SMiLE Sessions that were not on the 2011 boxset?

[Julia]

I originally posted the topic in the other SMiLE thread but it's clear to me it was just gonna get buried there and I think this is important enough to warrant it's own discussion, so Im moving it here.

I've been cross-indexing the session dates on the TSS boxset with those on Bellagio, trying to see if there are any non-canceled, not-officially-lost tapes that were unaccounted for in that release. Basically, this is a way of seeing if there's anything in the vaults we haven't gotten an official taste of yet. I could be missing something: it's late, this is a tedious, confusing game of "match the dates," some stuff is poorly marked and I'm only human, so please correct me if I'm wrong on anything!

1) I cant find a listing of that first 2/17/66 session of Good Vibrations, which AGD doesn't specify as being lost. All three september dates (12, 21, 26) are unaccounted for, but I believe these are the various overdubs that have gone missing, yes? The boxset seems to have the june 2 versions of "Inspiration" but not 6/12. AGD lists two entries for vocals with uncertain dates, but from 8/24-9/1 sometime. The boxset does have an entry dated 9/1. AGD also has a "mixdown" session specifically dated 8/24. Maybe they only mixed on 8/24 and we have the vocals here.

2) So far, I've found an 11/8 session for Surf's Up I can't account for. Am I missing something, what's that? I presume the "lost second movement" is from the canceled 1/23 session unless someone can clarify.

3) The cornucopia version of Vega-Tables is dated 10-17 (as opposed to a lot of people saying November) but we have "Chants" on 11-11 I can't account for. This is NOT the "where's my beets and carrots" / "Ive got a big bag of vegetables" as far as I know. Unless Im mistaken, that was all part of the Psychedelic Sounds tape (which the whole bootleg was named for, though it contained other recordings from different dates on Disc 2) which is 11-4...UNLESS these were stitched to PS Disc 1 anachronistically but they seem to follow the flow of an uninterrupted night of recording and they're not like awkwardly tacked on at the end or anything. Someone clear this up, please? (Also, the boxset erroneously dates the Veggie Fight to 11-11 when AGD has it at 11-16.)

4) Were all the sessions for 12-15 canceled or just Surf's Up? Because if they weren't, that's a Wonderful and Cabin Essence vocal session unaccounted for. As far as I can tell this is when You're Welcome was recorded, which we have, as well as Ball and Mitt which supposedly exists in the vaults as people claim to have heard it, so that implies only SU was canceled but I want to be sure.

5) I may be missing something, it's late and the Heroes and Villains sessions are a mess, but on the boxset nothing is dated 2/2, 2/3, 2/7, 2/16, 2/21. The 2/16 date is listed as "piano theme" on AGD's site, which the boxset has dated to 2/15 (along with prelude to fade, which is what AGD has for 2/15) so Im gonna say that's probably a simple error on someone's part. The 2/3 and 2/21 dates are just listed as "vocals" on AGD's site. The 2/2 and 2/7 dates have no subtitles on AGD's site so they could be anything undated on the boxset or nothing.

6) The Version 3 Child is Father of the Man "pork-chop chi-ii-father of the man" vocals are what was recorded 4/10 I believe, but unless Im misremembering those aren't actually on the boxset are they? Also it seems vocals for this song were recorded 10-11 and 10-12 but the boxset only lists the 10-11 date among its sessionography and it's an instrumental recording so what's that about? There's also a 12-2 vocal session I can't account for as well.

^This really drives home how overlooked and mistreated CIFOTM is, if you ask me. IMO it's the best SMiLE song, def my fave Beach Boy backing track, and not only does it have the most missing sessions for any non-single, even the ones they included on TSS were badly truncated and its Disc 1 presentation the most insulting of any on the Dec tracklist. I almost resent that its chorus vocals were used in SU because it like psychologically primed everyone to see it as "just" a precursor to the album's climax rather than a genuine pocket symphony in its own right. Also, how ironic that the song with arguably the most vocal sessions sans Heroes has among the least surviving vocals/lyrics in the canon. What the hell, man?

7) Also, we are missing the 2/12 and 2/17 sessions for the last two Jasper Dailey songs, "Crack the Whip" and "When I Get Mad I Play My Drums." Not losing too much sleep over this, but it would be kinda cool to hear if they ever find them. I've heard they're lost though they're not marked as such on Bellagio.

[mike s]

There's a lot of H&V stuff missing I think - sessions and acetates.

There are reports from the time of multiple finished versions but I'm not sure about that - multiple in progress acetates more likely..?  More complete than what we've heard that is.

[Julia]

There's a lot of H&V stuff missing I think - sessions and acetates.

There are reports from the time of multiple finished versions but I'm not sure about that - multiple in progress acetates more likely..?  More complete than what we've heard that is.

