SMiLE Sessions box set!

[Shady]

So I walk into JB Hi FI today in sunny old NSW, Australia.. And ask the gentleman behind the counter when they are getting the SMiLE sessions box? He enters the request into his computer and informs me he has no idea! Has not been ordered wont be ordered by them and has no Australian release date??? "Farking what" I said, this is the biggest, most anticipated release since SMiLE 67 and it has NO AUSTRALIAN FARKING RELEASE DATE??

 

Terrible

[runnersdialzero]

You Australians always seem to get teh shaftz. Ah well, at least you had Silverchair for a while. And kangaroos! And shrimps on the barbie and hats and Outback Steakhouse, surely.

[Shady]

Silverchair were great

[monicker]

Silverchair, they were like Hanson, right?

The platypus has the brain of a dolphin and can be seen driving a forklift in his habitat of kelp. He is the larva of the flatworm and has the ability to regenerate after injury. No relation to the flounder.

[runnersdialzero]

Silverchair were great

Agreed. Van Dyke Parks' claims of not seeing songwriting of such quality (or something like that) since Brian Wilson was pretty spot on. I were into them well before I got into the Beach Boys, so finding that link when getting into the band was pretty cool.

[18thofMay]

I had the pleasure of meeting the boys from Silverchair on a number occasions. Each time we discussed Brian and The Beach Boys. They were kinda blown away when they found out I knew who Van was! They attended many Brian concerts in Sydney, life is a battle for Daniel Johns he relates to Brian on many levels. Very talented.

[Micha]

If not what else do you need to purchase on 11-1?

Milk.

[theCOD]

Silverchair, they were like Hanson, right?

The platypus has the brain of a dolphin and can be seen driving a forklift in his habitat of kelp. He is the larva of the flatworm and has the ability to regenerate after injury. No relation to the flounder.

A blunder from down under!

[Micha]

Tears.

Brian, HOLDING HIS FINISHED SMiLE...

That's not "his finished SMiLE" - that's a copy of the SMiLE sessions box.

opinion semantics are the worst semantics.

Agree.  That was really obnoxious.  I was hoping that we would be able to enjoy the TSS release without this sort of bs, but I guess it's inevitable.

Aegir, I'm not quite sure what you mean. Could you explore that a bit more? You can take it to PMs if you want to.

Jeff as always gets a bit pathetic when judging over others' opinions that he doesn't agree with. I guess I'll never understand why people get rude like that and put others' statements down as "bs" instead of trying to argue in a civilized way.

[buddhahat]

lotsa spoilers in this thread

jeez why would you want to know what you're going to be listening to

Ok apologies - I forgot and was responding to a direct request. I've edited the spoiler info out of the post.

Wouldn't it make more sense for those not interested in knowing what's on the box to start a spolier free thread? I just don't think it's realistic to expect this thread to contain no information about what will be on TSS.

[18thofMay]

Is Capitol/EMI seriosly not pushing this release in Australia? Does anyone have the info?? If JB Hi-Fi wont be stocking it no one will!!

[rab2591]

lotsa spoilers in this thread

jeez why would you want to know what you're going to be listening to

Ok apologies - I forgot and was responding to a direct request. I've edited the spoiler info out of the post.

Wouldn't it make more sense for those not interested in knowing what's on the box to start a spolier free thread? I just don't think it's realistic to expect this thread to contain no information about what will be on TSS.

Agreed. As much as I love to visit this thread, I think it's inevitable that it will become full of spoilers. It is named 'SMiLE Sessions box set' after all.

In any thread now, if I see anything that remotely resembles a spoiler I click out of it....I don't continue reading and thus make for a very surprising November day.

[JohnMill]

Is Capitol/EMI seriosly not pushing this release in Australia? Does anyone have the info?? If JB Hi-Fi wont be stocking it no one will!!

Not sure but judging from your soap operas over there your women are hot enough to melt glass so maybe this is a case of not being able to have your cake and eat it too.  Why not try Amazon or an online retailer?  Be wary of buying it from places offering on the cheap though, heard some horror stories today regarding The Beatles box sets and cheap counterfeit editions that were being packaged in Japan.

Agreed. As much as I love to visit this thread, I think it's inevitable that it will become full of spoilers. It is named 'SMiLE Sessions box set' after all.

