SMILE tracks on 1993 boxed set

[The Shift]

There's a Smile era edit of the song that takes out the next to last vocal section - it could be that section was the choral piece after Surf's Up, ending the album with Prayer (or part of Prayer) and bringing Smile full circle to the beginning.

Which could also explain why a portion of "Prayer" shows up at the end of "In Blue Hawaii" on BWPS. I wonder if Darian thought of that himself or if Brian recalled that he originally wanted a reprise of "Prayer" to come in near the end?

Or... it could just be a neat way of closing the cycle (circle) by returning to the beginning.

Which might be taken to imply that Brian never wanted Good Vibrations on SMiLE, that it's only there cos of Nonsuch's insistence!   

[petsite]

Then of course, there is the fact that the version of WONDERFUL used on the boxset was NOT found int he BB tape vaults. It had gone walkabout and they had to source it from a former employee who had safety copied it for himself while working for the group. His safety is now in the hands of the group. It was a safety of Brian's Dec 1966 comp reel.

[Dove Nested Towers]

Then of course, there is the fact that the version of WONDERFUL used on the boxset was NOT found int he BB tape vaults. It had gone walkabout and they had to source it from a former employee who had safety copied it for himself while working for the group. His safety is now in the hands of the group. It was a safety of Brian's Dec 1966 comp reel.

Walkabout was an excellent early Nicholas Roeg film, but it's SO disheartening (and accurate) to hear
the word applied to BB vault material. Same old story, absolutely maddening!

Interesting inside info.

[petsite]

It's no big deal. Tom Murphy had the copy. Thank goodness. Although, from what I hear, the original comp reeel has been found. Don't know about the original master that was copied to the comp reel.

Bob

[jonathan anderle]

This leads me to believe Brian considered it the final track to Smile at one point, after Surf's Up. Vosse describes a choral piece that was to follow Surf's up as the closer to the album in his 68 article. I struggle to think this could have been anything other than Our Prayer, although as others have pointed out Vosse was familiar with 20/20 at the time of the article so you'd think he'd refer to the piece by name. I wish I'd been around to ask him about this when he briefly showed up on The Smile Shop board. Is that thread archived anywhere?

i was just thinking of that thread the other day, wondering if it was stored anywhere. btw, i'm to blame for michael showing up on the board (i sent him a link to the thread with the fusion interview.) 

[c-man]

It's no big deal. Tom Murphy had the copy. Thank goodness. Although, from what I hear, the original comp reeel has been found. Don't know about the original master that was copied to the comp reel.

Bob

Was it COPIED to the comp reel, or were the master takes simply cut out and spliced together on the comp reel?

[Mahalo]

Did the original Wonderful ever have the yodel-lee-eeoo mixed properly onto the track?

[Bubba Ho-Tep]

I'm curious about "our Prayer"- as most of you know a tape circulates of the vocal session for this song (possibly the most fascinating tape-with Brian asking whether the others can feel the effect of certain substances and Carl asking Brian to really lead the session, etc).  Tape I heard has Brian continually stopping the group-mostly due to Mike flatting...So did the session end with a releasable take? Or did they never finish it due to their altered states? I ask because it's clear in Oct 1966 the song was fully formed in Brian's head and they knew the parts-yet in 1968 it is known that they went to Capitol to add more vocals-is that because it was never finished or they just felt it could be better?  I find it odd that they could spend a whole night working on it and then not return to it the next day or next session...but maybe that is what happened....

Based on the "Goodbye Surfing, Hello God" article, the track was finished in '66.  Maybe not at that particular session, but very shortly thereafter.  It was apparently the last acetate Brian played for his dinner guests that night.

This leads me to believe Brian considered it the final track to Smile at one point, after Surf's Up. Vosse describes a choral piece that was to follow Surf's up as the closer to the album in his 68 article. I struggle to think this could have been anything other than Our Prayer, although as others have pointed out Vosse was familiar with 20/20 at the time of the article so you'd think he'd refer to the piece by name. I wish I'd been around to ask him about this when he briefly showed up on The Smile Shop board. Is that thread archived anywhere?

There's a version of Prayer floating around, maybe an acetate version (?), that is slightly shorter than the version we've come to know. Could it be that Brian removed part of the final refrain and planned to use THAT at the end of the album? Would be a reprise yet not really repetition, aside from the "hmmmmm".

[petsite]

It's no big deal. Tom Murphy had the copy. Thank goodness. Although, from what I hear, the original comp reeel has been found. Don't know about the original master that was copied to the comp reel.

Bob

Was it COPIED to the comp reel, or were the master takes simply cut out and spliced together on the comp reel?

Now THAT is  great question. My thoughts are that it would have been copied to the comp reel, because there are certain things (compression, etc) that have to been done to the track in order to use it to cut the acetate.