SMiLE Sessions box set!

[chris.metcalfe]

Badlands is a mail order co which tends to get in early on new releases and charge high pre-order prices.

There's a real live independent record shop in Cheltenham called Rise, which I'll order from in due course and collect in person at 9 am  on 31st October (which is about 1am California time!)

Up for UK pre-order at Badlands in Cheltenham  UK - around £130

http://www.badlands.co.uk/Store/Tab.aspx?sck=59061881&tabid=1

Phone is best - just placed mine

£130 plus postage ?  I bought from amazon @ $111, with postage & duty $145, or under £90.

Even at $170, that's still only about £105. Which sucks.

I dare to assume I've spent well over $170 on Smile boots, and the like, over the past 20 years. So, $170 for an official product at this late date is a steal 

 

[The Heartical Don]

All the fun and good times and discussions (and admittedly, the occasional disagreement) that I had here in the past four days only are worth much, much more than the $ 60 or so that the box went up in that time.

Is that a valid statement? Of course it is.

[The Heartical Don]

You could, um, go to a record store, um, and detach it from the box, hide it under your T-shirt, and run away?

Yeah, I thought o' that.  But the board would be too long to fit under my shirt, so I'd have to shove half of it down my pants and it would look like I had a boner. That would be too embarassing, so I'll have to think of something else....

  that made me laugh...

What he really should do, is show up with 4 of his friends in striped shirts, pick the board up on their shoulders, and walk out with it.  They could act like they're just on a photo shoot or something.

  strongly reminds me of the Grand Computer Theft at my Uni, some 20 years back. In broad daylight, a couple of vans arrived. 6 guys in straight gray workingman's coats, with fake insignia, showed up, and simply uncoupled 50 or so unmanned PC machines. No on asked, or dared ask. Doormen and other personnel probably thought it was for routine checkups. The PCs were loaded into the vans, and the 'servicemen' drove off, never to be seen again.

(*suddenly sees Masterplan to get hold of 20 TSS Box Sets*)

[vintagemusic]

One thing someone over on the hoffman board mentioned that had also crossed my mind is that, when looking at the time for CITFOM (2:14), it seems as though the piano/vox section and jazz fade won't be making the proper album 

Thank God Steve Hoffman used his charm and influence to keep Capitol from cancelling
the whole project, which they were going to do until he (Hoffman) had a word with them.

I hadn't known that, but apprently Hoffman posted that story himself. The thread seems
to have been deleted from his forum though, for some odd reason.

Oh, it's an amazing tale of bravery and supernatural grace under pressure ... after informing us in the post-Jardine-Oops! thread that there absolutely was no SMiLE box set being worked on -- I believe "Forget about it, not happening, folks" is pretty close to an exact quote -- Capitol announced the upcoming SMiLE box set. Double-oops! Furiously back-pedaling, Da Hoff scolded his loyal forum members -- "you people" was the exact term -- for nearly scuttling the entire project with their desperate willingness to pay any amount of money for a SMiLE box set. Capitol was apparently so spooked by a the prospect of people actually wanting to BUY this product that Steve was pressured to deny its existence (ahhh....) in order to keep a lid on emotions, lest they boil over into a raging mob Beach Boys nerds furiously waving wads of $20 bills at the Capitol Tower.

With the truth (re)written thusly, Steve had that thread not just closed but vaporized, and started a new thread titled "At Last! Capitol To Release The Smile Sessions!" -- thereby making it look like (a) He himself was making the announcement, and (b) He had something to do with it all happening.

Good times ... good times.

I think it calls into question, the credibility of anything Hoffman or his moderators ever say over there.
After all Hoffman's moderators, had to know how dishonest, weird and absurd the whole episode was, and yet, they assisted him.
Promoting bald faced lies like that. So with the heavy ceonsorship, and lacking any credibility, It's a wonder to me
classic rock fans had no qualms about it, and just kept on as if nothing had happened.

I think it points out the need for another forum where people can go to discuss classic rock, because if
there was one on par with the Hoffman membership forum, surely people would choose to go there instead.

