SMiLE Sessions box set!

[Lowbacca]

How cool - this just popped up in my alerts.

A Brief History of Smile cancellations

Thanks! Well-written summary of the SMiLE situation (these days). I guess the concluding sentence nails it: Because people love a good puzzle, maybe even more than they love the actual music of Smile. At the end of the day, 2011 SMiLE ist 'just' another approximation of what may have been released in 1967 in a parallel universe. It's SMiLE, goddammit, by now it's supposed to be mysterious - and stay that way.

I won't be dissapointed if there's only a few minutes total of actually never-before-head music in the whole package when it comes out.

[JohnMill]

Haven't been around these parts in a looooooooooong time (probably just after the original Smile Shop closed) but needless to say I'm very excited that for all intents and purposes it finally appears that we are going to be getting this box set we've all been dreaming about for years.  Although my enthusiasm is a bit tempered due to the fact that so much of this project has already been heard on bootlegs, I am nonetheless anxious to hear what Linett and company come up with. 

To add my two cents to those fretting about the price I wouldn't be too worried.  About two years ago I purchased a Tom Petty release that was very similar in how it was packaged to how the SMiLE set will apparently be packaged.  The Petty set contained five cds, two dvds, one LP, a blu-ray disc, two posters, a notebook and a deluxe booklet.  It retailed at BEST BUY for around $150 give or take.

[bossaroo]

how many people heard the Humble Harv demo before 'Endless Harmony'? when/where did that turn up?

when did sessions for 'Can't Wait Too Long' begin? what about the CWTL tag? is it SMiLE music?
how about 'With Me Tonight'?

Can't Wait Too Long, including the tag, was recorded after the Smile sessions ended.  Some early WMT recordings were made during the Smile sessions, but the Smiley Smile version of course was later.

isn't there a "Mark Linnett mix" of SMiLE out there that includes CWTL?

[guitarfool2002]

There was also a push for a three CD set called "The Smile Era" in 1995, a year BEFORE the Pet Sounds box was announced.  The 1995 project, which was mentioned in the Billboard piece on Friday, was written about in a lengthy article in Billboard around February 1995.  And, in fact, Billboard even later listed a release date: September 26, 1995.

I believe that this was the project for which Frank Holmes did additional drawings for several songs (e.g., Wonderful, Good Vibrations, Mrs. O'Leary's Cow and CIFOTM)

I remember reading about  this box set too - not in Billboard but I think in "Pulse" magazine - and going wild over the news. I think it was mentioned alongside the proposed Pet Sounds Sessions, and I got the impression the two were like a matching pair. So it's taken, what, 16 years for the other shoe to drop?

Pulse magazine in the Brian/Van Dyke cover story had a sidebar with Don Was, circa Fall '95, where it mentioned Was and Todd Rundgren asking Brian to consider putting the Smile material on CD-ROM, to make it an interactive experience for the fans.

The CD-ROM aspect seems to be missing from the current project - am I missing something or is it just technology that is no longer relevant to a reissue project?

[Andrew G. Doe]

Billboard February 4th, 1995. I need to amend a page...  

9.57 am GMT: Sorted.

[roll plymouth rock]

There was also a push for a three CD set called "The Smile Era" in 1995, a year BEFORE the Pet Sounds box was announced.  The 1995 project, which was mentioned in the Billboard piece on Friday, was written about in a lengthy article in Billboard around February 1995.  And, in fact, Billboard even later listed a release date: September 26, 1995.

I believe that this was the project for which Frank Holmes did additional drawings for several songs (e.g., Wonderful, Good Vibrations, Mrs. O'Leary's Cow and CIFOTM)

I remember reading about  this box set too - not in Billboard but I think in "Pulse" magazine - and going wild over the news. I think it was mentioned alongside the proposed Pet Sounds Sessions, and I got the impression the two were like a matching pair. So it's taken, what, 16 years for the other shoe to drop?

