SMiLE - November 1966 Conception Mix

[The Old Master Painter]

This is something I've attempted to do for a troubling amount of time. I guess it was worth it. This *MIGHT* be the last SMiLE mix I will consider making in a while, mainly because since I'm a perfectionist, and don't see the need of making another one. Plus it takes a long time.... It almost makes me wonder if I seriously have a life, or not? I am toying around with the idea of a re-imagined 3-suiter.... I guess I'll let time decide. Anyways, let's get on with buisness, shall we?

The rule of this project was to present a historically accurate 1966 SMiLE that could've come out on the shelfs in 1966 as a 12 tracked pop album. It is *based* on the 12-track shortlist Brian gave in December, except with a few exceptions. These exceptions were made because before December, that's how a few certain songs were supposedly arranged (Great Shape being part of Heroes, Veggies being a pseudo-Elements track, etc.). In this mix, Wind Chimes is after Worms, making Chimes an "Americana" track. Plus, that's how the December list went anyways. If I have Wind Chimes after of before The Elements, people might start to imply Wind Chimes is an extension of Air, which is factually false. Anyways, here's the running order:


Prayer:

Starts off the album, as intended in September. I did play with the idea the album should close with Prayer, as the order of the October acetates suggested, and Vosse's cryptic comments about Surf's Up choral amen thing, but it didn't work. It just didn't sound good, plus Brian claimed on the tape (it's been taped people... It has more credibility than Surf's Up Pt. 2) that Prayer was the "intro to the album," so I remained faithful to Brian's wishes. I then added the Brian Falls into A Microphone segment, since Brian was also trying to integrate a "humor" album concept during those eary months... and the good ol' Psychedelic Sounds segments prove that. It makes sense to have a spoken microphone skit after a VOCAL intro.

Heroes and Villains:

This one is based off the Cantina edit, and the November demo performed on the Humble Harv Radio Show. It is 2:33 (a master take in May 1966 ran for 2:45, so that's pretty damn close...). I came up with this mix thanks to the help of The Holy Bee, and everybody who shared info or their own ideas in the "initial structure of Heroes" thread.

Do You Like Worms:

This one is a different edit of the marvelous SonicLoveNoize edit that truly captured the essence of the acetates, and made the song feel complete! Thanks man.

Wind Chimes:

This one is the SonicLoveNoize edit again, but with the Brian Falls into The Piano segment after the piano Wind Chimes tag.... Makes sense to me!

The Old Master Painter:

Same ol beautiful SMiLE Sessions edit.

Cabin Essence:

Same old TSS edit


Mastering notes:

Not like I actually "mastered" this thing, but I ran it through a 60s tape simulator, to add that characteristic 1960s vibe to it, to make it sound that much closer to how it actually would have sounded if it hit the markets in the 1960s...


Enjoy!

Side A: https://vimeo.com/152838265

Side B: https://vimeo.com/153300629

[jiggy22]

I really like your mix of Heroes and Villains. I've gotten so used to listening to a multitiude of super-long, 10+ minute versions of the song, so the idea of a 2 minute version was a foreign concept to me. But it works really well!

[The Old Master Painter]

I really like your mix of Heroes and Villains. I've gotten so used to listening to a multitiude of super-long, 10+ minute versions of the song, so the idea of a 2 minute version was a foreign concept to me. But it works really well!

Thanks man.... I tried to stay true to the intention of a 3 minute (roughly) comedy. Nothing more. In 1967, however, Heroes became an entirely different entity, but that's a different story!

[The Old Master Painter]

Double post

[The Old Master Painter]

grrrrr.... Triple post...

[The Old Master Painter]

Side B: https://vimeo.com/152761865

[The Old Master Painter]

So, any feedback or suggestions for next time?

[Sheriff John Stone]

So, any feedback or suggestions for next time?

I think it is really good. I enjoyed it very much. Thank you for posting it. I think your sequencing is good (and historically accurate?), your mixing and transitions are smooth, and I like the way you employed the spoken word inserts. Also, you can tell that you spent a lot of time and care on "The Elements"; very interesting. Clear, even sound, too.

