Let's discuss this weird little snippet from Smile...

[king of anglia]

From H&V Sessions Vol. 2. Track 36 - Piano Rehearsals.

Around the 3:20 mark, we have a vocal section I've never heard any where else. Sounds like only the piano was mic'ed up, but you can hear vocals in the background.

It's a unique Piece of Music from Smile.

[hypehat]

I know the one you mean, and i love that so much!

Hard to see where it would have worked into the track, however.... mostly because they never resolve it iirc

[rab2591]

That piano riff in that section sounds like a Scott Joplin piece.

[Jason]

Yeah, that's a true mystery of the Smile recordings that does not seem to have been explored much. Other than the four minute tape there's no other evidence of it anywhere. Maybe the box set will have some new info...

[Iron Horse-Apples]

Interestingly enough I've been working on a mix of H&V which utilizes that very bit.

Now at the beginning of the track you hear the chords for the H&V variations, the ones that follow Gee on the 93 boxset. Three of those variations end on a chord. That chord is the first chord of the snippet you mentioned. If you edit the variations chord out and splice  this bit in, it sounds great. At the end it can lead into the verse, more variations,or many other bits! You know SMiLE.....

I just feel that as the variations chord pattern was played at the beginning of the rehearsal track, that this section was supposed to be part of the variations. All conjecture, but it sounds great.

I'll post a link to  my mix when it is done. I'm really trying to get away from the '04 edit. It's going to be pretty lo-fi, but it's more about the sequence than the sound

[SMiLE Brian]

this thread about awesome little pieces of smile has got me thinking about all the other advanced musical experiments Brian did for smile that will never be heard due to missing or destroyed tapes... 

[Les P]

I'll post a link to  my mix when it is done. I'm really trying to get away from the '04 edit. It's going to be pretty lo-fi, but it's more about the sequence than the sound

Yes, please post.  I'm not familiar with that b**t so I don't know if I've heard this snippet.

[onkster]

Is this perhaps on the Tube of Youness somewheres?

[Chris Brown]

Very cool section indeed, I wish there was a proper vocal take of it.  It almost sounds like something that could go right before the fade, it almost sounds like it belongs at the end of a western.

[Mikie]

I don't see what's so 'weird' or 'unique' about this snippet.  There's a lot more interesting stuff on this boot than the piano rehearsal.

I'm sure a couple of these takes will make it onto the new SMiLE release.  Listening to this thing, you can really get a feeling of how much work went into 'Heroes & Villains'. A lot of work. Different Engineers are heard on the various tracks from different studios. One of my favorites.

[Matt Bielewicz]

Oh, I'm all confused now...

I have, uh, *heard* H&V Sessions 1 & 2, but it's — apparently — split into just 10 tracks (although it's *said* the track divisions are extremely arbitary).

So whut's all this about track *36*??

I'm pretty sure I've heard the bit everyone's talking about before, but can I have some better directions to it please?

Uh, that is, to, um, booted discs where one might be able to find it. If one were in to that sort of thing, which, of course, I am...

...uh, *not*.

MattB

[homeontherange]

I love this little piece. I was so happy when I heard it. "A new Smile piece"  
It might have been part of H&V Part 2 perhaps, following one of the chants.

I hope they try to include it in the boxset some way.

[Matt Bielewicz]

OK, scratch my previous request. I guess I just wasn't looking hard enough. Er - I mean listening hard enough. Oh, you know what I mean.

MattB

[Matt Bielewicz]

I stand corrected!

I've drifted in and out of SMiLE obsession since 1995, but I have NEVER heard this stuff before!

Well, to qualify that - much of it was around on boards and stuff over the years, like All Day... but I'd never heard that piano rehearsal with background, off-mic vocals on track 36. Nor had I ever heard the longer take of the 'icy piano' part on track 37. The first take on that track was on the 93 GV box set (spliced into the H&V Sections track), but the more complete take from 1:30 on to the end was a shock to me, as the section twists on into a Bicycle Rider like-scale up and down and then finishes on a nice (seventh?) chord.

It made me think that the abrupt ending of that section as excerpted on the box set may have been an error, a flub of the take. I always thought it was meant to finish abruptly like that, but the second take suggests it was possibly meant to continue on - certainly take 2 plays for another 17 seconds or so.

Or maybe Brian was just trying out ideas on how to finish that section at the piano while the tape was rolling; who knows? This is hardly unprecedented - in some parts of 'All Day' and Track 36, the rehearsal with off-mic vocals, it sounds very much as if he's figuring out what he wants to play as the tape is actually running...

Fascinating stuff, anyway. Thanks King Of Anglia - without the prompt, I'd never have heard NEW 67 SMiLE stuff today! (well, new to me). I really didn't think there could be all that much of that left to hear.

