Where is that %^&$@#&* MIC Box Set @#$%^&*(!!!

[rogerlancelot]

Maybe work on the box has been completed and the Four Seasons label executives feel that an early summer release date would be for the best. Of course they could be holding out for a later date in case there is a brand new Wishbone Ash Beach Boys album in the works.....

[Andrew G. Doe]

*I've never understood that saying...who in the name of f*** bags cats?!

Originates from the old days of the Royal Navy: the cat o' nine tails (i.e, whip) was kept in a bag between uses, so when it was "out of the bag", sh*t was likely to happen. Hopefully not to you.

"Cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey" is also an old Navy saying, and nothing to do with what most folk think. See, I can be irritatingly pedantic about other obscure topics too.

[♩♬🐸 Billy C ♯♫♩🐇]

Ahhh....so it wasn't an actual cat . All these years, I had a visual of a crazy elderly lady with a bag full of  them feral bastards


lol@Roger

[modestmaus]

I had a dream where the set came out and ended up being eight discs and the cover of each disc was this cheesy-yet-kind-of-neat artsy painting that involved each member of The Beach Boys (including David & Bruce) and the last disc (also a painted cover) had this sort of like 'Friends updated for The Beach Boys of 2013' thing going on with Bruce, David, Mike, Brian, and Al standing together with imagery of Carl & Dennis blending in neatly in the sky portion of the cover painting.

[Disney Boy (1985)]

As everyone keeps saying whenever anyone says something along the lines of 'nothing post-1979 please', the box is supposed to be career spanning. However, i hope it's career spanning in the same way the GV box was career spanning, in that it covered all bases of their career, but had the sense to concentrate on the more celebrated periods of the groups history and to not dwell on the periods where the group were not at their best, i.e. post-1979. Yes, we should have songs and tracks from every decade and album, but the box compilers (and the band) will hopefully have the sense to know when an album/period is worth lauding and when it's worth perhaps briefly acknowledging and then hurriedly moving on, nothing to see here.

Incidentally, i've been won-won-wondering how Smile will be represented on the box. I hope they use the original recordings and not the Alan Boyd-produced versions spliced together for CD1 on the Smile box. I want the awesome 20/20 version of Cabin Essence that we all know and love, not the hiss-ridden Smile Sessions take.

[The Heartical Don]

Maybe work on the box has been completed and the Four Seasons label executives feel that an early summer release date would be for the best. Of course they could be holding out for a later date in case there is a brand new Wishbone Ash Beach Boys album in the works.....

 

You're pretty well acquainted with this board's recent and more distant history...

[STE]

I must be one of the few that actually would like to see a good amount of post-1979 material.
Example:

- Keepin' The Summer Alive (live at Knewborth '80)
- Goin' On
- It's A Beautiful Day
- Chasing the Sky
- East Meets West
- Getcha Back
- Where I Belong
- California Dreamin'
- Lady Liberty
- Rock & Roll To The Rescue
- The Spirit of Rock'n'Roll ("BB live" version '86)
- Crocodile Rock
- Problem Child
- Kokomo
- Somewhere Near in Japan
- Lahaina Aloha
- Summer in Paradise (live at Wembley '93)
- You're Still A Mistery
- Soul Searchin'
- vocals-only montage from Stars&Stripes
- Do It Again (2011)
- She Believes in Love Again (2012)
- (untitled TWGMTR outtake / I'd Go Anywhere)
- Waves Of Love (2012)
- Isn't It Time (single version)

[AndrewHickey]

I must be one of the few that actually would like to see a good amount of post-1979 material.
Example:

- Keepin' The Summer Alive (live at Knewborth '80)
- Goin' On
- It's A Beautiful Day
- Chasing the Sky
- East Meets West
- Getcha Back
- Where I Belong
- California Dreamin'
- Lady Liberty
- Rock & Roll To The Rescue
- The Spirit of Rock'n'Roll ("BB live" version '86)
- Crocodile Rock
- Problem Child
- Kokomo
- Somewhere Near in Japan
- Lahaina Aloha
- Summer in Paradise (live at Wembley '93)
- You're Still A Mistery
- Soul Searchin'
- vocals-only montage from Stars&Stripes
- Do It Again (2011)
- She Believes in Love Again (2012)
- (untitled TWGMTR outtake / I'd Go Anywhere)
- Waves Of Love (2012)
- Isn't It Time (single version)

About half that stuff's available on currently-available CDs though, and while obviously the box is going to be mostly material that's available elsewhere, I can't imagine ever thinking "I need another copy of Goin' On". I can understand that stuff going on there, but I don't see why anyone who's got those tracks would *want* them on a box set (especially since half of them are pretty poor).

