Say what you will, but any "muddiness" on Smiley Smile and Wild Honey are part of their charm. That said, I hear very little of said muddiness. They don't sound like "California Girls", I'll grant you, but these records have a very specific sound to them that I really enjoy. The songs are great, which is worlds more important than the master lacking a bit of treble and the mix not being "flawless".
So yeah, the sound of these albums very much "cut it" for me. No mix of these songs would've ensure Grammy's etc. and said mixes probably would've taken away from the experience, if anything.
The "murky" quality is, says Mark L., due to the nature of the mixing consoles used in the day: Describing the Bill Putnam custom-built recording consoles used at Western during this time (in a 1996 article for "EQ"), Mark Linett explains why: "One of the failures I've always felt about that console in particular was that it recorded great, but the line inputs were padded down and went back to the mic inputs, creating a real distortion problem. This problem is typical of a lot of consoles from the '60s. The 3-track, 2-track, and live-to-mono stuff always sounded fantastic, but when they started mixing it through the board, they definitely lost a lot of the fidelity."
This is interesting. The other day I had a long listen to several 66/67 albums from major bands of those times. At the end, after the TSS LP I put on Sergeant Pepper (I borrowed that LP from a friend for this), and both sounded great though pressed 44 years apart.
Then I put on Wild Honey from an early 70s Brother Records two-fer... and it was absolutely terrible. I turned up the treble full, which I normally never do because I like it a bit murky. But it still sounded so bad that instead I tried 20/20 from that same double album, and that was ok.
While this "special" sound quality fits Smiley Smile, it makes Wild Honey a less enjoyable listen than it could be.
I agree, I never really got the appeal of WH that a lot of other fans seem to have. I always thought the production (I guess it's mixing) sounded muddy and Carl's voice, God bless him, is much better suited to ballads and crooning than the R&B vibe. Im probably gonna step on more toes saying this, but I just don't like the way he sings WH or some of these other tracks like I Was Made To Love Her. Those songs just kinda need a gritier voice, less of his angelic whine, I don't know. I don't hate the record but I dont particularly enjoy it either. It's not something I'd put on to entertain company. I could agree the "muddy" lo-fi sound suits Smiley Smile but not WH.
I think that neither the David Leaf Doc nor this Youtube series gets the reality of the downfall of Smile quite right. I can perceive not so hidden agendas and obfuscation in both presentations. The "truth" is somewhere in between, and whether this is closer to the David Leaf/VDP account or the Beach Boys Inc version of the event is really in the eye of the beholder.
I agree 100%. Honestly as someone who never did a deep dive into all the books, documentaries and films before, I was kinda shocked how small the club is who puts all these releases together. It's always David Leaf, Domenic Priore and the same guys writing the liner notes to everything, funding the videos, getting interviews, etc. This small cabal of self-appointed "authorities" have positioned themselves as the keepers of the tale, and I really resent it to be honest. I haven't minced words on what I think of some of these "insiders" before and I'll keep at it even if it's "mean." These guys have ridiculously obvious biases they don't even try to hide, they've been caught lying on major points of fact numerous times (Im far from the only one calling out Priore in these older threads) and it just makes me wish we could get a different voice out there telling this story. The best Brian documentary Ive seen is Don Was' IJWMFTT, which is still very pro-Brian but not obnoxiously so, it at least gives the others an opportunity to speak, it's not Melinda acting like she's the only supportive presence he's ever had in his life.
I hope we get another biopic centered on the Pet Sounds / SMiLE Era (so 1966) like the better half of Love & Mercy, without having to waste half the running time on Melinda being the hero (which I strongly suspect she forced on the filmmakers to get the movie made--those two segments are SO disconnected and the '80s scenes are entirely built on her testimony alone, and those scenes are by far the worst of the film). I hope we get a better SMiLE book or BB documentary made without David Leaf's influence. He's done some good work but he's way too one sided and kinda schmaltzy. There's a syrupy, fakeness about Beautiful Dreamer I don't like compared to IJWMFTT's grittier, more honest indie film vibe. (The black and white photography does so much to give that footage an "edge" you don't get with BD where all the talking head interviews are in front of overly colorful SMiLE promo material. It gets old after awhile.)
I dont think BD or the webisodes even mention the Capitol lawsuit (I forget) but if they do it's very brief and brushed over quickly. When you look at sources that aren't committed to making Mike out to be the antichrist it's clear that is actually the single biggest reason things fell apart. I dont care for Mike and he has a ton to answer for but even I get sick of the bashing sometimes.
Yeah. Brian and Van Dyke's relationship has gotten a pass, but on the other hand I'm sure it is more nuanced than we think.
Why is so much made about Anderle's report of the Boys' supposed resistance [which is not what he means by my reading] and so little made of the deteriorated relationship between Brian and Van Dyke which is what he thought was the MAIN reason for SMiLE's non-release? Why is so little made of Siegel's claim of bad juju between VDP and BW? Why didn't Van Dyke sign with Brothers or why wasn't he asked? Why did BW call VDP in if he knew what the lyric meant and was on board with it; how could it even be an issue if the lyrics were already sung? I don't think it had any bearing on the release or non-release of SMiLE because I believe all of it was irrelevant to if BW wanted it to be released. Continuing mysteries.
It's part of that same problem. David Leaf and to a lesser extent Domenic Priore have had a monopoly on the media that comes out about Brian and this album in particular, so theyve controlled the narrative. After doing my deep dive recently, Im convinced the band and this era are in critical need of a reexamination with fresh eyes.
It's very clear that the Brian-VDP collab, despite producing arguably the best (and my favorite) music ever, was far from perfect. They undeniably fell out and if you look at contemporary interviews Anderle and Vosse are the first to admit they didn't always see eye to eye, got on each others nerves, Brian was wishy washy on Van's words at least for awhile and Van has thrown a lot of shade Brian's way (deserved or not) over the decades. There's a lot more to this story we've never been told, and because of shoddy journalism in those crucial decades now we never will.
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