Though I love Sunflower Ricky and Blondie do a lot more for me musically than Bruce ever did.

Amen. Blondie and Ricky were a welcome breath of fresh air on the CATP and Holland albums. Could you imagine Bruce on Holland?    If Bruce had never left the group, the 1972-74 concert era probably wouldn't have been nearly as great. Or were Blondie and Rickey already members before Bruce left?

Yes.

The early 1972 concerts feature Blondie, Ricky and Bruce. And Ricky joined the band in 1971 at some point, if my mind serves me well.

Bohemian Rhapsody would have been ace. Especially the intro and opera section.

I always felt it was gracious of Al to 'let' Dennis sing one of the few hit leads he sang on.

Do we know that's how it happened? Maybe Al wasn't happy about it(?)

Don't forget that Dennis was a true leader at that point. Well, together with Carl. He didn't play drums. Instead he sang and played piano. He was quite talkative, too. I think it was quite fair to give him a lead vocal now and then. Al already had quite a few leads, songs like You Still Believe In Me, Heroes and Villains, Wouldn't It Be Nice, Funky Pretty (shared lead), Don't Worry Baby.

 

Sunflower for me, I think. Definitely as a band working together.

Well, the Sunflower/Reverberation/Add Some Music/Landlocked (whatever name you want to give it) sessions as a whole. I think their most productive period ever as a band?

Is this version "new" to fans? Was this show circulating in audience tape form? It's new to me.

Yeah, I think it's new to most of us.

Also, now we really have a proper Dennis lead from that time. He's a bit buried in the mix on the Carnegie Hall version.

My best guess is that the performance from the In Concert album was taken from a 1973 performance, seeing it's more up-tempo than the 1972 versions we have thus far.

Can anyone enlighten me on this? What was supposed to come out?

I like it.  A bit slow though and it doesn't rock as hard as the superior Concert album version.  Will be nice to have in the collection, fer sure.

It's very similar to the Carnegie Hall 1972 version, this one.

I love it. It's more laid-back, but definitely great!

I thought this topic was about MIC

Cabinessence and Do You Like Worms are my least favorite tracks on Smile.

I like the verses on Cabinessence, they're mellow and kind of spooky, but then the chorus jumps in, very big and kind of ruins the atmosphere. The chorus isn't that impressive to me, either.

I like the drum intro to DYLW a lot, but it kind of falls of for me after that, although I do like the phrasing of "rock, rock, roll, Plymouth rock, roll over."

I love Cabinessence for this particular part alone: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1dje0M5b_9M

I know MIC is coming out in about two weeks, but some samples now would be really welcome.

These teasers are killing me

I'm surprised that they didn't mention Big Sur being performed at the Hartford 1973 concert!

Also looking forward to the new/alternate mixes of It's OK and Rock And Roll Music. I hope the latter is similar to the 'hot mix'.

It is...clashing guitars & the extra verse.

Awesome

Also looking forward to the new/alternate mixes of It's OK and Rock And Roll Music. I hope the latter is similar to the 'hot mix'.

My thoughts on the tracklisting...

Disc One: I think the songs on this disc are generally well chosen (a few like Our Car Club, Betsy etc. are debatable perhaps) and it is kind of an alternative Endless Summer. Any casual fans should enjoy this disc but the fact that Back Home is the only unreleased track means that is is something of a disappointment. It`s a real shame that other rare songs or early versions were not included for whatever reason.

Disc Two: The music on this disc is mostly genius (though Then I Kissed Her should definitely be included ahead of Salt Lake City) but the problem for the compilers is obviously that the Pet Sounds and Smile sets had drained the well dry. One or two unreleased songs from Party wouldn`t have gone amiss.

Disc Three: This disc has a few more rarities with the early version of Meant for You highly anticipated and Sound of Free an excellent inclusion. I can`t help but feel greedy for more though. There are so many alternate versions from this era (eg. Big Sur) and it`s a shame a few more didn`t make the cut.