Acetates present a whole other problem. Like, I didn't mention Wind Chimes officially missing a session but Vosse says in Teen Set he heard a version with vocals over the fade. But, according to AGD's site, the only known vocal session for either SMiLE version of Wind Chimes is NOT missing (he marks those with an X indicator) so is it possible only part of the tape is missing/taped over, or Wind Chimes vocals were recorded on a separate date under a different name that *is* missing? (We do have mis-logged CIFOTM sessions that say "Cabin Essence" on the tape, so it's not an unfounded speculation).

Maybe some of the people here who have access to the tapes might weight in: were almost all of the vocal sessions wiped besides those included in the backing vocals montage on the boxset and that's why a) there's no a capella versions like on the Pet Sounds box, and b) true stereo mixes are impossible? In the case of the earlier example, is there a Wind Chimes vocal session tape in the vaults or has the whole thing gone missing and all we have is a mixdown where the vocals are "baked in" with the backing track? Are there vocal sessions where we can hear the Beach Boys layering the overdubs on top of the main vocal track, like we got with Unsurpassed Masters 13 and 14 that we just haven't heard yet or have they all been wiped?

Basically, did we get everything there was to get in 2011 and the sessionography on TSS was full or errors, or is AGD's site out of date, where stuff went missing since he wrote it, or is Capitol just holding on to some more material to make us buy the next release? Ive heard they found some acetates since 2011 but is there more in the vaults too?

[Ian]

Nov. 8 1966 Surf’s Up was, I believe, percussion overdubs. I was told Feb 2 and 3 1967 tapes are lost. Also the Feb 7 tapes have the Cantina vocals and the Your Under Arrest line. I believe the Feb 21 was the vocals for Gee and tack piano for Heroes. As far as I know Child track was Oct 11 and vocals were added on Oct 12. Yes I believe the jasper Daily stuff is missing.

[Julia]

Nov. 8 1966 Surf’s Up was, I believe, percussion overdubs. I was told Feb 2 and 3 1967 tapes are lost. Also the Feb 7 tapes have the Cantina vocals and the Your Under Arrest line. I believe the Feb 21 was the vocals for Gee and tack piano for Heroes. As far as I know Child track was Oct 11 and vocals were added on Oct 12. Yes I believe the jasper Daily stuff is missing.

I'll take your word on all this at face value unless someone comes along to dispute it, then I'd kindly ask the competing claimants to trade sources/credentials 

Thank you for answering!

[Dan Lega]

We do have the one Jasper Dailey song, "Teeter Totter Love," on the big SMiLE Sessions box set.

[Ian]

Right….as far as I know the rest are missing.

[WillJC]

Sessions didn't happen on 8/24, 9/12, 11/8, 11/11, 2/2, or 2/16. Those are all mistakes. Some of this is kinda confusing the way the gang worked, though... A lot of the above dates represent overdub work on existing tapes and can't be viewed as isolated recordings in a vacuum. Like, for example, nothing of Heroes and Villains from February '67 is gone (unless vocal parts were replaced later) - the dates just represent continuing work on things we've already heard, such as the four chants being recorded across several days on a reel only dated 2/20. I'll answer the other questions as best I can.

1) The 8-track master for Good Vibrations with the vocals is missing. But if something's in a mono mix, we've also heard what they did, so the result of that day's work isn't missing.

2) A November 8 date for Surf's Up came from a mistake in Capitol's files.

3) All of that vegetable chanting stuff comes from the November 4 "Psychodelic Sounds" reel. The promo skit with Hal Blaine was definitely November 16.

4) The session on December 15 involved vocals for Cabin Essence and Wonderful, Brian's piano/vocal version of Surf's Up, and You're Welcome, in that order. Nothing was cancelled. "Ball and Mitt" was noted on the tracksheet where the guys chucked around a baseball in the studio for a few minutes in the middle of doing You're Welcome.

5) Basically what I said at the top. The session on Feb 15 did run over midnight into Feb 16, but that happens a lot and cataloguing gets complicated when you start trying to acknowledge those as date changes. The "Piano Bit" version of Bicycle Rider was recorded after Prelude to Fade before heading home.

6) Child vocals were recorded Oct 12 and/or 13, Dec 2, and Dec 6, according to Capitol's files. There were three completely different vocal arrangements of the chorus recorded, each one wiping over the last, and the 8-track master is missing, except for a partial safety copy with only 4 of 8 tracks patched across (in the same boat as Good Vibrations). The "whoa child" piano section in E was most likely recorded April 4.

7) I think the 2/12 and 2/17 dates for Jasper sessions might be questionable, but then again I'm not sure where they came from. All of the Jasper tapes are sadly missing. The only thing currently known to exist is the Teeter Totter Love acetate from Jasper's family that was used on the box.

No Wind Chimes vocals were erased or are missing.

[Julia]

Thanks Will!

[mike s]

No Wind Chimes vocals were erased or are missing.

So we'll hopefully finally get to hear that amazing section that Vosse mentioned..?