What will happen to BWPS's reputation after 1st November

[John Stivaktas]

Q: What will happen to BWPS's reputation after 1st November?

A: Nothing.

[rogerlancelot]

Will SMiLEaholics like us view the two "albums" differently to critics and Joe Public (and people like Leila!!) - will we see 2004 as the final and better word on the legendary lost album, will we see it as two different pieces of work or will TSS blow BWPS out of the water?

Why do people keep mentioning my name in reference to the new box set? I don't even own it yet. But I do have the 2 disc version and have listened to it a few times. I must admit that I wind up missing vocal sections in most of the songs. I didn't realize how good those parts really are!

[Aegir]

I have a feeling you changed your name just so you could keep on making that joke.

BWPS still has its worth, I'd say. In Blue Hawaii, Song for Children, Roll Plymouth Rock, On a Holiday... can't get those anywhere else. and vocals recorded for the songs as opposed to fly-ins. maybe the BWPS "Mrs. O'Leary's Cow" will sound better. s.hi.t won a grammy.

[Chris Brown]

I have a feeling you changed your name just so you could keep on making that joke.

BWPS still has its worth, I'd say. In Blue Hawaii, Song for Children, Roll Plymouth Rock, On a Holiday... can't get those anywhere else. and vocals recorded for the songs as opposed to fly-ins. maybe the BWPS "Mrs. O'Leary's Cow" will sound better. s.hi.t won a grammy.

Those tracks are pretty much the only reason I revisit BWPS from time to time.

[Wirestone]

I find BWPS rising in my estimation, frankly. It just sounds so much more coherent and thought-through ... it is really, whatever its origins, a single piece.

TSS are a glorious jumble.

[?]

I find BWPS rising in my estimation, frankly. It just sounds so much more coherent and thought-through ... it is really, whatever its origins, a single piece.

TSS are a glorious jumble.

Well said.   

[acedecade75]

 The release of the SMILE Sessions can only add to the genius legacy of Brian Wilson.  The more we hear, the better it gets!

[Justin]

The Smile Sessions release only strengthens the existence of BWPS.  The two go hand in hand perfectly in my view.  The Smile Sessions are just that...a presentation of those magical sessions that happened all those years ago...some songs were finished....some weren't.  BWPS was Brian and Van Dyke bringing the album past the finish line finally after all those years.  Hopefully this will get more people to take a look at BWPS...and I think it will.

[jeffcdo]

Couldn't agree more.  TSS is choppy, with so many incredible individual moments.  BWPS has a really nice flow and a cohesive feel to it.

[absinthe_boy]

I haven't heard TSS yet but I have some feel for what is on there (and am familiar with some of the material).

I have a feeling it may end up with people having a whole new level of respect for Brian & co., that they were able to piece together such a coherent and consistantly high quality piece of music (BWPS) from a fragmented jumble of weird genius.

People will undoubtedly prefer some of the material that is about to be unleashed. But essentially BWPS is what it has always been....Brian coming back to complete a version of SMiLE in 2003/2004. It's still a great listen, it still has it's place in the SMiLE jigsaw puzzle.

[tansen]

Couldn't agree more.  TSS is choppy, with so many incredible individual moments.  BWPS has a really nice flow and a cohesive feel to it.

I wouldn't say Disc 1 is choppy at all - and it's far better than BWPS IMO.

[jeffcdo]

Well you'd be wrong then wouldn't you?!

[tansen]

Well you'd be wrong then wouldn't you?!

Not really. The Smile Sessions is The Beach Boys anno 1967 with a young Brian Wilson, still having a pristine voice.
BWPS is an old man with a heavily deteriorated voice, together with a band trying to sound like The Beach Boys anno 67.

[John Stivaktas]

I love them both!

[Justin]

Couldn't agree more.  TSS is choppy, with so many incredible individual moments.  BWPS has a really nice flow and a cohesive feel to it.

I wouldn't say Disc 1 is choppy at all - and it's far better than BWPS IMO.

