Beach Boys Journals Vol 1 & 2

[jimmy1949]

I recently re-discovered my copies of these unbelievable collections. Are they hard to find nowadays? I think a lot of this stuff may end up on the upcoming box set.

[AndrewHickey]

No idea how hard to find they are as CDs (do people even make bootleg CDs any more?) but I know of many places they're publicly available for download...

I imagine quite a few tracks on those will make the box set, simply because the stuff on those CDs amounts to a 'best of' of other boots, as I recall.

[SurfRiderHawaii]

One of the best things in my collection.  Great gold colored metal cases and cool booklet.

[Mikie]

I believe this 16 set CD set came out around 1994 or '95. For its time, it was a pretty good compilation encompassing other boots, though a lot of it was lifted from the Capitol 2-fers and the '93 Good Vibrations box set. Some rarities and B sides and miscellaneous tracks were included and overal the tracks were of pretty good sound quality. They're 24k gold discs with nice booklets and packaging, but the track listings are goofed up. No Brian solo material. Again, this was a good bootleg comp when it came out, but then the Dumb Angel studio and live series came out and THAT was the "be all and end all" one to get (in addition to the SOT sets).

[jimmy1949]

Thanks you guys.

[SurfRiderHawaii]

I believe this 16 set CD set came out around 1994 or '95. For its time, it was a pretty good compilation encompassing other boots, though a lot of it was lifted from the Capitol 2-fers and the '93 Good Vibrations box set. Some rarities and B sides and miscellaneous tracks were included and overal the tracks were of pretty good sound quality. They're 24k gold discs with nice booklets and packaging, but the track listings are goofed up. No Brian solo material. Again, this was a good bootleg comp when it came out, but then the Dumb Angel studio and live series came out and THAT was the "be all and end all" one to get (in addition to the SOT sets).
True but those sets didn't have the great packaging. Hoping MIC blows these away.

[Mikie]

Well, MIC will be a legit release with a lot of Capitol money thrown at it, so it'd better be great packaging! I thought the 2-fers and Good Vibrations and Pet Sounds boxes were very well done, so if they can match the Made In California release to those, it'll really be something.

[SurfRiderHawaii]

Well, MIC will be a legit release with a lot of Capitol money thrown at it, so it'd better be great packaging! I thought the 2-fers and Good Vibrations and Pet Sounds boxes were very well done, so if they can match the Made In California release to those, it'll really be something.

Exactly. Hoping the box makes alot of my boots junk, like my old Smile stuff.

[Mikie]

Yeah. A LOT.

[I. Spaceman]

No official product will ever make an unauthorized product junk, as nothing is ever released unedited.

[AndrewHickey]

No official product will ever make an unauthorized product junk, as nothing is ever released unedited.

Depends what you want them for. As far as I'm concerned, for example, The Smile Sessions made all my Smile boots redundant, because now I have all the songs in better sound quality, and they've also bothered to go through all those ten million takes of someone playing the Bicycle Rider riff for two minutes then Brian saying "can we have it a little more DA da da DA da" and it starting again, and find everything worth listening to. Likewise if we ever get, say, an official release of the Carnegie Hall show, I'll be fine with some of the tuning being cut out.

I can see that if someone's primary interest is historical, they're going to want access to the unedited tapes -- and I have enough of that kind of interest that I still *have* those Smile boots, in case I ever need to check something -- but if you just want to hear the music, then edited is better. And even for certain kinds of more, if you like, scholarly stuff -- if I want to figure out how a Pet Sounds track is constructed, what instrument is playing what and so forth, usually the sessions material on the PS Sessions box is enough without having to resort to the Sea Of Tunes stuff or whatever.

[I. Spaceman]

Yes, for regular listening, the official product is better. I disagree with you on the Pet Sounds sessions however, the multiple mixes of the songs as each part is laid down is the most informative Beach Boys experience I have ever had. And on the Smile stuff, I was bothered that some key dialogue was edited out for authorised mass consumption. I don't think everything worth listening to is on the official sources, by any means, and if it was feasible, the boxes would be bigger, ala a Rhino Handmade product. Official and unofficial complement each other, both are essential to the serious fan.

[Mikie]

Then there are those who can't get enough. That's where the bootlegs came in. You hear every single unedited fragment from a session or demo or live or whatever. Without bootlegs, you wouldn't hear the unreleased outtakes/alternates/demos before it's released (if it's ever released). That's how we know that there's still stuff in the barrel to scrape for a possible legit release. And the live recordings........without the boots, how would we know there's a few good quality tapes in the can that could be released, i.e. the '66 Michigan shows, Hawaii '67, Carnegie, Unplugged '93, etc?

