SMiLE Sessions box set!

[Mikie]

He musta been standing on the running board. No way he coulda been standing on the ground looking over the car. All I remember seeing is the beard with two beady eyes in the darkness.

[Wrightfan]

I'm not sure my memory is any sharper than yours, Steve.  I didn't even remember that your store was on 9th Street instead of 10th!

But I distinctly remember Al looking over the top of the limo conversing about Smiley Smile and I either watched or heard later that you gave him a copy of the album.

Al looked over the top of a limo ?

Low rider, right ?

I'm thinking one of those Power Wheels vehicles  

[♩♬🐸 Billy C ♯♫♩🐇]

[Mikie]

Empty space.

[puni puni]

run to the bedroom in the suitcase on the left you'll find my favorite axe

[runnersdialzero]

Ok some thoughts.

I really hope they don't add vocals to parts that don't have vocals. What I mean is, the PC version of "Do You Like Worms" added the "Bicycle Rider" in place of the "Ribbon of Concrete" part and during the first verse of "Surf's Up" they added "Canvas the town..." that part of course wasn't sung by Brian until after the second verse.

Why are you complaining about "Worms"? Do you realize that the cut and paste thing was EXACTLY what Brian did on "Good Vibrations"? The Purple Chick mix was dicks, granted, and did way too much of said "flying in", but I think there's an acceptable amount. Putting the "Worms" chorus in there twice isn't criminal unless the "Ribbon of concrete" vocal exists somewhere (it doesn't). Heck, any edit of "Worms" likely isn't a legit vintage 66/67 structure, including the 93 box set version. Where should the line be drawn?

I should also add that the "Surf's Up" thing is a different case given that we don't know if Brian intended for that part to be sung twice, if the melody Carl sung on the 71 version is something he came up with or a vintage 67 melody, etc. etc. I guess I understand this one a bit more than the "Worms" complaint, but I don't think it's too big an injustice to have the "canvas" vocal on there twice. Who knows if the "bygone"s (or "bacon, bacon" if you're Jeff Foskett) or the "Child" outro were part of the original arrangement? Maybe, maybe not. I don't think they should limit themselves so much. Limits are necessary, yes, but I don't think this stuff is too criminal.

On my own mix, I used Carl's first "Canvas the town" vocal in that spot, doubled by Brian on the "are you sleeping?" vocal, and then used again to harmonize with Brian (ala BWPS) the second time. Not that it matters.

[37!ws]

Who knows if the "bygone"s (or "bacon, bacon" if you're Jeff Foskett) or the "Child" outro were part of the original arrangement? Maybe, maybe not.

Well, here's what Jack Rieley had to say about that:

The song was in several disjointed, uncompleted sections. Child was
clearly intended to be the climax. After many nights of listening --
at least two with Brian on Coldwater with us -- we set out to
construct and reconstruct. I first flirted with the thought Brian
should sing the lead on the first section, but Brian insisted that
Carl do it, and Carl was clearly thrilled. It was the right thing to
do. The Brian solo section is of course constructed around Brian's
televised appearance for Leonard Bernstein. Carl played the bottom
end synth, I decided to cut all effects from Brian's voice on the
title line. We had lots of musicians in to redo parts of the track
that had been played badly. Recording went on for several weeks, with
Brian very involved but Carl heading the effort. It was going to be a
masterpiece. By the time we got to Child, some of the moving parts
had Brian excited and active. He chose Carl for a couple, took on a
two for himself, assigned two more to me, got Marilyn for still
another. Desper seemed to realize he was recording something
extraordinary: his acid humor was replaced by, ahh, reverence.

