I'm into a little Jan&Dean- phase right now and I thought about what could be on a boxset. Just a couple of ideas, over time I might have other thoughts:
One CD has to focus on the hits of course, maybe including some lesser known stuff from the early stage. All in their original mono mixes. And some studio dialogues etc. to show Jan (and Dean) working with the musicians.
Another CD could feature new stereo mixes and interesting backing tracks, acapella mixes and - if possible - recordings of just the orchestration of certain songs (like for example the string parts of "Ride the wild surf").
CD 3 could be dedicated to live performances. Mark just mentioned a couple of weeks back on the Smiley Smile messageboard the November '65 San Diego show (partly seen in "On the run") and the Hullabaloo Night Club recordings (later found on Filet Of Soul) that imo were perfect candidates for this. Maybe even something like the '63 Hollywood Bowl performance (
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bxC9egTxPoc ).
On CD 4 you could have the original "Filet Of Soul" if it was ever finished or, if not, selected parts of it, including the one side on Dean's anthology. Added to that the original Batman & Robin monologues could find a place here.
CD 5 I'd love to feature the recordings that show Dean's work while Jan was in the hospital plus Jan's work after he was out of hospital. That means all the originally released singles like "Summertime, summertime" (which I really don't like) and "California lullaby", Dean's version of "Louisiana man", certain highlights from "Save for a rainy day" and "Vege-tables". Then of course the originally released songs from the "Carnival of sound" project.
Added to that some of the best stuff from later years by both guys. "How, how I love her", "Don't you just know it" (Brian Wilson's name will surely get some more attention for this set), "Mother earth" etc. (I don't know if there is also some stuff from Dean).
Apart from an essay by Mark Moore the booklet could include memorabilia, maybe even a facsimile of a arrangement chart written by Jan. If there are good interviews of Jan and Dean maybe those could be printed. Or some radio interviews from the 60s (if there exist some useful ones) could be put onto one of the first CDs on this boxset.
Give that set a cool title (unfortunatley "Gotta take that one last ride" has been taken already) and hope that Dean can come up with a similar fantastic design as he did for "Carnival of sound"
