Durrie Parks Smile acetates up for sale for $10,000

[Andrew G. Doe]

Given that they were part of the divorce settlement (source: VDP, personal conversation March 1985) I'm guessing she knew exactly what they were worth.

Also bear in mind that the compilers of the big box examined her acetates and found nothing they deemed significant or usable, which points inescapably to one of two conclusions:

1 - they've heard these and there's nothing special on them, or the audio quality was unacceptable. Or both.

2 - these have been 'uncovered' since then. I find that a little hard to credit.

Or, of course:

3 - I don't know WTF I'm talking about.

[rab2591]

Could Capitol, (hypothetically) not willing to buy the acetates, have just passed on them due to the price? And then the compilers said there was nothing of worth on them just to not make a fuss?

I mean, we were blown away by the new CIFOTM bit (even though it sounded somewhat crummy), and the 2 second melody line Brian sang for DYLW....I think an alternate version of any song (no matter how lousy the quality) would've been awesome to have on the boxset.

*But if there truly was nothing new on them, then I don't blame them for passing on it.

[Andrew G. Doe]

Could Capitol, (hypothetically) not willing to buy the acetates, have just passed on them due to the price? And then the compilers said there was nothing of worth on them just to not make a fuss?

Were I Alan Boyd or Mark Linett, I'd find that comment hugely insulting.

Actually, I do anyway.  

[leggo of my ego]

If I put up money, then we should take in it turns to store them. We can post them to each other.

Ah I was jest kidding around (although I do have the films) anyway the worst thing would be mailing them
back and forth across the country. Fragile things they are.

[rab2591]

Could Capitol, (hypothetically) not willing to buy the acetates, have just passed on them due to the price? And then the compilers said there was nothing of worth on them just to not make a fuss?

Were I Alan Boyd or Mark Linett, I'd find that comment hugely insulting.

Actually, I do anyway.  

I didn't intend to insult anyone....apologies for a poorly thought out comment. I'm sure there was good reason for Mark or Alan to pass on them. I was more just speculating as to whether Capitol thought the price was too high for a few poor sounding acetates.

[OneEar/OneEye]

Could it possibly be a situation where there is something unique on the acetates, but that Durrie, planning to auction them, declined to allow the Smile Sessions compilers use of them for that box, thinking they would fetch a higher price if they were still "unreleased", but that they will be on the MIC box (to lure Smile fans) because by then they will have already been sold? 

[rn57]

Looking up and down this thread I don't think anybody's noted the interesting thing about the letter signed by Durrie, confirming authenticity, on the page. It refers only to one disc, the first one listed. If these are being sold as a lot, you'd figure that the letter would mention all of them - put "discs" in plural and so forth.

So I wonder if, back in January (when the letter is dated), the idea was to sell these piecemeal.

In any event, yep, it is puzzling why they aren't being auctioned. David Crosby's Byrds-era suede cape, which went up for auction last week, had an opening bid of $1000, and by a few hours before closing, it had gotten up to close to $15,000.

The uniqueness of what's on the discs would also increase the value - though naturally, they're not quite as special as they would have seemed to be when Durrie was given custody of them back in the '70s, back in the days when some people really believed Brian had burned the Smile tapes, or at least most of them.

[Shady]

Well I just gotta say I find it incredible disappointing these tracks didn't make it on to the smile box

[AndrewHickey]

Well I just gotta say I find it incredible disappointing these tracks didn't make it on to the smile box

Really? Incredibly disappointing?

Bearing in mind that you've not heard them and the compilers of the box had?

What would you have dropped from the box to include these -- again, bearing in mind that you've not heard them, have no idea of the sound quality, and don't know if they're things that have already been booted?

The box couldn't possibly include every single second of music recorded during those sessions -- we *know* there's other stuff out there. But it's five CDs of the best stuff they could put together. That's good enough for me...

[Andrew G. Doe]

Well I just gotta say I find it incredible disappointing these tracks didn't make it on to the smile box

Because you know what they are ? Or... just because ?

I find it incredibly disappointing that Brian's mono mix & edit of the track for "Child..." never made it to the box, the difference being my point is valid as I've heard it.

[Roger Ryan]

...Okay what I would like know is are these acetates cut from live takes off the board or off the master tapes?

Obviously acetate discs are not an archival storage medium. Seems unwise to commit anything unique or vitality important to them.
I figured the discs were cut from the tapes so the artists can have a "carry-out" to listen at home / share with friends.

If the later then tapes should exist with the exact same material. But people don't always do the wise thing...so...

