The Big Beat 1963

[chrs_mrgn]

I want it on vinyl

[Andrew G. Doe]

No - if you're going to do this retro thing at all, do it properly.

I want it on a hot-cut wax cylinder. Nothing else is acceptable, and if they can't be bothered to accommodate my entirely modest and reasonable demands, then they should cancel the entire project now. How useless are these people, have they no idea what we really want ?

[Smilin Ed H]

So... will this be available to download from Amazon in the UK?

[The Shift]

No - if you're going to do this retro thing at all, do it properly.

I want it on a hot-cut wax cylinder. Nothing else is acceptable, and if they can't be bothered to accommodate my entirely modest and reasonable demands, then they should cancel the entire project now. How useless are these people, have they no idea what we really want ?

Your demands are not appropriate.

This thing should be cut into platters of solidified ReadyWhip. I want mine signed by each original performer on the track. Surely they've planned a deluxe version slog these lines? And what about I store marketing memorabilia, packed with an acetate for protection?

And branded olives?

[Myk Luhv]

I do honestly think it's a shame this won't be offered in a lossless format because the entire point of lossless encoding is a 1:1 copy of the source material, which this material is incredibly deserving of: I don't mean to say I can hear a difference between a file encoded in FLAC compared to MP3, just that MP3s have some data removed from them (the higher ranges that humans can supposedly not hear but I think should be preserved nonetheless) and if you were to re-encode (transcode) them, then you'd be losing even more data. This wouldn't be the case with losslessly-encoded files. Also, I'm incredibly glad "Thank Him" has finally been released!

[dogear]

Also, I'm incredibly glad "Thank Him" has finally been released!

Pure early Brian - what a great ballad.

[D Cunningham]

Don Malcolm, you are clearly one of the good guys.  But gosh--dating ourselves.

[ As I recline uncomfortably here on a rusty chaise longe with my rifle and sign that says "Get off my lawn" ]

Those were amazing days, and definitely before anybody was talking about a song called "Thank Him"
(and 60 other unknown songs)

[Mr. Wilson]

Did someone park there car on your lawn.. ?   A gran torino maybe ..?

[KittyKat]

No - if you're going to do this retro thing at all, do it properly.

I want it on a hot-cut wax cylinder. Nothing else is acceptable, and if they can't be bothered to accommodate my entirely modest and reasonable demands, then they should cancel the entire project now. How useless are these people, have they no idea what we really want ?

Your demands are not appropriate.

This thing should be cut into platters of solidified ReadyWhip. I want mine signed by each original performer on the track. Surely they've planned a deluxe version slog these lines? And what about I store marketing memorabilia, packed with an acetate for protection?

And branded olives?

How about a bag of promotional potato chips, such as those packaged with "Beach Boys Sing at a Party"?  I sometimes see the original photos/stickers from that LP for auction, but never a still-sealed bag of potato chips. I wonder what condition they'd be in decades later, if anyone kept them and never opened them?

[Jim Murphy]

Chris, do you have a bag of chips you can sell KittyKat? 

Those things have never surfaced and, not that anyone would, but would have to be eaten at your own risk. Somewhat more surprisingly, the counter top display that held the chips has never surfaced, and you'd think Capitol made a bunch of them. 

[bgas]

Chris, do you have a bag of chips you can sell KittyKat?  

Those things have never surfaced and, not that anyone would, but would have to be eaten at your own risk. Somewhat more surprisingly, the counter top display that held the chips has never surfaced, and you'd think Capitol made a bunch of them.  

Roght near the top of my want list!!  Who cares about the chips? Just to have one of the, even empty, bags....  
 They were described as "tiny" correct?  One Million bags with a reproduction of the cover. GOT to be a few in  a store's stock room, somewhere. 50 bags to each counter holder
There's a picture of Brian next to a dispaly of them; in a thread here; which thread, tho...  
 
There are SO many display pieces that should be offered somewhere!  

[LeeDempsey]

Yup Chris, I would have bought that torn off piece of a display...

One time I met the daughter of a guy that was a Capitol rep back in the '60s.  She was in elementary school when Party! came out in late 1965, and she swore that she remembered having a class picnic and her dad providing Beach Boys Party! picnic baskets.  Now maybe it was just Party! potato chips in a plain picnic basket and her memory was fuzzy, but wouldn't it be cool to find a picnic basket with the Party! cover on it...