In any thread now, if I see anything that remotely resembles a spoiler I click out of it....I don't continue reading and thus make for a very surprising November day. Cheesy

Preach it brother!

[Shady]

Is Capitol/EMI seriosly not pushing this release in Australia? Does anyone have the info?? If JB Hi-Fi wont be stocking it no one will!!

"Capitol" and "proper distribution", two words that should never be used together.

I'm anticipating people posting on the first complaining that they couldn't find SMiLE in stores

[JohnMill]

Is Capitol/EMI seriosly not pushing this release in Australia? Does anyone have the info?? If JB Hi-Fi wont be stocking it no one will!!

"Capitol" and "proper distribution", two words that should never be used together.

I'm anticipating people posting on the first complaining that they couldn't find SMiLE in stores

I'm willing to bet you a doughnut that people who have their eyes set on the box set edition are going to be very disappointed if they are looking to pick it up in-store on 11-1.  Recent memories from trips to Barnes & Noble on release day:

Beatles Stereo Box Set (10 copies six of which were reserved in advance)

Beatles Mono Box Set (2 copies both of which were reserved in advance)

Springsteen Darkness Box Set (5 copies of the full box set, "The Promise" 2CD set was stocked copiously)

Tom Petty: The Live Anthology (5 copies of the 4 CD package, Full box set was only available via Best Buy)

[SMiLE Brian]

what you are listening to or what you are going to be listening to?(!)

i am going to be listening to violent j's cover of "barnyard", what you are going to be listening to?(!)

Yikes, well here is Violent J doing "catch a wave" for your beach boys/icp playlist http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h3gxF2FJksY&feature=related

[18thofMay]

News has spread that JB Hi-Fi will not stock The SMiLE Sessions Box Set and so the share price has taken a hammering.

JBH  JB HI-FI  $14.71   -$0.39

[JohnMill]

If not what else do you need to purchase on 11-1?

Milk.

Lactose intolerant.

[Micha]

If not what else do you need to purchase on 11-1?

Milk.

Lactose intolerant.

Lactose free milk then? Soy milk?

[Jim V.]

I gotta say, now that we know pretty much what we are going to be hearing on The SMiLE Sessions, I gotta say I can say I see where Al, Bruce, and Mike are coming from when they said that the album was basically a bunch of pieces/fragments/"music bites". I mean, for example, just look at all the "Heroes And Villains" sessions listed. These guys might have been recording vocals for this song for months and still not heard [what was thought to be] a finished product 'til February!

And then, yeah there were songs that could have been finished with just a lead vocal that were left laying around, like "Cabin Essence" and "Child Is Father Of The Man", and then Brian second guessing himself and recording second and third versions of "Wonderful"? And to leave something like "Surf's Up" just sitting there with the first movement completed but nothing else? I wonder after the beginning of January whether Brian really had any rhyme or reason to what he was doing. I didn't used to be of the opinion that Brian lost the plot of what SMiLE was supposed to be, but after thinking about what a mess the project was in, I can see why it was never finished.

[JohnMill]

I gotta say, now that we know pretty much what we are going to be hearing on The SMiLE Sessions, I gotta say I can say I see where Al, Bruce, and Mike are coming from when they said that the album was basically a bunch of pieces/fragments/"music bites". I mean, for example, just look at all the "Heroes And Villains" sessions listed. These guys might have been recording vocals for this song for months and still not heard [what was thought to be] a finished product 'til February!

And then, yeah there were songs that could have been finished with just a lead vocal that were left laying around, like "Cabin Essence" and "Child Is Father Of The Man", and then Brian second guessing himself and recording second and third versions of "Wonderful"? And to leave something like "Surf's Up" just sitting there with the first movement completed but nothing else? I wonder after the beginning of January whether Brian really had any rhyme or reason to what he was doing. I didn't used to be of the opinion that Brian lost the plot of what SMiLE was supposed to be, but after thinking about what a mess the project was in, I can see why it was never finished.

Well obviously all your points are well taken but the other side to that coin is there are some very logical reasons as to why so much was left unfinished when it came to SMiLE.  I'm not sure if this theory has been debunked yet but as 1966 faded into 1967, Capitol started to get extremely antsy with Brian Wilson regarding new product.  Specifically they wanted "Heroes and Villains" the single that Brian had been promising them for months.  As the session logs show in early 1967 Brian began to set aside work on all of the other SMiLE tracks in order to devote his time exclusively to "Heroes and Villains". 

