Links added by Linda.

From the left -- Deluxe CD/Vinyl Box Set, Standard 2-CD Set, Vinyl 2-LP Set:

   

With music sales shrinking more every year, The surviving Beach Boys have finally decided to cash in their most valuable vault property. According to rhythm guitarist Al Jardine, Capitol Records will be releasing a Beach Boys version of "Smile" this summer. No word on whether it's a 1-CD, 2-CD or box set. Folks over on the Hoffman forum are trying to decide whether Jardine is perpetrating a hoax on the fans, but since I was banished in 2009, I can't tell those cynical folks, that YES, this is for real, and that Beach Boys compiler/remixer Mark Linnet has been doing research on this project(and a possible future CD/DVD set of 1972 concert recordings) for the past 2 years. He hasn't been permitted to speak about it.
Whether the "Smile" set will have anything that we haven't heard on previous official or unofficial releases, that remains to be seen. But it's one more "Smile" product to add to our collection.

Hope this Holy Grail release finally comes to pass. I will be all over it. Would be worth it me for a good version of "Child Is Father of the Man" alone.

Offhand I can't think of anything Linnet's done with the Beach Boys' catalogue that I haven't been pleased with, so this is doubly great news AFAIC, Phil. Hopefully there's a lot of material which is more complete than the Purple Chick version that came out a few years ago ... that was pretty definitive as far as the recordings that were already in circulation, but several of the tracks were sort of spartan, and it leaves you longing for a version of the original SMiLE that really feels "finished".

I don't know how I feel about this. Brian Wilson Presents Smile was, in my estimation, a masterpiece and the final word on Smile. Im a diehard fan, which is who a set like this will appeal to, and I don't know what they could put together that would blow my mind at this point. That being said, I have faith n Linett - nobody knows the Boys better. If he's working with Darian Sahanaja on this and it has Brian's sign off, I'm sure it will be well done.

Should be one of the top releases of 2011

Small and welcome miracle!

Will Beach Boy fans whine about new performances being dubbed onto vintage recordings the way that Stones fans did last year for that "Exile" re-release?

It depends on whether or not new overdubs are done. I doubt Mike Love would want any involvement with one of Brian's pet projects. If this comes out, it should be interesting to hear.

This concern is silly. Al Jardine has already stated that there has been no additional recording.

I wonder if the Good Vibrations sessions are going to be included. The three-disc "Unsurpassed Masters Vol. 15" boot could make a nice stand-alone official release, although I'm not sure how many they could sell. Listening to that song develop in the studio is pretty amazing(to this Beach Boys nut), but I'm guessing that the general public would be less interested in hearing Brian barking orders at his studio musicians.

"According to rhythm guitarist Al Jardine, Capitol Records will be releasing a Beach Boys version of "Smile" this summer."

So it will be the completed LP or just a collection of all the working tapes or both? Hard to tell from the first post. I'm hoping they will complete the LP with Brian's involvement.

Al Jardine has just retracted his announcement of an official "Smile" set. It was likely a Jardine-created hoax on the loyal fans.

So what happened to "YES, this is for real, and that Beach Boys compiler/remixer Mark Linnet has been doing research on this project(and a possible future CD/DVD set of 1972 concert recordings) for the past 2 years"?

Well, Linett had been doing tape research on "Smile" recordings & 1972 concert audio & video tapes, but I never thought(with respect to "Smile") that it was anything more than an inventorying & tape cataloging exercise, towards possible future use, until Al Jardine's hoax announcement of a "Smile" release made it seem to be something more.

So the cynical folks at the Hoffman forum were right.

Sounds like this was exactly the same as when McCartney drops a mention of possibly releasing Carnival of Light or completing "Now and Then" into interviews when he's got something new to promote.

To answer Andrew's post from upthread, if there are re-recorded parts it won't be the original SMiLE (but I for one will get it anyway ).

Sounds like Al might have been misquoted both coming and going. Why paint it as a deliberate hoax? I'm not convinced that he has any idea what Capitol is planning anyway. Would love to hear some info from Mark Linnet himself, if he's allowed to talk about this.

Though I've sometimes mis-spelled his name(as have many) it's "Linett", and he is prohibited to talk about this. If he had spoken, he would have ended up with (symbolic) mud on his face. Now it's Al Jardine's problem.

If this is, indeed, a fake story, can the thread be re-titled to indicate that?

Below is the question-and-answer portion of the Jardine interview with Jeremy Roberts on examiner.com that started the Smile story. Jardine may have been goofing, but doesn't sound like he was misquoted..


Q. Are there plans for a new Beach Boys archival project?

A. Capitol Records plans to issue a Beach Boys version of Smile sometime this summer to begin the celebration of The Beach Boys’ anniversary. Smile is the Holy Grail for Beach Boys’ fans, so it will be good.

I don’t have many details on it, although we didn't do any new recording. I'm happy to see it finally come out. Brian’s changed his mind about releasing the material, but it was inevitable, wasn’t it? (Al chuckles).

But he later retracted the claim that "Smile" is going to be released.

I'm seeing speculation elsewhere that the retraction could well be due to pressure from Capitol.