Constructive criticism...On Side A, after "Wind Chimes" there is a spoken word section that ends with "I wanna be round my vegetables", then you go right into "The Old Master Painter". It's a little awkward, like I was expecting "Vegetables", not "The Old Master Painter". Maybe edit that short spoken word sentence mentioning vegetables out, or actually put it right before "Vegetables". Just my preference, but I would end Side A with "Cabinessence" fading out instead of the spoken word section. On Side B, the transition from "Good Vibrations" to "Mrs. O'Leary's Cow" is a bit jarring, like it needs something there, a link or an intro or something. And, like Side A and "Cabinessence", I think I would fade out Side B with "Surf's Up" and put "George Fell Into His French Horn" BEFORE "Surf's Up".

But, overall, very nice!

[The Old Master Painter]

So, any feedback or suggestions for next time?

I think it is really good. I enjoyed it very much. Thank you for posting it. I think your sequencing is good (and historically accurate?), your mixing and transitions are smooth, and I like the way you employed the spoken word inserts. Also, you can tell that you spent a lot of time and care on "The Elements"; very interesting. Clear, even sound, too.

Constructive criticism...On Side A, after "Wind Chimes" there is a spoken word section that ends with "I wanna be round my vegetables", then you go right into "The Old Master Painter". It's a little awkward, like I was expecting "Vegetables", not "The Old Master Painter". Maybe edit that short spoken word sentence mentioning vegetables out, or actually put it right before "Vegetables". Just my preference, but I would end Side A with "Cabinessence" fading out instead of the spoken word section. On Side B, the transition from "Good Vibrations" to "Mrs. O'Leary's Cow" is a bit jarring, like it needs something there, a link or an intro or something. And, like Side A and "Cabinessence", I think I would fade out Side B with "Surf's Up" and put "George Fell Into His French Horn" BEFORE "Surf's Up".

But, overall, very nice!

Thank you very much for the suggestion! Glad you digged it man.

[The Old Master Painter]

Here's the back cover:

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B174S6r7YdG1X0V2RkwtVXhXSFk

[Nile]

Side B: https://vimeo.com/152761865

Where is side B??
 

[The Old Master Painter]

Side B: https://vimeo.com/152761865

Where is side B??
 

I'm reuploading it. Most likely to be out by tommorow

[The Old Master Painter]

Modified Side A: https://vimeo.com/152838265

[Sheriff John Stone]

Modified Side A: https://vimeo.com/152838265

I like the modifications!

[Radfahrer]

At the moment this is by far my favorite mix. Great work! It has an authentic touch because you didn't try to include too many bits. At first I was sceptical of the use of Barnyard as the fade for H&V but now I really like this short and organic version. Can't wait to hear the B-side!

[The Old Master Painter]

At the moment this is by far my favorite mix. Great work! It has an authentic touch because you didn't try to include too many bits. At first I was sceptical of the use of Barnyard as the fade for H&V but now I really like this short and organic version. Can't wait to hear the B-side!

Thanks.... You know how the Vimeo upload quota thing goes, right? You can't upload *this* much in one week, so you got to wait another week to upload the video... It is what it is.

[yonderhillside]

"Brian Falls Into Mic" coming after "Prayer" is ingenious and hilarious. Really dig the mix, man. I've been trying to rework my H&V - more like a 2nd edition, because I still like the 1st, but I'm trying to make the 2nd a little more historically accurate.

[The Old Master Painter]

Sorry for keeping you guys waiting.... HERE IT IS: Side B: https://vimeo.com/153300629

1. Good Vibrations: Starts off Side B, just as it did on Smiley Smile. I know Smiley Smile is NOT Smile, but it is sadly what Smile became in Fall 1967, and I think a lot of Smiley's ideas still reflected the SMiLE album Brian intended. Brian never intended Good Vibes on SMiLE (as far as I and Micheal Vosse are aware of) but it was definitely going to be on the album (ala Capitol), and I still think that Good Vibes as the B-side opener would've saved Brian from Capitol's glaring "what in the world are you thinking?" look.