Pulse magazine in the Brian/Van Dyke cover story had a sidebar with Don Was, circa Fall '95, where it mentioned Was and Todd Rundgren asking Brian to consider putting the Smile material on CD-ROM, to make it an interactive experience for the fans.

The CD-ROM aspect seems to be missing from the current project - am I missing something or is it just technology that is no longer relevant to a reissue project?

Yeah Todd developed a sort of random fragment technology for his TR-i album that was played on Philips CD-i player (now long since defunct) that sort of allowed all tracks to play quantumly. I believe his program was an extension of this and allowed various SMiLE fragments to be matched at random with others that were in the same key, etc... Apparently Brian wasn't interested

[The Heartical Don]

The 'Layla' 40th anniversary deluxe box (4 CDs, 2 LPs, and a DVD) will retail at € 125 over here. Perhaps SMiLE will be in that same order of magnitude. I really don't expect it to go for much more.

[The Heartical Don]

...and what will happen if the sets will be disappointing? Reap 0.5 stars out ouf 10 everywhere?

I shudder to contemplate the effects...

[buddhahat]

Brief Guardian report here:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2011/mar/14/beach-boys-smile

...and what will happen if the sets will be disappointing? Reap 0.5 stars out ouf 10 everywhere?

I shudder to contemplate the effects...

I may eat my words, but how can 4 cds worth of smile material be disappointing?! I think the main area for error and criticism is the playable album portion and it's pointless speculating on that as we just don't know the plan at this point. Adding new Beach Boys vocals could be one way of alienating reviewers, agressively editing the tracks to fit the BWPS blueprint could be another, but I trust Linnett & Boyd will handle the material with respect. Whatever happens with disc 1, it looks as if we will have a lot of unadulterated session material to play around with so if the reveiwers don't like it, who cares - it'll be win/win for us smile fans.

[The Heartical Don]

Brief Guardian report here:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2011/mar/14/beach-boys-smile

...and what will happen if the sets will be disappointing? Reap 0.5 stars out ouf 10 everywhere?

I shudder to contemplate the effects...

I may eat my words, but how can 4 cds worth of smile material be disappointing?! I think the main area for error and criticism is the playable album portion and it's pointless speculating on that as we just don't know the plan at this point. Adding new Beach Boys vocals could be one way of alienating reviewers, agressively editing the tracks to fit the BWPS blueprint could be another, but I trust Linnett & Boyd will handle the material with respect. Whatever happens with disc 1, it looks as if we will have a lot of unadulterated session material to play around with so if the reveiwers don't like it, who cares - it'll be win/win for us smile fans.

Oh, I was merely joking. BTW: who expects all major boots to be obsolete by the end of the year?

[ESQ Editor]

THE BEACH BOYS’ LEGENDARY ‘SMiLE’ ALBUM SESSIONS TO BE RELEASED THIS YEAR BY CAPITOL/EMI
 
Never-Before-Released Original 1966-’67 Album Sessions Compiled for 2CD and Digital Packages and Deluxe, Limited Edition Box Set
 
 
Hollywood, California - March 14, 2011 – Between the summer of 1966 and early 1967, The Beach Boys recorded, in several sessions, a bounty of songs and drafts for an album, SMiLE, that was intended to follow the band’s 1966 masterpiece, Pet Sounds.  The sessions were ultimately shelved, and The Beach Boys’ SMiLE has never been released.  With the full participation of original Beach Boys Al Jardine, Mike Love, and Brian Wilson, Capitol/EMI has collected and compiled the definitive collection, ‘The SMiLE Sessions,’ for worldwide release this year in multiple physical and digital configurations.
 
The SMiLE Sessions presents an in-depth overview of The Beach Boys' recording sessions for the enigmatic album, which has achieved legendary, mythical status for music fans around the world.  The SMiLE Sessions will be released in 2CD and digital album packages and a deluxe, limited edition box set.
 