As has been shown by the acetates used on the SMiLE box, early mixes that ended up on acetates for review were later changed (vocals wiped, etc.) so that the acetate is the only recording left of how a track sounded at an earlier time. Given that SMiLE session tapes are known to have been lost or destroyed or had vocal tracks erased and recorded over (something Brian did a lot), there's the possibility that something quite unique is on these new acetates for sale. I believe that "Barnyard", the Dennis vocal on "You Were My Sunshine" and the second chorus to "Child Is Father Of The Man", among other tidbits heard on the SMiLE box,  is material that only existed on acetates.

I doubt the new discs contain material as important as the tracks I mentioned above, but there might be something worthwhile on them.

[SMiLE Brian]

These tapes are very important in the mystique of the SMiLE saga, it would be interesting for the MIC box to have these due to them not on the smile box set.

[Jim V.]

I find it incredibly disappointing that Brian's mono mix & edit of the track for "Child..." never made it to the box, the difference being my point is valid as I've heard it.

I gotta agree on being disappointed that Brian's mix/edit of "Child..." from 1966 didn't make it onto the box. Same thing for "Barnyard" with the backing vocals and no lead. How could Mark and Alan think that this stuff shouldn't be on the SMiLE set?

On the other hand, maybe Capitol told them to hold some stuff back for the Made In California.

[FatherOfTheMan Sr101]

The extra 2 vocals of CIFOTM blew my mind, anything like that might just be worth going for here...

[Shady]

Well I just gotta say I find it incredible disappointing these tracks didn't make it on to the smile box

Because you know what they are ? Or... just because ?

I find it incredibly disappointing that Brian's mono mix & edit of the track for "Child..." never made it to the box, the difference being my point is valid as I've heard it.

Going by the tracklist for these acetates, the contents seem pretty much essential listening

Then again we all have our favorite sessions from Smile. DYLW being one my my favorites I'm very curious to hear "Two versions of “Do You Like Worms (Bicycle Rider)” with alternate vocals to box set".

So to sum up am I incredibly disappointed this didn't make the box set, yes.

[Mikie]

On the other hand, maybe Capitol told them to hold some stuff back for the Made In California.

I'd have to lean toward the negatory on that one.

1. I'm not even sure MIC was even considerd at that point in 2011 (though I could be wrong). Yeah, it would be a selling point to the hard cores, but I think there's already going to be enough on there to satisfy even the hard cores (again I could be wrong).
2. I would think they'd want to get every known and unknown section/fragment on the Smile box to make it the most comprehensive collection possible.
3. Somebody needs to get to Alan and/or Mark to find out what Durrie acetates were auditioned for the Smile release (if they recall).

[harveyw]

I was a bit tired of all this speculation so I thought I'd drop Jeff at Recordmecca an email. I won't print his response in full, but he mentions that Mark Linett has been in touch with him -on behalf of The Beach Boys- since the sale began. Apparently Linett (or another member of the team) contacted Durrie about the acetates when compiling the set (this much we know) but at the time she "didn't have any idea where they were". Is this true? This implies that they were never even auditioned during the box set's compilation. (Actually i've just taken a look at that "alan boyd lecture" thread which seems to contradict this statement. Curiouser & curiouser.)

The acetates' overall condition is listed as "G" - good. In record parlance "good" doesn't really mean "good", it means "just about playable", two steps away from thrashed. Chances are they're beyond salvation in fidelity terms, so would possibly be outside the scope of a reissue, but omygod who wouldn't want to own them...or even just hear them...

[FatherOfTheMan Sr101]

We need Alan, can someone more in the in just shoot him a quick email to see what's up? I think the stuff on these would be wasted if the wrong person gets them...

[bgas]

Given that they were part of the divorce settlement (source: VDP, personal conversation March 1985) I'm guessing she knew exactly what they were worth.

Also bear in mind that the compilers of the big box examined her acetates and found nothing they deemed significant or usable, which points inescapably to one of two conclusions:

1 - they've heard these and there's nothing special on them, or the audio quality was unacceptable. Or both.

2 - these have been 'uncovered' since then. I find that a little hard to credit.

Or, of course:

3 - I don't know WTF I'm talking about.

Having read Harvey's post( quoted below), I think I'll lean towards door #2, tho you're obviously wanting everyone to pick door #3.
  Of course the description of the acetates being only in "G"  condition, does lend itself to the last part of door #1... 

I was a bit tired of all this speculation so I thought I'd drop Jeff at Recordmecca an email. I won't print his response in full, but he mentions that Mark Linett has been in touch with him -on behalf of The Beach Boys- since the sale began. Apparently Linett (or another member of the team) contacted Durrie about the acetates when compiling the set (this much we know) but at the time she "didn't have any idea where they were". Is this true? This implies that they were never even auditioned during the box set's compilation. (Actually i've just taken a look at that "alan boyd lecture" thread which seems to contradict this statement. Curiouser & curiouser.)

