OneEar/OneEye: I have no information on this subject. As I recently posted, my interest was in Brian, not in the music. Questions like this are not relevant to my experience.

Fair enough, though I would think that having an interest in Brian might naturally lead one to the music as well. 
Guess not, at least in your case anyway.   
   

Lorren - I don't believe this has been asked yet, but have you any information regarding the handwritten list (which has been determined not be in Brian's handwriting, but possibly Carl's or Diane Rovell's) of tracks which was used to create the (temporary?) back cover of the Smile album?   It would have been written (as far as I know) sometime around December of 1966.  There has been a lot of controversy over this list for a long time.    
Thanks.

[and]

Not defending whoever the poster was (real or hoax) but it is possible that GV could have linkage to the wife.  Asher wrote his lyrics tuned to what Brian wanted the song to be about, right?  He didn't just write about whatever he (Asher) wanted to.  Brian would say something like, "This song is about  such and such and so I want lyrics that say this and this."  Asher would then write to that topic/idea/whatever.   So it is possible that Brian relayed the thing about this friend of his having a hotty wife who says "good vibes" all the time and also how this connects to a memory he has from childhood of his mom telling him that dogs sensed peoples vibrations (like E.S.P. or whatever)  and this could have been the origination of that song.   IJWMFTT could have been about Daro, or Brian himself - or a lot of people I would imagine (all of the above even).  
I know this is all could have beens and maybes, but it is a possibility.  
Except, I suppose, that Brian states otherwise (and as far as I know always has) - and so, in that event,  this whole post of mine is basically moot and useless.....sigh.  Oh well.    

I don't know about anyone else, but I definitely prefer aural to be warm....though it doesn't necessarily have to be "natural"   

the Brian led band and the post Smile band are really two different bands though, in a way.  Just as Pink Floyd with Syd and Pink Floyd after his departure are two different animals (pun intended, if you like) -  the same guys were in the band, essentially, but the whole things dynamic and creative force had changed. 
So, while I would agree it's a shame that Brian, who was doing an amazingly cool thing with the whole Smile trip, was thwarted in his muses ascension and growth, it would be a shame to me equally not to have the often great music that came afterward.    Smiley Smile is an amazing thing - I only wish there were more on it, but it's brevity is also part of it's charm.  Wild Honey, Friends.....I would miss them.

I think that would have been a smart idea. However, there are a still a few issues, namely...

• What do you do for the title "I'm In Great Shape"? Do you just use the small snippet? Do you connect "Barnyard" to it? Or possibly "I Wanna Be Around"?
• And what about "The Elements"? Do you just use "Fire" or do you add in "Love To Say Dada"? Puts you in a tough spot there.

That is a good point.  I think I would begin by asking Brian.  If he said "make it like BWPS" I would say "No, Brian, we're not doing that!"    (Kidding of course), but assuming he was down with making this different from BWPS and his response was "I don't know"  or "I don't care"  then maybe I would ask VDP.  If that bore no fruit, then I might just use MOLC for the elements (as that is the only real definite we have on what was to be included in that suite) and include a word of explanation to that effect in the liner notes.   All other "possibles" when it comes to The Elements, I would place among the bonus material.   With IIGS I would use the material that was in some way originally listed under that title, and place the other potential pieces in with the bonus stuff.    
Ideally of course, in such a scenario, Brian himself would be taking a more active role in the construction of it and would be making such determinations.  Or, they could have held a contest, where they presented the project to all the obsessives who'd been making fan constructions for all these years and chosen one of those for the basis of what they put together.  
Or, give it to ML and see what he comes up with.  

[edit] MOLC on its own could work as a representation for all the elements.  You have the fire, the air that fans the flames, the earth which is scorched by the fire and the water that puts it out. 

BWPS was its own thing though, why mirror it so for the '66/'67 version?  Personally I feel they ought to have just used the tracks listed on the original back cover (despite that list not being written in stone, it's still the best we had) and placed the additional tracks as bonus/extras.   I wouldn't have felt like it undermined the BW version at all.   The fly ins for Child, Holidays and Great Shape should not have been done if they were not able to pull them off better than they did.  As has been stated, amateurs have shown it can be done better - so why didn't they?  I too would have much preferred the surviving original members to add their vocals to these tracks, and in fact I think that would have been kind of cool.   
That being said, however, I still would rather have what we have as opposed to having no official release at all.   

