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Back in June, Capitol/UMe released 1967 - Sunshine Tomorrow, a 2-CD set looking at that year in Beach Boys history - a year in which they gave up on SMiLE, released two very different albums, and recorded a third. Sunshine Tomorrow featured the first true stereo mix of the album Wild Honey, studio tracks recorded for the abandoned "live" album Lei'd In Hawaii, and session outtakes from the Smiley Smile recording dates. In total, it premiered 54 previously unreleased tracks. But, as has often been the case with the Beach Boys catalogue, more was left in the vaults. Over the past several years, due to U.K. and European copyright laws, record companies have been releasing "copyright extension" digital collections to retain copyrights on previously unreleased materials. The Beach Boys have had several of these. And this year is no exception as two such compilations have just been released: the 109-track 1967 - Live Sunshine and the 29-track 1967 - Sunshine Tomorrow 2 - The Studio Sessions.
The 2-CD Sunshine Tomorrow included 12 live tracks taken from 6 shows and rehearsals performed by The Beach Boys in 1967. These concerts included August 25 and 26 in Hawaii (also the origin of the rehearsals), November 17 in Detroit, November 19 in Washington, DC, November 22 in Pittsburgh and November 23 in Boston. For the digital Live Sunshine, all of these concerts and rehearsals are presented in full. As an added bonus, a 10-song set from November 21 in White Plains, N.Y. is also included. Other than the tracks previously included on the 2-CD set, all of the tracks are previously unreleased (although it appears that several of the previously released tracks have received new mixes and edits here).
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The second digital compilation devoted to studio material features an additional previously unreleased 29 tracks not included on the 2-CD set. It has material from the Smiley Smile, Wild Honey and Lei'd in Hawaii sessions. You'll hear variations on the album versions including a cappella renditions, backing tracks, alternate mixes and more. Also featured are outtakes like the Kingston Trio cover "Good News" and the Dennis Wilson song "Tune L."
Like the 2-CD Sunshine Tomorrow, The Beach Boys have personally overseen the creative process for the two digital collections and they are produced by Mark Linett and Alan Boyd. If you would like travel back five decades to 1967 with The Beach Boys, we've got the tracklistings and ordering links below. Both compilations are available digitally now!
The Beach Boys, 1967 - Live Sunshine (Capitol/UMe, 2017) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. TBD / Amazon Canada TBD)
Live in Hawaii - 8/25/67 - Rehearsal
- Heroes and Villains
- God Only Knows
- Good Vibrations
- The Letter
- You're So Good to Me
- Hawaii
- All Day All Night
- California Girls (Take 1)
- Surfin'
- Sloop John B
- Wouldn't It Be Nice
- California Girls (Take 2)
- The Letter (Take 2)
Live in Hawaii - 8/25/67
- Hawaii
- You're So Good to Me
- Surfer Girl
- Surfin'
- Gettin' Hungry
- Sloop John B
- California Girls
- Wouldn't It Be Nice
- Heroes and Villains
- God Only Knows
- Good Vibrations
- Barbara Ann
Live in Hawaii - 8/26/67 - Rehearsal
- The Letter
- Hawaii (New Edit and Mix)
- You're So Good to Me
- God Only Knows
- Help Me Rhonda
- California Girls
- Good Vibrations
- Heroes and Villains (New Edit and Mix)
- Their Hearts Were Full of Spring
- The Lord's Prayer
Live in Hawaii - 8/26/67
- Hawthorne Boulevard*
- Hawaii
- You're So Good to Me
- Help Me Rhonda
- California Girls
- Wouldn't It Be Nice
- Gettin' Hungry (New Edit and Mix)
- Surfer Girl
- Surfin' (New Edit and Mix)
- Sloop John B
- The Letter (New Edit and Mix)
- God Only Knows
- Good Vibrations
- Heroes and Villains
- Barbara Ann
Live in Detroit - 11/17/67
- Barbara Ann
- Darlin'
- Country Air*
- I Get Around
- How She Boogalooed It*
- Wouldn't It Be Nice
- God Only Knows
- California Girls
- Wild Honey*
- Graduation Day
- Good Vibrations
- Johnny B. Goode
Live in Washington, D.C. - 11/19/67
- Barbara Ann
- Darlin'
- I Get Around
- Surfer Girl
- Wouldn't It Be Nice
- God Only Knows
- California Girls*
- Wild Honey
- Good Vibrations
- Graduation Day*
- Johnny B. Goode
Live in White Plains, NY - 11/21/67
- Help Me Rhonda
- Barbara Ann
- Darlin'
- Surfer Girl
- Wouldn't It Be Nice
- God Only Knows
- California Girls
- Wild Honey
- Graduation Day
- Good Vibrations
Live in Pittsburgh - 11/22/67
- Help Me Rhonda
- Barbara Ann