Co-produced by Mark Linett and Alan Boyd, all of The SMiLE Sessions’ physical and digital configurations will include an assembled album of core tracks, while the box set delves much deeper into the sessions, adding early song drafts, alternate takes, instrumental and vocals-only mixes, and studio chatter. The SMiLE Sessions invites the listener into the studio to experience the album's creation, with producer, singer and bassist Brian Wilson's vision leading the way as he guides his fellow Beach Boys, singer Mike Love, drummer Dennis Wilson, lead guitarist Carl Wilson, rhythm guitarist Al Jardine, and newest member Bruce Johnston (who'd replaced Brian Wilson in the touring group during 1965), through the legendary sessions.
 
"I'm thrilled that The Beach Boys' original studio sessions for SMiLE will be released for the first time, after all these years,” says Brian Wilson. “I'm looking forward to this collection of the original recordings and having fans hear the beautiful angelic voices of the boys in a proper studio release.”
 
“One of my favorite songs from the SMiLE sessions is ‘Wonderful’,” says Mike Love. “The song truly lives up to its title, as do many of the tracks on SMiLE.  Cousin Brian was at his creative peak during those sessions.  I’m unaware of anything that comes close in pop music.”
 
“I recently played some of my personal acetates from the SMiLE sessions and they held up really well,” says Al Jardine. “We would come home from touring and go straight into the studio to record.  Brian couldn't wait to show us his latest ideas.  We were recording SMiLE and Pet Sounds material simultaneously, so the tracks and vocals all have the same great quality. Most of the vocals were done at Columbia Studios in Hollywood, across the street from Western Studios, where most of the tracking was done.”
 
“For me, it's always been about the way Brian Wilson brilliantly composed and 'voiced' his amazing chord progressions and melodies,” says Bruce Johnston. “SMiLE really made me smile!”
 
“Personally, I loved it,” the late Carl Wilson said in 1994 of the SMiLE sessions (from the Don Was-directed documentary, Brian Wilson: I Just Wasn’t Made For These Times).
 
“In my opinion it makes Pet Sounds stink - that's how good it is,” the late Dennis Wilson told a journalist in 1966 of the planned SMiLE album.
 
What Brian Wilson brought to the table, in his effort to maintain The Beach Boys' position among the top rock 'n' roll bands of the day, was beyond what anyone could have expected.  Beginning with “Good Vibrations,” then into SMiLE, Wilson had begun to construct songs in a modular form, crafting individual sections that would later be edited together to form a coherent whole.  In several intense bursts of creative energy, Wilson, drawing on the talents of the finest studio musicians in Los Angeles and utilizing the best studio facilities available on any given day, laid down dozens and dozens of musical fragments, all designed to fit together in any number of possible combinations.  No one had done this in pop music, and Wilson had just created “Good Vibrations,” The Beach Boys’ best-selling record in a long string of hits, by using this method.  His next endeavor would be an album-length version of this unique and luxurious songwriting parlance: SMiLE.
 
In 1965, Brian Wilson had met an up-and-coming session keyboard player and songwriter, Van Dyke Parks. Noticing Parks' conversational eloquence, Wilson felt that he could help to volley The Beach Boys’ songwriting into the wave of broader-messaged and socially-conscious rock 'n' roll that would come to define the '60s.  They were soon collaborating on keynote songs for SMiLE, including “Heroes and Villains,” the band’s follow-up single to “Good Vibrations.”  Wilson and Parks would also co-write “Surf's Up,” “Vegetables,” “Cabin Essence,” “Do You Like Worms,” “Wonderful,” “Wind Chimes,” and other bits and pieces of the SMiLE tapestry.  Parks also introduced Beat-Pop artist Frank Holmes to create album sleeve art and a booklet interpreting the album’s James Joyce-mode lyrics.
 
