only the Catholics but also the Protestants.  So what I'm saying is, AGD takes the broader
view.  He taught me something about meta-ideology.  Which is also wisdom.  He has my thanks.

Oh dear.  Sail Plane Song is the greatest of the formerly unreleased by Brian.

It's a pure and perfect transport to a zeitgeist.  You are back there...seeing the fly resting on the window sill
and the quality of the sunlight on that particular day.

And the harmonics. Brilliant.

Sloop John B is fine on PS.  I would remove Wouldn't It Be Nice.  It is too screamingly bright.

And I would remove Good Vibrations from Smile.

 

Musetta's Waltz

With an early surf harmony (think Lonely Sea), not the very dense rock harmony that came after.

Maybe people should be sending Brian links to performances by the mature and still amazing Lou Christie.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q-QKpR3l62A


Note how at the beginning of the clip Christie shows how low he can still go as well.  Wow.
(And he seems to be making a nice joke about adjusting his balls....)
Love Lou!

link goes to the POETRY site.  Then click on "watch it here"

Pretty nicely done.  From Late Night TV...

http://www.poetryfoundation.org/harriet/2012/10/tom-hanks-slam-poet/

hh...no problem (and I saw your profanity-laced unedited post...heh)...my point was that I am not happy...right.  They might have created a marvelous signal to the ages with a brief small final perfection.
More likely there will be a bunch of dull songs with whatever electronic effects for smoothing.  

On the other hand, maybe Brian will revert to the fart synth and give us a weird final blast...  [dreaming]

Good points, and consider...

The news seems to indicate that the group will act as slaves to the concept of a 12-song album.  Brian Wilson and the other 70-year-olds creating 12 incredible new songs?  Give me a break.
The market will sink it...justly so.

They should have finished their career with a great 2-sided single.

Is this choosing the top 3?  Then I'm with GroganB

BBs Today
Summer Days and Summer Nights
Pet Sounds

And to think those 3 discs composed The Beach Boys Deluxe Set -- making it the best release by the band in its career (including best cover photo), to my mind.

and I just wish The Little Girl I Once Knew was in there somewhere.

Although I am not a follower of any fan-type VDP mythology (I think his solo music is earnest and less than important), I appreciate his mind, and, most relevant, his statement respecting the importance of the Beach Boys' music.  It was in that old video (Seventies)...where he was quoted (and shown) appreciating an art that respects that place where the water meets the land.  

A lot of the brief episodes that are called up in such discussions (Mike and the CabinEssence lyrics, Brian saying this, saying that)...have such an anecdotal sense.  And maybe not much more.  I go to the music and to what Brian was doing at the time--and can't help but believe that he simply felt it wasn't working. And was perhaps correct.

I can list a bunch of parts in the sessions Smile (of the 19 tracks) that seem to come up short.  Especially as regards a larger conceptual/narrative structure that flows and makes sense.  (Look?  bleh)

Compare Pet Sounds...where every song transports.

Although on the other hand, VegaTables...marvelous.

HpyNwYr, Andrew.

By the way, has anyone explained how it was that Jardine, a member of the board, could be fired from the touring Beach Boys?