just to be clear, the Friends outtake is an alternate mix of Little Bird sans lead vocs ...correct?

Not correct, although I did hear the track/bgs "Little Bird" and loved it.

what's the story with Back Home '63? They can't find a better copy than what's been booted or they can't fix the existing one to be presentable enough for release?
Or even the unfinished Back Home '70 session would be neat to have released.

Not sure, but I listened to these:

"Back Home" AL 1 REMASTER
"Back Home" AL 2 REMASTER
"Back Home" (lead 4 - Al & Mike)

[Sunflower]

How about anything Brian related from Sunflower through 1974? That's what I'm hoping for. Any goodies you know of?

Don't know what is Brian-related, nor what's being considered for release, but I listened to these:

"This Whole World" - track only - 1970 Sunflower
"This Whole World" - vocals only - 1970 Sunflower
"Walkin'" (edit) - 1970 Sunflower
"Where Is She?" (edit) - 1970 Sunflower
"Trader part 2" track w/ bgs - 1972 Holland
"Lucy Jones" - 1974

Cool.  Did you get your very own energy dome hat?

Been a fan since age 9, starting becoming friends with the band at age 18, but oddly have never owned an Energy Dome.

What about that Devo collaboration with Al Jardine lead vocals on "Worried Man Blues" -- oh wait, that's fictitious.

OT, but coincidentally, I was editor & interviewer for Devo's only biographical book (http://amazon.com/We-Are-Devo-Not-Men/dp/0946719764/), and I'm currently the Consulting Producer of the forthcoming official DEVO documentary film: DEVOfilm.com

What about that Devo collaboration with Al Jardine lead vocals on "Worried Man Blues" -- oh wait, that's fictitious.

After being fired, Murry had to catch a new wave:

This one:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m8YGsoG-12g

Might have been this one, I wasn't paying close attention to it — tended to spend more brain-power on 1960s/70s material.  Gotta say: I'm surprised you guys seem so interested in a lackluster '80s track instead of a FRIENDS outtake.

So Ponghit, good fellow, can you say is the MIC project more a "career retrospective" or rather a "deep cuts anthology w/ some hits".

Maybe both? It's safe to assume the big hits will be represented, no? And there will be a 'bonus' disc, comparable to the 1993 box that MIC is apparently destined to 'replace.'

Did the version of "Why Didn't I Tell You" you listened to have lyrics PongHit?

Sorry, I don't remember. Whatever it was apparently didn't make a big impression on me.

I don't remember much about the song that was in a movie, but I think it was 1980s, maybe.

Why Didn't I Tell You? became Goin' On? Is that right?

I have no clue, but someone here must know.

Apparently, Spector will have one last shot at appealing his murder conviction: http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2013/03/18/phil-spector-s-last-chance.html  Also, the entire Spector documentary can be seen here: http://youtu.be/90zip4w_ICU

But anyway, to bring this thread back on-topic: yes I listened to more music slated for MIC when I returned to Alan's house in November — by then the project was in-progress, and had been structured into five iTunes playlists on his computer. Some of it struck me as mediocre and forgettable, like a song that was used in a movie soundtrack (it was song #1 on a playlist, and I commented to Alan that it didn't seem like a strong way to open a CD). Of course lots of very cool material too — I won't ruin your day with spoilers, but there were some great surprises, including one very memorable tune from the FRIENDS sessions.

...songs that were a treasure trove of recordings from the KTSA sessions/era.

The only unreleased KTSA/1979 tracks I remember from Alan's house were "Why Didn't I Tell You?," and "Little Girl (Sunshine)," which had a note: "rough mix with scratch vocal."

If you can remember, how much of the stuff that you heard do you think could be 'releasable' on the box set? Obviously it's just speculation but did most of it seem like stuff that wouldn't have been out of place on the 1993 box set for example?

I'd say most of it is releasable — but rather than the '93 box, I'd say some of the material wouldn't be out of place on HAWTHORNE.

A random P.S. to this — I visited Alan's house again several months later, and while chatting I asked if he'd seen this — he hadn't:

http://youtu.be/GYBjOywJwLI?t=5m19s

Incidentally, about a year ago Alan was nice enough to let me preview material for the box at his house — details here:

http://smileysmile.net/board/index.php/topic,12489.msg258046.html#msg258046

...just joking around and doing what normally happens around here which is to blame Mike for everything!

In this instance, we have Mike to thank for bringing the indispensable Mr. Boyd back to the project.

Mike was not to blame, and I didn't intend to imply he was — in fact, seems to me Mike was/is super-cool to Alan. Anyway, it hardly matters now — Mark & Alan are doing the box as it should be. Water under the bridge.

I know Mr. Boyd had some health issues but  it's wonderful to know he is feeling well enough to helm this project.

His health wasn't the issue, but yeah, he's totally fine now.

Speaking of Alan Boyd, it's been repeatedly stated on this board that Alan isn't involved in the making of MIC but
http://www.famebureau.com/beach-boys-archives.html says Alan is producing the boxset. Do you have any more nuggets of information you would care to share?

Alan removed himself from the project last year, but in November he told me Mike had persuaded him to return to it.

Nothing official, but last Christmas my girlfriend made me a Murry Wilson snowglobe. That picture of him with a pipe. She put a little Xmas hat on him and it says, "I'm a genius, too". I'd like to think i'm the only person in the world with a Murry Wilson snowglobe.

WE NEED TO SEE PHOTOS.

Grammy® Award Winner Alan Boyd.  Mastered by Grammy® Award Winner Mark Linett.

 

And the Grammy for cutest couple goes to…

Nice to see Linnett got dressed up for the occasion.

He was working the event — he does sound on the Grammys — so he had to hop out of a truck to get a photo taken.

Stylistically, Lowery calls the band-produced album "the fake hippie/surfer side of Camper Van Beethoven. It's like Camper Van Beethoven leaning towards the Beach Boys' Big Sur period and the Grateful Dead. There's this Beach Boys album called 'Holland' that we have long had a fascination with in Camper, and we sort of ended up paying tribute to it by accident." The track "Northern California Girls," he says, also takes a page out of the Beach Boys' songbook; "Instead of 'California Girls' I started f***ing around and singing about northern California girls," he says. "Then I very quickly developed a story to it and finished it off."

http://www.billboard.com/features/camper-van-beethoven-northern-california-1008008372.story#/features/camper-van-beethoven-northern-california-1008008372.story