1. The Elements: The MOST frustrating track in all of Smile-lore. As Mujan has countlessly said: "The other 3 Elements were never OFFICIALLY recorded." Mrs. O' Leary's Fire was The Elements Part One, or the "Fire" element. That's it..... right? Not really. There were rough ideas Brian recorded in November on the Psycodelic Sounds boot that very openly tackled the other 3 Elements through spoken word and sound effects (water sounds). Vega-Tables, to me, was considered to be as "Earth" early on, because: Veggie chants are present in the Psycodelic Sounds bootleg, along with water chants, which obviously suggests something, Franks Holmes 1966 drawings list Vega-Tables as a part of The Elements, and Frank Holmes wasn't just a random no-one, he spoke to Van Dyke Parks and recieved lyric sheets to draw his artwork, and Van Dyke Parks' quotes that Veggies was the only Element he worked lyrics on (which would've been around Fall 1966, when Cornicopia was taped)... Air was an incomplete piano piece that hasn't surfaced or was never recorded, but Brian tracked down Breathing excerpts and a rant against Air Pollution on the Psycodelic Sounds boot. Using all this, I made an entirely 1966 Elements:

- Mrs. O' Leary's Fire (SMiLE Sessions Fire intro + 1966 vintage edit w/ Fire crackles)

- Water (1966 Water Chants + 1966 Water Sounds)

- Air (Torture Skit + Smog Rant + Breathing noises w/ echo)

- Vega-Tables (1966 cornicopia version + laughter + Veggies arguments + Torture Skit)....

It's not perfect (Capitol would've flat out denied a 7:06 minute Elements) but that's as close as I could come to make a 1966 Elements with Psycodelic Sounds Boot rough ideas filling in the remaining three Elements.

Wonderful: As Brian quoted (I'm paraphrasing): "(Regarding BWPS) The first two suites were original, the third suite was a new addition." If so, then The Elements (which was controversially spread out as a suite on BWPS) exists as a track on this mix (Good Vibes is not the 5th Element for the last time!). The Life/Spirituality suite begins with Good Vibes, Elements, and then Wonderful (which is about finding God's love from a girl's perspective), and will end with Surf's Up (which ends from the perspective of a man finding God). Child is The Father of The Man is added before Surf's Up, which is how I think it shoud be anyways. Look! was abandoned from the Capitol Memo, so I see no reason of adding on this mix, just like Holidays.

Child is The Father of The Man: The best 1966 3:03 replica edit ever, supplied by the extraordinary worksmith and magician, SonicLoveNoize!

Surf's Up: Starts with George Fell into His French Horn because, hell, it's quite obvious it was part of the song during the 1966 sessions for the Talking Horns thing. The rest is the best Surf's Up edit I've heard till this very day... the TSS edit.

And that, my friends, is an incredibly simple, non-Kitchen Sink version, mostly 1966 (aside from a few vocal overdubs from 1967, 1968, and 1971), and historically accurate Smile mix that I hope does justice to the album Brian Wilson and Van Dyke Parks concieved in the Summer of 1966 after Pet Sounds... Here's to that dream!

[Summertime Blooz]

Just went to listen to Side B again after reading your most excellent last post explanation and got an error message.

Updated: NEVER MIND! I was using the wrong link.

[Sheriff John Stone]

The link worked for me. Just listened to it and I like it. I think your modifications are an improvement. Nice, tight, cohesive mix. I like the sequencing. So, now you have Side A and Side B finished, complete with cover art - burn it, print it, get it out to all of your friends, and blow their minds!

[leggo of my ego]

Those loud crackles in the fire was nothing but a potato chip bag.

[The Old Master Painter]

Those loud crackles in the fire was nothing but a potato chip bag.

Woah!!!! That was deep, man. We should totally get together in a big tent and smoke some grass together! I got whipped cream too! 

[The Old Master Painter]

Just went to listen to Side B again after reading your most excellent last post explanation and got an error message.

Updated: NEVER MIND! I was using the wrong link.

You digged it, man? Which one of my mixes did you like better.... the 1966 one or the 1967 one?