The reason SMiLE did not see a release in early 1967 had more to do with back room business that obscured the creative side of the program than anything else.  In late 1966, The Beach Boys formed Brother Records, initially to produce outside artists.  Soon, however, The Beach Boys would become embroiled in a court action with Capitol Records with the goal to become the top-selling artists on their self-owned, independent label.  The group withheld “Heroes and Villains” and announced they would instead release “Vegetables” – recorded with the band’s own money in April of '67 – on Brother Records.  By July of 1967, Capitol Records and The Beach Boys had come to terms, with Capitol agreeing to distribute the band’s Brother Records, and it was agreed that SMiLE was no longer to be the band’s next album.
 
The SMiLE Sessions’ global release date, complete track lists, and artwork will be unveiled soon.
 
“Surf's up, aboard a tidal wave, come about hard and join the young and often spring you gave. I heard the word, wonderful thing... a children's song... ”
- from “Surf's Up” (Brian Wilson/Van Dyke Parks)
 
www.thebeachboys.com

[Roger Ryan]

There was also a push for a three CD set called "The Smile Era" in 1995, a year BEFORE the Pet Sounds box was announced.  The 1995 project, which was mentioned in the Billboard piece on Friday, was written about in a lengthy article in Billboard around February 1995.  And, in fact, Billboard even later listed a release date: September 26, 1995.

I believe that this was the project for which Frank Holmes did additional drawings for several songs (e.g., Wonderful, Good Vibrations, Mrs. O'Leary's Cow and CIFOTM)

I remember reading about  this box set too - not in Billboard but I think in "Pulse" magazine - and going wild over the news. I think it was mentioned alongside the proposed Pet Sounds Sessions, and I got the impression the two were like a matching pair. So it's taken, what, 16 years for the other shoe to drop?

Pulse magazine in the Brian/Van Dyke cover story had a sidebar with Don Was, circa Fall '95, where it mentioned Was and Todd Rundgren asking Brian to consider putting the Smile material on CD-ROM, to make it an interactive experience for the fans.

The CD-ROM aspect seems to be missing from the current project - am I missing something or is it just technology that is no longer relevant to a reissue project?

Yeah Todd developed a sort of random fragment technology for his TR-i album that was played on Philips CD-i player (now long since defunct) that sort of allowed all tracks to play quantumly. I believe his program was an extension of this and allowed various SMiLE fragments to be matched at random with others that were in the same key, etc... Apparently Brian wasn't interested

I did forget about the fact that THE SMiLE ERA box was announced before the PET SOUNDS box; I remember you could even look it up on the in-store computer, but the release date was always TBA  

[Roger Ryan]

“I recently played some of my personal acetates from the SMiLE sessions and they held up really well,” says Al Jardine. “We would come home from touring and go straight into the studio to record.  Brian couldn't wait to show us his latest ideas.  We were recording SMiLE and Pet Sounds material simultaneously, so the tracks and vocals all have the same great quality. Most of the vocals were done at Columbia Studios in Hollywood, across the street from Western Studios, where most of the tracking was done.”
 

Whoa! O.K. this is interesting - I hope he hasn't played those acetates too much!

[Andrew G. Doe]

“I recently played some of my personal acetates from the SMiLE sessions and they held up really well,” says Al Jardine. “We would come home from touring and go straight into the studio to record.  Brian couldn't wait to show us his latest ideas.  We were recording SMiLE and Pet Sounds material simultaneously, so the tracks and vocals all have the same great quality. Most of the vocals were done at Columbia Studios in Hollywood, across the street from Western Studios, where most of the tracking was done.”
 

Whoa! O.K. this is interesting - I hope he hasn't played those acetates too much!

Can't imagine they'll be in good shape anyway - back in 1980 they were stored in an open wooden crate in his barn/studio.

And... Columbia across the street from Western ?

[Andrew G. Doe]

I may eat my words, but how can 4 cds worth of smile material be disappointing?!

It will be disappointing to those who feel that four CDs are insufficient and demand something like BBoV. These people need  a good slap.

