Here's a SMiLE Rearrangement Ive been working on. Feedback appreciated.

[Please delete my account]

I enjoyed that a lot.

[buddhahat]

Re: Here's a SMiLE Rearrangement Ive been working on. Feedback appreciated.

My feedback is that it is ridiculous not to have Good Vibrations on any SMiLE mix as previously stated.

 I wanted to focus on the core tracks of the era, not something that had already been released on its own terms, apart from the SMiLE music proper, without Van Dyke's involvement and without any thematic or musical ties to either side.

I have no problem with you excluding it from your mix because you don't feel it fits thematically with your vision of the album, but you present your choice as an irrefutable fact: "good vibrations doesn't fit thematically or musically."

There is a case to be made for the lyrics not fitting with the other themes although, considering the stretches people go to tie the disparate themes of American expansion, cycle of life, elements, vegetables and wind chimes together, I'm not especially convinced that good vibrations can't be shoehorned in there also. I think an assumption is made that good vibrations doesn't fit because the lyrics were not written by VDP and they're not as dense, but neither are the wind chimes lyrics especially complex. One could argue that good vibrations fits with other cycle of life songs and deals with a similar  boy/girl as wonderful.

However, all that aside, my argument in support of its inclusion is that musically it fits. If I just listen to the backing track I hear nothing that separates it from other smile tracks, anymore than the backing track to wonderful sounds different to the backing track to old master painter which sounds different to the backing track to fire etc. Look even shares the same riff as GV and it could be argued that Brian envisaged those two songs working together on the album, even at that early stage of recording.

Good vibrations is the start of Brian's modular recording and everything that follows with smile is a development of that . He recorded good vibrations. He loved it. He wanted to build an album around it. (IMO)

[Nile]

You are completely right Mujan!
Love your mix and if you feel that GV shouldn´t  be in your mix, you have that right!
Great flow...
Rock on!
Nile

[John Manning]

There is a precedence for BW productions appearing on albums after their initial release, the most glaring of which has to be Little Deuce Coupe on the "Surfer Girl" and "Little Deuce Coupe" albums.  To justify Good Vibrations exclusion on such grounds is unwarranted, in my humble opinion.

That said, it's your "Smile" mix, you can do what the heck you like with it… but don't be too offended by the fact that that there are those of us old farts who believe that Brian Wilson wanted it included in his original "Smile" mix back in 66/67, and that we defer to him for some reason… 

I will get around to listening to your mix but cannot do it via YouTube as I need my ol' 'puter to do some work on… now if I could only burn it to a CD…

[Niko]

Personally, I think GV is an important part of SMiLE. It doesn't need to be the ending piece to the album, but the couple times I've played Smile for friends/family, they have all said that the fact it ends with GV was 'profound'.

That being said, I was more interested in your mix since you were doing something different with it by not including GV. SO while I personally prefer the album with the song included, I liked your mix a lot. Everything flows very well, and you made some interesting decisions I have not seen done before, like including Cabinessence so early on. Cool decisions. Its obvious you spend a great deal of time planning this all out.

It really does amaze me that Brian created an album that allowed its listeners to be creative just in assembling the pieces. There is really nothing like it.

[Mujan, 8@$+@Rc| of a Blue Wizard]

I enjoyed that a lot.

Thanks very much.

[Mujan, 8@$+@Rc| of a Blue Wizard]

Re: Here's a SMiLE Rearrangement Ive been working on. Feedback appreciated.

My feedback is that it is ridiculous not to have Good Vibrations on any SMiLE mix as previously stated.

 I wanted to focus on the core tracks of the era, not something that had already been released on its own terms, apart from the SMiLE music proper, without Van Dyke's involvement and without any thematic or musical ties to either side.

I have no problem with you excluding it from your mix because you don't feel it fits thematically with your vision of the album, but you present your choice as an irrefutable fact: "good vibrations doesn't fit thematically or musically."

There is a case to be made for the lyrics not fitting with the other themes although, considering the stretches people go to tie the disparate themes of American expansion, cycle of life, elements, vegetables and wind chimes together, I'm not especially convinced that good vibrations can't be shoehorned in there also. I think an assumption is made that good vibrations doesn't fit because the lyrics were not written by VDP and they're not as dense, but neither are the wind chimes lyrics especially complex. One could argue that good vibrations fits with other cycle of life songs and deals with a similar  boy/girl as wonderful.

