Reissued albums?

[Ron]

If anything, they DESERVE a box set. They're undisputedly one of the most influential bands ever recorded and as many here have stated, The Beatles, Pink Floyd, and Dylan have all gotten box sets.

Zach, if you haven't got the 93 set everybody's talking about, definately track one down.  It's a fantastic box set, one of the best I've heard.  Tons of unreleased stuff, plus tons of the hits. 

[Ron]

Like we've said before, my ideal would be to have expanded 2cd sets of each album.  So like a 2cd mini box of "Surfer Girl" for instance would be awesome.

[Jim V.]

For the last four 1960's Capitol albums, how much could be added? The "Wild Honey" album & some of the "Smiley Smile" tracks could be remixed for stereo. As for presenting "Friends" in both mono & stereo, only "Friends" & "Little Bird" ever received dedicated mono mixes(for the single. Countries that released a mono "Friends" album released a fold-down)

Unreleased songs? When I posed the question(in the 1990's) to an EMI executive in London, I was told that the unreleased songs from the "Smiley Smile" sessions had not been found. Yes, you could add tracks to "Wild Honey", such as "With a Little Help From My Friends", "The Letter", "Lonely Days", the extended "I Was Made to Love Her", plus the unreleased "Game of Love"(a cover version of the Wayne Fontana & The Mindbenders hit) and "Honey Get Home"(or "Honey Go Home") which is reportedly a backing track fragment. One problem in adding songs to "Wild Honey" or "Friends" is that much of the unreleased material was released on "20/20".  As for the "Friends"-era track "Even Steven"? It's a working title for "Busy Doing Nothin' "

The origins of the "20/20" album have more than a bit in common with The Rolling Stones' "Tattoo You", The Monkees' "Instant Replay" or Led Zeppelin's "Physical Grafitti", in that all of these albums combined a half an album of newly recorded material with rejected/leftover songs from previous album sessions. As we all know, "20/20" made use of tracks from the "Smile", "Wild Honey" & "Friends" sessions. It must be assumed that the leftover "Smiley Smile" tracks had already been lost or disposed of by 1969. If these recordings still existed in 1969, they must have been considered not good enough to release.

Phil, Phil, Phil, if you know anything, its those Brother era rarities that most of us are really looking for. Most of the best Capitol era stuff is now out there, especially since SMiLE is now out. But there are still a few cool things still now officially released, like "Back Home" from 1963, and some outtakes from Wild Honey, besides those that you listed. Actually it'd be good to get those you mentioned back into circulation, because most of them aren't easily available anymore.

But anyways, there are gems to be found from the Brother years from what I hear. You've got "Where Is She?" written by Brian the Sunflower sessions, "(Wouldn't It Be Nice) To Live Again" written by Dennis from the Surf's Up sessions, "Carry Me Home" from the Holland sessions, and "California Feelin'" from 1974. So there is a lot of unreleased material to be excited about, and I figure we will either get it through reissues of the albums, or through a box set, or through some kind of album that includes previously unreleased material.

[Zach95]

If anything, they DESERVE a box set. They're undisputedly one of the most influential bands ever recorded and as many here have stated, The Beatles, Pink Floyd, and Dylan have all gotten box sets.

Zach, if you haven't got the 93 set everybody's talking about, definately track one down.  It's a fantastic box set, one of the best I've heard.  Tons of unreleased stuff, plus tons of the hits. 

No! I've got the 93 set! I love it!  In actuality, my father purchased it God knows when.  When I was around 10 or 11, I found it under the tv and brought it up to my room and uploaded all of the disks onto iTunes.  We were going on vacation to Florida a few weeks after that, and I put twenty or so "surf" songs on my little iPod shuffle to bring with me.  I listened nonstop to those songs...and that's how I discovered the Beach Boys! Of course, years later I went back, showed my best friend the set, and listened to the other four disks on the set, discovering the Smile material and what not.

In any case, when I said they deserved one, I meant a set with their entire catalog, album by album, like the artists who have already issued ones that I mentioned.

[Wirestone]

It would be easy enough to do two-CD sets of everything. You'd just have to be creative and willing to spend some money (which I'm not sure is the case here). Think of it this way --

Each Capitol-era album would have a full mono and stereo mix, which would take up the first disc.

The second disc would have live recordings (which are sorely lacking for many eras of the group), studio sessions and takes, and new mixes (vocals-only, anyone?) created for the set. For things like Today and Summer Days, you'd have some masterful stack-of-tracks selections.

The stereo-only albums would be easy enough to conceptualize, too. You'd fill out the first disc with alternate mixes and single mixes, as well as demos and work-in-progress versions of the tunes.

The second discs would be the same conceptually -- lots of live shows, studio sessions, newly created mixes and unheard material.

No one says that each CD has to be a full 80 minutes, either.
 