[buddhahat]

“I recently played some of my personal acetates from the SMiLE sessions and they held up really well,” says Al Jardine. “We would come home from touring and go straight into the studio to record.  Brian couldn't wait to show us his latest ideas.  We were recording SMiLE and Pet Sounds material simultaneously, so the tracks and vocals all have the same great quality. Most of the vocals were done at Columbia Studios in Hollywood, across the street from Western Studios, where most of the tracking was done.”
 

Whoa! O.K. this is interesting - I hope he hasn't played those acetates too much!

Yeah that Jardine quote is a peach!

Nice to know Mike's a fan of Wonderful too! Poor fella's going to have to choose his words wisely in praising the Smile material from now on.

[buddhahat]

It will be disappointing to those who feel that four CDs are insufficient and demand something like BBoV. These people need  a good slap.

OK, the acronym part of my brain has started to melt down trying to work that one out. A quick google has put me out of my misery! Never heard it - any good?

[Andrew G. Doe]

It will be disappointing to those who feel that four CDs are insufficient and demand something like BBoV. These people need  a good slap.

OK, the acronym part of my brain has started to melt down trying to work that one out. A quick google has put me out of my misery! Never heard it - any good?

Comprehensive, and therefore, tedious in the extreme.

[drbeachboy]

BBoV is 10 volumes, I believe. It's massive, and you're right Andrew, it is "tedious in the extreme" to listen to.

[buddhahat]

Thanks for that. I can afford to be complacent now and say: Maybe I'll give that one a miss. A month ago I'd have been furiously googling "Big Bag of Vegetables Rapidhare" or "Big Bag of Vegetables Blogspot" right now!

I tell you, it'll be great having an official release to file between Pet Sounds and Smiley Smile at the end of the year, won't it? Whether on the shelf or in your Itunes chronological Beach Boys playlist (I can't be the only one) that's going to be magic.

Also, regading the BW.COM press release, the following looks promising as far as using Frank Holmes' artwork is concerned:

Parks also introduced Beat-Pop artist Frank Holmes to create album sleeve art and a booklet interpreting the album’s James Joyce-mode lyrics.

The SMiLE Sessions’ global release date, complete track lists, and artwork will be unveiled soon.

[guitarfool2002]

I disagree on "tedious", but I could listen to Smile sessions for hours on end and not get tired of it. I'm far from the norm, though, I've come to accept that...

The interesting point is how to shave off hours of material (at least a dozen discs' worth, perhaps)  to present a few discs' worth of listenable material - I think Pet Sounds Sessions had a nice balance, while the Beatles' Anthology, specifically how they combined takes, worked in some cases but didn't feel right overall. In these cases we knew a chunk of what they had to work with, so the end results were easy to compare to the raw stuff.

[JohnMill]

I disagree on "tedious", but I could listen to Smile sessions for hours on end and not get tired of it. I'm far from the norm, though, I've come to accept that...

The interesting point is how to shave off hours of material (at least a dozen discs' worth, perhaps)  to present a few discs' worth of listenable material - I think Pet Sounds Sessions had a nice balance, while the Beatles' Anthology, specifically how they combined takes, worked in some cases but didn't feel right overall. In these cases we knew a chunk of what they had to work with, so the end results were easy to compare to the raw stuff.

"Anthology 2" in particular with the reconstructions of "Strawberry Fields Forever", "Penny Lane" and "A Day In The Life" was a particular abortion.  I didn't dig the ANTHOLOGY project that much at all.  Perhaps the only thing worse is what Springsteen does to his archival sets and that is basically re-record his unreleased material.  I refuse to pick up his "Promise" cd.  I'd much rather listen to the "Darkness Sessions" on bootleg as they sounded in the seventies.  

I'm glad that The Beach Boys seem to be one of the few bands that get the archival release thing right by presenting the material as it exists on the original tapes.  When they are edits made they are tasteful (such as the work done on the PSS) and not heavy-handed (like the other archival releases I just detailed).

