50th anniversary Releases

[Thunderfingers75]

I havent heard about this either. I'd love to see the DVD.

[Aegir]

I think that if every single album were to be re-released again that, perfectly reasonably, a lot of people would complain about fans being taken for a ride.

I think the Beach Boys' albums deserve to be available individually, don't they?

And imagine, for instance, this being released on a CD with a nice LP replica sleeve:

01. Slip On Through
02. This Whole World
03. Add Some Music To Your Day
04. Got To Know The Woman
05. Deirdre
06. It's About Time
07. Tears In The Morning
08. All I Wanna Do
09. Forever
10. Our Sweet Love
11. At My Window
12. Cool, Cool Water
BONUS:
13. Break Away
14. Celebrate The News
15. Cotton Fields (single version)
16. Sound Of Free
17. Lady
18. San Miguel
19. Soulful Old Man Sunshine
20. Games Two Can Play
21. I Just Got My Pay
21. Over The Waves
22. Walkin'
23. What Can The Matter Be?
24. You Never Give Me Your Money
25. Forever (a capella)
26. Add Some Music To Your Day (a capella)
27. This Whole World (a capella)

Doesn't seem superfluous or a rip-off to me...

Well, not every album can have 15 bonus tracks.

[smile-holland]

Well, not every album can have 15 bonus tracks.

I think the re-release of BW's first solo-album got pretty close...

[wallabie]

If I am not mistaken BW-Solo had 16 Bonus, wasn´t it?

No, they should just do a box-set with all unrealeased stuff... like California Feeling with Brian on Lead back in the 70th. I don´t want to buy all the original Albums again just to have some bonus... but I think that is what they would do... or maybe make a new compilation with 2-3 tracks... they do this for 20 years, why should they change now?

A friend of mine has every official released LP/CD by the beach boys... I think he spend money for "Fun, Fun, Fun" 20 times... or even more...

[shelter]

Well, not every album can have 15 bonus tracks.

Pet Sounds has been re-issued with 77 bonus tracks, so I don't see why not.

[hypehat]

I think the twofers are an excellent idea, considering the brevity of some Beach Boys records - Would anyone really be happy forking out £10 for the 8 tracks of CATP? I do like it and all, but even with bonus tracks i don't think you'd be getting the best value.
I think more Hawthorne's are the way to go, but I do think, and this is coming from a proper fan of the things, that the stereo mixes are a cop-out of giving us actual unreleased material. Can't complain, though.

As for the anniversary, i can't see much more than another career-spanning boxset thing. I don't think Mike would welcome Dennis or Smile releases to celebrate it.

[Pretty Funky]

The very things the fans would like to see you mean? To make something special 'Special'.

[hypehat]

The very things the fans would like to see you mean? To make something special 'Special'.

I meant more 'Good Vibrations' than some massive thing of rarities. That of course would be insanely good.

[Pretty Funky]

Really there is room for both. GH's and rarities on a twofer perhaps?

[shelter]

Well, not every album can have 15 bonus tracks.

Because I'm a nerd with too much time on my hands, I've got some suggestions for the bonus tracks if each album would be expanded and released individually:

Surfin' Safari: material from the Lost & Found 1961-1962 comp, which I believe is out of print anyway.

Surfin' USA, Surfer Girl, Little Deuce Coupe, Shut Down Vol. 2, All Summer Long, Christmas Album, Today! and Summer Days: the whole albums (or at least what's available) in mono and stereo, in addition to some outtakes and alternate mixes/versions.

Concert: the tracks that were left off the album (Don't Worry Baby, Hushabye, Surfin' USA, Surfer Girl, Be True To Your School) and since three full concerts were recorded maybe some alternate versions.

Party: plenty of outtakes from that session.

Pet Sounds: more than enough bonus material available.

Smiley Smile: Smile outtakes.

Wild Honey: Lei'd In Hawaii sessions.

Friends: difficult one, maybe a live set, as several 1968 shows have been professionally recorded.

20/20: plenty of outtakes available.

Sunflower: plenty of outtakes.

Surf's Up: enough outtakes.

Carl & The Passions and Holland: a lot of live shows from 1972 and 1973 were recorded professionally, so maybe some live stuff.

15 Big Ones: plenty of outtakes available.

Love You: Adult/Child outtakes.

MIU Album: the christmas tracks.

LA Light Album, Keepin' The Summer Alive and BB85: enough outtakes available.

Still Cruisin': plenty of single-only tracks from around that time.

Summer In Paradise: US & UK versions, plus a few single-only tracks.

And of course, backing tracks, a capella mixes and recording sessions are an option.