It doesn't bother you at all that there are obviously missing vocals on some songs and the songs aren't as tied together as Brian fully realized on BWPS?  

Well you'd be wrong then wouldn't you?!

Not really. The Smile Sessions is The Beach Boys anno 1967 with a young Brian Wilson, still having a pristine voice.
BWPS is an old man with a heavily deteriorated voice, together with a band trying to sound like The Beach Boys anno 67.

Wow, seriously?

BWPS has nothing to do with vanity.  No one's trying to sound like anybody on BWPS.  That was the music written, the band is playing what was written by Brian decades ago.  Period.  There isn't anyone trying to recapture anything or copy anything for the sake of duping or tricking an audience thinking it was The Beach Boys in 1967.   BWPS was Brian finally completing his masterpiece.  The only way to do that was to finish what he had started.  If you can't get past Brian voice, your loss...but don't drag the entire project through the mud just because Brian isn't 24 anymore.  

[tansen]

Couldn't agree more.  TSS is choppy, with so many incredible individual moments.  BWPS has a really nice flow and a cohesive feel to it.

I wouldn't say Disc 1 is choppy at all - and it's far better than BWPS IMO.

It doesn't bother you at all that there are obviously missing vocals on some songs and the songs aren't as tied together as Brian fully realized on BWPS?  

It doesn't really bother me that it is 'missing' vocals, no. This is how we have heard the Smile material up until 2004, so to me it sounds worse adding lyrics and such almost 40 years after. The Smile Sessions from the 60s is to me authentic, and I also prefer the fidelity of those old recordings. I also find BWPS production wise to be a little too slick sounding, and I'm not a fan of the use of a Kurzweil harpsichord samples either.

Well you'd be wrong then wouldn't you?!

Not really. The Smile Sessions is The Beach Boys anno 1967 with a young Brian Wilson, still having a pristine voice.
BWPS is an old man with a heavily deteriorated voice, together with a band trying to sound like The Beach Boys anno 67.

Wow, seriously?

BWPS has nothing to do with vanity.  No one's trying to sound like anybody on BWPS.  That was the music written, the band is playing what was written by Brian decades ago.  Period.  There isn't anyone trying to recapture anything or copy anything for the sake of duping or tricking an audience thinking it was The Beach Boys in 1967.   BWPS was Brian finally completing his masterpiece.  The only way to do that was to finish what he had started.  If you can't get past Brian voice, your loss...but don't drag the entire project through the mud just because Brian isn't 24 anymore.  

Um, no I think you are wrong there, I do think The Wondermints are trying to sound like the Beach Boys anno the 60s, because they are in fact Brian's backing band. I'm not claiming they are trying to fool anyone by being Beach Boys imposers or anything, but I would say trying to vocally sound like the Beach Boys would be a goal anyhow. I'm glad Brian did 'finish' Smile in 2004, because it quite obviously paved the way for this glorious 2011 release, but like I said, to me BWPS, was and is redundant.

[tansen]

doublepost

[jeffcdo]

I love them both too!!  When I say "choppy" I don't mean that as an insult.  The version represented on TSS is by definition an unfinished album.  It's been put together from a variety of sources, vocals have been flown in from other takes and demos.  I love the original voices, the 60s style of recording and instrumentation, Linnet has done a great job here - with what is available.

[Peter Reum]

Smile live in London in February 2004 was the highlight of my musical life. The DVD or CD captures some of it, but it's just not the same. The Smile Sessions is the base material for Smile 2004.  It all hangs together....but there is nothing in my musical experience like that series of shows in London...

[Justin]

It doesn't really bother me that it is 'missing' vocals, no. This is how we have heard the Smile material up until 2004, so to me it sounds worse adding lyrics and such almost 40 years after. The Smile Sessions from the 60s is to me authentic, and I also prefer the fidelity of those old recordings. I also find BWPS production wise to be a little too slick sounding, and I'm not a fan of the use of a Kurzweil harpsichord samples either.