[Andrew G. Doe]

Also, regading the BW.COM press release, the following looks promising as far as using Frank Holmes' artwork is concerned:

Parks also introduced Beat-Pop artist Frank Holmes to create album sleeve art and a booklet interpreting the album’s James Joyce-mode lyrics.

Ummm... all that says is, VDP introduced Frank to Brian back in '66: anything else is wishful thinking. Granted, to release a Smile set without the iconic cover would bring down a richly deserved shitstorm on Capitol's head... but we're talking The Beach Boys here. Expect, well, not so much the unexpected as the flat out dumbass.

[The Heartical Don]

I disagree on "tedious", but I could listen to Smile sessions for hours on end and not get tired of it. I'm far from the norm, though, I've come to accept that...

The interesting point is how to shave off hours of material (at least a dozen discs' worth, perhaps)  to present a few discs' worth of listenable material - I think Pet Sounds Sessions had a nice balance, while the Beatles' Anthology, specifically how they combined takes, worked in some cases but didn't feel right overall. In these cases we knew a chunk of what they had to work with, so the end results were easy to compare to the raw stuff.

"Anthology 2" in particular with the reconstructions of "Strawberry Fields Forever", "Penny Lane" and "A Day In The Life" was a particular abortion.  I didn't dig the ANTHOLOGY project that much at all.  Perhaps the only thing worse is what Springsteen does to his archival sets and that is basically re-record his unreleased material.  I refuse to pick up his "Promise" cd.  I'd much rather listen to the "Darkness Sessions" on bootleg as they sounded in the seventies.  

I'm glad that The Beach Boys seem to be one of the few bands that get the archival release thing right by presenting the material as it exists on the original tapes.  When they are edits made they are tasteful (such as the work done on the PSS) and not heavy-handed (like the other archival releases I just detailed).

Yes. Springsteen also had his 'Live 1975-1985' set heavily doctored. It really makes for a strange, alienating and artificial mood.

[guitarfool2002]

I disagree on "tedious", but I could listen to Smile sessions for hours on end and not get tired of it. I'm far from the norm, though, I've come to accept that...

The interesting point is how to shave off hours of material (at least a dozen discs' worth, perhaps)  to present a few discs' worth of listenable material - I think Pet Sounds Sessions had a nice balance, while the Beatles' Anthology, specifically how they combined takes, worked in some cases but didn't feel right overall. In these cases we knew a chunk of what they had to work with, so the end results were easy to compare to the raw stuff.

"Anthology 2" in particular with the reconstructions of "Strawberry Fields Forever", "Penny Lane" and "A Day In The Life" was a particular abortion.  I didn't dig the ANTHOLOGY project that much at all.  Perhaps the only thing worse is what Springsteen does to his archival sets and that is basically re-record his unreleased material.  I refuse to pick up his "Promise" cd.  I'd much rather listen to the "Darkness Sessions" on bootleg as they sounded in the seventies.  

I'm glad that The Beach Boys seem to be one of the few bands that get the archival release thing right by presenting the material as it exists on the original tapes.  When they are edits made they are tasteful (such as the work done on the PSS) and not heavy-handed (like the other archival releases I just detailed).

I agree, I think I'm more hopeful in this case because Pet Sounds Sessions struck a nice balance and handled the edits very well. I like having some of the super-rare Beatles material on the set, but for me the worst was "Anthology 1" when they crossfaded interviews and spoken word clips into the actual songs, which I thought was a horrible choice and one which they abandoned after volume 1, thankfully. Why they wouldn't just present the full tracks without a Paul McCartney interview snippet at the front, who the hell knows what they were thinking.

And re-recording or placing "new" overdubs on an archival track - blasphemy, plain and simple. It's blurring the line between a new release and a historical release, and there should be a definite line before fans cough up the big money to buy these historical sets.