Lee

[metal flake paint]

Chris, do you have a bag of chips you can sell KittyKat? 

Those things have never surfaced and, not that anyone would, but would have to be eaten at your own risk. Somewhat more surprisingly, the counter top display that held the chips has never surfaced, and you'd think Capitol made a bunch of them. 

Roght near the top of my want list!!  Who cares about the chips? Just to have one of the, even empty, bags.... 
 They were described as "tiny" correct?  One Million bags with a reproduction of the cover. GOT to be a few in  a store's stock room, somewhere. 50 bags to each counter holder
There's a picture of Brian next to a dispaly of them; in a thread here; which thread, tho... 
 
There are SO many display pieces that should be offered somewhere! 
Should have bought this beat-up piece of an old display sign, even if only has their name: 
   

[bgas]

Yup Chris, I would have bought that torn off piece of a display...

One time I met the daughter of a guy that was a Capitol rep back in the '60s.  She was in elementary school when Party! came out in late 1965, and she swore that she remembered having a class picnic and her dad providing Beach Boys Party! picnic baskets.  Now maybe it was just Party! potato chips in a plain picnic basket and her memory was fuzzy, but wouldn't it be cool to find a picnic basket with the Party! cover on it...

Lee

It would be cool to find a Capitol Rep, or anyone actually, that remembers  seeing/touching a bag(s) of the chips!

[Freddie French-Pounce]

I wonder if the crisps were any good 

[guitarfool2002]

I have to say this has been one of the most enjoyable threads of the year - thanks to everyone contributing! If the group of collectors ever decides to get together somewhere for a bull session, I'll buy a few rounds if I can just sit back and listen.  

The bag of Party! chips is an interesting point, after seeing that one photo of them on display (which I think is the only evidence I've ever seen of them or the promo display), I also wondered if anyone ever kept a bag in their collection, or even a fan scrapbook kind of thing. The promotion itself was reported and listed in Billboard magazine if I recall, so it was a national campaign if we can assume that, and I'm sure thousands were taken home by fans buying the record at shops that had the display.

It's amazing none have actually surfaced, if even a portion of the albums sold left the store with a bag of Party chips back in the day. Not to mention the store employees who may have nicked the actual display!

If I could put on my former antique collector hat, I wanted to mention the whole sub-category of people who collect food packaging like vintage canned goods, bottles, cereal boxes, bags, displays, etc. Some go as far as to set up full "general store" type displays where they set up a scene supposed to look like a store from the 1930's or 1950's or whatever using original goods. I always loved that kind of thing, it's almost eerie sometimes in a time-machine kind of way especially when you see an entire collection of these things.

I can say that most of the value of the key items in this scene comes from the condition of the packaging and especially the labels and graphics. In most cases having the actual "sealed" product if it's a certain type of food or drink doesn't mean as much as the condition of the packaging itself. In fact most collectors would rather have an empty package or can, because many items through the years will break down inside the packaging due to various acids, oils and whatnot in the food item which can then deteriorate inside and either stain or rust or break through to partially ruin the package itself. So the value of say a Campbell's soup can from the 30's would be more if the can had been drained from the bottom and still looks unopened instead of having a full sealed can with the soup still inside. Chances are, 70 year old tomato soup would already have eaten through the can decades ago due to the acid, same with a box of cereal or anything similar.

So a bag of Party! chips, I'm going out on a limb, would be most valuable if the person had eaten them or tossed them in 1965 and kept the bag empty between pages of a scrapbook or something, the oil and grease from the chips may have ruined the actual value if it leaked through or stained the bag itself, depending on the materials used.

On a related note, last Christmas on the news they had someone who had a fruitcake still sealed in a gift can from the 1940's...if I recall they were going to open it and see if the old Johnny Carson joke about everyone re-gifting the same fruitcake was accurate and if the cake was still edible!    If a full BB Party bag is ever found maybe we should recruit volunteers to eat the chips inside.

[bgas]

Chris, do you have a bag of chips you can sell KittyKat? 

Those things have never surfaced and, not that anyone would, but would have to be eaten at your own risk. Somewhat more surprisingly, the counter top display that held the chips has never surfaced, and you'd think Capitol made a bunch of them. 