Kink Kontroversy is the best of their early 'slap and dash' albums.  Follow this with Face To Face, Something Else, VGPS, Arthur, Money-Go-Round and Muswell Hillbillies - along with the fantastic Kink Kronikles compilation and you've got a a helluva string of albums.  Schoolboys In Disgrace is a favorite as well as the run of late '70's, early '80's "american" albums - Sleepwalker to State of Confusion (these are all really good).    i was sad that reunion tour of the four original Kinks never happened.   

The Elements (all related parts of it).   It's the most unfinished part of the whole album and ends up being more annoying than anything else.  Mrs O'Leary's Cow is great, but after you've heard it a couple times it's just "meh", and Vegetables, for all it's commendable aspects, is just so tired.  Maybe that's because I've heard it a million times over the times, but I'm pretty well sick of it actually.
 

JFK and his brother pissed off the Mob over Cuba and the crackdown on organised crime , I mean really pissed them off. People that a run afoul of the Mob have a nasty habit of winding up dead. Oswald may have been the only guy firing that day but I don't think he was up there purely by his own accord.

JFK had pissed off just about everyone - the mob, big steel, the banks, the CIA, the military industrial complex.  He truly was surrounded by enemies.  A recent book I read reveals correspondence between Kennedy and Kruschev that was conducted using the Pope as a go-between so that they could have this dialogue freely without anyone else knowing (these letters had been held in secrecy by the Vatican all these years and were finally made public sometime in the early 2000's I believe).  These letters show that both men were changed by the fright of the Cuban missile crisis, that both truly wished to take the world in a direction of disarmament and peace.  They are heartbreaking when you realize how different it all might have been.   

There's simply too much that makes the "Oswald acted alone" theory unbelievable.  If one doesn't just patently accept the official story and takes the time to research for themselves, I believe they'll find that those who question that official story are not simply "wacko conspiracy nuts" (as we are often called).  Many credible, well researched books by rational, intelligent people have been written on the topic and are well worth reading. I firmly believe Oswald was the patsy he claimed to be. 

Nah, never said anything about the others not having talent, they obviously do in their own individual ways - my point was that their talent and their wallets were only given the opportunity to have such success because of Brian and Murry.  Take Brian and Murry out of the equation and you don't have nuthin'.   That's not "Brianista" talk, it's reality.  

Bruce was not Doris Day's son.  Terry Melcher was.  And Terry worked hard, learned the ropes, and earned his keep at Columbia - don't think nepotism was involved there at all.

Completely correct of course, and I don't know how I transposed  the two as I was aware it was Terry Melcher....maybe this would be a good time to meditate...

I would say, without Brian and Murry, there would not even probably have been a band at all, and they would surely not have had the lightning rise to success they did - Murry (like him or hate him) was key to this in the beginning - and so Mike Love, who had a new pregnant wife on his hands at the outset of the group (did he not?) would have had to go find a "real" J.O.B.   I could see Mike as L.A.'s "Used Car King", with TV spots and all.   Mike being a smart hard working hustler would have done well for himself income wise whatever he ended up doing - but it's  unlikely he'd be anywhere near worth what he is (because he was lucky enough to be related to Brian).   He can claim all the credit he wants, and certainly a good deal of it is merited - but - he only had the opportunity in the first place because of "you know who."    Without Brian, he is not "Mr. Positivity", not "The Lovester", not (quite possibly) "the most derided man in rock and roll history".    He might not have found TM either. 
Bruce on the other hand, I don't know, he may have fared just as well either way - he was Doris Days son after all (nepotism being what it is), and he was rich anyway, so....   Probably wouldn't have written "I Write The Songs" though.
No matter how much talent the others may have possessed - it was really only through Brian that they got the chance to exercise any of it on such a big scale.   
Brian on the other hand -you can't keep that kind of talent/ability down (IMO) and one way or another he would have made some kind of impact.  Would he be as famous and rich if not for the Beach Boy vehicle?  Maybe not, but he quite possibly would have had a happier life. 