And all of the albums could have a third disc -- a DVD of relevant TV appearances and interviews from the time. This would appear for a limited time in "super deluxe" editions, which would also include download codes to download the entire thing in high-def audio from the Beach Boys Central.

Slam that all together, and you'd have a more than 90-disc "complete albums" boxed set!, which you could sell for $1,000 bucks a pop.

That's how you do it.

[Ron]

Yup. I think that would be the best way to do it, as long as they offered them individually too... I'd be more likely to buy them 1 at a time then the whole shebang at once. 

[Zach95]

$1000 bucks?  Let's take away the DVD disc and even the second disc and call it $300 maybe?  MUCH more reasonable...and sell-able.

[Wirestone]

I'm being purposefully ridiculous, perhaps -- that many discs in one set is kind of crazy. But certainly a lot of bands have managed two-disc sets for most of their albums (Queen, Genesis, the BeeGees ...)

[b00ts]

I'm being purposefully ridiculous, perhaps -- that many discs in one set is kind of crazy. But certainly a lot of bands have managed two-disc sets for most of their albums (Queen, Genesis, the BeeGees ...)

Part of the problem that drives up the cost with these sets is licensing fees, both for the compositions themselves and, to a lesser extent, the original master recordings, which I am guessing are licensed by Brother Records Inc. to Capitol in the case of The Beach Boys.

I would imagine that the SMiLe box set had a higher profit margin than most, because it largely features the same songs from the first disc in different permutations throughout the rest of the discs. Perhaps this is how Mark and Alan convinced Capitol to expand the set by a few discs -  taking into account the minimal overhead (the cost of the physical discs, which is negligible) it was worth it because Capitol could jack up the price of the box some more without paying for more licenses.

I think the reason for the 'bonus disc' in the 1993 Good Vibrations box set is the same - the songs that were included were different versions of tracks that had already been included on the other discs, hence no additional licensing fees, at least not for the compositions - not sure about the masters in that case since I'd imagine they sometimes came from disparate sources.

[Paulos]

My idea of what a deluxe Surfin' Safari would look like:

Disc One

Mono mix

Surfin' Safari
County Fair
Ten Little Indians
Chug-A-Lug
Little Girl (You're My Miss America)
409
Surfin'
Heads You Win - Tails I Lose
Summertime Blues
Cuckoo Clock
Moon Dawg
The Shift

Stereo mix

Surfin' Safari
County Fair
Ten Little Indians
Chug-A-Lug
Little Girl (You're My Miss America)
409
Surfin'
Heads You Win - Tails I Lose
Summertime Blues
Cuckoo Clock
Moon Dawg
The Shift

Disc Two

Surfin' (Original speed)
Luau
Judy
Surfin' Safari (Candix version)
Surfer Girl (Candix version)
Beach Boy Stomp (Karate)
Lavender
Barbie
What Is A Young Girl Made Of
Land Ahoy
Cindy, Oh Cindy
Their Hearts Were Full Of Spring

[shelter]

For the last four 1960's Capitol albums, how much could be added?

If there aren't enough outtakes, they can always add a capella mixes, backing tracks, recording sessions or live versions. It shouldn't be too hard to create enough bonus tracks for each album.

[PhilCohen]

My idea of what a deluxe Surfin' Safari would look like:

Disc One

Mono mix

Surfin' Safari
County Fair
Ten Little Indians
Chug-A-Lug
Little Girl (You're My Miss America)
409
Surfin'
Heads You Win - Tails I Lose
Summertime Blues
Cuckoo Clock
Moon Dawg
The Shift

Stereo mix

Surfin' Safari
County Fair
Ten Little Indians
Chug-A-Lug
Little Girl (You're My Miss America)
409
Surfin'
Heads You Win - Tails I Lose
Summertime Blues
Cuckoo Clock
Moon Dawg
The Shift

Disc Two

Surfin' (Original speed)
Luau
Judy
Surfin' Safari (Candix version)
Surfer Girl (Candix version)
Beach Boy Stomp (Karate)
Lavender
Barbie
What Is A Young Girl Made Of
Land Ahoy
Cindy, Oh Cindy
Their Hearts Were Full Of Spring

"Surfin' ", "Surfin' Safari"(hit version) & "409" can't be remixed for stereo. "Surfin' " was (apparently) recorded direct to mono. As for the first session at Western Studios(the tape used to audition the group for Capitol which contained "409", "Their Hearts Were Full of Spring","Surfin' Safari") if it had ever been a 3-track recording, all that Murry Wilson and The group took with them were the finished mono mixes. The multitracks(if there were ever any) don't exist any more. As for the pre-Capitol Hite Morgan productions, engineer Steve Hoffman(who worked with the recordings for the "Lost and Found" CD) once claimed(to the defunct "ICE Newsleter") that the Morgan recordings could have been presented in stereo, albeit crude stereo with the instruments on one side and the vocals on the other side, but more recently, he has contradicted himself by saying(on his forum) that "Surfin' " was recorded direct to mono. We may never know. And, it is unlikely that The Beach Boys or Capitol would want to license any more Morgan tracks other than "Surfin'"(which is neccessary to present the first Capitol album complete)

[Aegir]

Isn't the Morgan version of Surfin' different from the album version? Different speed or something?

