The Smiley Smile Message Board

Ding Dang

Jazz -- might almost as much to do with SMiLE as my left glute, but it's fantastic. Listen to how much fun those guys are having. Fine musicianship.

There were some sanding sound effects here that I've never heard before. Love it ending on Brian's OW!  :lol

Such a weird and eccentric track. Just think of how weirded out some 13 year-old, pop music loving girl buying this album in 1967 would have been when listening to Workshop and then Vegetables. It's percussion at it's finest.

And hey, the Beach Boys made a song out of workshop noises two (three?) years before Pink Floyd did!

(Floyd had an unreleased, concert-only piece called "Work" which was quite similar to this.)

Best part of the whole album! :lol

I'd only like to add that the laid-back vibe of "I Wanna Be Around" really works well coming after "Surf's Up". Then the transition into the crazier "Workshop (Friday Night)" prepares the listener for the completely out-there "Vega-Tables". BWPS had the re-arranged "cantina" theme to prepare for "I'm In Great Shape", but I don't think that track starting cold after "Surf's Up" would have worked as well. For me, the new track sequencing is superb.

This is why it's a shame that Smile didn't come out in the 60s. now the only people that will listen to this album are "serious scholars of music".

Completely disagree ;D


I agree. This album absolutely could and should have taken the world completely by storm. Sgt Pepper? Please. As you say, imagine teen girls and surfer boys hearing this expecting another Summer Days and getting introduced to psychedelia completely by accident. In some alternate timeline, this impossible dream is reality....



To add my own 2-cents, where if anywhere do you think this was supposed to go? After Fire like Carol Kaye said or perhaps after Wonderful? That poor girl's innocence was taken from her...she needs someone to be around to pick up the pieces of her broken heart, amiright? Can anyone think of another way that isnt how it's done on BWPS/TSS? Just looking for new ideas.

Why was this track added to the fade of "Do It Again"?

Same reason CIFOTM was used in Surf's Up in 1971. Brian didnt think the material would ever see the light of day, but wanted it to be heard. So he used it to patch bare spots in future works where it seemed appropriate. He probably thought the workshop sounds worked well with the idea of the group building themselves up again.

And I don't blame him for doing that at all. Using construction noises and what-not to create a song is probably one of the most inventive musical ideas for its time. People deserved to hear something like that, even if it wasn't on the album it was originally intended for. Just image what all those young teenage girls thought when they first heard it!

I think it was wrong to use some of the other SMiLE pieces out of context, but with this one I dont mind. I think there's a good chance Workshop might not have made the cut for SMiLE anyway, so its not as "blasphemous" as say, Surf's Up or Cabinessence ripped from their proper place into other albums.

The BWPS sequence may not be authentic, but I adore the "I Wanna Be Around" / "Workshop" / "Vega-Tables" sequence beyond reason.  I recall the feeling of sheer delight the suddenly-appearing intro of "Vega-Tables" stirred in me when I first heard it at one of the RFH Smile concerts.  And there's something profoundly satisfying about following the song that begins "I wanna be around" with the song that begins "I'm gonna be 'round", the latter resolving the longing of the former.  I'm sure this was nobody's plan during the original sessions, but I love it and I will not be moved on this.

I believe it was Carl's idea to use the workshop sounds at the end of Do It Again - and only on the album version!