[El Molé]

I must be one of the few that actually would like to see a good amount of post-1979 material.
Example:

- Keepin' The Summer Alive (live at Knewborth '80)
- Goin' On
- It's A Beautiful Day
- Chasing the Sky
- East Meets West
- Getcha Back
- Where I Belong
- California Dreamin'
- Lady Liberty
- Rock & Roll To The Rescue
- The Spirit of Rock'n'Roll ("BB live" version '86)
- Crocodile Rock
- Problem Child
- Kokomo
- Somewhere Near in Japan
- Lahaina Aloha
- Summer in Paradise (live at Wembley '93)
- You're Still A Mistery
- Soul Searchin'
- vocals-only montage from Stars&Stripes
- Do It Again (2011)
- She Believes in Love Again (2012)
- (untitled TWGMTR outtake / I'd Go Anywhere)
- Waves Of Love (2012)
- Isn't It Time (single version)

About half that stuff's available on currently-available CDs though, and while obviously the box is going to be mostly material that's available elsewhere, I can't imagine ever thinking "I need another copy of Goin' On". I can understand that stuff going on there, but I don't see why anyone who's got those tracks would *want* them on a box set (especially since half of them are pretty poor).

Agree with this. My personal preference would be for a whole load of recordings that I've never heard or only have in poor quality. I'd add alternate mixes, vocals only mixes, live recordings etc to make up the numbers. But that doesn't make a good career spanning box-set so its not what we'll get and not what I think should be released under the guise of a career spanning box-set. I can make my own compilations of the best stuff in each era and it wouldn't leave much room for unreleased/live/alternate stuff on 6 cds. There's great material after 1979, but no more in the (nearly) 25 years since then than in the three years from '63, '67, '77 or most other periods. Including 'All This is That' might lead people to CATP, but where does 'Lady Liberty' lead people? That's an argument that could be made against a whole host of the post '79 work.

I hope we get a reasonable amount of stuff that's unheard by most of us, or only available in low quality but my main hope is that this box does justice to the Beach Boys incredible body of work. I think it will succeed on that front, even if that means some of the things that would appeal to me and others here are left off. It will be a shame if there are obvious exclusions of good material that hasn't been released, because this might be the last major release of material from the archives. But if that means a better listening experience to the uninitiated, then that's fine with me. My only concern is that given the state of physical sales, where is the biggest market for this type of release. Is it us? Or the casual fan with a hits package? Or the totally uninitiated? It'd be a shame to target this more towards the latter two if they're not likely to buy it.

[STE]

I must be one of the few that actually would like to see a good amount of post-1979 material.
Example:

- Keepin' The Summer Alive (live at Knewborth '80)
- Goin' On
- It's A Beautiful Day
- Chasing the Sky
- East Meets West
- Getcha Back
- Where I Belong
- California Dreamin'
- Lady Liberty
- Rock & Roll To The Rescue
- The Spirit of Rock'n'Roll ("BB live" version '86)
- Crocodile Rock
- Problem Child
- Kokomo
- Somewhere Near in Japan
- Lahaina Aloha
- Summer in Paradise (live at Wembley '93)
- You're Still A Mistery
- Soul Searchin'
- vocals-only montage from Stars&Stripes
- Do It Again (2011)
- She Believes in Love Again (2012)
- (untitled TWGMTR outtake / I'd Go Anywhere)
- Waves Of Love (2012)
- Isn't It Time (single version)

About half that stuff's available on currently-available CDs though, and while obviously the box is going to be mostly material that's available elsewhere, I can't imagine ever thinking "I need another copy of Goin' On". I can understand that stuff going on there, but I don't see why anyone who's got those tracks would *want* them on a box set (especially since half of them are pretty poor).

