Anyone think Brian Wilson was continuing Smile work after May 1967?

[D409]

How about Brad Elliott's theory (from LLVS) that Capitol intended to release the remainder of Smile after Smiley Smile (as catalogue no. Brother ST-9002) ?

"Among other things, the memo [from Capitol A&R director Karl Engeman] indicates that even after the recording of Smiley Smile, Plans were being made to finish and release Smile"

[Micha]

deleted.

[Sheriff John Stone]

How about Brad Elliott's theory (from LLVS) that Capitol intended to release the remainder of Smile after Smiley Smile (as catalogue no. Brother ST-9002) ?

"Among other things, the memo [from Capitol A&R director Karl Engeman] indicates that even after the recording of Smiley Smile, Plans were being made to finish and release Smile"

I take that memo (and I believe the memo is shown in LLVS) very seriously, just as I do the handwritten SMiLE tracklisting (whoever actually put the pen to paper).

Not to sound too "legal", but I view those types of things as evidence, simply because they are tangible. They aren't simply people talking, speculating, or lying to promote or defend a friend or favorite Beach Boy. Now, the way we interpret them is another thing.

I think  there was - even if it was for a short period of time - a plan for Brian to finish and submit SMiLE circa late 1967-68. Because of the speed that Brian recorded and because the material (for the most part) was already written, I believe Brian could've finally fit that project into his usual recording schedule which was, at that time, one or two albums per year. Yeah, I think that SMiLE would've resembled the sound of the "Wild Honey Surf's Up" or "Can't Wait To Long" or "Time To Get Alone" or songs like that.

Total speculation ....Maybe Brian put it on the back burner and did Smiley Smile, put it on the back burner and did Wild Honey, put it on the back burner and did Friends. Maybe by late 1968/early 1969, Brian was beginning to lose it, "it" meaning a lot things - focus, desire, interest in the SMiLE material, realizing he could no longer do the material justice because things - and he - had changed.

[Andrew G. Doe]

How about Brad Elliott's theory (from LLVS) that Capitol intended to release the remainder of Smile after Smiley Smile (as catalogue no. Brother ST-9002) ?

"Among other things, the memo [from Capitol A&R director Karl Engeman] indicates that even after the recording of Smiley Smile, Plans were being made to finish and release Smile"

I'm sure Capitol had very serious intentions, considering they had hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of studio time to recoup, not to mention roughly half a million covers and booklets in storage. I'm equally sure that whatever Brian told them was what he figured they wanted to hear, and that he had no intention whatsoever of going through with it.

[Rotat]

Yeah Brian didn't seem like he wanted anything to do with Smile after the collapse. Even a year later in early 1968 he described how he stopped work on it because he was about ready to die and that "you spend so much time in the studio sometimes you decide to just chuck it after awhile". Sounds to me Smile was never meant to be finished. Even Brian had no clear idea what to do with the material.

[monicker]

Well, they definitely autotuned parts of the "Be With Me" demo on MIC, so...

What??? Can you please pinpoint exactly where and when, with specific time(s) please?

I can hear it at little places all over that track, but it's particularly evident at 1:55 ("a part of me") where the note shifts so much, so quickly and unnaturally that Dennis sounds like T pain.

I think you are mistaken about this. There is no unnatural vacillation between pitches around 1:55 where you are saying it's most evident. Of course there's no way for either one of us to prove this anyway -- we only have our ears to inform us -- but i'm just throwing in my assessment.

[Ebb and Flow]

Well, they definitely autotuned parts of the "Be With Me" demo on MIC, so...

What??? Can you please pinpoint exactly where and when, with specific time(s) please?

I can hear it at little places all over that track, but it's particularly evident at 1:55 ("a part of me") where the note shifts so much, so quickly and unnaturally that Dennis sounds like T pain.

I think you are mistaken about this. There is no unnatural vacillation between pitches around 1:55 where you are saying it's most evident. Of course there's no way for either one of us to prove this anyway -- we only have our ears to inform us -- but i'm just throwing in my assessment.

I dunno man, the way the note fluctuates there does not sound natural to me.  It sounds like either autotuning or severe digital processing (perhaps a lot of noise/hiss reduction was necessary to improve the quality of the demo).  Either way, without a bootleg version or confirmation from Boyd or Linett there's no way to know for sure.  There IS autotuning on other tracks sprinkled throughout MIC, so it's not exactly crazy to assume they might have used it to sweeten the vocals on a demo deemed too rough for public consumption.  That's exactly what they did on "Sherry, She Needs Me"

[monicker]

There IS autotuning on other tracks sprinkled throughout MIC, so it's not exactly crazy to assume they might have used it to sweeten the vocals on a demo deemed too rough for public consumption.  That's exactly what they did on "Sherry, She Needs Me"

I know there is. I don’t know about other people, but i certainly didn’t suggest that it’s crazy to think it would show up anywhere on the box set. I just don’t think it’s on this demo is all. In terms of what sort of decisions might go into archival presentation and being mindful of not giving the public too hard a pill to swallow, there’s a world of difference between a lo-fi piano demo with Dennis singing pretty well and an attempt at presenting a completed studio version of Sherry, She Needs Me (where there certainly is pitch “correction” applied) with a rough, post-voice change Brian vocal. Night and day difference, i think. Which is not to say that i agree with their decision because i absolutely don't.