And nobody asked, but FWIW, here's what else he had to say:

Subject: Re: SURF:S UP
From: dave prokopy
To: pet-sounds@lists.primenet.com
Date: Thursday, October 17, 1996 12:22 PM

> I believe it's
> a children's song, have you listened as they played?
> their song is love, and the children know the way.

that basically what i thought, too, but i've heard different
interpretations. at any rate, then my NEXT question is, who wrote
this? are these parks' words from 1966, or someone else's words from
1971? certainly, neither of the two vocal performances of the song
that still exist from 1966 (i.e., the two solo performances brian did
for CBS) contain this couplet, but possibly just because brian was
too busy singing the "ahhhh" part at the end.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Subject: RE: SURF:S UP
From: Jack Rieley
To: pet-sounds@lists.primenet.com
Date: Oct 17 1996 - 12:22pm

The couplet was written during the recording of the moving
backgrounds for the Surfs Up album.

- Jack

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Subject: RE: SURF:S UP
From: dave prokopy
To: pet-sounds@lists.primenet.com
Sent: Thursday, October 17, 1996 1:39 PM

> The couplet was written during the recording of the moving
> backgrounds for the Surfs Up album.

by whom? you? brian? carl? al? van dyke?

(sorry to pester you about this - as many people on this list know,
i'm a HUGE Smile fanatic, so these little tidbits are indespensible
to me!)

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Subject: RE: SURF:S UP
From: Jack Rieley
To: pet-sounds@lists.primenet.com
Date: Oct 17 1996 - 1:47pm

Dave,

There's no writer's credit officially given, so I am somewhat
reticent about this question. How about this.... it was not Brian,
Carl, Jardine, Love, Johnston, Van Dyke Parks, Dennis or Steve
Desper.

Perhaps you will excuse this admittedly chicken-sh*t way around your
question. The couplet's authorship should of course have been
credited. It was not.

- Jack

[runnersdialzero]

Lyrics were obviously written then. Whether or not Brian had dreamed up the "Child" ending years prior to the 71 recording, perhaps even in 67, is still up for debate imo.

Thanks for that stuff, though always interesting to read this stuff.

[Andrew G. Doe]

"The Brian solo section is of course constructed around Brian's televised appearance for Leonard Bernstein."

Not true, as we have known for many years.

"We had lots of musicians in to redo parts of the track that had been played badly. Recording went on for several weeks, with
Brian very involved but Carl heading the effort."

Again, this is all most questionable.

[runnersdialzero]

"We had lots of musicians in to redo parts of the track that had been played badly. Recording went on for several weeks, with
Brian very involved but Carl heading the effort."

Again, this is all most questionable.

I thought it was said that a proper re-recording of "Surf's Up" was done or at least attempted in 71, but they opted to use the Smile sessions/Brian demo with overdubs instead? Could he be referring to that? Was there no attempts at re-recording the song properly?

[Amazing Larry]

run to the bedroom in the suitcase on the left you'll find my favorite axe

FLOYD.

[Shady]

And we must listen to Mikie, because he was alive when SMiLE went down. This means his credibility is WAY up there.

Give it a rest. I'm sick of coming on this thread reading your posts that bash people who talk about the music.

So what if Shady likes talking about SMiLE? What the f*ck does it matter? What the f*ck does it matter that we obsessively talk about this album? In case you haven't noticed, this is a board for people who like to talk about SMiLE and the roads that led to and from it.

It's not supposed to be a board where you feed your ego by bashing others because some people here like to talk about the music/release/whatever. And yeah, I think most of us here would rather read Tobelman's interesting take on SMiLE than read your monotonous sarcastic childish bitching that adds nothing but angst to this board.

You may have been around when SMiLE was concieved, but obviously in this case, age hasn't brought much wisdom.

*waits for some bullsh*t attack on my liking of SMiLE, the nature of my posts, or some other ribbing that will feed Mikie's ego*

I honestly have no idea why Mikie has a beef with me..

I can't imagine why he takes issue with people being excited for SMiLE, It is pretty much every fans dream..

Anway he can just accept people are happy and not hassle people for posting in the SMiLE thread a couple of times a day or live in anger and just avoid the thread altogether 

[Jason]

Paging Phil!