- I Get Around
- Darlin'*
- Surfer Girl
- Wouldn't It Be Nice
- God Only Knows
- California Girls
- Wild Honey
- Good Vibrations
- Johnny B. Goode
- Graduation Day
- Sloop John B
Live in Boston - 11/23/67
- Help Me Rhonda
- Barbara Ann
- Darlin'
- Surfer Girl
- Wouldn't It Be Nice
- God Only Knows
- California Girls
- Wild Honey
- Good Vibrations
- I Get Around*
- Sloop John B
- Graduation Day
- Johnny B. Goode
All tracks previously unreleased except for those with an *, which were previously released on 1967 - Sunshine Tomorrow
The Beach Boys, 1967 - Sunshine Tomorrow 2 - The Studio Sessions (Captiol/UMe, 2017) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada TBD)
- Heroes and Villains (A Cappella)
- Vegetables (Track and Backing Vocals)
- She's Going Bald (Track and Backing Vocals)
- Little Pad (A Cappella)
- With Me Tonight (Session Highlights)
- Wind Chimes (Track and Backing Vocals)
- Getting Hungry (Track and Backing Vocals)
- Whistle In (Track and Backing Vocals)
- Aren't You Glad (Stereo Single Mix)
- I Was Made to Love Her (Track and Backing Vocals)
- Country Air (Track and Backing Vocals)
- Darlin' (Track and Backing Vocals)
- I'd Love Just Once To See You (Track and Backing Vocals)
- Here Comes the Night (A Cappella)
- Let the Wind Blow (A Cappella)
- How She Boogalooed It (Track and Backing Vocals)
- Lonely Days (Session Highlight and Track)
- Time To Get Alone (Backing Track)
- Cool Cool Water (Alternate Mix)
- Can't Wait Too Long (Alternative Mix with Tag)
- Tune L (Session)
- Good News (Outtake)
- Surfin' (Lei'd in Hawaii/Studio Backing Track)
- Heroes and Villains (Lei'd in Hawaii/Studio Version)
- With A Little Help from My Friends (Session Highlight and Track with Background)
- Barbara Ann (Lei'd in Hawaii/Studio Backing Track)
- California Girls (Lei'd in Hawaii/Studio Stereo Mix)
- God Only Knows (Lei'd in Hawaii/Studio Stereo Mix)
- Surfer Girl (Lei'd in Hawaii/Studio Stereo Mix - Alternate Mix)
All tracks previously unreleased.
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The Live Sunshine release is perhaps for BB obsessives only and appears pricey for Mp3 sound but Sunshine Tomorrow 2 looks really interesting. There must be an aircraft hanger somewhere full of this Beach Boys stuff!
These collections are also available as lossless audio, at least in the U.S.A., from a company called "7 Digital"(You have to enter both the artist and album title to access it), but, my one attempt to purchase from them, nearly 2 years ago, was a disaster. Though the company's website (then) admitted that they were having problems delivering larger FLAC downloads, and my attempt to download a 27-song download failed to get started (my computer's download progress display said "Pending"). 7 digital's response was far from satisfactory: they refunded me, but also closed my account....for a situation that was entirely their fault. They offered to supply the music as a webtransfer, but I've got no idea what a webtransfer is, how to use it, or whether it is compatable with my computer.
itunes' lossy AAC audio is unacceptable to me, and if one or two songs fail to download, you'll wait 3 days for a response from customer service.
Legal downloading is not worth the risk of paying good money, then ending up empty-handed. As for the 27-song download which 7 Digital could not successfully supply, I found it on an unofficial Russian website for free. I would have much prefered to buy the music as a CD, but the record company won't sell it on CD.
I think what you're seeing with the pricing here is they expect you to stream on whatever service you might subscribe to and maybe you don't purchase. Have done a little listening myself. Always a treat to hear what the band sounds like in different eras live, or hear them playing songs you wouldn't have heard them play because they haven't been in a setlist in the last 40 years. Having seen Brian Wilson's band I can say some of the chestnuts have ended up being played over the last 15 years or so. Still to hear the rarities being played in their era or the hits being played when they hadn't been toured for 40 more years is a pleasure for the hardcore fan. I still think it would behoove the record company to recognize the opportunity to put out a Sunshine Tomorrow deluxe edition in a physical format than to relegate all these tracks to streaming. A 6 or 7 disc limited pre-order set and then a focused small package (like Sunshine Tomorrow vol 1). There are plenty of us still out here that would buy an elaborate set like this on CD.