Because this is supposed to be a "career spanning" box set, and as such it should cover and give a fair representation of all the phases of their career.
Yes, obviously most of the later stuff is vastly inferior to their early-mid stuff, but the box set should then just reflect that: the BB were great at first then they kinda sucked towards the end.
I don't need another copy of Goin' On, hell, I probably already have 95% of the songs that will be on the box set (some in lower quality, of course), but I think a proper career retrospective should be well balanced.  And I think one cd out of six to cover the last 32 years of their 50 years old career is just fair enough.

[SMiLE Brian]

I would love a rarities box for the hardcore fans and an updated version of the 1993 box set for everybody else.

[Andrew G. Doe]

I don't need another copy of Goin' On, hell, I probably already have 95% of the songs that will be on the box set (some in lower quality, of course)...

Some rapid mental arithmetic leads me to the conclusion that this is unlikely to be the case. Unless your collection is unusually comprehensive.

[AndrewHickey]

About half that stuff's available on currently-available CDs though, and while obviously the box is going to be mostly material that's available elsewhere, I can't imagine ever thinking "I need another copy of Goin' On". I can understand that stuff going on there, but I don't see why anyone who's got those tracks would *want* them on a box set (especially since half of them are pretty poor).

Because this is supposed to be a "career spanning" box set, and as such it should cover and give a fair representation of all the phases of their career.
Yes, obviously most of the later stuff is vastly inferior to their early-mid stuff, but the box set should then just reflect that: the BB were great at first then they kinda sucked towards the end.
I don't need another copy of Goin' On, hell, I probably already have 95% of the songs that will be on the box set (some in lower quality, of course), but I think a proper career retrospective should be well balanced.  And I think one cd out of six to cover the last 32 years of their 50 years old career is just fair enough.
[/quote]

The last 34 years do, of course, need to be covered, and one CD out of six does seem about right. But at the same time I wouldn't want to see the box filled up with stuff that's *both* already available *and* not very good. Goin' On is not actually a good example there, because it does need to be on as a representative of KTSA (and it's not that bad).

Personally, what I'd do for the 1980-2012 period is have one or two songs from each album (and maybe some solo tracks), few or none of the single-only tracks that, frankly, have usually not been rereleased for a reason, whatever unreleased stuff is actually good, and then fill it out with live performances of songs that don't otherwise appear on the box. If, say, I Just Wasn't Made For These Times or Vegetables don't appear on the other discs, live versions of those from 2012 or 1993 would be worth adding, and would show the post-1980 band at its best.

[Disney Boy (1985)]

In terms of how their career is represented across the CDs (assuming everything is presented in chronological order with unreleased stuff alongside familar tracks, as i think it should be, and assuming the more important an album/period is generally assumed to be the more attention it'll recieve), i'm personally expecting something along the lines of this:

CD 1

1962 - 1964 (All Summer Long/Christmas Album)

CD 2

1965 (Today!) - 1966 (Pet Sounds/Good Vibrations)

CD 3

1966 (Smile) - 1967 (Wild Honey)

CD 4

1968 (Friends) - 1972 (CATP)

CD 5

1973 (Holland) - 1978 (MIU)

CD 6

1979 (LA Light Album) - Present

As for the likes of Problem Child and Crocodile Rock, yes it's supposed to be career spanning but, Christ, some things are best left unmentioned. Career spanning doesn't mean they have to include every single release, regardless of quality. I mean, even Bruce says Problem Child sucks. The '80's/'90's period could make for a really surprising interesting listen if the compilers pick their selections carefully - including acknowledged crap purely on the basis of it having been a single would be a mistake. Don't Go Near The Water was a single, but i doubt anyone would pick it as one of the must-be-included songs from Surf's Up. Well, Mike and Al maybe... 

[STE]

I don't need another copy of Goin' On, hell, I probably already have 95% of the songs that will be on the box set (some in lower quality, of course)...

Some rapid mental arithmetic leads me to the conclusion that this is unlikely to be the case. Unless your collection is unusually comprehensive.

I'd be completely happy to find out that my math is wrong! 
Note that I don't consider a different/new mixes a "a song" that I don't already have.  Different story for live versions.

[The Heartical Don]

I don't want to see 'Wipe Out' (with the Fat Boys) on it, nor their collaboration with Status Quo.

