SMiLE Sessions box set!

[Bill Tobelman]

None of you guys answered the question. Let's try it again.

What are the odds that there was an album attempted whose goal was to prompt a spiritual experience/enlightenment & that the passage (from the album creator's bio) that explains how such a thing could be done are unrelated?

[Aegir]

there's a chance they could related, but the passage from the biography is fictional and therefore shouldn't be applicable.

[Tristero]

Bill, I actually enjoy your creative interpretations of SMiLE from a philosophical perspective.  If you just didn't insist on them as being literal and incontrovertible fact, you'd be O.K.  Part of the project's magic lies in its open endedness.  Maybe some mysteries have no single, final answer.  SMiLE is too complicated to reduce to one all encompassing theory.

In this specific case, you're talking about an after the fact interpretation that may not have been written by Brian.  That doesn't make it hard evidence.

[vintagemusic]

Does anyone know the worldwide totals on sales, for the Smile sets

[Bill Tobelman]

This is from the Peter Ames Carlin book:

Vosse discovered that subject (Brian Wilson) was much less interested in talking about his new single ("Good Vibrations") than he was in his other interests. "He seemed to want to go off on a tangent about his theory on the divinity of humor, his idea that when you laugh, control goes out the window. You're doing something you have no way to rein in, and so it opens the doors for epiphanies."

[Andrew G. Doe]

None of you guys answered the question. Let's try it again.

What are the odds that there was an album attempted whose goal was to prompt a spiritual experience/enlightenment & that the passage (from the album creator's bio) that explains how such a thing could be done are unrelated?

OK. To answer that, we'd have to accept that:

This was indeed the aim of the album (that's your theory, not an established fact)...

...and that a discredited text written some 25 years after the event it purports to document - and not by the individual in question - explains anything at all except a desire to make a few bucks.

As I can't accept either of those premises, it follows I cannot answer your question, as the question itself requires me to abandon my basic researchers principles and assume that something unproven and questionable - your insistence that the flashback explains anything - has merit.

[Bill Tobelman]

Andrew G. Doe said:

OK. To answer that, we'd have to accept that:

This was indeed the aim of the album (that's your theory, not an established fact)...

Michael Vosse called SMiLE "Brian's humor album" and if that is true then my prior post indicates where this humor album was intended to go direction-wise.

As you well know Brian's proclaiming that "health is an important ingredient in spiritual enlightenment" seems to indicate that the goal of promoting health & vegetables is spiritual enlightenment.

Frank Holmes' comments also point in this direction. The "two step" of "Surf's Up" is interpreted by by Frank along the lines of "to step towards enlightenment."

You are correct that this goal is not an established fact but there is evidence that points in this direction. The idea is not without merit & I invite you to reconsider it simply in the hypothetical. It illuminates an alternate explanation of the history of events which explain a wide variety of SMiLE phenomena.

...and that a discredited text written some 25 years after the event it purports to document - and not by the individual in question - explains anything at all except a desire to make a few bucks.

Please revisit where Brian's head was at during this time. The bonus tracks on the solo Rhino re-issue CD show a man very in tune with his spirituality & how it connects to his music. This is from the same era that gave us the bogus bio. Brian was very much connected to his spiritual self. The SMiLE tape box was being compiled. This era may have provided the perfect storm for some revelations.

As I can't accept either of those premises, it follows I cannot answer your question, as the question itself requires me to abandon my basic researchers principles and assume that something unproven and questionable - your insistence that the flashback explains anything - has merit.

Thanks for a respectful response Andrew. Thinking 'inside the box' isn't likely to help you with SMiLE but I respect you sticking to your guns.

[Andrew G. Doe]

Bill - bottom line: you're telling us all that your interpretation is the only one that fits and explains (closed mind), while the rest of us are allowing that there may be many other possible reasons why Smile came to be (open minds). You see just the one path, wide and shining, while we see many and winding trails, leading in all directions. Tell me, who is the more enlightened here ?

[18thofMay]

This is from the Peter Ames Carlin book:

Vosse discovered that subject (Brian Wilson) was much less interested in talking about his new single ("Good Vibrations") than he was in his other interests. "He seemed to want to go off on a tangent about his theory on the divinity of humor, his idea that when you laugh, control goes out the window. You're doing something you have no way to rein in, and so it opens the doors for epiphanies."

Of the songs you have heard from SMiLE  which ones are funny?
What lyrics did Brian write that are funny? Where is the humour?
Heroes?? Your under arrest?? The stoned comedy skits?? The pun's??
Where is the humour?? WHO WROTE THE LYRICS??

[Andrews Fern]

Bill - bottom line: you're telling us all that your interpretation is the only one that fits and explains (closed mind), while the rest of us are allowing that there may be many other possible reasons why Smile came to be (open minds). You see just the one path, wide and shining, while we see many and winding trails, leading in all directions. Tell me, who is the more enlightened here ?

If the flaws in Bill's theories are SOOO self-evident, why are you so bloody obsessed with 'proving' them wrong? Can't you just let the man BE? To this plant, only one of you is coming off like a pig-headed a-hole, and it ain't the zen feller.

