Brian's work on "Ol' Man River" in the late '60s

[bossaroo]

the version on the twofer coupled with Old Folks At Home is a totally realized medley and arrangement. aside from Brian's vocal flub on the first verse, it is a finished track. and a brilliant one at that. it is not "littered with mistakes"

so happy to hear BAD break this out, just wish they had done the full arrangement with all FIVE key changes like the twofer version.

[sockittome]

the version on the twofer coupled with Old Folks At Home is a totally realized medley and arrangement. aside from Brian's vocal flub on the first verse, it is a finished track.

Weren't there more vocals to be laid down on the second half of the track?  Sounds unfinished to me.

[Nicko1234]

the version on the twofer coupled with Old Folks At Home is a totally realized medley and arrangement. aside from Brian's vocal flub on the first verse, it is a finished track. and a brilliant one at that. it is not "littered with mistakes"

I haven`t listened to this one in a while but doesn`t the backing track sound very obviously bolted together from different takes?

[Jim V.]

the version on the twofer coupled with Old Folks At Home is a totally realized medley and arrangement. aside from Brian's vocal flub on the first verse, it is a finished track.

Weren't there more vocals to be laid down on the second half of the track?  Sounds unfinished to me.

I'm not sure what exactly Brian was planning on doing with this tune, but yeah I'm pretty sure he left it in an incomplete state. Fortunately for us, incomplete Brian Wilson works like "Do You Like Worms", "Child Is Father Of The Man", and "Old Folks At Home/Ol' Man River" are usually even more enjoyable than finished works by a lot of other artists. Shows just how good his stuff is.

[bossaroo]

i diasagree. i think the twofer version is basically complete. i don't think more vocals were necessarily intended or needed.

[Jim V.]

i diasagree. i think the twofer version is basically complete. i don't think more vocals were necessarily intended or needed.

Don't get me wrong. I personally love it the way it is. But I'm also pretty sure that it's mentioned in the liner notes for Friends/ 20/20 that it's unfinished. Maybe Brian was done with it back then. But from the story in the Carlin book along with the liner notes, it sounds like there was still more work to do.

[doinnothin]

This piece is SO Smile, that I have to wonder if he was working on this as a possible addition to a post Smiley Smile version of Smile. Pure conjecture, but I wonder.

[The Shift]

I sometimes think "Smile" should refer more to a style, or essence, than an era or an unreleased album.

[phirnis]

The Beach Boys never sounded better than they did on the Friends and 20/20 albums.

I think I'll have to agree here. Friends in particular is quite stunning in terms of its overall sound, probably one of the best-sounding pop records by anyone.