[Nicko1234]

I would hope that any live songs would be left for a separate disc as it would be jarring to hear them alongside studio recordings. Perhaps for financial reasons the live songs will be versions of songs included on other discs (as happened with the bonus disc in the 1993 set) and if that's the case it would be good to hear 'rare' renditions of those songs. Carl singing Wouldn't it Be Nice, Wonderful and Sail On Sailor for example. Dennis (or Carl) singing Help Me Rhonda and Blondie singing Wild Honey.

My feeling is that the reason that there were so few songs (too few) from 1978 onwards on the first set was probably partly down to money. Didn't David Leaf acknowledge in the booklet that Where I Belong is the standout song from BB85 and yet it was still not included? Stuff like It's a Beautiful Day, California Dreamin, Somewhere Near Japan and Summer in Paradise (UK version) would be likely candidates for inclusion. There must also be several unreleased songs from that era that will come into contention.

It will be interesting to see which solo songs make the cut. Was That Lucky Old Sun the only Brian album to be released on Capitol? If so, a couple of tracks from that should be included. One or two songs from First Love and/or Unleash the Love ought to make it as well and I guess Don't Fight The Sea would deserve inclusion. Al's version of California Saga from 1996 wouldn't be a bad choice from that period.

[STE]

I don't agree with those (several) of you that say that solo tracks should be included.
This is a Beach Boys box set so only Beach Boys songs should be included, not solo tracks (yes I know, previous collections had some, but still) even if in some cases they are superior.
Note, tracks that feature only one BB but were clearly planned to be BB tracks (e.g. demos) could qualify, IMHO.

[AndrewHickey]

I don't agree with those (several) of you that say that solo tracks should be included.
This is a Beach Boys box set so only Beach Boys songs should be included, not solo tracks (yes I know, previous collections had some, but still) even if in some cases they are superior.
Note, tracks that feature only one BB but were clearly planned to be BB tracks (e.g. demos) could qualify, IMHO.

I'm not sure where the line should be drawn for unreleased stuff -- there's a lot of Beach Boys stuff that only featured one band member, and then conversely, there's quite a lot of "solo" material featuring multiple Beach Boys. I think there could have been a very good case for including, for example, It's Not Too Late on the box, had it not been finally released a couple of years ago.

I don't think Love And Mercy or something should be on there, but I could see the argument for, say, River Song, which was originally recorded as a Beach Boys track and features multiple Beach Boys...

[Nicko1234]

I don't agree with those (several) of you that say that solo tracks should be included.
This is a Beach Boys box set so only Beach Boys songs should be included, not solo tracks (yes I know, previous collections had some, but still) even if in some cases they are superior.
Note, tracks that feature only one BB but were clearly planned to be BB tracks (e.g. demos) could qualify, IMHO.

Wouldn't you then have a massive gap from 1996 (at best) to 2012 though?

And as another poster has said, what about 'solo' songs that feature multiple Beach Boys?

[Mike's Beard]

You're almost there.

CD 1

1962 - 1964 (All Summer Long Surfin' USA /Christmas Album Shut Down Vol 2)

CD 2

1964 (Today!) All Summer Long - 1966 (Pet Sounds/Good Vibrations)

CD 3

1966 (Smile) - 1967 (Wild Honey) 1969 (20/20)          
(Smile has been pretty much milked, no need for it to take up half a cd's worth of space.)

CD 4

1968 (Friends) - 1972 (CATP)  1970 (Sunflower) - 1973 (Holland)

CD 5

1973 (Holland) - 1978 (MIU)  Post Holland to KTSA

CD 6

1979 (LA Light Album) 1980's material - Present

[Jeff]

I must be one of the few that actually would like to see a good amount of post-1979 material.
Example:

- Keepin' The Summer Alive (live at Knewborth '80)
- Goin' On
- It's A Beautiful Day
- Chasing the Sky
- East Meets West
- Getcha Back
- Where I Belong
- California Dreamin'
- Lady Liberty
- Rock & Roll To The Rescue
- The Spirit of Rock'n'Roll ("BB live" version '86)
- Crocodile Rock
- Problem Child
- Kokomo
- Somewhere Near in Japan
- Lahaina Aloha
- Summer in Paradise (live at Wembley '93)
- You're Still A Mistery
- Soul Searchin'
- vocals-only montage from Stars&Stripes
- Do It Again (2011)
- She Believes in Love Again (2012)
- (untitled TWGMTR outtake / I'd Go Anywhere)
- Waves Of Love (2012)
- Isn't It Time (single version)

About half that stuff's available on currently-available CDs though, and while obviously the box is going to be mostly material that's available elsewhere, I can't imagine ever thinking "I need another copy of Goin' On". I can understand that stuff going on there, but I don't see why anyone who's got those tracks would *want* them on a box set (especially since half of them are pretty poor).

