Fall Breaks & Back to Winter

[Andrew G. Doe]

between Smiley Smile and the end of the Capitol contract, the band charted between the US and the UK markets six top 40 singles. Any big breakout #1 smash hits? No.

Between mid-September 1967 and late-ish April 1970, the band hit the UK & US Top 40 11 times (UK - 7, US - 4), 12 if you include the UK release of "Cottonfields" in May. "Do It Again" hit #1 in the UK in late August 1968.

[sockittome]

Forever shaking my damn head at the aesthetic wimps that can't get behind Smiley Smile's groundbreaking minimal-art-dada-punk doowop that still sounds ahead of its time today. It is a more radical art statement than I believe Smile would have been, for all its sublime grandiosity.

Bigger ain't always necessarily better, ya know! That's a false dichotomy that was imposed by the breathtaking sweep of Pet Sounds.

Forever shaking my head at the people who get butt hurt when somebody doesn't share their view of Smiley Smile.  Do you really feel the need to defend it so passionately?

[JK]

Forever shaking my damn head at the aesthetic wimps that can't get behind Smiley Smile's groundbreaking minimal-art-dada-punk doowop that still sounds ahead of its time today. It is a more radical art statement than I believe Smile would have been, for all its sublime grandiosity.

Bigger ain't always necessarily better, ya know! That's a false dichotomy that was imposed by the breathtaking sweep of Pet Sounds.

To quote Frank Zappa: "You'll hurt your throat----stop it!"

[Emily]

I love Smiley Smile; I adore it.  I also think it's kind of a mess.

[Douchepool]

That's why it's bloody amazing. It's like a diamond in the rough. The stereo mix left me completely cold, however. I think of all of Brian's stuff, that one most of all requires listening in mono. You can go on about "hearing all the individual parts" but the way they just run together in the mono mix makes sense.

[SMiLE Brian]

It's really interesting how none of the BBs ever speak of that time period.

[Douchepool]

The only one who really spoke at any length about it is Bruce. Bruce might be the biggest fan of Smiley Smile among the band members.

[SMiLE Brian]

Yeah that "end of an era" quote from him is most telling about the whole SS saga.

[Douchepool]

It would be pretty cool if there was an official Smiley Smile sessions set. Even the bits on the SOT set prove that Brian wasn't too quick to abandon the sections format that brought Good Vibrations and parts of Smile to life.

[SMiLE Brian]

The vocal harmonies of stuff like "whispering winds" was the seldom remembered height of BBs group singing.

[Douchepool]

Just to throw this out there...am I the only person who refuses to listen to Smiley Smile in anything except for pitch black darkness?

[Emily]

Just to throw this out there...am I the only person who refuses to listen to Smiley Smile in anything except for pitch black darkness?

That's funny.
I don't need darkness for it. Smiley Smile is 10-year-old me choreographing really goofy dance moves with my friends in the sunny living room.

[linusoli]

Forever shaking my damn head at the aesthetic wimps that can't get behind Smiley Smile's groundbreaking minimal-art-dada-punk doowop that still sounds ahead of its time today. It is a more radical art statement than I believe Smile would have been, for all its sublime grandiosity.

Bigger ain't always necessarily better, ya know! That's a false dichotomy that was imposed by the breathtaking sweep of Pet Sounds.

Forever shaking my head at the people who get butt hurt when somebody doesn't share their view of Smiley Smile.  Do you really feel the need to defend it so passionately?

Yes! Absolutely!

[Phoenix]

Mid seventies Reprise put out a pair of double albums, Smiley Smile/Friends and, yes, Wild Honey/20/20, in the wake of Endless Summer. To the considerable surprise of, well, pretty much everyone, they charted at numbers 125 and 50 respectively.

Wow. And all this time I thought it was just 15 Big Ones and Love You that killed their career the second time.  It turns out the lo-fi trifecta (Smiley Smile, Wild Honey, and Friends) had a hand in it BOTH times. Those who don't learn from the past....   