The acetates' overall condition is listed as "G" - good. In record parlance "good" doesn't really mean "good", it means "just about playable", two steps away from thrashed. Chances are they're beyond salvation in fidelity terms, so would possibly be outside the scope of a reissue, but omygod who wouldn't want to own them...or even just hear them...

Looking up and down this thread I don't think anybody's noted the interesting thing about the letter signed by Durrie, confirming authenticity, on the page. It refers only to one disc, the first one listed. If these are being sold as a lot, you'd figure that the letter would mention all of them - put "discs" in plural and so forth.

Easy to miss in a quick reading of the description at RecordMecca, as you evidently did: 
>>A digital transfer of the music is included, as is a letter of authenticity for each disc from Durrie Parks. << 
So obviously the one letter shown was used as an example

What interested me MORE, was DONNYL's post that Durrie has/had Master Tapes for Smile. And if so, what might be on those, and why didn't Alan/Mark get those  for the Smile Sessions? 

[Shady]

So Durrie found them after the box set was released.

What a shame. I would imagine Mark and Alan are a little disappointed

[harveyw]

So Durrie found them after the box set was released.

What a shame. I would imagine Mark and Alan are a little disappointed

Well, that's what I was told by the vendor. This thread seems to indicate otherwise:

http://smileysmile.net/board/index.php/topic,14354.25.html

At least they reviewed the Durrie Parks stuff and other rumored acetates and tapes and pretty much covered as much ground as they could. Sounds like Boyd and Linett really worked their asses off.

[Ron]

About Brian buying them:


It's easy for us to fall into the trap of thinking like this, I do too... but to the people involved... they're just not that valuable.  Brian's never been into collecting historical things and he seems to even actually avoid almost every aspect of his early life (and maybe for good reasons).  Brian would be more likely to pay 10 grand for a new sofa for his living room than to pay 10 grand for an old record that he's heard 10,000 times, could have repressed at whim if he really wanted, and probably feels he could write better material if he sat down with an ink pen and a piece of paper. 


To us they're mindblowing, but we would probably be similarly mindblown if Brian called us on the phone.  So to Brian the value is somewhere around the value of a phonecall. 

[bgas]

So Durrie found them after the box set was released.

What a shame. I would imagine Mark and Alan are a little disappointed

Well, that's what I was told by the vendor. This thread seems to indicate otherwise:

http://smileysmile.net/board/index.php/topic,14354.25.html

At least they reviewed the Durrie Parks stuff and other rumored acetates and tapes and pretty much covered as much ground as they could. Sounds like Boyd and Linett really worked their asses off.

Not to doubt Mikie out of hand, but where is his post confirmed?  In the same thread I found this post from Andy, and no meaningful replies, so.... 

....
Three, it hasn't been said what was discovered or anything about its quality. It could be a small fragment, a different edit, etc. It could be in terrible quality and unreleasable. The likelihood of something being discovered from a missing tape seems less likely than the discovery of an old acetate or something like that.

Speaking of sources, was it confirmed that Alan/Mark reviewed the DP acetates and other rumored sources mentioned in Mikie's post? I'd guess there's stuff that wasn't since new stuff is being found.

[Ron]

It could simply be too that it's just a copy of something sitting in the vault that they already had access to, and decided not to put (some of it) on the boxset.  So maybe unheard to us but heard to them. 

[Andrew G. Doe]

I was a bit tired of all this speculation so I thought I'd drop Jeff at Recordmecca an email. I won't print his response in full, but he mentions that Mark Linett has been in touch with him -on behalf of The Beach Boys- since the sale began. Apparently Linett (or another member of the team) contacted Durrie about the acetates when compiling the set (this much we know) but at the time she "didn't have any idea where they were". Is this true? This implies that they were never even auditioned during the box set's compilation. (Actually i've just taken a look at that "alan boyd lecture" thread which seems to contradict this statement. Curiouser & curiouser.)

The acetates' overall condition is listed as "G" - good. In record parlance "good" doesn't really mean "good", it means "just about playable", two steps away from thrashed. Chances are they're beyond salvation in fidelity terms, so would possibly be outside the scope of a reissue, but omygod who wouldn't want to own them...or even just hear them...

I was informed - by a highly reliable source - that the Parks acetates were auditioned by the box compilers/producers and that nothing of any use or importance was discovered. Given the G rating, I'd guess that means they were next to unlistenable.