[shelter]

Some of the benefits of this plan:
- The Beach Boys are one of the biggest bands in music history. Their albums should be available individually. Can you imagine Rubber Soul only being available combined with Revolver?
- No Beach Boys album should be out of print. Not even Summer In Paradise. This would be a good excuse to re-issue Still Cruisin' and SIP.
- Every BB comp ever released could be deleted, cause if you've got the regular albums, you've got everything.
- All the stuff that's now scattered all over the place would be re-organized. All the Lei'd In Hawaii tracks in one place, the the Today stereo mixes in one place, all the Summer Days stereo mixes in one place, the Sunflower/Add Some Music outtakes in one place...
- Five words: Surf's Up with Dennis's songs.
- Nice opportunity to release a sh*tload of unreleased, rare and out-of-print material and a few live sets.
- Re-releasing the entire catalogue would generate a whole lot of publicity for the 50th anniversary.
- Albums like Sunflower and Friends get more recognition now then when they originally came out, maybe they'd finally reach a decent chart position now.
- You could have AGD re-writing all the booklets.

[The Shift]

Some of the benefits of this plan:
- The Beach Boys are one of the biggest bands in music history. Their albums should be available individually. Can you imagine Rubber Soul only being available combined with Revolver?

Have you seen how Beatles fans have reacted to the rip-off nature of the Beatles reissues? They're very expensive, being mainly half-hour albums on one disc. There was the opportunity to include bonuses, session outtakes and more -  maybe even stereo and mono mixes on the same disc but they didn't even remix the stereo versions. Just cleaned them up (remastered). They sound superb... but what a waste of space on the discs!

- No Beach Boys album should be out of print. Not even Summer In Paradise. This would be a good excuse to re-issue Still Cruisin' and SIP.

Trouble is those albums tarnish the band's reputation and are a good reason for the entire project never getting off the ground. Suppose the Beatles reissue series had included all their solo albums - even Ringo's!

- Every BB comp ever released could be deleted, cause if you've got the regular albums, you've got everything.

Not true -  we'd need special compilations just to compile all the mixed up mixes that have been accidently issued on compilations over the years!

- All the stuff that's now scattered all over the place would be re-organized. All the Lei'd In Hawaii tracks in one place, the the Today stereo mixes in one place, all the Summer Days stereo mixes in one place, the Sunflower/Add Some Music outtakes in one place...

Agree that that would be nice but how many discs might such a re-issue programme occupy? Whew!

- Five words: Surf's Up with Dennis's songs.

Then it would only be fair to include Mike's too!

- Nice opportunity to release a sh*tload of unreleased, rare and out-of-print material and a few live sets.

THAT'S what we want/need/are waiting for!

- You could have AGD re-writing all the booklets.

Ah! "Shelter" -  that's just a pseudonym isn't it, Andrew!

[shelter]

Have you seen how Beatles fans have reacted to the rip-off nature of the Beatles reissues? They're very expensive, being mainly half-hour albums on one disc. There was the opportunity to include bonuses, session outtakes and more -  maybe even stereo and mono mixes on the same disc but they didn't even remix the stereo versions. Just cleaned them up (remastered). They sound superb... but what a waste of space on the discs!

That's why I think the re-issues should have a whole lot of bonus tracks.

Trouble is those albums tarnish the band's reputation and are a good reason for the entire project never getting off the ground. Suppose the Beatles reissue series had included all their solo albums - even Ringo's!

I think it just makes a band look amateurish if some of their albums aren't available.

Not true -  we'd need special compilations just to compile all the mixed up mixes that have been accidently issued on compilations over the years!

No, all the special mixes we have now (binaural, a capella, stereo etc.) should be added to the albums that the original versions are on. Most BB albums are about 30 minutes long and a CD has a max. playing time of 80 minutes, so there's enough space to include all the odds & ends.

Agree that that would be nice but how many discs might such a re-issue programme occupy? Whew!

Just one disc per album, so if I'm not mistaken that would be something like 31 discs (studio + official live albums). To be released seperately and as a box set.

Ah! "Shelter" -  that's just a pseudonym isn't it, Andrew!

 

[Nicko1234]

No, all the special mixes we have now (binaural, a capella, stereo etc.) should be added to the albums that the original versions are on. Most BB albums are about 30 minutes long and a CD has a max. playing time of 80 minutes, so there's enough space to include all the odds & ends.

Not if they were to include everything that you`ve talked about. For example, with an album like CATP they would obviously have to fill it with live versions if they were going to make it worthwhile. So therefore fans would also expect the other CDs to feature live songs too but it wouldn`t be possible to include much at all on things like Sunflower and 15 Big Ones because there would be no space. Fans still wouldn`t be happy...