However, all that aside, my argument in support of its inclusion is that musically it fits. If I just listen to the backing track I hear nothing that separates it from other smile tracks, anymore than the backing track to wonderful sounds different to the backing track to old master painter which sounds different to the backing track to fire etc. Look even shares the same riff as GV and it could be argued that Brian envisaged those two songs working together on the album, even at that early stage of recording.

Good vibrations is the start of Brian's modular recording and everything that follows with smile is a development of that . He recorded good vibrations. He loved it. He wanted to build an album around it. (IMO)

To me, SMiLE was supposed to be a suqeul and combination of Pet Sounds and GV. It'd take the lyrical complexities of the former and combine them with the modular editing techniques of the later. I'm not presenting my case as irrefutable fact, so much as emphasizing that there *is* a case to be made for leaving it off, however much people may disagree. If you want to listen to GV, put it on before to get in the mood, or after to celebrate the genesis of the project. But each side of my mix is a better, more focused piece of music without it, in my opinion.

[Mujan, 8@$+@Rc| of a Blue Wizard]

You are completely right Mujan!
Love your mix and if you feel that GV shouldn´t  be in your mix, you have that right!
Great flow...
Rock on!
Nile

Much appreciated. Thanks for listening.

[Mujan, 8@$+@Rc| of a Blue Wizard]

Personally, I think GV is an important part of SMiLE. It doesn't need to be the ending piece to the album, but the couple times I've played Smile for friends/family, they have all said that the fact it ends with GV was 'profound'.

That being said, I was more interested in your mix since you were doing something different with it by not including GV. SO while I personally prefer the album with the song included, I liked your mix a lot. Everything flows very well, and you made some interesting decisions I have not seen done before, like including Cabinessence so early on. Cool decisions. Its obvious you spend a great deal of time planning this all out.

It really does amaze me that Brian created an album that allowed its listeners to be creative just in assembling the pieces. There is really nothing like it.

Thank you. I appreciate the fact that even though you disagree you were able to give it a chance anyway, which apparently is too much to ask of some of the people here.

[soniclovenoize]

I would say that crossfade between Wind Chimes and CIFOTM doesn't quite work.  Wind Chimes ends in this G7 to F progression (which feels like F is the resolution) and Child begins in Bm and then modulates.  So when the piano parts are overlayed, it becomes really dissonant and seems to not fit with the rest of the album mix.  I would say separate them and not crossfade them. 

[shangaijoeBB]

Great mix, flows very well and I really dig your CFOTM but...
to me it isn't SMiLE as it would have been back then.

For years, iv'e made mixes after mixes after mixes of how SMiLE should go and iv'e found that the best way it to look at it is through "songs" and not side long "suites". For me, GV is a much a part of SMiLE as Sloop John B was on Pet Sounds. In this era, you had to give the record company a "hit" single. Brian was still making "normal" 60s records (with separate tracks on albums) and did so for the rest of his career with the Beach Boys. So it always confuse me as to why he would have gone full progressive mode with this album and making side-long suite. IMO, it always has been 12-13 modular songs, with fades, similar to what he created with Good Vibrations. Nothing more, nothing less.
 

[Mujan, 8@$+@Rc| of a Blue Wizard]

I would say that crossfade between Wind Chimes and CIFOTM doesn't quite work.  Wind Chimes ends in this G7 to F progression (which feels like F is the resolution) and Child begins in Bm and then modulates.  So when the piano parts are overlayed, it becomes really dissonant and seems to not fit with the rest of the album mix.  I would say separate them and not crossfade them. 

Thanks for the suggestion.

[Mujan, 8@$+@Rc| of a Blue Wizard]

Great mix, flows very well and I really dig your CFOTM but...
to me it isn't SMiLE as it would have been back then.