But then, perhaps this has been in circulation (that is, on the internet) for a while - I admit I have drifted in and out of awareness of what's 'out there'.

MattB

[Iron Horse-Apples]

I stand corrected!

I've drifted in and out of SMiLE obsession since 1995, but I have NEVER heard this stuff before!

Well, to qualify that - much of it was around on boards and stuff over the years, like All Day... but I'd never heard that piano rehearsal with background, off-mic vocals on track 36. Nor had I ever heard the longer take of the 'icy piano' part on track 37. The first take on that track was on the 93 GV box set (spliced into the H&V Sections track), but the more complete take from 1:30 on to the end was a shock to me, as the section twists on into a Bicycle Rider like-scale up and down and then finishes on a nice (seventh?) chord.

It made me think that the abrupt ending of that section as excerpted on the box set may have been an error, a flub of the take. I always thought it was meant to finish abruptly like that, but the second take suggests it was possibly meant to continue on - certainly take 2 plays for another 17 seconds or so.

Or maybe Brian was just trying out ideas on how to finish that section at the piano while the tape was rolling; who knows? This is hardly unprecedented - in some parts of 'All Day' and Track 36, the rehearsal with off-mic vocals, it sounds very much as if he's figuring out what he wants to play as the tape is actually running...

Fascinating stuff, anyway. Thanks King Of Anglia - without the prompt, I'd never have heard NEW 67 SMiLE stuff today! (well, new to me). I really didn't think there could be all that much of that left to hear.

But then, perhaps this has been in circulation (that is, on the internet) for a while - I admit I have drifted in and out of awareness of what's 'out there'.

MattB

I've always thought that Gee/Variation 1 sound unfinished. I think the variations that follow sound much more complete.

That piano riff in that section sounds like a Scott Joplin piece.

This  melody pops up a few times in H&V. It's in the verse backgrounds and accapella section, and Prelude To Fade.

Yeah, that's a true mystery of the Smile recordings that does not seem to have been explored much. Other than the four minute tape there's no other evidence of it anywhere. Maybe the box set will have some new info...

Yes, I'd be interested to know the history of this tape and how it was booted. Is it a "missing" tape? Tapes like this always give me hope that there is a lot more out there.

[rogerlancelot]

This has been covered here before not too long ago (I'll have to search for the particular thread). Whatever the final verdict was, this particular compilation is MP3 sourced. Still a very enjoyable collection and far more interesting than the Psychedelic Sounds compilation.

[Micha]

From your description I don't think I ever heard that snippet. Can it be downloaded somewhere?

[buddhahat]

I never noticed this rehearsal before, thanks for the heads up, KOA!

My initial thought was that it sounds just like the slow part from Rhapsody In Blue, which I guess makes sense if he was listening and learning how to play that section at the time.

It reminds me very much of Western Theme in the chord transitions and feel. Was this recorded before or after? If it was recorded before that section I might hazard a guess that this is an early incarnation of that piece.

It's interesting how (at 1:52) he seems to play this slow piece and then break off into the major key heroes riff. This could suggest that this was a prelude to that bike rider riff, perhaps with that riff as a fade, i.e. it is a prelude to a fade.

FWIW my theories are that this is a prototype for Western Theme/Prelude to Fade, or an equivalent piece that was going to sit at the end of Heroes Part 2. Definitely sounds like a section that would feature towards the end of Heroes in some form, imo.

The vocal part also reminds me of the woo woo train whistle section. I wonder how it would sound coming out of that!?

[desmondo]

I just love this type of thread

[37!ws]

Wow....I need to investigate this...

[runnersdialzero]

Whatever the final verdict was, this particular compilation is MP3 sourced.

Son of a bitch I hate the internet.

The two "Get The Boot" volumes are the same, as far as I can tell. Makes me want to tear out my eyeballs. imo.

[GeorgeFellInHisHorn]

I'd never heard this before either! 

To me, at the part where there's the off-mic vocals, it sounds like the thing hes playing on piano is what he's trying to instruct them to sing. You can hear them attempting the first 2 chords or so.

Wish this piece would have come to fruition... from the piano piece, it sounds like it could have been really pretty. 

[runnersdialzero]

Wish this piece would have come to fruition... from the piano piece, it sounds like it could have been really pretty. 

This should be the title of a book about every unreleased Beach Boys song ever. imo.

[willy]

That little vocal snippet at 3:20 — the first few notes at least — is reminiscent of 'Prelude to Fade'...  

[Iron Horse-Apples]

That little vocal snippet at 3:20 — the first few notes at least — is reminiscent of 'Prelude to Fade'... 

Already noted above.