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Unreleased album sessions finally get a full, comprehensive release
Si Truss, Wed 31 Aug 2011, 11:16 am BST

The Beach Boys' SMiLE Sessions - their now-legendary shelved album recordings from 1966 and '67 - are finally getting a full, official release on 31 October (1 November in the US).
The unfinished album will be released as a double-CD, LP and download release containing an approximation of what was intended to be the completed SMiLE album, compiled from The Beach Boys' original session masters, plus bonus material. Brian Wilson, Al Jardine and Mike Love were all involved in curating and contributing to the release.
An expansive 5-CD, double-LP and double-7-inch boxset will also be released featuring a wealth of bonus tracks, a 60-page book and three-dimensional packaging (all pictured above).
SMiLE was originally intended as the follow-up to the band's '66 classic Pet Sounds, but was scrapped due to tensions within the band and Brian Wilson's increasingly fragile mental state. A rerecorded version of the album was released in 2004 by Brian Wilson, while bootlegs of many of the original sessions have been circulating among fans for years.
Check out the tracklist for the double-CD version on the next page, and find full details of the boxset over at Brian Wilson's site.