Ahhhh, bootlegs. Trying to think of the best Beach Boys ones. The Dumb Angel and SOT's come to mind, especially SOT 13, 14, 16 & 17 - the Pet Sounds and Smile Boxes. Journals was a good one. Long Lost Surf Songs....there were many. Vigotone and Yellow Dog, Silver Rarities, Spank, Brother Records......

[I. Spaceman]

The bootleg that really blew my head when it came out was Time To Get Alone. The Murry session, Party sessions, Pet Sounds outs, Good Vibes stuff, Holy Evening.

[♩♬🐸 Billy C ♯♫♩🐇]

For me it was the Love You piano demos. To this day I still have a fond wish of Brian releasing an album of nothing but his voice and a piano.

[The Shift]

… No Brian solo material…

There was a third set which was entirely Brian solo material. I found a copy recently though it wasn't in the best shape. Haven't even made my way through the whole thing yet as something called TWGMTR was released and I got distracted. I I ever get a spare minute I'll post the track list (though I think it was 4 or 6 CDs so might take a few coffee breaks!)

[Andrew G. Doe]

Even allowing they're was from 1994, the booklets in Journals are hugely inaccurate.

[Christian]

… No Brian solo material…

There was a third set which was entirely Brian solo material. I found a copy recently though it wasn't in the best shape. Haven't even made my way through the whole thing yet as something called TWGMTR was released and I got distracted. I I ever get a spare minute I'll post the track list (though I think it was 4 or 6 CDs so might take a few coffee breaks!)

it´s a 7 CDs box set titled "Brian Wilson Sessions"

see the following link for the track list: 

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

[Tony S]

I have this colllection as well; think I picked it up at a record collection show, when those things were held pretty regularly. I remember looking at the gold tins, and thinking, WOW. One of the jewels of my BB collection for sure.

[Iron Horse-Apples]

The bootleg that really blew my head when it came out was Time To Get Alone. The Murry session, Party sessions, Pet Sounds outs, Good Vibes stuff, Holy Evening.

That was a good boot. Even non BB fans I knew got a kick out of the Murry tape.

My all time greatest boot feeling though was travelling all the way up to Camden Market in 1990 for one of the big international record fairs and finding the T-2580 Smile boot. It was a large, busy, noisy hall, but my shriek of excitement made the room go silent, and everyone turned to watch me skip around holding my find aloft with a sh*t-eating grin on my face.

To make the excitement greater, I didn't have a CD player back then, and had to wait till my girlfriend finished work to listen to it.

Getting the Smile box was great, but nothing will ever compare to that first ilicit Smile moment.

[I. Spaceman]

Right on. I had heard the double-LP Smile boot with the first issue of the Linett tapes, but finding the triple-LP Vigotone set just as it hit the dealers was my big Smile moment.

[Iron Horse-Apples]

As much as I love it, the internet has sucked all the fun out of everything.

[I. Spaceman]

As much as I love it, the internet has sucked all the fun out of everything.

You said it. Have you ever let out a shriek of excitement when finding something to download? (Besides Christina Hendricks' leaked cellphone photos, of course)

[Iron Horse-Apples]

No, just a shriek of anger when I realise I've downloaded a virus.

[Mikie]

The 2-CD Time To Get Alone material was already out there before that set came out. Nothing really new on that, unless you hadn't heard the Murry tape, Time to Get Alone by Redwood, or the stereo Ronda before, all of which were circulating previously. Again, a nice hodge-podge of stuff all in one spot. I liked Capitol Punishment too. Leggo My Ego was a nice little 3-CD box that came out a couple of years before the Pet Sounds box set. There's a few tit bits on there that aren't on the Pet Sounds box. Heroes & Villains Part 1 & 2 and East Coast Pipeline were/are also a couple of my favorites.

The Japanese Smile T-2180 CD was a good one to come up with. Very good quality and the nice artwork made it look legit! Got it for 20 bucks before it went up in price!

The Love You demos were circulating on cassette before the vinyl version before the CD version before the downloads version. Also good stuff.

Brian Wilson Sessions compiled pretty much everything that was out there up to that point and a nice set. I only downloaded that one as I didn't want to spring for another 6-7 CD set containing stuff I already had.

And of course all the vinyl boots in the 80's. Compiled a lot of stuff that was circulating on Maxell and TDK cassettes back in the late 70's and early 80's amongst collectors....