Anyway, all of the comparisons with The Beatles don`t work because they are so much more popular and respected than The BBs. The only BBs album that compares in terms of popularity is Pet Sounds and that has already been released in numerous versions. How many people would actually go out to buy Surfin` Safari, MIU, KTSA, SIP etc. just because there were a few alternate versions or unreleased songs on the CDs? Even some of the hardcore fans might not bother...

If they want to release something for the fans then a set of unreleased songs or rarities would be a much more sensible and affordable way to go.

[shelter]

Anyway, all of the comparisons with The Beatles don`t work because they are so much more popular and respected than The BBs.

And I'm absolutely sure that's partially because The Beatles have taken much better care of their discography.

[Nicko1234]

Nah, it`s because they`ve always been much more successful and always will be.

[phirnis]

While I cerainly agree that very few would probably care to buy "The Extended Keepin' The Summer Alive", they could still have a go at bringing out some of their most respected work as special editions, like Today! or Sunflower, both of which were even featured in Rolling Stone's top 500 records "of all time" (which is not that important but still shows that people have started to appreciate some of their records other than Pet Sounds).

[shelter]

Nah, it`s because they`ve always been much more successful and always will be.

That too, obviously. But the Beach Boys discography has been treated without much care and respect the last few decades and that certainly hasn't been very good PR. I don't know what the situation is in other countries, but if you go to a record store here and check out the 'Beatles' section, you see individual albums for 20 euros each (I can't recall ever having seen the Beatles' albums on sale anywhere). Then you check out the 'Beach Boys' section, and you see a bunch of crappy budget comps for 7,99, and some 2fer-discs with two albums each for 10 euros. How do you think that looks to the casual buyer? Beatles = classy. Beach Boys = bargain bin material.

[The Shift]

Anyway, all of the comparisons with The Beatles don`t work because they are so much more popular and respected than The BBs.

And I'm absolutely sure that's partially because The Beatles have taken much better care of their discography.

Seconded. The Beatles didn't allow their material to be used for ads etc; they also bowed out at their peak so their catalogue isn't tainted by the crud they might have released later on. So the overall quality of the music is unsurpassable, the integrity of their reputation undiminished and uncommercialised outside of their own official output.

[picassosson]

Seconded. The Beatles didn't allow their material to be used for ads etc... So the overall quality of the music is unsurpassable, the integrity of their reputation undiminished and uncommercialised outside of their own official output.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ztSYJNO4kac&feature=related

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gg1DA4DY9Gw

[Dr. Tim]

Don't forget that the BB two-fers - especially the more recent versions - were mastered with great care, in HDCD for those who have it (most do), by Mark Linett.  In that respect the current BB releases, sonically, are far superior to the 1987 CD issues of the Beatles catalog.  It took the Fabs another 22 years to get around to doing the CD remasterings right.

Maybe that's more a shout-out to Mark than anything else, but it's still a noteworthy point.

[The Shift]

Seconded. The Beatles didn't allow their material to be used for ads etc... So the overall quality of the music is unsurpassable, the integrity of their reputation undiminished and uncommercialised outside of their own official output.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ztSYJNO4kac&feature=related
 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gg1DA4DY9Gw

Oh my gosh, you're right -  the Beatles were crap after all!!!   

Heh! I stand corrected!

Ringo can't be blamed tho, he didn't know any better!

[Bicyclerider]

Don't forget that the BB two-fers - especially the more recent versions - were mastered with great care, in HDCD for those who have it (most do), by Mark Linett.  In that respect the current BB releases, sonically, are far superior to the 1987 CD issues of the Beatles catalog.  It took the Fabs another 22 years to get around to doing the CD remasterings right.

Maybe that's more a shout-out to Mark than anything else, but it's still a noteworthy point.

I think some would quibble with that - first off, I suspect most of the BB fans both on this board and in general who purchased the 2001 releases do not have HDCD.  Second, I would argue that the original 2fers in many respects sound better than the 2001 releases.  Perhaps I would change my mind if I had HDCD - does HDCD somehow counter the loudness/compression of the latest remasters and tame the overly bright treble?

[picassosson]

Heh! I stand corrected!

Ringo can't be blamed tho, he didn't know any better!

  Some would say the same for Mr. Love!

But let's not forget this classy gem  : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nuCrOwsgJ-c

[Dancing Bear]

They could have pulled this kind of reissue campaign with bonus tracks etc in the beginning of this decade. The moment is gone.

But I still say that a rarities / outtakes studio collection would be a critical success and even make a bit of money. Just don't mix them with vocals only / backing tracks only / radio promos / stereo remixes / live performances.