Our collective wait for SMiLE

[37!ws]

I don't know when to consider my "wait." For the longest time, I wasn't a huge fan of the Smile sessions, although I still devoured all of it I could just because the whole topic itself was fascinating. I was very Phil Cohen when it was announced in 2003 that Brian would be doing Smile in concert, even; the announcement would be that Jeff (yes, JEFF) would be selecting 30 minutes' worth of Smile music that would be sequenced into some kind of performable order...let's see, some basic calculations tell me that that's nearly the exact amount of Smile-era recordings that are on the Good Vibrations box set, so if Brian indeed would agree to do a Smile concert, it'd be a major cop-out. And certainly if they were to do "Fire," it would be a "candle" remake that Brian talked about back in the day when he said that he would re-record it as a candle.

Yet, I did plunk down the money for Unsurpassed Masters Vol. 17, and in fact that might be the last bootleg I ever bought. (Ahhh, getting a CD burner in 1999 was such a great idea!) I got the famous "tape set" from that *cough* anonymous guy in Indiana -- that was literally one of the first things I did when I discovered Ethan Jones' "surfs-up" mailing list in 1993. I gobbled up all the Smile stuff I could, yet I still wasn't a huge fan of the music itself.

However, when February 2004 happened, and someone posted MP3s of the first Smile concert online, the Mrs. -- who like me, wasn't that crazy about Smile but unlike me did NOT seek out every bit of Smile stuff possible (and in fact was never a fan of b**tlegs) -- had me play the concert. She sat on the floor next to my Amiga 4000 Power Tower. We sat there silent the whole time, IINM, and after it was over, she said, and I q**te: "Holy. f**king. s**t." We were both stunned at how brilliant it was.

At that point, as far as I was concerned, Smile was completed. And that...was all I needed.

So I really don't know what to say in terms of how long I've been waiting, but dammit? NOVEMBER 1 CANNOT GET HERE FAST ENOUGH!!!!!!!

[Ram4]

I've been waiting since early 2000 when I heard the GV box and the SMiLE tracks on it.  I loved Pet Sounds, and I was very curious to hear the follow up in full - though I admit, the 30 minutes of SMiLE material didn't impress me that much at the time!  Shame on me for not digging deeper.  I've been collecting bootlegs since 1986 of many other bands, but I guess I just wasn't big enough of a Beach Boys fan then to look into it.  For all I know, my friend who let me borrow his GV box had a ton of SMiLE boots. 

I have to say, there really isn't any album like SMiLE.  It's one thing to hope for a boxset of an album and it's sessions and outtakes, but because of how this album was recorded, it can be assmbled a million different ways like some crazy puzzle.  As a recording/writing musician (not for a living!), I am fascinated by this material and it's very inspiring. 

[Mikie]

I got the famous "tape set" from that *cough* anonymous guy in Indiana.

You mean this guy? I remember when this was making the rounds in collector's circles in 1996: 

http://www.surfermoon.com/boots/dps2.shtml

[37!ws]

Wow...when I got it, it was only two tapes! a 60 and a 90...guess I really fell out of it, eh?

[metal flake paint]

22 years for me (≈ 22 years, 1 month and 11 days) since I first heard fragments of SMiLE on a TDK D90 cassette. I thought it was the most incredible listening experience ever, while my friend was busy obsessing over The Smiths.

Then I received LLVS and the marriage was complete; an aural and visual feast!

[P.J.]

12 years for me. I found out about SMiLE my senior year of high school. And I thought 2004 was the highlight of my SMiLE life!! Thank you Brian Wilson!!

And my first "boot" was Ann Wallace's first mix from her website. I still love that one!