Because this is supposed to be a "career spanning" box set, and as such it should cover and give a fair representation of all the phases of their career.
Yes, obviously most of the later stuff is vastly inferior to their early-mid stuff, but the box set should then just reflect that: the BB were great at first then they kinda sucked towards the end.
I don't need another copy of Goin' On, hell, I probably already have 95% of the songs that will be on the box set (some in lower quality, of course), but I think a proper career retrospective should be well balanced.  And I think one cd out of six to cover the last 32 years of their 50 years old career is just fair enough.

This is the first time I've seen someone advocate for putting material that admittedly sucked on a box set purely to achieve "balance." 

Hey, box set compilers, please don't give us Wouldn't It Be Nice to Live Again, because we're already getting other material from '70-'71.  Instead give us already released stuff from the '80s and '90s that we all know sucks.  And if marginal fans, critics, etc., sneer at Problem Child ... hey, that's OK.  We've got to have balance between good and bad!

[Cabinessenceking]

I would hope that any live songs would be left for a separate disc as it would be jarring to hear them alongside studio recordings. Perhaps for financial reasons the live songs will be versions of songs included on other discs (as happened with the bonus disc in the 1993 set) and if that's the case it would be good to hear 'rare' renditions of those songs. Carl singing Wouldn't it Be Nice, Wonderful and Sail On Sailor for example. Dennis (or Carl) singing Help Me Rhonda and Blondie singing Wild Honey.

My feeling is that the reason that there were so few songs (too few) from 1978 onwards on the first set was probably partly down to money. Didn't David Leaf acknowledge in the booklet that Where I Belong is the standout song from BB85 and yet it was still not included? Stuff like It's a Beautiful Day, California Dreamin, Somewhere Near Japan and Summer in Paradise (UK version) would be likely candidates for inclusion. There must also be several unreleased songs from that era that will come into contention.

It will be interesting to see which solo songs make the cut. Was That Lucky Old Sun the only Brian album to be released on Capitol? If so, a couple of tracks from that should be included. One or two songs from First Love and/or Unleash the Love ought to make it as well and I guess Don't Fight The Sea would deserve inclusion. Al's version of California Saga from 1996 wouldn't be a bad choice from that period.

it is wise if everyone pretends SIP never happened. even Mike has accepted that, so should each and everyone on this board.
nah, just kidding, but SIP is bloody aweful

[Ziggy Stardust]

Someone please explain to me how is this tracklist order a smart "commercial" move?

The non-hardcore-fan who only likes the surf hits or just knows Pet Sounds can get what he wants in the zillion compilations there is already out there, so why would he go for that 6 cds boxset? as if it wasn't enough there's even one that came out not even a year ago.. from the classic Sounds Of Summer (and all its different versions of course) to the more "deeper cuts" Warmth Of The Sun and all the most recent 50 Big Ones (which is a mix of both?) to the other best of/greatest hits there is out there for a normal price..

And the hardcore fan, well what does he win in all of that? buying this huge thing for stuff for just what, 2 unreleased tracks? he might as well just download it
as already said here, there's gonna be the top 40 hits, which is already quite a lot, and classic cuts plus deep catalog stuff? that is already a lot of space taken for stuff we already know obviously, how much is there left for interesting songs to make this boxset worth the buy?

I just don't get it..

[Nicko1234]

it is wise if everyone pretends SIP never happened. even Mike has accepted that, so should each and everyone on this board.
nah, just kidding, but SIP is bloody aweful

That UK version of SIP stuck around in the setlist for years (even after Carl died) and returned again in 2004. I'm not sure Mike has accepted it.