How complete are the Smile Sessions Box Set?

[NOLA SMiLE]

What are the various opinions/views with regard to the completeness of the TSS release? 

Might there be other Smile session materials tucked away in private collections that are yet unreleased?

Can we be reasonably certain that Capitol's vaults are free of yet unreleased Smile session material?

Opinions, rumors and verified fact are all welcome.

I have wondered about these questions since I bought TSS box set.

Thanks.

[Wrightfan]

It was mentioned in the Alan Boyd lecture thread that some new stuff turned up recently but no specifics.

Perhaps something for the "Made in California" box set that is TBA?

[Mooger Fooger]

The TSS 5 CD set is a good representation of the numerous sessions. However, there was a significant amount of editing performed on the session tapes to make them palatable for the non-hard core fan, while still appeasing the full-on Smile fanatics.

[KokoNO]

They're planning a 10-disc sequel. The Smile Sessions: The Real Story.

[NOLA SMiLE]

They're planning a 10-disc sequel. The Smile Sessions: The Real Story.

You are joking about something that just might happen down the road.  Can anybody foresee a "TSS Remastered" some years down the road?

[KokoNO]

Nah. Studio technology is like weather forecasting. It's become exponentially better over the last few decades, meaning advances are going to be less and less important. In other words, a decade from now, there won't be enough of a difference to make it worth anybody's while.

On top of that, practically nobody will be buying physical CDs by that point, so there'd be even less of a reason to do it.

[Chris Brown]

Nah. Studio technology is like weather forecasting. It's become exponentially better over the last few decades, meaning advances are going to be less and less important. In other words, a decade from now, there won't be enough of a difference to make it worth anybody's while.

On top of that, practically nobody will be buying physical CDs by that point, so there'd be even less of a reason to do it.

True, but I wouldn't rule out digital-only releases in the future.  Maybe something along the lines of what BB Central was supposed to be.

[RadBooley]

They're planning a 10-disc sequel. The Smile Sessions: The Real Story.

...I'd probably buy it too.

sigh.

[Rocky Raccoon]

Maybe something along the lines of what BB Central was supposed to be.

Yeah, what actually happened with that?  It actually still says coming soon.

[Aegir]

it only still says "coming soon" because it would take extra effort to update it to say something otherwise.

[hypehat]

Apparently every tape they had made it onto the box in some form. And they're only missing a handful of H&V tapes, SU's 'part two', a Great Shape session (that might be the Vegetables demo iirc), Tones & I Don't Know sessions (one or two of each?) and some various vocal sessions for Cabin Essence, Child..... so IDK what could constitute a new release. It coming out on the boxset would be the best recourse.

[ash]

I think what was missing from the boxset (apart from the missing/lost/stolen/misfiled/landfilled tapes) was major input from Van Dyke Parks and in particular a sense of context for the songs themselves.
Each song should have had a paragraph or two detailing the original idea/structure and then explaining what happened to the song over time in the recording process with reference to the sessions on each cd.
I wish that Van's original lyric sheets had been printed. This was a serious omisson in my opinion. It would then be clear that for example...Do You Like Worms? - Here's a near finished backing track with at least some backing vocals. The lead was never recorded but here's the lyrics and notice how BW appears to sing some of the melody to the musicians.He also sang a (perhaps) revised melody on his BW Presents Smile cd.
Very similar story for Holidays - where's the lyric sheet ?(someone please print it) and notice BW singing a line to the musicians. I think that composition was 100% finished when BW went into the studio to record it. Same story for Look but the vocal tape is missing.
Alan et al did a great job on the music side but i would've made sure BW /VDP heard bits like those and asked "hey do you remember that bit, here's the lyric sheet. I'll just plug this microphone in while you guys sing it." Al could have sung the missing bits to great effect. I think that would've been ok.
I believe that at least at the beginning BW and VDP had completed the very vast majority of tunes for the album. When they came to be recorded Brian started tinkering and swapping bits around essentially screwing everything up in the process.
Has anyone done an edit of Child using the chorus,original verse,chorus,original verse,chorus,middle bit (trumpet/piano),chorus to fade. Comes close to the time designated on the tracking sheet and sounds like a whole song. I think BW then decided he didnt like the verse and swapped it meaning VDP had to come up with new lyrics which he may not have done but initially i feel sure it was a whole finished song.
A short essay could have tracked the evolution of Heroes as well. From the Barnyard version,thru the december remake,bar room brawl/cantina, gee version and then the desperate attempt at the end of feb 67 to remake the track from the beginning.BTW i wonder if the december 19th session is critical in terms of missing pieces. That part 3 makes little sense in the context of the song...maybe it would if we had the 19th december session. Getting to part 2 seems to have been a problem throughout the sessions as well except for the cantina version at least in terms of editing. Where in god's name does soul made beautiful fit in ? Despite all his problems i'm sort of surprised no-one has sat BW and VDP down at a piano and said can you guys remember how you first wrote Heroes and Villains?
How do we get from the verse to the part 2 (aka fire intro) ? You can go from the end of part 2 back into a verse (i've been in this town so long,so long to the city or my children) but how can we get there in the first place. Maybe we'll have to ask our wives and managers.
There's no real explanation of The Elements in the book either. Maybe it was more concept than actual composition but that could be made clear. Frank Holmes drawings clearly reference Vega Tables as an element.
Anyway... i still dream that the Inside Pop reels will show up and that Sony will find a misfiled tape from columbia studios.
A couple of years ago i read a tremendous article on record company archival procedure and it mentioned just how many un annotated tapes in tape boxes or even unboxed reels with no identification  each label had. It would take years to listen to them all and find out what they are but i couldn't help wondering if among them was one of the tapes we'd love to hear, sitting in the wrong box or unlabelled. If i ever find that article again i'll post it.
Oh and the other 2 Jasper tracks were missing (presumed lost) but i'm not sure that's critical.
I look forward to any new discoveries however small. Count me in for the 10 cd box set deluxe edition with bonus dvd.