For years, iv'e made mixes after mixes after mixes of how SMiLE should go and iv'e found that the best way it to look at it is through "songs" and not side long "suites". For me, GV is a much a part of SMiLE as Sloop John B was on Pet Sounds. In this era, you had to give the record company a "hit" single. Brian was still making "normal" 60s records (with separate tracks on albums) and did so for the rest of his career with the Beach Boys. So it always confuse me as to why he would have gone full progressive mode with this album and making side-long suite. IMO, it always has been 12-13 modular songs, with fades, similar to what he created with Good Vibrations. Nothing more, nothing less.
 

These are most definitely side-long suites I've constructed, but not necessarily at the expense of the songs. That's part of the reason I discarded the smaller "feels" like Barnyard, Old Master Painter, Workshop and Holidays in favor of extending the core tracks with session outtakes. If you consider Wonderful and Look as one song, and Prayer/Gee & You're Welcome/Whispering Winds as unlisted intros to their respective suites, this *is* a standard 12 track album with 4 strong singles (H&V, Vega-Tables, Wind Chimes and Surfs Up) to take from it. Yes, there is a strong flow between the songs, but that's because I sequenced it in such a way that there's either a musical, and/or thematic connection between each song. Side One is especially true of this. Every song on that suite fades out on its own terms as its own seperate entity, but combined they also tell the story of American expansion and its devastating impact on the Indians. Side Two is a bit more modular, I'll admit. Most of the really strong, finished, fleshed-out tracks come in Side One. Side Two has Look, Cool, Cool Water, CIFOTM, Dada and Surf's Up...which are debatably the least complete SMiLE songs. So to compensate, these tracks were made to flow into one another to distract from, say, CIFOTM's lack of verses. Is it perfect? No. Is it exactly as SMiLE would've been in '67? No one can say. I'd like to think I was close, though. But compromises are inevitable.

Either way, I wanted to do something different. I noticed that anytime I tried to introduce someone to SMiLE, they lost interest between the overlong H&V versions right at the beginning, the Americana fragments that make the album sound very broken up and unfinished, the abrupt shifts in mood, theme and melody between the three suites (and between the various unrelated tracks incorrectly lumped together as the 'elements suite.') So I wanted a mix that remedied this. According to the majority of the people here, leaving off GV automatically invalidates my mix from being historically accurate. But overall, I think I'm closer with this train of thought then all the three suite mixes out there. I think too many mixers now miss the forest for the trees. They get too attached to some of these songs and include all of them in the mix, without caring that it makes their SMiLE too long, too choppy and less than the sum of its parts. I think I reached a happy medium here where every song is fleshed out enough to stand on its own, but it works well in its suite, and the album as a whole sounds great when played the whole way through.

[soniclovenoize]

I don't know man, I've seen lots of SMiLE mixes that don't follow the "three suite rule" and try to whittle it down. 

Also, if you had used GV, youtube would have pulled the video and hit you with a copyright violation and put restrictions on your youtube channel, so it's a good thing you didn't use it!  That's exactly what happened to me!   

[Mujan, 8@$+@Rc| of a Blue Wizard]

I don't know man, I've seen lots of SMiLE mixes that don't follow the "three suite rule" and try to whittle it down.  

Also, if you had used GV, youtube would have pulled the video and hit you with a copyright violation and put restrictions on your youtube channel, so it's a good thing you didn't use it!  That's exactly what happened to me!  

Not saying I'm the first one to do something different, but the norm is definitely 3 suites, super-beefed up H&V and ending with GV since '04. I get it. That's the way Brian did it himself, who are we to question him about his music? And so, for better or worse, this playing order has become more or less the standard. I'm just trying to reaffirm the fact that in a span of over 30 years...things change. I doubt very much the '04 setlist would've been what we got in '67.

Mind recommending any other 2-suite mixes? Almost all the ones I have in my collection are 3 suite or one continuous, modular medley. Both interpretations are good when done well, but pretty unrealistic when considering Brian was working on a two-sided vinyl LP, not CDs as we have today. And as a previous poster stated, Brian was still doing "traditional" albums at this time. Taking all this and more into account, I think 2 suites is the most realistic yet paradoxically the least utilized option.

The reason there's a one year gap between the posting of Side One and Side Two is because Side Two was initially muted for copyright even without GV.

[18thofMay]

The song on the radio promo for SMiLE, what is it called again?

