Beach Boys' storied "Smile" recordings set for release

The never-released follow-up to the Beach Boys' "Pet Sounds" album will be released Nov. 1 -- nearly 45 years after the planned original release date.

"The Smile Sessions," recorded in 1966-67, will be released by Capitol/EMI in various configurations, according to a press release. A two-CD set will feature material never made public including studio conversations, bonus tracks and alternative versions of album cuts.

Also available will be a four-CD set that will include additional session recordings, a book of never-before-published photographs and more.

The original album was intended to be released following the band's critically acclaimed "Pet Sounds," but was shelved during the group's legal dispute with Capitol Records, and as band mastermind Brian Wilson descended further into drug addiction and mental illness.

"The Smile Sessions" -- which Rolling Stone called "the most famous unfinished album in rock & roll history" -- is being released with the full participation of original Beach Boys including Wilson, Al Jardine and Mike Love.

In addition to the Capitol/EMI release, the band is making available several limited-edition packages ranging from a two-CD set with a T-shirt at $39.99 to the "Mile Light P Box Set" ($5,999.99) that includes an exclusive autographed light-up box and a limited-edition exclusive SMiLE surfboard custom made by Hobie.

Additional information about the limited-edition sets is available at the band's website.

After setting the project aside for decades, Wilson and lyricist Van Dyke Parks re-teamed to complete a new version of "Smile," which premiered in London in 2004. A studio version of which was later released by Wilson.