How do back-catalog re-releases of 7+ year old albums charting that way equate with 1. failure and 2. killing a career? Billboard lists the Top 200 albums...most barely crack that number if at all. #50 for a repackaging of Wild Honey and 20/20 in the mid 70's? Hardly a career killer.

In both cases, following Pet Sounds (and the hits that preceded it) and following Endless Summer, people were excited for and expecting more of the same, well produced, radio friendly, pop songs.  Hungry for more, especially in the case of Endless Summer, they bought what was "new" at the record shop and, "Fool me one, shame on me..."  The fact that albums DID sell but DIDN'T translate into further sales, shows the public did NOT like what they heard and, just like in the late-70's chose not buy what followed.

Regardless of any merits Smiley Smile, and to a lesser extent, Wild Honey and Friends, may have, what's certain is the sounds of those albums is NOT what the general public wanted from the Beach Boys at either of those points in time.

Any fan who bought Endless Summer and thought it was anything but a greatest hits package of the classic hits...most over a decade old at that time ES was released...I'd have to question their intelligence. One was a greatest hits package, the subsequent reissues were reissues, simple as that. If they expected to hear another Surfin USA on the Wild Honey or Friends album, I'd question their stability. I'd also ask them if they'd buy a reissue of Revolver or Rubber Soul expecting to hear another She Loves You on those albums and be disappointed if they did not.

If a band reissued a previous album today, from 7 years ago, and it went to #50 on the album charts, there would be champagne corks popping around the offices of whatever label reissued it.

I'd argue that most of the people who bought Endless Summer were new to the band. They may have known who the Beach Boys were but to many, this was their first major exposure and if you read that sentence again, I never said they expected another "Surfin' USA" but rather more of he same (dare I say?) formula of " well produced, radio friendly, pop songs."  The reason the fabs maintained chart success through their entire career (or even just the latter half of the 60's) is because they never gave fans expecting more of that same formula, an album's worth of "Revolution 9". "Groundbreaking" or not, it's not what the PUBLIC wanted. And when the Boys did that to them, TWICE, the public reacted the same way both times. 

"Get Back" wasn't "She Loves You" but it was much closer to it than "Gettin' Hungry" was to "Help Me Rhonda", just two years later.

[guitarfool2002]

That might explain why Gettin Hungry was promoted and released as a "Brian Wilson and Mike Love" release instead of the Beach Boys.

[guitarfool2002]

between Smiley Smile and the end of the Capitol contract, the band charted between the US and the UK markets six top 40 singles. Any big breakout #1 smash hits? No.

Between mid-September 1967 and late-ish April 1970, the band hit the UK & US Top 40 11 times (UK - 7, US - 4), 12 if you include the UK release of "Cottonfields" in May. "Do It Again" hit #1 in the UK in late August 1968.

That adds even more to dispel the notion that the label dropped them because the music (like Fall Breaks) wasn't appealing to the fanbase. A dozen singles charting top 40 in under three years, spread out over the US and UK markets? Not bad at all. Some bands we consider "legendary" today were lucky to score one top 40 single during this same period.

Consider too that the top 40 was more regional in the US at this specific time, so a single like Wild Honey gets reported in Billboard's national as peaking at a lower position, while in a handful of markets that single cracked the top 5.

[Cam Mott]

Did anybody ever consider GH might have been promoted as by Brian and Mike because they were the co-author team of their most recent #1 smash?

[guitarfool2002]

Did anybody ever consider GH might have been promoted as by Brian and Mike because they were the co-author team of their most recent #1 smash?

Nope.

[Phoenix]

That might explain why Gettin Hungry was promoted and released as a "Brian Wilson and Mike Love" release instead of the Beach Boys.

That doesn't change the fact that it was on of side two of the Beach Boys album that followed Pet Sounds, where like the rest of the songs, it was credited to the Beach Boys.