Disc Four: I think the selections on this disc are a little more debatable. The alternate mixes for Rock and Roll Music and It`s OK are very welcome, it`s good to have a genuinely unreleased song in Goin to the Beach and It`s a Beautiful Day is a well chosen rarity. And Wouldn`t it be Nice to Live Again is the standout of course. Don`t Go Near the Water is an odd choice as an opener though and Brian`s Back is a bizarre inclusion. To not have any 15 Big Ones outtakes, Adult Child songs, Carry Me Home, The 45 mix of Cuddle Up etc. is a disappointment to me.

Disc Five: I strongly feel that this should have been all live recordings. It wouldn`t have been difficult to cut ten songs from the previous discs and having an entire CD of live stuff would have been much more coherent. The fact that there is a gap between 1975 and 1993 is also a major oversight. Soul Searchin` and You`re Still a Mystery are great inclusions but I think rare things like the single mix of Somewhere Near Japan and Rock and Roll to the Rescue would have added value for the completists.

Disc Six: This is obviously by far the most interesting disc and has an impressive lot of unbooted stuff. I wish they hadn`t included the Smile backing vocals or the Good Vibrations sections but other than that this is faultless.

What is the 45 mix of Cuddle Up? How different is it from the album cut?

I predict that Wild Honey (live, New Jersey, 1972) is gonna be one of the standout tracks.

I'm sure others who agree…!   

I heard the complete live version, with Blondie, once. I believe it was the St. John's University 1972 show. It was a fair audience recording, but man, a great performance. They rocked!

Just a quick note:

The box set (obviously) specifies that the live Wild Honey version was recorded in New Jersey -- not New York where St. John's University is located (and where that noted audience boot is from). The two Passaic, NJ shows in November of '72 were professionally recorded for the live album, so this seems to be where the new box set recording is sourced from.

Also, if it's the same version that I heard many years ago from the unreleased, single-disc acetate version of Concert, it's a smoker -- with these wild, random synth/keyboard shots that make it sound like something out of Star Wars (and assuming that they're not mixed out)! Very energetic performance!

I meant that I heard a version of the complete Wild Honey live in 1972, with Blondie, not the one from the box set. There is also the famous video with him singing lead, but that one is incomplete.

Sounds promising! Can't wait

"Life is like the Beach Boys song 'Meant For You', too short!"

Alternate take from Forrest Gump.

 

I'm really looking forward to the live tracks, because I like live recordings, from any band. Runaway for example. Al on lead and Brian on falsetto? Yes please!

Furthermore:

- WIBNTLA (duh!)
- Back Home (both versions)
- Do It Again (stereo mix)
- Slip On Through (acapella mix)
etc.
etc.

Ah heck, I want it all and I want it now

I predict that Wild Honey (live, New Jersey, 1972) is gonna be one of the standout tracks.

I'm sure others who agree…!   

I heard the complete live version, with Blondie, once. I believe it was the St. John's University 1972 show. It was a fair audience recording, but man, a great performance. They rocked!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rAzvRZKju80

Love this performance. Starts @ 0:30.

EDIT: nevermind, found it through Google

You found the samples?

No, I found MIC on Itunes. I had to change it to the American store.

Was that Odyssey used on the Love You album (the farting bass)?

I hope the samples will never show up, because it would be very very hard to resist listening to them.
But at this point, only a couple of weeks from the real thing, I'm not gonna spoil my surprise and pleasure with short low-quality samples.
I waited ~20 years to hear some of these songs, I can wait 3 more weeks.
I'll just have to lock myself in a place without internet connection once the samples are out!

I believe iTunes has high quality samples, but anyway, why can't I find MIC in the iTunes store? Is it because I'm from Holland?

As far as I know, iTunes hasn't released samples of MIC anywhere.  They're not available in Japan, anyway.

It's not even in the store, in my case...

EDIT: nevermind, found it through Google