I must be hearing a different song, because to me it is totally hit worthy and well in line with what many other artists were doing at the time.  As far as "sleepy" goes, I'll just say, "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" by Roberta Flack, to name one.   The 70's saw plenty of hits which were soft, sleepy, saccharine, poppy, etc.   The band had lost favor and weren't being afforded much notice, and that's why perfectly good material such as this song weren't charting higher.   It works in the reverse of course too - If you're hot and radio is pushing you then even a crap song can become a major hit.  

love me some rutles   

Perhaps they could have changed their name from Beach Boys to Sea Men....

Anyway, to me, Add Some Music To Your Day always sounded right on for the time period it was released.  I don't understand what isn't commercial about it - it sounds good to me, and maybe it is a bit saccharine, but then so too were many hits of that era.   They had plenty of material (both released and unreleased) at the time that (to my ears) sure sound like hits, but they just weren't being afforded the attention any longer. 

It's almost like comparing two different groups, which in a sense it is, even though the same people were involved.   Neither period is "better", they're just completely different.   Sometimes it's just easier to listen to the earlier stuff because it's less challenging, it doesn't require as much of the listener in terms of emotional investment.   
One thing I feel too, Smile is much better when pared down.   To me, Smile as released, is way too long, it seems to go on forever.  After Surf's Up finishes, there's such an emotional release that to then be followed by the third movement it's like, "There's more?!"    To me it feels longer than it actually is.  Smiley Smile has the same time stretching quality (I think because there's so much going on in such a compact span) - it's a short album, but seems (to me) much longer than it is, and because of it's actual brevity it works better than the Smile album.  Pare Smile down and you have a more manageable listening experience

Personally, I think Cabin Essence could have made a hot follow up to Good Vibrations, paired maybe with H&V, Vega-Tables, or Wonderful, Wind Chimes, or, anything really.
Surf's Up I'd rather see  remain the grand album track. 

Could it possibly be a situation where there is something unique on the acetates, but that Durrie, planning to auction them, declined to allow the Smile Sessions compilers use of them for that box, thinking they would fetch a higher price if they were still "unreleased", but that they will be on the MIC box (to lure Smile fans) because by then they will have already been sold? 

I think it was '98 or so when I first came upon your site and theories.  You were nice enough to send me a cassette with your Smile mix on it.  I still think your hypothesis is brilliant, and for me, it is how I have viewed Smile ever since. 
I mean, who wouldn't like a Koan?  Ice cream, pine, traffic....uh....anyway, groove on Bill!   

to me, and it's an unpopular opinion and probably one i am mostly alone in having, this "reunion" was a let down anyway, so not having any more is fine.    i cannot speak of the concerts, which maybe were great, but the album....blah.  Some nice things, but overall leaves me flat.   i realize they maybe had to do this sort of album for commercial reasons, but to me what would have been a much better reunion album would have been Brian, Mike, Al, Bruce and David - and just them, no one else - singing with the voices that they actually have nowadays - no autotune whatchamacallits and all that - and with mostly spare backing instrumentation.  a classy, real album.   the material could be a mix of originals and interesting covers, perhaps song by song tracing their career - start with a Freshman tune (though something other than THWFOS) and touch upon every phase/inspiration they've been through.....rough old voices and all, this would be the kind of an album i know i would love.  

RE: some of the comments concerning SLC and it's crummy lyrics (which I completely agree with) - why'nt somebody write some new lyrics to it?  Some of you music makers on here are purdy good, so give this a try, consider it your Smiley Smile dot net home work.  Then you could share a writing credit with BW (not a bad deal, eh?).
Anyway, back to LHRW - awesome song and generally good advice.

Sebadoh


Message In A Bottle (Police) vs Put The Message In the Box (World Party)

it's both optimistic and melancholic.
this, to me, is the best piece of Smile.
a cinematic trip, awesome in every way.