This could be looked at as a case of robbing Peter to pay Paul as all the time Brian devoted to "Heroes and Villains" during this period could have been used to bring "Surf's Up", "Cabinessence", "Do You Like Worms?" and a myriad of other tracks to virtual completion.  Of course the great irony is that Brian never truly completed a final mix of "Heroes and Villains" either despite the long hours he put into it during the month of 2/67. 

So basically what I'm trying to say is that there could be a highly logical reason as to why so many tracks were never finished straight away.  Of course that doesn't account for the months of March and April but you get my point I'm sure.

[monicker]

what you are listening to or what you are going to be listening to?(!)

i am going to be listening to violent j's cover of "barnyard", what you are going to be listening to?(!)

Yikes, well here is Violent J doing "catch a wave" for your beach boys/icp playlist http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h3gxF2FJksY&feature=related

I want to die.

[Jim V.]

I gotta say, now that we know pretty much what we are going to be hearing on The SMiLE Sessions, I gotta say I can say I see where Al, Bruce, and Mike are coming from when they said that the album was basically a bunch of pieces/fragments/"music bites". I mean, for example, just look at all the "Heroes And Villains" sessions listed. These guys might have been recording vocals for this song for months and still not heard [what was thought to be] a finished product 'til February!

And then, yeah there were songs that could have been finished with just a lead vocal that were left laying around, like "Cabin Essence" and "Child Is Father Of The Man", and then Brian second guessing himself and recording second and third versions of "Wonderful"? And to leave something like "Surf's Up" just sitting there with the first movement completed but nothing else? I wonder after the beginning of January whether Brian really had any rhyme or reason to what he was doing. I didn't used to be of the opinion that Brian lost the plot of what SMiLE was supposed to be, but after thinking about what a mess the project was in, I can see why it was never finished.

Well obviously all your points are well taken but the other side to that coin is there are some very logical reasons as to why so much was left unfinished when it came to SMiLE.  I'm not sure if this theory has been debunked yet but as 1966 faded into 1967, Capitol started to get extremely antsy with Brian Wilson regarding new product.  Specifically they wanted "Heroes and Villains" the single that Brian had been promising them for months.  As the session logs show in early 1967 Brian began to set aside work on all of the other SMiLE tracks in order to devote his time exclusively to "Heroes and Villains".  

This could be looked at as a case of robbing Peter to pay Paul as all the time Brian devoted to "Heroes and Villains" during this period could have been used to bring "Surf's Up", "Cabinessence", "Do You Like Worms?" and a myriad of other tracks to virtual completion.  Of course the great irony is that Brian never truly completed a final mix of "Heroes and Villains" either despite the long hours he put into it during the month of 2/67.  

So basically what I'm trying to say is that there could be a highly logical reason as to why so many tracks were never finished straight away.  Of course that doesn't account for the months of March and April but you get my point I'm sure.

I definitely do see the point that he basically turned to "Heroes" after the beginning of the year to get "the single" out, and then he turns to "Vega-Tables", which then oddly at one point may have included a "Child Is Father Of The Man" section? I gotta believe by that point there was no hope for the album. They could've put verse vocals on "Child..." but instead they are recording it as a part of "Vega-Tables"? What?!?! Weird. And then after that, doesn't go back in the studio 'til May and starts ANOTHER new recording? It boggles the mind to think if there was any rhyme or reason to any of this. I gotta believe there wasn't.

[Jim V.]

Also, on a separate issue, was it ever said what the "Surf's Up" session in January was? Was anything even recorded? I'm of the opinion that if nothing ever came up in the vaults, that nothing usable was probably there. I'm not one of those that thinks they recorded "movement 2"  or put a final vocal on it that day, or that he erased the lead for "Worms" or "Barnyard" or "I'm In Great Shape". I figure whatever is there is probably what was done.

[TonyW]

In the land Downunder ... don't panic:

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/arts/beach-boys-fans-get-every-reason-to-smile/story-e6frg8n6-1226131274583

The word I have is that the Oz release is set for Monday 31 October ... 36 hours before the seppos ... however Red Eye in Sydney is listing the Australian release date as Friday, 28 October.

Also keep the senses prepped for a Sydney get together in December to celebrate 50 years.