Smiley Smile songs we would miss

[AndrewHickey]

Yeah, bought it when it came out and had the exact feeling then as I still do today. It couldn't have been a poorer followup to PS. Popularity aside, SS was a plain stupid artistic and business decision that polarized volumes of fans who most likely never came back. Felt the same way about Love You-just plain old embarrassing except for the lovely The Night Was So Young. The rest should have been wiped never to be heard again. Horrible vocals, hokey lyrics, and just tired and worn thin, embarrassing attempts at trying to fool what fanbase they had left.  

Funny that someone so rabidly anti-Mike would also be against the two most experimental albums Brian ever put out -- the only two Beach Boys albums which are made up entirely of Brian Wilson songs that hadn't been on other albums.

Those two albums should be exhibits A and B for anyone wanting to show that Brian really *was* a genius.

[SMiLE Brian]

OSD was around when it came out though, so he saw the public disappointment after the glory of Pet Sounds.

[oldsurferdude]

Yeah, bought it when it came out and had the exact feeling then as I still do today. It couldn't have been a poorer followup to PS. Popularity aside, SS was a plain stupid artistic and business decision that polarized volumes of fans who most likely never came back. Felt the same way about Love You-just plain old embarrassing except for the lovely The Night Was So Young. The rest should have been wiped never to be heard again. Horrible vocals, hokey lyrics, and just tired and worn thin, embarrassing attempts at trying to fool what fanbase they had left.  

Funny that someone so rabidly anti-Mike would also be against the two most experimental albums Brian ever put out -- the only two Beach Boys albums which are made up entirely of Brian Wilson songs that hadn't been on other albums.

Those two albums should be exhibits A and B for anyone wanting to show that Brian really *was* a genius.

Yeah, well, anyone who really knows about Brian, knows that he was a genius well before SS & LU but yes, let's make it all about mYke as you seem to want to do.

[Phoenix]

I would miss exactly zero Smiley Smile songs.

Preach it! 

[Phoenix]

I also agree with the sheriff, OSD, and the others in that boat.  Good to know I'm not alone in that opinion here.

[Les P]

What makes you think those songs ever would have been written, Luther?

Anyway, I actually like all the songs, but I could probably live without all of them, with the exception of Little Pad, absolutely love that song for some reason. Beautiful, even in it's weirdness.

Agree...I've grown to love it even more in the stereo version.   

Since nearly all the SS songs have some origin in Smile tracks, I would love to know if the melodies in "Little Pad" were originally intended for Smile tracks.

[Pinder's Gone To Kokomo And Back Again]

Yeah, bought it when it came out and had the exact feeling then as I still do today. It couldn't have been a poorer followup to PS. Popularity aside, SS was a plain stupid artistic and business decision that polarized volumes of fans who most likely never came back. Felt the same way about Love You-just plain old embarrassing except for the lovely The Night Was So Young. The rest should have been wiped never to be heard again. Horrible vocals, hokey lyrics, and just tired and worn thin, embarrassing attempts at trying to fool what fanbase they had left.  

Funny that someone so rabidly anti-Mike would also be against the two most experimental albums Brian ever put out -- the only two Beach Boys albums which are made up entirely of Brian Wilson songs that hadn't been on other albums.

Those two albums should be exhibits A and B for anyone wanting to show that Brian really *was* a genius.

Yeah, well, anyone who really knows about Brian, knows that he was a genius well before SS & LU but yes, let's make it all about mYke as you seem to want to do.

That damn word "Genius" was/is the single most destructive force in the history of The Beach Boys.....

[zachrwolfe]

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[runnersdialzero]

Smiley is so, so great. I much prefer the Smiley "Wonderful", "Vegetables", and "Wind Chimes" (all versions are brilliant, though), "She's Goin' Bald" slays "Speeches", and while "Heroes" could have been so much more, it's not really possible to say with certainty what a proper Smile edit would sound like. All in all, I really wish Smiley would have happened, the record company would have demanded Smile be finished and released due to poor sales of the former (with any redundant tracks appearing on both albums), and then the band's career progressing similarly to how it did. Well, at least up until like 1978, but that feels kind of irrelevant.

The late '67 "Surf's Up" is kind of indicative of what a Smiley version would sound like, but I picture something a lot more... well, what Smiley critics would call "creepiness". Even more subdued, more sparse, more organ, more backing vocals, etc.

