The Reel Story

[bgas]

MAN!!  I was SO hoping that Lee Dempsey( The ESQ Chairman of The Board) would take Custom Machine's  request and run with it, but I guess he's on the links...  

So I'll leave it to Lee, or someone else maybe, to fill in the blanks from my offerings.  

FIRST up, the Capitol reels, in Capitol numerical order.    If I don't have the reel itself shown, it's because my tapes are still sealed.  ( At one time I had almost 20 copies of the Chtristmas reel, but I seem to be down to a sealed copy and an open reel; the others I sold/gave away)  
The labels Capitol used on the actual reels had a somewhat glossy-gold colored background which doesn't always scan well as can be seen, even with the exposure adjustments I tried to make. Perhaps some other collector will have better luck with their tapes.
AND, if anyone has reels not shown, I HOPE you'll post them!!  If only so I'll know they exist/ can try to find them for my collection...tho I don't really think there are any, other than , possibly, variations.  

[bgas]

The Warner Brothers- Reprise Reels.  
Sunflower was  released by two manufacturers or possibly simply a name change for the company;
CATP /PS was first released on 3-3/4IPS and later on 7-1/2IPS( the second issue weighs two extra ounces, when compared) tho they didn't change the label on the reel
In Concert was released with two variations of the boxes/reels.  

[Alan Smith]

Eternal thanks for the scans and info, bgas - always appreciated.

How do they sound? (edit - except for the Holyoake strings)

[Alan Smith]

I wonder if the Sunflower r2r would include matrix encoding - or if that's limited to the artisan vinyl edition (which is what I'm assuming)?

[bgas]

Eternal thanks for the scans and info, bgas - always appreciated.

How do they sound? (edit - except for the Holyoake strings)

You'll have to ask Lee Dempsey.
I never play the items in my collection, That could ruin them!

[SMiLE Brian]

When does your museum open?

[LeeDempsey]

Well Chris, you may as well do like Eminem in "8 Mile" and drop the microphone and walk away -- I can't top that...

I can only nip around the edges.  First up, an AMERICAN GRAFFITI 7 1/2 ips reel with "Surfin' Safari" and "All Summer Long" -- and a lot of other oldies in great sound quality:

[LeeDempsey]

Not really a Beach Boys reel, but a rare Dunhill 7 1/2 ips reel of The Rincon Surfside Band's THE SURFING SONGBOOK -- a P.F. Sloan-Steve Barri creation of Beach Boys and Jan & Dean instrumentals and backing vocals where you're supposed to sing along and add the lead vocal -- STACK-O-TRACKS before its time...





FYI the reel-to-reel version has some slightly different fades than the LP and the Varese CD reissue.  Strange...

[LeeDempsey]

That's it for commercial reels... on to radio and promos:

London Wavelength Presents THE BEACH BOYS STORY (1 of 6 reels):



Despite it saying MONO, the tape plays in stereo.

[LeeDempsey]

Warner Brothers Radio Spots:



Chris, is there a third one I'm missing?

[LeeDempsey]

Brian Wilson Speaks with and about SPRING:



(This is actually a copy of the re-pressing commissioned by the late Greg Shaw of BOMP! magazine.)

[LeeDempsey]

And last but not least, a weird one...



Per the label this claims to be a 1980 Old Milwaukee beer commercial by The Beach Boys, but best I can tell it's some advertising jingle imitators.  It's got a Beach Boys-style track with a Mike Love sound-alike singing banal lyrics like:

Come on and dream of California,
Super cars and taco stands...

By claiming it's the Beach Boys on the label, it's iterally "false advertising"...

I think someone once told me that it might be the Ron Hicklin Singers, an L.A. group led by well-known session singer / vocal coach Ron Hicklin on lead vocal.  They did a lot of radio and TV work up through the 1980's.  Ironically it's been reported elsewhere (Stephen McParland maybe?) that Ron was one of the people approached to join the Beach Boys when Brian left the road.

Lee

[bgas]

quote unquote

[metal flake paint]

A very slight variation, complete with a "FULL RANGE BIASONIC PROCESS ®" sticker.

[LeeDempsey]

Chris, that's an AMAZING collection of radio spots...

[bgas]

Chris, that's an AMAZING collection of radio spots...

Thanxx!  

[LeeDempsey]

My Spring actually came with an original booklet, but the cover slick is mounted on a Realistic (Radio Shack) 5" tape box.  So I've always assumed it was Greg's repro.  Do you have an original and a repro?

Lee

[bgas]

My Spring actually came with an original booklet, but the cover slick is mounted on a Realistic (Radio Shack) 5" tape box.  So I've always assumed it was Greg's repro.  Do you have an original and a repro?

Lee

Yes, I do. My repro is also on a Realistic box. I bought the repro directly from Greg at Bomp. Somewhere I think I have an old Christmas card from Greg...  

[bgas]

Oops. Only 7, as one is a duplicate.  

[Rob Dean]

Guys, I am fascinated by this thread mainly as its a format I never really collected (no need to I suppose).
I've only owned 2, still got the UK Best Of The Beach Boys but sadly sold my Surfer Girl tape some years ago (did play it on my Dads proper 60's 2 track Tascam, it sounded great).

The radio snip tapes are superb, oh i wish.

Did laugh at the scan of Best Of The BB's Vol2 - Its say 'Best Of 11' (Eleven !!) should be II

[JK]

Ye gods, bgas. No wonder you're in good humor today!

[bgas]

Guys, I am fascinated by this thread mainly as its a format I never really collected (no need to I suppose).
I've only owned 2, still got the UK Best Of The Beach Boys but sadly sold my Surfer Girl tape some years ago (did play it on my Dads proper 60's 2 track Tascam, it sounded great).

The radio snip tapes are superb, oh i wish.

Did laugh at the scan of Best Of The BB's Vol2 - Its say 'Best Of 11' (Eleven !!) should be II

Thanks for the pointer, Rob. Funny how little things are easy to miss!!  Never really paid attention to that "11"; that's Columbia House for you...  

[Custom Machine]

Bgas, you have an awesome collection! Thanks so much for taking the time to post scans of your reel to reel tapes.

I had no idea that smaller reels were used for the UK (and I would presume the rest of Europe?) releases.

Thanks also to Lee and metal flake paint for their additions.

[bgas]

A very slight variation, complete with a "FULL RANGE BIASONIC PROCESS ®" sticker.

Ok, what am I missing?  Other than the Biasonic sticker, I don't see any variation

[bgas]

Got one other reel, tho I  have some doubts it's BBs related. 

The Surf Stompers-- Surfing Around The World; I don't have a reel machine now, so I can't play it, but I'm presuming the odds are against it being a 3 hour recording of Bruce Johnston's band...