I wonder if people from Capitol read his forum, and dropped the announcement right after his denial
because they don't think much of him either.


NOw on a side note, those versions yesterday posted by Capitol, the Hero's and Villians and
the Good Vibrations. Are those supposed to be from the disc one "as close as we can get ? ?

and what is this part one and part two, Hero's and Villians, does the set contain that or not ?

[SamMcK]

Hoffman's driven so many peope insane there's actually a forum dedicated to makng light of him and his most idiotic followers. 
http://stereocentral.tv/phpbb/index.php

[juggler]

NOw on a side note, those versions yesterday posted by Capitol, the Hero's and Villians and
the Good Vibrations. Are those supposed to be from the disc one "as close as we can get ? ?

Yes.  The tracks were automatically tagged in my iTunes as The Smile Sessions tracks #3 and #19, respectively, so these are the Disc 1 versions.

and what is this part one and part two, Hero's and Villians, does the set contain that or not ?

They're on the vinyl 45 in the box.  I'm not sure if they're buried somewhere on the CDs in the box, but they are on Disc 2 of the 2CD set.

[The Heartical Don]

Hoffman's driven so many peope insane there's actually a forum dedicated to makng light of him and his most idiotic followers. 
http://stereocentral.tv/phpbb/index.php

Cheers for that! Nearly wet myself laughing when I went there...

[Micha]

I want to hear how BWPS sounds when played on AM radio.

[Mike's Beard]

Sometime struck me this morning. Remember at the beginning of the year when we were discussing it being the Beach Boys 50th anniversary and how they would mark it? Most people (myself included) figured we'd get another Endless Summer surf hit comp. Who'd have thought nine months later we would be at the point we are now!

[The Heartical Don]

Sometime struck me this morning. Remember at the beginning of the year when we were discussing it being the Beach Boys 50th anniversary and how they would mark it? Most people (myself included) figured we'd get another Endless Summer surf hit comp. Who'd have thought nine months later we would be at the point we are now!

Agree. And still people find things to complain about. I, for one, had rather had that Endless Summer comp than that useless, overlong, and overpriced Smile thing... what nonsense!

[The Shift]

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/music_blog/2011/08/beach-boys-smile-brian-wilson-lost-album.html

This article, Which Dominic Priore has described on Facebook as "best, and most accurate", implies that the physical box set will come with a digital download included (I assume in the same way that the Dylan mono box and Vol I of Neil Young's Archives did – a unique once-only download code included inside the box).

I quote:

"Capitol will release 'The Smile Sessions' material in several configurations, including a 40-track, two-CD set, a vinyl two-LP edition and an expanded box set with five CDs plus the vinyl double album, two 7-inch singles and a digital copy."

Further evidence:

One of David Beard's great Examiner articles (http://www.examiner.com/vintage-rock-n-roll-in-national/details-of-beach-boys-the-smile-sessions-to-be-released-nov-1-revealed) contains the following:

"An expanded, boxed edition of The "Smile" Sessions will also be released physically and digitally, featuring the main "Smile" album tracks, plus four CDs of additional audio from the legendary sessions, a double vinyl LP set, and two 7” vinyl singles. "

That phrase "An expanded, boxed edition of The 'Smile' Sessions will also be released physically and digitally" implies a boxed digital edition.

Can anyone confirm whether or not this is the case? I hope it is (that would make the vinyl tracks digitally accessible to purchasers of the box who don't have turntables) but suspect it's just poor grammur.

[hypehat]

The download code is a great idea.

So now I've preordered and it'll land on my doorstep in two months exactly, I am toying with the idea of not listening to any SMiLE music until it arrives......

[WWDWD?]

Just got the EMI Australian Media Release.. nothing new except the Australian release date is Oct 28th. (Sorry if that's old news).

[lance]

Hoffman's driven so many peope insane there's actually a forum dedicated to makng light of him and his most idiotic followers. 
http://stereocentral.tv/phpbb/index.php

Absolutely hilarious.

