Previously released material on The Smile Sessions?

[Mujan, 8@$+@Rc| of a Blue Wizard]

I dont hold it against him. Its really infuriating being on here sometimes. I wanna like both, but the fanatical obsession of some to deflect all criticism against Mike at all costs is really alienating. It actually has the opposite intended effect and pushes people away from him. Thats whats happened to me--I still maintain that I dont hate the guy, but hearing some people talk youd think he was a saint and that causes me to have to step in and say "now wait a minute guys, dont forget xyz" A good example, since I recently discovered it and this is a SMiLE thread, is the whole "Mike killed SMiLE" thing. Because of Beautiful Dreamer, some older books and the internet, there's a persistent myth that Mike actively sabotaged SMiLE. Now we have people here defending him to the 11th degree, going "no he didnt--in fact, all he did was innocently ask about CE the one time." But then you read Vosse, Anderle and other firsthand accounts, and its undeniable that YES, in fact Mike was very hostile to the new music. So much so that Brian is said to have dreaded working with them in the studio at the time, because he knew hed have another fight awaiting him. Those same sources tho, also mention VDP and Brian fighting, and the myriad of other reasons we all know of why it wasnt finished. But the point is, while Mike certainly didnt kill SMiLE, this apologism is taking things too far in the other direction and just as historically inaccurate. The truth is in the middle; he fought against the music but that was only one of many contributing factors to the collapse. And this is just one example, same principle applies to a lot of other things.

By having to point this out so much, a lot of us end up looking like the haters we're accused of being. But we're not--just trying to get as accurate a picture as possible. No one's 100% perfect in the story, not even Brian, so its weird this whole blowback against criticism of Mike and it would drive anyone to want to bash him just out of frustration.