[SloopJohnB]

Bill - bottom line: you're telling us all that your interpretation is the only one that fits and explains (closed mind), while the rest of us are allowing that there may be many other possible reasons why Smile came to be (open minds). You see just the one path, wide and shining, while we see many and winding trails, leading in all directions. Tell me, who is the more enlightened here ?

If the flaws in Bill's theories are SOOO self-evident, why are you so bloody obsessed with 'proving' them wrong? Can't you just let the man BE? To this plant, only one of you is coming off like a pig-headed a-hole, and it ain't the zen feller.

Looks like something didn't get its fertilizer fix this morning... 

[myonlysunshine]

Does anyone know the worldwide totals on sales, for the Smile sets

I also would like to know this. The last we were told, around 20,000 units were sold, and that was reported the week after the box set was released. It would be nice to know what that number is now.

[Tristero]

Does anyone know the worldwide totals on sales, for the Smile sets

I also would like to know this. The last we were told, around 20,000 units were sold, and that was reported the week after the box set was released. It would be nice to know what that number is now.

I'd be curious to know how many boxes were sold (to the diehards) and how many of the 2 disc edition (to John Q. Public).  We know that the hardcore fans probably snatched the full set up early on, but I wonder how many more casual listeners took a chance on the more streamlined set.

[Mike's Beard]

Bill - bottom line: you're telling us all that your interpretation is the only one that fits and explains (closed mind), while the rest of us are allowing that there may be many other possible reasons why Smile came to be (open minds). You see just the one path, wide and shining, while we see many and winding trails, leading in all directions. Tell me, who is the more enlightened here ?

If the flaws in Bill's theories are SOOO self-evident, why are you so bloody obsessed with 'proving' them wrong? Can't you just let the man BE? To this plant, only one of you is coming off like a pig-headed a-hole, and it ain't the zen feller.

Andrew you may have to go take a piss on your fern....

[SMiLE Brian]

Bill - bottom line: you're telling us all that your interpretation is the only one that fits and explains (closed mind), while the rest of us are allowing that there may be many other possible reasons why Smile came to be (open minds). You see just the one path, wide and shining, while we see many and winding trails, leading in all directions. Tell me, who is the more enlightened here ?

If the flaws in Bill's theories are SOOO self-evident, why are you so bloody obsessed with 'proving' them wrong? Can't you just let the man BE? To this plant, only one of you is coming off like a pig-headed a-hole, and it ain't the zen feller.

Let me get out my weed-killer.

[Bill Tobelman]

Andrew G. Doe said:

Bill - bottom line: you're telling us all that your interpretation is the only one that fits and explains (closed mind), while the rest of us are allowing that there may be many other possible reasons why Smile came to be (open minds). You see just the one path, wide and shining, while we see many and winding trails, leading in all directions. Tell me, who is the more enlightened here ?

Sometimes things have only one correct answer. You inform me of this everytime Brian's bio is brought up. You also impose your 'resercher rules' upon all post on this messageboard. No exceptions---even for theorists.

Your bountifully self absorbed post seems sheds light on why you explain other people's actions with the simplest of explanations. It's likely because you are the smartest in the land--surrounded by idiots.

You conclude that Brian didn't know has SMiLE was supposed to go, the tape box was written by someone who couldn't spell. My imaginative interpretations of SMiLE lyrics were given the thumbs-down from you--Mr. Judge & Jury.

My theory goes the other way with confidence in the album's creators. SMiLE is far-out & Brian, Van Dyke, and Frank knew exactly what they were doing. The tape box was spelled correctly & sequencing on SMILE wasn't of importance because the far-out project valued the 'caloric content' of the idividual sections over a linear sequencing. This is also why there are modules.

My website still says "interpretation" and my newer sites are fairly obvious that they are simply one fan's viewpoint. Hope this doesn't strait-jacket you into one way of thinking.

[hypehat]

Andrew G. Doe said:

Bill - bottom line: you're telling us all that your interpretation is the only one that fits and explains (closed mind), while the rest of us are allowing that there may be many other possible reasons why Smile came to be (open minds). You see just the one path, wide and shining, while we see many and winding trails, leading in all directions. Tell me, who is the more enlightened here ?

Sometimes things have only one correct answer. You inform me of this everytime Brian's bio is brought up. You also impose your 'resercher rules' upon all post on this messageboard. No exceptions---even for theorists.

Your bountifully self absorbed post seems sheds light on why you explain other people's actions with the simplest of explanations. It's likely because you are the smartest in the land--surrounded by idiots.

You conclude that Brian didn't know has SMiLE was supposed to go, the tape box was written by someone who couldn't spell. My imaginative interpretations of SMiLE lyrics were given the thumbs-down from you--Mr. Judge & Jury.

My theory goes the other way with confidence in the album's creators. SMiLE is far-out & Brian, Van Dyke, and Frank knew exactly what they were doing. The tape box was spelled correctly & sequencing on SMILE wasn't of importance because the far-out project valued the 'caloric content' of the idividual sections over a linear sequencing. This is also why there are modules.