See now, i didn't say that. I am in a very lonely minority that loves and reveres Smiley Smile and doesn't care about drugs. Just wanted to make clear that my love for Smiley is, plain and simple, coming from a strictly musical perspective/appreciation.

I'm there, too. Not condemning drug use while listening to music at all, but I came to love Smiley Smile (it and the Smile material were my introduction to the band) in a 100% sober state. It's just that good to me.

[runnersdialzero]

Also, 900% certain that "Little Pad" has nothing to do with "Worms", "Tune X" or any other Smile piece that we've heard.

[Les P]

What makes you think those songs ever would have been written, Luther?

Anyway, I actually like all the songs, but I could probably live without all of them, with the exception of Little Pad, absolutely love that song for some reason. Beautiful, even in it's weirdness.

Agree...I've grown to love it even more in the stereo version.   

Since nearly all the SS songs have some origin in Smile tracks, I would love to know if the melodies in "Little Pad" were originally intended for Smile tracks.

I've wondered the same thing. I've heard people say that they hear resemblance in the unreleased (well, before Smile Sessions, that is) Carl tune, Tune X. I can tell where they see that, the ending of Tune X and the humming section of Little Pad. The melody does work there. Different chord progression altogether, but they did alter the progressions in other Smile-based tracks, so who knows. The rest of the songs seem completely un-connected to me, though.

I wonder what the story behind Tune X is, too. Did it ever have a potential to end up on Smile? Or was it just an experiment by Carl to get used to producing? I think some of it is quite nice, wonder if there were ever lyrics and/or a vocal melody written.

Listening to Tune X, I can hear that tune possibly fitting there.  It is so frustrating to have all these intriguing tracks that probably had melodies, etc, that are now lost.  My hope (admittedly not high) for the MIC box set is that for a handful of tracks the BBs will add vocals where they are missing...I believe Steve Kalinich said a few years ago that he still knew the lyrics and melody for "Mona Kani," for example.  If that kind of thing isn't documented sometime soon, it too will be lost.

[FatherOfTheMan Sr101]

I wonder what the story behind Tune X is, too. Did it ever have a potential to end up on Smile? Or was it just an experiment by Carl to get used to producing? I think some of it is quite nice, wonder if there were ever lyrics and/or a vocal melody written.

Check out "Boundless Love" by the guy who did Finished SMiLE it's a great representation!

[sockittome]

I would miss absolutely nothing, considering that any one of us could probably produce an album of equal or better quality in about two hours with a four track cassette recorder.

[runnersdialzero]

I would miss absolutely nothing, considering that any one of us could probably produce an album of equal or better quality in about two hours with a four track cassette recorder.

Go fer it, kid.

[Shady]

I would miss absolutely nothing, considering that any one of us could probably produce an album of equal or better quality in about two hours with a four track cassette recorder.

I don't have enough drugs. I'm sure you don't either.

[♩♬🐸 Billy C ♯♫♩🐇]

Smiley Smile is the album that turned me from someone who was just curious about the Beach Boys to a diehard. It was the first BB album I ever bought, back in 1996. Love the whole thing, as does my wife...except she doesn't care for this version of Wind Chimes.

[Nicko1234]

Those two albums should be exhibits A and B for anyone wanting to show that Brian really *was* a genius.

Neither of these albums is a work of genius.

Smiley Smile is Brian half-heartedly completing songs as quickly as possible. Some good, some ok and Gettin' Hungry pretty crappy.

[runnersdialzero]

Smiley Smile is Brian half-heartedly completing songs as quickly as possible.

Or it was Brian letting go of the stress and unfathomable overwhelming-ness of Smile and stripping these songs down to their basic elements in order to complete them. The idea that Smiley Smile was a half-hearted toss-off is crap - those vocal arrangements are still as complex and interesting as anything before or after, and when you listen to the Unsurpassed Masters Smiley Smile stuff, you can tell the guys really did put in a lot of work to get what Brian was going for right.

I'm not sure why you'd be here, of all places, and say Smile isn't "genius" (whatever that means/means to you), but hay. Agree to disagree, I guess.

[Dudd]

She's Goin' Bald, Little Pad, and With Me Tonight I'd all miss. Would be glad to be rid of Gettin' Hungry though.

