Unless my searching skills are severely lacking, I was surprised to see very little come up when searching the forum for posts about Mike's unreleased 70's solo album projects, but hopefully posting onto this topic is close enough. Anyway, I've long wondered why none of his unreleased music has appeared on any of the Beach Boys box sets to date? Setting aside anyone's personal musical preferences, I'm surprised that none of it appeared on the '93 set or the MIC set--especially when considering how much of Dennis's solo material appeared (and will continue to on Feel Flows). While unarguably better material, is Dennis the only member whose unreleased solo works are likely to get consideration for release in a band/box set setting? I'd assume Mike would want his moments in the spotlight too, and certainly has had a say in the contents of these releases over the years. Does anyone know if Mike simply doesn't want that getting out in official fashion?
Well, "Brian's Back" is from one of those unreleased albums, and that original recording has seen two separate releases on BB projects (Endless Harmony in 1998 and MIC in 2013), plus an unreleased remake for his 2004 solo project, and another remake/remix for his "Unleash the Love."
As for the rest, several of those tracks were remade for those 2004 solo recordings, and some ended up remade again for "Unleash the Love."
I don't think Mike is a strong proponent of either of those unreleased solo albums, and he's not a fan of his *released* solo album from 1981 either, seeming embarrassed about it when Brian brought it up on the '89 "Endless Summer" show. Mike owns the rights to most if not all of the stuff, including those "Celebration" albums, and he hasn't put those "Celebration" albums back in print either. I'm amazed he's never resurrected "Almost Summer" for his shows and done 37 remakes of that song.
Also, Mike is far more represented over the span of the BBs catalog than Dennis is. Dennis disappears after 1979.
So I would guess the high quality of Dennis's material, the relative lack of Dennis representation in the catalog, and Mike's lack of enthusiasm for most of his unreleased solo stuff are the obvious reasons more Mike material hasn't been released.
As I recall, Mike specifically suggested "Brian's Back" back in 1998; I think he has a soft spot for whatever his idealized version of wanting Brian back is (he even tearfully sang a bit of the then-unreleased song on one of those tabloid TV shows during the height of the Landy debacle in the early 90s).
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