My website still says "interpretation" and my newer sites are fairly obvious that they are simply one fan's viewpoint. Hope this doesn't strait-jacket you into one way of thinking.

HIS 'bountifully self-absorbed post'?! 

[Andrew G. Doe]

Andrew G. Doe said:

Bill - bottom line: you're telling us all that your interpretation is the only one that fits and explains (closed mind), while the rest of us are allowing that there may be many other possible reasons why Smile came to be (open minds). You see just the one path, wide and shining, while we see many and winding trails, leading in all directions. Tell me, who is the more enlightened here ?

Sometimes things have only one correct answer. You inform me of this everytime Brian's bio is brought up. You also impose your 'resercher rules' upon all post on this messageboard. No exceptions---even for theorists.

Not so - I'm open to multiple explanations and interpretations. You, on the other hand, espouse just the one. I'd call that blinkered. If anything, I'm the imaginative one, as I can allow other 'explanations'

Your bountifully self absorbed post seems sheds light on why you explain other people's actions with the simplest of explanations. It's likely because you are the smartest in the land--surrounded by idiots.

I thought that was your stance - after all, you've informed us we're all to dumb to grasp what you have, and lack the necessary spirituality. I'd call that arrogant.

You conclude that Brian didn't know has SMiLE was supposed to go, the tape box was written by someone who couldn't spell. My imaginative interpretations of SMiLE lyrics were given the thumbs-down from you--Mr. Judge & Jury.

The tape box was written by someone who couldn't spell (check the "Heros") and that someone wasn't Brian. Your interpretations specifically exclude any more prosaic theme. Again, blinkered. And, ah, it's not just me that finds your notions increasingly barking.

My theory goes the other way with confidence in the album's creators. SMiLE is far-out & Brian, Van Dyke, and Frank knew exactly what they were doing. The tape box was spelled correctly & sequencing on SMILE wasn't of importance because the far-out project valued the 'caloric content' of the idividual sections over a linear sequencing. This is also why there are modules.

See, doing it again... "is", "was", "knew". You're advancing your theory as fact again, when no-one can possibly know if this is so. Know something ? You're spilling the Great Secret that Brian, Van Dyke & Frank had kept hidden for all these years - you've betrayed them. How does it feel to have broken the circle ?

[Bill Tobelman]

Just wanted to say thanks to my friend Cam Mott for his lovely post a few days back. Thanks Cam. Margaret says "Hi Cam!".

It seemed strange that you felt compelled to say you didn't agree with my theories. But then that may what one needs to do to survive on a message board ruled by people with open minds.

[Bill Tobelman]

There's a SMiLE theory that doesn't get aired much here but I'd like to present it in the spirit of fairness. The idea is that "Country Air" may be part of Air from "The Elements."

If one a/b's the song's melody & lyrical bent to that of the SMiLE era material one will find delightful similarities. It is certainly a thoughtful theory that it worthy of consideration.

I give it a two thumbs up!!

My theories....not so much.
http://www.smileriddle.com/
http://www.smileriddle.com/page21.htm
http://www.smileriddle.com/page000.htm
http://www.smileriddle.com/page001.htm

[18thofMay]

There's a SMiLE theory that doesn't get aired much here but I'd like to present it in the spirit of fairness. The idea is that "Country Air" may be part of Air from "The Elements."

If one a/b's the song's melody & lyrical bent to that of the SMiLE era material one will find delightful similarities. It is certainly a thoughtful theory that it worthy of consideration.

I give it a two thumbs up!!

My theories....not so much.
http://www.smileriddle.com/
http://www.smileriddle.com/page21.htm
http://www.smileriddle.com/page000.htm
http://www.smileriddle.com/page001.htm

How many times are you going to link that?

[b00ts]

None of you guys answered the question. Let's try it again.

What are the odds that there was an album attempted whose goal was to prompt a spiritual experience/enlightenment & that the passage (from the album creator's bio) that explains how such a thing could be done are unrelated?

OK. To answer that, we'd have to accept that:

This was indeed the aim of the album (that's your theory, not an established fact)...

...and that a discredited text written some 25 years after the event it purports to document - and not by the individual in question - explains anything at all except a desire to make a few bucks.

It sounds remarkably like the formation of an Abrahamic religion to me. (Take your pick)

[UK_Surf]

What on earth would be the point of including the 20/20 versions? YOU OWN THEM.

Same reason someone would want the album version of SU - as well as (it could be argued by some) sounding superior to the mono mixes, it documents the after-lives of orignal Smile material, which would have been nice to have on the Set. I'm not arguing for Do It Again or the Smiley stuff, but the album versions of CE, OP, and Su are all key reasons why the Smile legend grew over the years.  A luxury inclusion, to be sure, but not a pointless one.

[Cam Mott]

Hip hip hooray! Mrs. Santa Claus delivered one TSS boxset to our house. Haven't listened to a second yet but the packaging is even more incredible in person.

[Steve Mayo]

box set price on amazon now at $97.99
that is one huge price drop......