[Mike's Beard]

i don't care what some mamas-and-papas-loving pop music fan thinks about smiley smile. it's obviously a weird, insular drug album. hardly surprising most people wouldn't be into it. all the better something like this was released by the beach boys; it doesn't get much more left-field than that! people here are too obsessed with the group's loss of popularity, jeez.

Have a nice day.

that wasn't a dig at you or anything. merely a point that it would be unsurprising 99.9% of pop music fans wouldn't be into smiley smile because it's nothing like the rest of the beach boys catalogue, especially compared o what came before but after too. even love you had some sonic precursors in the spring album and 15 big ones, for instance. i think as odd as smile might have been, it would've still been a recognisable shift from pet sounds... except then we got smiley smile, beginning the descent into the insular world of the beach boys.

No offense taken, Doctor. I realized, even as I was typing my post, that it was a downer. So I thought I would post something, complete with smiley face, going the opposite direction. Sorry for how it came off.

I'm not a fan of Smiley Smile. I think it's overrated and it signifies - to me anyway - Brian throwing in the towel. That doesn't mean I don't enjoy it; I do. But, I enjoy every Beach Boys' album. I compare it somewhat to BWPS. The songs are inferior to SMiLE. Anyway...

I don't think The Becah Boys ever recovered from Smiley Smiley. They went from Good Vibrations and that infamous poll beating The Beatles (yeah, I know it was just one poll) to declining record sales, bankruptcy, and being dropped by their record company. All that in what, 2-3 years. Hard to believe actually. Smiley Smiley was a mistake, and I always thought that Wild Honey was an attempt to apologize for it, in my opinion, of course...

Smiley Smile is the sound of the ball being dropped from a great height. Brian blew it, plain and simple. That's not to say the album is not without it's charm, the singing on it is great and in a strange way I prefer the Windchimes remake to the original. But overall it sounds like Brian took the easy way out to the major detriment of his band. How can anyone defend writing songs such as Surf's Up or Cabin Essence and then not putting them out? How can anyone agree with such an artistic choice?

I've just read back what I've typed and I don't wish to seem as a major Smiley downer. I'm used to hearing all of the songs now so of course I'd miss them if they were to disappear tomorrow but when I listen to Smiley now I see it more as an interesting artifact in the band's 'wilderness' years than a good album in itself.

[The Shift]

One track I wouldn't miss too much is Getting Hungry.  That said, if SMiLE had come out and time had taken that different path, we'd none of us have ever heard the Smiley versions so we wouldn't know to miss 'em.

Boy, I hope there's news soon…

[Mr. Cohen]

From what I gathered from the full Danny Hutton interviews for the Brian Wilson Songwriter DVD, I sense that Smiley Smile was Brian's attempt to return to "marijuana" music. Yes - the man thinks that way. Hutton even mentions how Pet Sounds was Brian's marijuana album (if you asked Brian about the sound, he'd say "I dunno... I was smoking a lot of weed). On that album, the songs are flowing and echoey.  But then Hutton remarks about how Smile was more of a "speed" album, and that perhaps it didn't connect quite as well because of that. The music stopped "flowing" or some such, plus you hear the paranoia and manic behavior creep into some of the material.

So, naturally, I suppose Brian thought smoking tons of weed and making a new Smile could bring back the magic he felt he'd lost.

[leggo of my ego]

That damn word "Genius" was/is the single most destructive force in the history of The Beach Boys.....

Murry's fault, no doubt. 

But yeah the cyber-universe is full of "Brian is a Genius" posts to the point the word's impact becomes quite diluted.

From looking at these posts Smiley Smile is, if nothing else the most polarizing LP the BB have put out.

I am in the middle I guess, I don't dislike SS it just seems like a bringdown from the higher plateau reached by Smile
even in Smile's uncompleted state.

[Cabinessenceking]

I would miss absolutely nothing, considering that any one of us could probably produce an album of equal or better quality in about two hours with a four track cassette recorder.

Ofc everyone is entitled to their opinion but concerning our abilities to make anything near as good as SS, that must be the most ignorant statement I've seen anywhere on the internet for quite some time. That's saying a lot. Smiley is a shredded masterpiece.

[Paulos]

Smiley Smile is so good they named a message-board after it. I love this album whether stone cold sober or in an altered state of consciousness, I can understand that a lot of people don't like it but to say things like the album has 'horrible vocals' is just plain wrong, the harmonized humming on Little Pad and the group vocals on With Me Tonight are just magical.