Roght near the top of my want list!!  Who cares about the chips? Just to have one of the, even empty, bags.... 
 They were described as "tiny" correct?  One Million bags with a reproduction of the cover. GOT to be a few in  a store's stock room, somewhere. 50 bags to each counter holder
There's a picture of Brian next to a dispaly of them; in a thread here; which thread, tho... 
 
There are SO many display pieces that should be offered somewhere! 
Should have bought this beat-up piece of an old display sign, even if only has their name: 
   

Hey, anyone have an idea what record store that was, where the photo was taken?

[Mikie]

A couple more collector memories:

Guerneville California. On the Russian River, just a few miles down the road from Rio Nido, where the Beach Boys met Sharon Marie in the Summer of 1963. We were always hopping up to the Russian River in the Summer and always stopped at a couple of used record shops in Guerneville. Some old hippies ran this particular one and they usually had records from psychedelic bands from the 60's and 70's. Anyway, a good friend of mine who I had a friendly competition with collecting Beach Boys records were rifling through records and I came across the Smiley Smile album. I routinely opened the sleeve to see what the condition of the record was and..........oh, wow! I'd never seen one of these before. Smiley Smile on the Capitol black rainbow label! At the time, I thought it was a misprinted label, but a cool misprint to have! Later, I found out it was only available to Capitol Records Club members in the late 60's. In VG++ condition, I think I only paid 8 bucks for it. The hippie behind the counter almost apologetically said, "I have to get 8 bucks for it because it's rare". I said, "That's fine". I paid and walked out of the place quickly without looking at anymore records. My friend stayed behind for a few minutes, probably looking for another rarity and frustrated that he didn't find SS first.

[Mikie]

Another time (in the late 70's) I was in Castro Valley, Ca. and stopped by a used record shop. After looking through the records there, I found something I didn't have and was standing near the front counter ready to pay for it. Suddenly, an African American gentleman came through the front door with records and stacked them on the counter. Then he went out to his car and brought in another stack and put them on the counter. At first, I thought they were mostly going to be R&B and Motown and maybe some Rock & Roll stuff. While the owner of the store was distracted with another paying customer, I asked the man if it was OK to look at his records. He said, "Sure!". About half way down one of the tall stacks, I found an original "Stack-O-Tracks". It was about M-/VG++ but didn't have the booklet. I asked the guy how much he wanted for the record and he said, "Ah, make me an offer". I said, "How about $5.00?", thinking that he didn't know what he had. Sure enough, he didn't know what he had and he took my $5.00!!! After I paid him and the store owner what I owed him, the owner said to me, "Why did you do that?" I innocently replied, "What?" "As soon as a customer comes into my store with records for sale, they're in my jurisdiction and I get first choice (or something like that). Please don't come into my store again". I said, "OK". and walked away a very happy man!  I believe he knew the value of this one and it would have ended up for sale on the wall behind the counter, along with his other rare records.

[Andrew G. Doe]

 If a full BB Party bag is ever found maybe we should recruit volunteers to eat the chips inside.

Wouldn't recommend you do that: reason #1, worth much more unopened (i.e. mint) and reason #2, I've tried chips that were about a year old. Soggy cardboard.

[D Cunningham]

Wasn't it Marty Heidegger who said, after biting into a very stale potato chip, "What the hell is this?"?

[guitarfool2002]

I have nothing to compare to the collector finds in this thread, but since the subject is early Beach Boys, I did have a great score. There is a monthly silent auction in the area, where you go into the gallery and write your bid for the item. Then at the end of the month the high bid wins the item, with a normal buyer's fee added to the sale.

So I'm walking around - it was in the past 8 years but can't recall when, and there is a plastic bag with several 45's in it hanging on one of the cork boards. They were all in picture sleeves, with the records, all original early 60's. So I pull it down, open the bag, and there was an original "Ten Little Indians" 45 with the sleeve.

I wrote my bid, it didn't seem to have much interest or any other bids at all if I recall, and came back later in the month to check and I was still the high bid. And what I bid could be called pennies on the dollar, especially since some others like a Cameo-Parkway 45 with PS were in the bag too.

I won the bag of 45's. Again, pennies on the dollar. I flipped the Ten Little Indians 45 a few months later and walked away with a nice pocketful of profit, considering what I paid for the lot.

If only that happened more often, right?  

