Very cool. Thanks for sharing!

Honestly, I think it's pretty much impossible to generalize this.  The fact is that they switched around a whole lot.  They didn't all sing on everything; they swapped around, even from one take to another.  There are a few years where Brian and Mike are often the high and low voices, and of course it's pretty safe to put Mike lowest much of the time (not always).  But as time goes on and we are able to analyze these things better and better, it becomes apparent that there was no set order, and anything we thought we could rely on...we can't.  By 1965, every track is a blank slate, really.

Excellent point. I just wondered if they had a standard approach when it came to their strict four part numbers like Surfer Girl and the Freshmen covers. From what I’ve gathered so far it seems it was usually Brian, Carl, Dennis Mike up until Al rejoins, then Brian/Bruce, Al, Carl, Mike after that.

I could be wrong about this, but I think during those early years Carl tended to sing the second lowest part, even before Al rejoined, with Dennis singing above him.

A few days ago, I got the RCA Album Collection box set...wow! I've always been a fan, but I only owned about a half dozen or so of his albums and had always been a little confused and intimidated by his catalog. Now, I've got it all, and all confusion and intimidation has been eliminated. The set is very high quality, IMO. Great book, fantastic packaging. I even like how they labeled each album/disc 1-60 to keep things organized. And you'd think the box would be huge, but it doesn't take up as much space as you'd think. Anyway, I expect to become an increasingly bigger fan of his in the coming weeks and months. I listened to a bunch of early '60s soundtrack albums yesterday for the first time and they were much better than I anticipated. I'm really going to love this!

Interesting choice, Rab, but I think I gotta go with Today!

Thank you, Wirestone. At 400M plays, I believe you've solved the mystery.

It's very surprising! I first learned of this from The Cincinnati Kid who analyzes the Beach Boys Spotify statistics. Check it out over on The Beach Boys Today forum. 

https://thebeachboystoday.proboards.com/thread/580/beach-boys-spotify-streaming-statistics

All due respect, HeyJude, I think you're really getting carried away and overstating things. I watched Giggens video about the petition and read the petition itself and I don't recall hearing or reading the word "deluxe" once. Nor did I get the sense that Giggens was demanding that these receive the same sort of promotional push that Feel Flows did. He just wants the albums to be available. Clearly, he'd like a physical release with bonus tracks, but he'd settle for at least getting them up on streaming (he says this numerous times in the video). You've stated in this thread that you're all for getting them up on digital platforms...so what's the problem? I like your idea of putting a little more effort in and quietly dropping expanded versions. There's no reason to put this off for years. You can work on and release other projects outside of the copyright extension archival realm. (Clearly, as they just spent a ton of time and effort dedicated to re-releasing a greatest hits compilation - which, if we're prioritizing projects here, I'm not sure should have been anywhere near the top.)

I signed and shared the petition. There is no good reason not to have these albums available to stream and purchase digitally.

Just saw this: https://1027wkbh.com/2022/08/01/brian-wilson-scraps-all-upcoming-dates/

'Brian Wilson has scrapped all of his remaining summer and fall dates. Although no official reason was given, a statement cancelling his September 22nd show at Nashville's Ryman Auditorium read: “Due to unforeseen health reasons Brian Wilson will not be performing at the Ryman on September 22.⁠​ BRIAN IS BUMMED TO MISS THIS SHOW BUT LOOKS FORWARD TO SEEING HIS FANS ON THE ROAD AGAIN.”' [my caps]

That’s the same statement given to the Rock The Lake organizers.

For sure, Billy. I actively avoid social media comments. The message boards can be rough enough at times.

Here are 2022 tour dates for Brian Wilson (which, as we can imagine, are always subject to change). Archived 2021 dates and setlists are found below the 2022 schedule below:

2022:

Other Dates:

August 7, 2022 - Kelowna, BC, Canada -- Rock The Lake Music Festival
September 21, 2022 - Knoxville, TN - Tennessee Theatre
September 22, 2022 - Nashville, TN - Ryman Auditorium
September 24, 2022 - Johnson City, TN - ETSU Martin Center for the Arts
November 18-20, 2022 - Mexico City, Mexico - Corona Capital Festival

Thanks to Kapitan at BBT for finding this:

https://www.kamloopsbcnow.com/watercooler/news/news/Kelowna/1_week_until_Rock_The_Lake_Nazareth_replaces_Brian_Wilson_in_the_lineup/#fs_114550

There are no longer any tour dates posted on Brian's website. Cancelled for health reasons, reportedly.

By the way, how much interest is there in the actual facts regarding dates and documents and when splices were made, etc? I would think that would be right up the alley of every Smile fan on earth, but I've been surprised to see a lot of the info, which has been revealed here for the first time, completely ignored! Brian splicing the Worms verse from Worms (which he'd otherwise just chopped up for Heroes) and planning to use it as an intro for the original Da Da, via notes on the tape box? I thought that would get a big reaction!

Putting aside the debates regarding contemporary quotes and what they mean re Smile's transition into Smiley Smile, I'm surprised that most of the new information that's being given in this thread from original documents is kind of getting washed over. That's the part that fascinates me the most - the music, and exactly how, when, and where it was made. Through that, Brian's rapidly changing plans can be traced, as can his increasing interesting in minimal tracks, and instruments that are stacked by himself, rather than played by a live ensemble.