[The Heartical Don]

Hoffman's driven so many peope insane there's actually a forum dedicated to makng light of him and his most idiotic followers. 
http://stereocentral.tv/phpbb/index.php

Absolutely hilarious.

...was my experience too. Tops!

[18thofMay]

Just got the EMI Australian Media Release.. nothing new except the Australian release date is Oct 28th. (Sorry if that's old news).

Aussie Aussie Aussie OI OI OI

[WWDWD?]

Just got the EMI Australian Media Release.. nothing new except the Australian release date is Oct 28th. (Sorry if that's old news).

Aussie Aussie Aussie OI OI OI

So... we may actually get it before some of these Amazon customers. But who knows how much it will be? I've got a guy on the inside at JB HI-FI. He's gonna let me know price etc. as soon as he finds out.

[SamMcK]

Sometime struck me this morning. Remember at the beginning of the year when we were discussing it being the Beach Boys 50th anniversary and how they would mark it? Most people (myself included) figured we'd get another Endless Summer surf hit comp. Who'd have thought nine months later we would be at the point we are now!

Agree. And still people find things to complain about. I, for one, had rather had that Endless Summer comp than that useless, overlong, and overpriced Smile thing... what nonsense!

Your telling me! I was hoping for a deluxe CD/Vinyl release of one of the greatest solo albums of all time by the man behind it all, I am of course talking about Looking Back With Love!

[Mike's Beard]

Hoffman's driven so many peope insane there's actually a forum dedicated to makng light of him and his most idiotic followers. 
http://stereocentral.tv/phpbb/index.php

Absolutely hilarious.

...was my experience too. Tops!

Just noticed the latest member on there ia a certain AGD.

[GeorgeFellInHisHorn]

One thing someone over on the hoffman board mentioned that had also crossed my mind is that, when looking at the time for CITFOM (2:14), it seems as though the piano/vox section and jazz fade won't be making the proper album 

With the exception of four tracks (maybe five), all other assumptions on track content are being based solely on timings. I find this highly amusing.

I mean, it's just a little harmless speculation, but i suppose i'm speaking too soon.

Eagerly awaiting November!

[The Heartical Don]

Hoffman's driven so many peope insane there's actually a forum dedicated to makng light of him and his most idiotic followers. 
http://stereocentral.tv/phpbb/index.php

Absolutely hilarious.

...was my experience too. Tops!

Just noticed the latest member on there ia a certain AGD.

I always suspected he has the DNA of a double spy. No doubt he'll go praise Steve H. over there to high heaven for his quintessential role in saving TSS and getting it released. And he'll get a nice payment for that. What a geezer, eh?

[2 and a half]

Partly prompted by the high price of the box (in the UK) and the fact that it doesn't seem to be a limited edition, I have decided not to gorge but to savour.
I'll buy the 2CD set on release which I think will have more than enough to keep me busy for quite a while. Then maybe after Christmas, when hopefully the box can be had for a lot less I'll think about getting that. So for the rest of the year I have plenty to enjoy and plenty more to look forward to 

[Micha]

And still people find things to complain about.

Ach! These new "SMiLE" mixes! They sound way too clear! They would sound much muddier had they been mastered in 1967. Totally inauthentical!

[The Heartical Don]

Partly prompted by the high price of the box (in the UK) and the fact that it doesn't seem to be a limited edition, I have decided not to gorge but to savour.
I'll buy the 2CD set on release which I think will have more than enough to keep me busy for quite a while. Then maybe after Christmas, when hopefully the box can be had for a lot less I'll think about getting that. So for the rest of the year I have plenty to enjoy and plenty more to look forward to 

...seems quite sensible. Of course all the Box Buzz is so seductive... but up until now I did not see the word 'limited to XXX' anywhere, and I suspect that would surely have been the case to tempt the doubtful, had it truly been limited.

[The Heartical Don]

And still people find things to complain about.

Ach! These new "SMiLE" mixes! They sound way too clear! They would sound much muddier had they been mastered in 1967. Totally inauthentical!

Aber dann... one can still mix them with the sounds of running taps, farts, tape hiss, scratched LP grooves, and central heating to one's heart's content, no?