[Mujan, 8@$+@Rc| of a Blue Wizard]

The song on the radio promo for SMiLE, what is it called again?

Yeah, you mean the only SMiLE song that had been released up to that point and was available for use in the promo?

Seriously guys...I get it. You like GV. Gotcha. I'm sorry for trying to do something different with a SMiLE mix. Sheesh.

[Nile]

i just wanna say there´s incredible lot of hate on this board, regarding different opinions!
I mean, the man put out an mix of an album that I´m sure everybody on this board loves (or songs, or bites to be precise) and you guys treat him like sh.t! I don´t understand...
He obviously put a lot of effort in this and you bug him over GV! One song! If you´re so damn righteous why don´t you bug him with Look, Holidays...
I´m too preparing my own mix (and yes GV will be in it), and I´m seriously considering not to put in online for everyone on this board, but few individuals, who have also been decent, polite and supportive of Mujan in this story, and yes they too have GV in their mixes!
Very sad to see so much disrespect for this mix...

[18thofMay]

Disrespect? It is clear he has attempted many times to justify the songs exclusion. I have made 3 posts and they are obviously straight to the point that's me... Good Vibes is on the cover, in the radio promo, on the BW version and on the SMiLE sessions box.. what more does he need for Christ's sake.. who's being disrespectful...

[John Manning]

The thread title itself requests feedback, not flattery…

[Niko]

That, along with statements like these:

I never include GV in any of my SMiLE mixes.......and it doesn't fit, musically or thematically, into SMiLE at all.

Anyway, bringing this back on topic, GV with its Mike Love, simple boy-girl lyrics doesn't fit into these sonic journeys. It'd sound hamfisted in and distracting.

Only invites it. I've enjoyed reading the discussion that has come from all this though. It's been interesting.

[Mujan, 8@$+@Rc| of a Blue Wizard]

i just wanna say there´s incredible lot of hate on this board, regarding different opinions!
I mean, the man put out an mix of an album that I´m sure everybody on this board loves (or songs, or bites to be precise) and you guys treat him like sh.t! I don´t understand...
He obviously put a lot of effort in this and you bug him over GV! One song! If you´re so damn righteous why don´t you bug him with Look, Holidays...
I´m too preparing my own mix (and yes GV will be in it), and I´m seriously considering not to put in online for everyone on this board, but few individuals, who have also been decent, polite and supportive of Mujan in this story, and yes they too have GV in their mixes!
Very sad to see so much disrespect for this mix...

Thank you for the support, msn. It's greatly appreciated.

[Mujan, 8@$+@Rc| of a Blue Wizard]

Disrespect? It is clear he has attempted many times to justify the songs exclusion. I have made 3 posts and they are obviously straight to the point that's me... Good Vibes is on the cover, in the radio promo, on the BW version and on the SMiLE sessions box.. what more does he need for Christ's sake.. who's being disrespectful...

*Shrugs* I prefer to leave it off. Who says every SMiLE song has to be in every mix? How am I being disrespectful for making a choice and sticking to it? I wouldnt call *you* people disrespectful, but...I don't know...'closed minded,' certainly.

[Mujan, 8@$+@Rc| of a Blue Wizard]

The thread title itself requests feedback, not flattery…

Certainly. Though, I would've preferred more constructive feedback (I don't like your version of X song, the transition between these two doesn't work, etc)  but, it's the internet I guess. If you think it'd be better if I included GV I don't mind you saying so. But refusing to listen at all or to call my work "not a real SMiLE mix" for leaving out one song among a pool of dozens is pretty hurtful, I will say.

[Mujan, 8@$+@Rc| of a Blue Wizard]

That, along with statements like these:

I never include GV in any of my SMiLE mixes.......and it doesn't fit, musically or thematically, into SMiLE at all.

Anyway, bringing this back on topic, GV with its Mike Love, simple boy-girl lyrics doesn't fit into these sonic journeys. It'd sound hamfisted in and distracting.

Only invites it. I've enjoyed reading the discussion that has come from all this though. It's been interesting.

I will say it's interesting to know how many people find the song so indespensible to the album. I always disliked its inclusion and preferred it as a standalone single.