[D Cunningham]

I never developed a really great collection, but have some items that are special...and I reckon that's the
case for most people here. There are three singles that I especially fancy... Surfin on Candix (I paid $25 a long
time ago), the party 4-song EP, and the Kenny & Cadets single.  What's nice is that they're all in terrific
condition.  I think the K&C item was the last time I purchased a collectable...about 20 years ago.  Hey
Lee...do you remember? I'm pretty sure it came from Wayne at Rockaway...somebody had found a box
of them in a garage?  Please tell me it's genuine (pink label with blue lettering)

 

[Jim Murphy]

Those PARTY chips and the counter-top display must be one of the rarest promotional items Capitol ever produced for the Beach Boys.  Amazing that neither has ever surfaced.  And PARTY and "Barbara Ann" were big, big sellers.  One would think that Capitol must have made several thousand copies of them and sent them around the country.  Or, perhaps the reason why none have surfaced, is maybe Capitol didn't manufacture it at all.  Maybe it was a one-off item made by a local record store in which Brian was shown and the chips were just regular ol' bags of chips that sold back in the day for about a nickel.

It seems like many Beach Boys' collectors have met or spoken to former Capitol Records salesmen at some point.  I bought a few cool items from the son of a Capitol Records promo/sales guy whose territory included upstate NY.  That was the 2' x 3' promotional poster on cardboard stock of the guys stacked vertically upon each other. He also had a copy of the Surfin' Safari' / Ray Anthony promotional EP with hardcover, but that had already been snagged in person by John Tefteller which he later sold through one of his surf auctions (John Tefetller's Rare Records). You'd have to think that most of the stuff they squireled away has now passed onto their children who more than likely are willing, even anxious, to part with it. I suspect the 50th anniversary led to a lot of attics and basements being picked over.

Another really rare piece is the SHUT DOWN VOL 2 jigsaw puzzle.  Peter recently sold the only copy I've ever seen, not sure how many were made or, for that matter, if was a legitimate Capitol Records item. I bid what I thought was a fairly goodly sum, but apparently someone else wanted it more than I did.  Chris, was that you? 

Thanks for your post GuitarFool . . . interesting stuff about folks who collect vintage foodstuffs, and the problems associated with the food itself.

Nice find Mikie.  I recall being in a small vinyl shop in Trenton and seeing the Capitol Records Club version of SMILEY SMILE for $75, and passing on it at the time.  I think I picked it up later and for less than $75, but certainly not $8.

Hey Don, that's a sweet little collection you have there -- SURFIN on Candix (which number?  331, 301, or 301 Era? -- 331 is, in my humble, the one to have as it was the first release), the PARTY EP, and the KENNY and the CADETS, which sounds like the legitimate release, especially since you bought it from Wayne.  And that garage would have been Dorinda Morgan's garage at the time, after Hite had passed away. Quite the story there.  Now's as good a time as any, to tell you how much I always enjoyed ADD SOME MUSIC and your song scrutiny columns. Some really insightful writings. A seminal publication in the evolution of our collective Beach Boys knowledge.  So, thanks for that!

[bgas]

It seems like many Beach Boys' collectors have met or spoken to former Capitol Records salesmen at some point.  I bought a few cool items from the son of a Capitol Records promo/sales guy whose territory included upstate NY.  That was the 2' x 3' promotional poster on cardboard stock of the guys stacked vertically upon each other. He also had a copy of the Surfin' Safari' / Ray Anthony promotional EP with hardcover, but that had already been snagged in person by John Tefteller which he later sold through one of his surf auctions (John Tefetller's Rare Records). You'd have to think that most of the stuff they squireled away has now passed onto their children who more than likely are willing, even anxious, to part with it. I suspect the 50th anniversary led to a lot of attics and basements being picked over.

Another really rare piece is the SHUT DOWN VOL 2 jigsaw puzzle.  Peter recently sold the only copy I've ever seen, not sure how many were made or, for that matter, if was a legitimate Capitol Records item. I bid what I thought was a fairly goodly sum, but apparently someone else wanted it more than I did.  Chris, was that you? 

The local Capitol rep here, told me that A; he didnt start until about 1970 and B; he never kept anything but classical records. I asked him what was the point of him breathing, then. 

 I din't win the Jigsaw puzzle, but the person that did is on this board, posting in this thread.  I have no clue whether it was Capitol made; I don't recall seeing any logos on it. ask the owner!