[Jason]

Same recording, just sped up on the Surfin' Safari album.

[Jimmie_R]

As long as we get remixed versions of Smiley Smile, Wild Honey, Friends, 20/20 and Sunflower with bonus tracks I´d be a happy boy!

[DonnyL]

As long as we get remixed versions of Smiley Smile, Wild Honey, Friends, 20/20 and Sunflower with bonus tracks I´d be a happy boy!

What would be the point of remixing 'Friends', '20/20' or 'Sunflower'?  'Sunflower' particularly is one of the best-sounding albums ever recorded, I'd say.  

I'd much rather hear unreleased '70s tunes (even unfinished), which there are plenty of, than the endless remixing/vocals-only/tracks-only things.

I think the Capitol ('60s) vaults have been more or less exhausted, but we really haven't seen much from the Brother era.  

I would imagine this new box to be a sort of updated version of the '93 box.  hopefully with a cool live disc and a brother rarities disc.

[Awesoman]

It's been a little over ten years since some of these albums received a proper remastering; so I'd welcome new releases of these albums with a new coat of paint.  :-)  Some songs could definitely use another remaster like "Cool Cool Water".  Felt the levels were a little low on that one in general, and sonically it didn't sound all that different than it did on the original 1990's CD release. 

[Curtis Leon]

For the last four 1960's Capitol albums, how much could be added? The "Wild Honey" album & some of the "Smiley Smile" tracks could be remixed for stereo. As for presenting "Friends" in both mono & stereo, only "Friends" & "Little Bird" ever received dedicated mono mixes(for the single. Countries that released a mono "Friends" album released a fold-down)

Unreleased songs? When I posed the question(in the 1990's) to an EMI executive in London, I was told that the unreleased songs from the "Smiley Smile" sessions had not been found. Yes, you could add tracks to "Wild Honey", such as "With a Little Help From My Friends", "The Letter", "Lonely Days", the extended "I Was Made to Love Her", plus the unreleased "Game of Love"(a cover version of the Wayne Fontana & The Mindbenders hit) and "Honey Get Home"(or "Honey Go Home") which is reportedly a backing track fragment. One problem in adding songs to "Wild Honey" or "Friends" is that much of the unreleased material was released on "20/20".  As for the "Friends"-era track "Even Steven"? It's a working title for "Busy Doing Nothin' "

The origins of the "20/20" album have more than a bit in common with The Rolling Stones' "Tattoo You", The Monkees' "Instant Replay" or Led Zeppelin's "Physical Grafitti", in that all of these albums combined a half an album of newly recorded material with rejected/leftover songs from previous album sessions. As we all know, "20/20" made use of tracks from the "Smile", "Wild Honey" & "Friends" sessions. It must be assumed that the leftover "Smiley Smile" tracks had already been lost or disposed of by 1969. If these recordings still existed in 1969, they must have been considered not good enough to release.

There's a whole TON of songs and fragments the Beach Boys from that era didn't deem suitable for release (that still aren't/aren't officially now).

- Hawaiian Song/Early takes of Little Pad
- ANY Smile fragments that didn't make the cut for TSS (Ball and Mitt, anyone?)
- The original Three Dog Night Darlin' + Time to Get Alone
- On Top Of Old Smokey (Paul McCartney and Brian in the same studio!)
- Good News
- Good Time Mama
- 1978 vocals for Can't Wait Too Long
- Tune #L (if it exists, all logic points to no, sadly)
- Mona-Kani
- Our Happy Home
- The two Dennis/Kalinich '68 songs
- Ode to Betty Joe and It's Time
- Personally, I wouldn't mind an official acapella Break Away or Friends (that isn't on an obscure single)
- If you want to cheat, you can add Walkin' because it's technically Friends era if you take the vox out of the equation

All of this material is plenty for bonus tracks to four albums, adding in what's already on in terms of bonus tracks. 

20/20 isn't really comparable to Tattoo You - Tattoo You was a collection of outtakes that were dusted off and given new life. 20/20 has four holdovers, one was a single, and another was an album intro.

[Awesoman]

- On Top Of Old Smokey (Paul McCartney and Brian in the same studio!)

Has anyone actually heard this one before?  Does Paul actually sing at all on it?

[Curtis Leon]

- On Top Of Old Smokey (Paul McCartney and Brian in the same studio!)

Has anyone actually heard this one before?  Does Paul actually sing at all on it?

It doesn't circulate. All we know is that it exists.