So basically, you're saying that you've simply gotten so used to listening to the bootlegged version of SMiLE--which contained songs that had no vocals at all that any other version is basically unacceptable?  You're satisfied with the instrumental tracks, "Song for Children" and "Child Is Father Of The Man?"  It's great that you really enjoy those recordings as they were but I don't think the aesthetics of these recordings are anything to judge the musical content by.  The quality of a song isn't going to be automatically better over something recorded in 2004 just because it was recorded on analog in th 60's.  That still doesn't fix the problem that the song is unfinished. 

Um, no I think you are wrong there, I do think The Wondermints are trying to sound like the Beach Boys anno the 60s, because they are in fact Brian's backing band. I'm not claiming they are trying to fool anyone by being Beach Boys imposers or anything, but I would say trying to vocally sound like the Beach Boys would be a goal anyhow. I'm glad Brian did 'finish' Smile in 2004, because it quite obviously paved the way for this glorious 2011 release, but like I said, to me BWPS, was and is redundant.

How else would you expect the Wondermints to sound?  They are singing the exact same parts as Mike, Carl, Dennis, Al and Bruce sang them all those years before.  The notes are exactly the same...of course they're going to sound like the original arrangements.  To me, none of the voices even come close to any of th eoriginal Beach Boys.  They were all assigned the same vocal parts that Brian worked with...so there wasn't going to be a change in vocal parts.   I don't hear any comparison at all...these are just a group of people singing Brian's parts. and the two are not exchangable..  I cannot listen to the 2004 version of "Our Prayer" at all...it just doesn't cut it for me.  The vocal blend isn't there.  The original version is simply heaven.  They are the same notes...but a whole batch of different voices, completely.  Sorry, I don't see them trying to BE anyone.  If they did....many people here would be able to chuck all their original versions of these songs in favor the versions found on BWPS and I don't think anyone (including me) is doing that.   

BWPS shouldn't really offend anyone because Brian re-recorded the songs.  It'd be one thing if he bastardized the recordings by recording new vocals over the old backing tracks.  That would've been awful.  But that didn't happen.  What he did with BWPS was appropriate.  He finished what he had started.

[Micha]

Couldn't agree more.  TSS is choppy, with so many incredible individual moments.  BWPS has a really nice flow and a cohesive feel to it.

That's MHO too, absolutely. The choppiness is especially notable on the second movement. It doesn't flow anywhere as good as on BWPS. Each song sounds a hundred times better on TSS, but it just doesn't flow.

[John Stivaktas]

I had a dream last night that Jimi Hendrix was at Monterey playing a set and while his guitar was on fire he said to the crowd, "you'll never hear BWPS again!"

[Jaspy]

What will happen to BWPS's reputation after 1st November

BWPS will be seen as the 'clean', finished version of the now released Beach Boys's SMiLE.
It will always be the big brother, the real 'finished' deal.
Another question would be: What will happen to SMiLE's reputation as the most famous unreleased album after 1st November?
A lot of speculations can be buried now, what sensational unbooted stuff is still sleeping in the vaults, if acetates could give new insights etc.
The boxset will arrive today, what counts for me are the sessions and snippets, but not the so called finished album. I always said the unfinished SMiLE album with all the myths around it and stunning unreleased music, some of it available on bootlegs, other parts in the imagination of music freaks is the best promotion a group could hope for.

[hypehat]

I had a dream last night that Jimi Hendrix was at Monterey playing a set and while his guitar was on fire he said to the crowd, "you'll never hear BWPS again!"

[John Stivaktas]

I had a dream last night that Jimi Hendrix was at Monterey playing a set and while his guitar was on fire he said to the crowd, "you'll never hear BWPS again!"

Dude...glad you enjoy the humour. I guess want I want to say is that BWPS and TSS are equally important to us 'geek' fans, to the average layman SMiLE refers to the Beach Boys, whether it came out in 1967 or 2011. For the average layman, BWPS would not be quite the same thing because it's not the Beach Boys.