Just wanted to pipe up and say that I've appreciated the discussion in this thread and the very interesting, informative, and thought-provoking contributions that've been made.

And it got me in the mood to listen to the Smiley material on the Sunshine Tomorrow releases...so thanks all around!

The way that "Ain't joshin'" in the backing vocals of Noble Surfer transforms the word "noble" into "no bull."

Yeah, I love that!

Wow, thanks so much for putting this together. I'll surely be checking out more episodes after completing this one. I had been wanting to do some research on not just the new mixes but some of the previous stereo mixes and comparing them all to the originals, so this is exactly what I needed! The transitions were very smooth. I really appreciated that the volume levels between the mixes being compared were consistent. If they're not, that can really screw with your perception of what you're hearing. Anyway, thanks again!

By the way, I shared the link to this episode on the Today forum, here: https://thebeachboystoday.proboards.com/post/35073. Hopefully, all interested fans will check it out. (And make up their own minds about the sound and remixes.)

Rocker, have you ever ranked Elvis' albums?

I've always felt like In Concert was their first step towards Endless Summer, with the 2nd LP featuring many earlier songs as the set's big finale. Both Concert and In Concert are fantastic live albums as far as I'm concerned. I wish they'd done one more before Dennis died.

Well, technically, they did do one more with Dennis - they just didn’t put it out until 2002 or so. I agree that it’s too bad they didn’t release Knebworth earlier - it’s a great show and the last release that really relies on the core band.

Releasing Knebworth in the early '80s would have been a useful and worthy stop-gap release. It also would have preserved an autotune-free document of the show.

"Did someone just say ‘This band sounds great and we have to record it regardless of any return’?" - to this point, I would say (a) by late '73 the prospects of a new studio album from the band at any point in the near future were not great, so a live album was actually a pretty good "stop gap" idea to keep them in the consciousness of the record-buying public

Yeah, this was my main thought on the thread. Conceivably, as early as late '72 (when they started the project) the group (if not the label) may have had an inkling that a potential follow-up to the yet-to-be-released Holland was a ways away.

"Yet the group and management decided to spend a lot of money funding the recording at various shows, winter at that, in the days when doing so was probably extremely costly and involved quite a team." - it was quite possibly the record label, not the group or their management, that came with the idea for a live album (anyone know for sure?)...regardless, it would have been the label who paid for the recordings of the winter '72 shows (by renting the Record Plant mobile recording truck for a couple of shows in the NYC area, which was probably rather economical). For the summer '73 shows, which constitute the bulk of the recordings used on the final live double album, the group used their own Brother Studios recording equipment, likely transported by truck along with their other gear - and therefore not all that expensive to move (in similar fashion, they took the home studio gear on the road with them in the late '60s to use as sound reinforcement at live gigs).

Thanks for the interesting info regarding the equipment, c-man. To the extent that the recording process may have been considered costly, this is the same band that had just decided to record Holland in Holland (bringing their own studio with them, no less). They weren't the most fiscally responsible band of all-time, and therefore probably wouldn't have blinked an eye.

[The Beach Boys / Dennis Wilson - Sea Cruise (1971 & 1976 combined mix)]

I didn't know the '71 recording was making the round 

The Beach Boys / Dennis Wilson - Sea Cruise (1971 & 1976 combined mix)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mzTi-4cp_ts

It was part of the super sketchy copyright extension release on bandcamp that has since been deleted. And it wasn't the full track (again, super sketchy).

http://smileysmile.net/board/index.php/topic,28035.0.html

I urge you to read the full lawsuit filing

Could you, or someone, post a link?

Is it fair to call for an artist to quit? No, it's not.

I'm glad to see the board restored!

I'm highly annoyed that there isn't a LPR screening in or anywhere near Chicago.  The usual theaters for such events - including The Music Box, where we saw a fan preview of L&M with a Q&A by John Cusack and BW afterwards - do not have it listed.  
My mother, who lives in New Jersey, just told me about a screening that is on 11/17 in Asbury Park.  This is not listed on the Screen Media site.  

I hadn't heard about the showing in Asbury Park until you mentioned it. At the time, 19 of the 25 seats were still available. Now it's sold out and they've added 11 additional showings over the next week. I wonder if you helped get the word out better than their social media and whatever newspaper it was in!

Very close, thr33!

Here are the answers to Game #4:

https://soundcloud.com/b-e-18181486/beach-boys-game-4-answers

And here is Game #4:

https://soundcloud.com/b-e-18181486/beach-boys-game-4

This will conclude the game for now. 5 clips this time. Enjoy.

Reminder:

Hey, slightly different format this time. Just 3 clips (one 2 second, one 1 second, one .5 second), played 3 times each. After listening post your answers in code by abbreviating the album and song titles. So, if you think the answers are "Let Us Go On This Way", "Farmer's Daughter", and "Where I Belong" post something like "1. lylugotw 2. susafd 3. tbbwib". Not much of a code but it's quick and I think it might be enough not to spoil the game.

Here are the answers to Game #3:

https://soundcloud.com/b-e-18181486/beach-boys-game-3-answers