After decades of devoted fans compiling mix tapes of studio outtakes, B-sides, and unfinished recordings, The Beach Boys’ SMiLE sessions are finally being released November 1 by Capitol/EMI. Dubbed “The most famous unfinished album in rock & roll history…” by Rolling Stone, the album was intended to best Brian Wilson’s magnum opus Pet Sounds, but due to Wilson’s deteriorating grip on reality/health combined with pressure from their record label, the sessions were scrapped and hastily packaged together as the lackluster Smiley Smile. Since then, music critics and fans alike have wondered what the actual project would have sounded like, and even though Brian Wilson released his revamped take on SMiLE a few years ago, it still differed from what the intended project was supposed to be. However, with the release of The SMiLE Sessions, the full participation of the original Beach Boys (Al Jardine, Mike Love, and Brian Wilson) has collected and compiled the band’s original 1966-67 sessions for the never-completed album. Hopefully now some of the mystery will be taken out of the enigmatic album, which many have assumed would’ve been one of the greatest records of all time.
The album will be released in a wide array of formats, including a 2-CD lift-top box, double-vinyl LP, digital album, and iTunes LP, with the boxed edition of The SMiLE Sessions (being released physically and digitally) featuring the main SMiLE album tracks, plus four CDs of additional audio from the sessions, a double-vinyl LP set, and two 7-inch vinyl singles. The deluxe box will also contain a 60-page hardbound book with rare and unseen photos and memorabilia from The Beach Boys’ archive, as well as newly-written essays by Al Jardine, Mike Love, Brian Wilson, and Bruce Johnston, as well as Beach Boys historian Domenic Priore and other inner-circle participants. The Beach Boys are also planning to produce the first official music videos for “Good Vibrations” and “Heroes and Villains” by partnering with Tongal, a “leading” creative social platform. Fans will be able to collaborate to create these official music videos in two phases. Firstly, the concept phase will have fans conceptualize the music videos in 250 characters or less. Secondly, the video phase will have Tongal users select five winning concepts from the first phase and produce a music video based on it. Cash prizes and special items will be awarded to Tongal users for the top submissions.
Wait a sec, this just in: The Smile Sessions have just been scrapped in favor of The Deluxe Kokomo Experience, which will feature four CDs of remixes for The Beach Boys’ classic track “Kokomo,” as well as a 60-page hardbound book with newly-written essays by Mike Love detailing the process of writing and recording the song. Hopefully, he will also explain why he enjoyed ruining the band’s legendary image in order to appear on the Cocktail OST.
Okay, I should stop now. I’m not funny.
The SMiLE Sessions tracklisting:
Disc One:
01. Our Prayer
02. Gee
03. Heroes and Villains
04. Do You Like Worms (Roll Plymouth Rock)
05. I’m in Great Shape
06. Barnyard
07. My Only Sunshine (The Old Master Painter / You Are My Sunshine)
08. Cabin Essence
09. Wonderful
10. Look (Song for Children)
11. Child Is Father of the Man
12. Surf’s Up
13. I Wanna Be Around / Workshop
14. Vega-Tables
15. Holidays
16. Wind Chimes
17. The Elements: Fire (Mrs. O’Leary’s Cow)
18. Love to Say Dada
19. Good Vibrations
20. You’re Welcome *
21. Heroes and Villains (Stereo Mix) *
22. Heroes and Villains Sections (Stereo Mix) *
23. Vega-Tables Demo *
24. He Gives Speeches *
25. Smile Backing Vocals Montage *
26. Surf’s Up 1967 (Solo Version) *
27. Psycodelic Sounds: Brian Falls into a Piano*
Disc Two:
01. Our Prayer “Dialog”
02. Heroes and Villains: Part 1
03. Heroes and Villains: Part 2
04. Heroes and Villains: Children Were Raised (1/27/67)
05. Heroes and Villains: Prelude to Fade (2/15/67)
06. My Only Sunshine (11/14/66)
07. Cabin Essence (10/3/66)
08. Surf’s Up: 1st Movement (11/4/66)
09. Surf’s Up: Piano Demo (12/15/66)
10. Vega-Tables: Fade (4/12/67)
11.The Elements: Fire session (11/28/66)
12. Cool, Cool Water (Version 2) (10/26-10/29/67)
13. Good Vibrations Session Highlights
* bonus tracks
• The Beach Boys: http://www.thebeachboys.com
• Capitol: http://capitolrecords.com