[Mikie]

I honestly have no idea why Mikie has a beef with me..

I don't! Just giving you crap, Shady, that's all.  

I can't imagine why he takes issue with people being excited for SMiLE, It is pretty much every fans dream..

Again, I don't! It's just funny that some people can get so fanatical about it!  Yeah, it's the SMiLE relic. The holy grail of Beach Boys records. Arguably* the most popular unreleased album of all time. But much of it, maybe most of it, is out there already in some capacity! If fans are so hyped up and jonesing about it EVERY DAY like you are, I recommend listening to your bootlegs to hold you over until it's legitimately released in November!  It's almost like..........you're just so horny you can't wait for the wife or girlfriend to get home so you can have sex with her! Or a heroin addict who can't wait for his next fix! It's almost hilarious to read!

I can't imagine why he takes issue with people being excited for SMiLE, It is pretty much every fans dream.Anway he can just accept people are happy and not hassle people for posting in the SMiLE thread a couple of times a day or live in anger and just avoid the thread altogether.

No! I accept it just fine - you guys are just real defensive! This is the most enjoyable thread on the board! With the various characters here, it makes for great entertainment! But I'll lay off you guys and be more positive and try to contribute to the thread; issat OK?  

[hypehat]

"The Brian solo section is of course constructed around Brian's televised appearance for Leonard Bernstein."

Not true, as we have known for many years.

"We had lots of musicians in to redo parts of the track that had been played badly. Recording went on for several weeks, with
Brian very involved but Carl heading the effort."

Again, this is all most questionable.

I'll say. I don't know whether the terrible offences committed to well-known facts here can nullify the suggestion that he wrote the lyrics to the tag.

[dmcguire70]

Thanks for your input, Buddharat.  It was very productive.  Now carry on with your obsessive-compulsive SMiLE chat.

Thank god morons like you only exist on message boards.

Unfortunately they also exist in real life.

[Mikie]

*Cough*

'Scuse me.

[Shady]

No! I accept it just fine - you guys are just real defensive! This is the most enjoyable thread on the board! With the various characters here, it makes for great entertainment! But I'll lay off you guys and be more positive and try to contribute to the thread; issat OK?  

That would be nice 

[Chris Brown]

"The Brian solo section is of course constructed around Brian's televised appearance for Leonard Bernstein."

Not true, as we have known for many years.

"We had lots of musicians in to redo parts of the track that had been played badly. Recording went on for several weeks, with
Brian very involved but Carl heading the effort."

Again, this is all most questionable.

I'll say. I don't know whether the terrible offences committed to well-known facts here can nullify the suggestion that he wrote the lyrics to the tag.

Given that Desper is generally a more reliable source, and his version of the story differs significantly from Rieley's, I consider his suggestion duly nullified.  

[runnersdialzero]

Given that Desper is generally a more reliable source, and his version of the story differs significantly from Rieley's, I consider his suggestion duly nullified.  

Desper, God love 'im, also violently stands by a sped up Brian singing the tag of "Surf's Up". It just ain't so. Even the most reliable source isn't always necessarily correct.

[Jeff]

Given that Desper is generally a more reliable source, and his version of the story differs significantly from Rieley's, I consider his suggestion duly nullified.  

Desper, God love 'im, also violently stands by a sped up Brian singing the tag of "Surf's Up". It just ain't so. Even the most reliable source isn't always necessarily correct.

Violently?  Did he physically attack someone who contested his claim?

[Cam Mott]

I'm not bothered that a board that began as a board about the SMiLE album might obsess over said album. Sort of predictable/expected.

[Mikie]

This board kinda took in refugees from the Smile Shop when it folded, didn't it? Smilers migrated over here because they had nowhere else to go but Ego and Cabinessence? Heavens to Mergatroid!

[Runaways]

whatever, let's keep talkin surf's up

[Mikie]

Surf's Up?  Read Desper's book called "Recording The Beach Boys".