[TMinthePM]

I posted what follows about a year ago, but in an unfinished form.  Bought the original in September '67 and was perplexed and disappointed. This is the way I hear "Smiley" in 2016 and am amazed and delighted.


I have, filed away somewhere, an article entitled “Smiley Smile is Smile,” written by I can’t remember who and don’t know when, but posted somewhere on-line sometime around the year 2000, plus or minus 4 or five years before or after.

OK, so there’s my bow to the citation gods, but what follows is not really about that article.

Well, yes it is, insofar as what I’m about here takes the idea that Smiley was not merely a poor substitute, but in fact a perfectly logical, internally consistent, culmination of the Smile project. And that as released was poorly mastered, improperly sequenced and, despite the fact that all the pieces were readily at hand, inexplicably incomplete.

An incomplete album, the pieces of which can now be brought together to reveal a coherent artistic statement, on a par with Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, which must remain the benchmark against which all others are measured.

Guitars have been almost wholly removed, producing a minimalist aesthetic that is nevertheless “musical” – these guys were not simply producing an aural account of their hash parties – although the sweet, dreamy aroma of hashish does indeed permeate

The 1967 production is muddy, the 2012 Stereo Remaster reveals, not a stoned out indulgence, but rather a masterwork.

Here then is Smiley as I believe it should have, and could have, been released:


 1. Well, You’re Welcome (Smile Sessions)
 2. Heros and Villains (2001 Stereo Mix) edit sections sequence from 1,2,3,4 to 1,3,2,4
 3. Wonderful (2012 Stereo)
 4. Gettin' Hungry (2012 Stereo) edit out 1st instru section to “I wake up in the morning…”
 5. You're With Me Tonight (Previously Unreleased)(Hawthorne)
 6. With Me Tonight (2012 Stereo)
 7. She's Goin' Bald (2012 Stereo)
 8. Whistle In (2012 Stereo)
 9. Good Vibrations (Concert Rehearsal) (Previously Unreleased) (Hawthorne)
10. Mama Says (2000 Wild Honey)
11. Vegetables (Stereo Extended Mix) (Previously Unreleased) (Hawthorne)
12. Wind Chimes (2012 Stereo)
13. Fall Breaks And Back To Winter (Woody Woodpecker Symphony) (2012 Stereo)
14. Cool, Cool Water (Track)/ Water [Stereo Mix] (Unsurpassed Masters)
15. Little Pad (2012 Stereo) edit out
16. Surf's Up (1967 Solo Version)(Bonus Track)(Smile Sessions)
17. Cabin Essence (Smile Sessions)
18. Cabin Essencence Tag (Unsurpassed Masters)

Running Time: 42:22


Well, You’re Welcome serves as a doormat greeting, inviting us to enter the Smiley reverie - and down the rabbit hole. Released as the flip-side to Heros and Villains.

Heros and Villains launches the listener off on a trip to the frontiers of the American psyche, circa 1967 and is thus perhaps best understood metaphorically. It’s start/stop structure has always bothered me, so rearranging the sections yields a nice flowing shuffle before introducing the music-box motif.

Carl’s whispering lead into Wonderful flows easily out of the dancing fade out of Heros as we turn inward, entering a kind of Alice in Wonderland scenario, with its veiled references and sexual allusions, the “god vibrations” interlude something like the Mad Hatter’s Tea Party.
 
Getting’ Hungry may have served as something of a joking jolt following the “whispering winds” on Side Two but when placed after Wonderful on Side One takes on a different, I don’t know, accent – Wood blocks over a repetitive whirligig organ line - tension and release, tension and release. Lop off the first section so the song begins with Mike intoning the words “Well I wake up in the morning…” The bass note that accompanies his first syllable is the same as the na-na-na-na-na that ends Wonderful. I see the claustrophobia of the work-a-day office world alternating with landscapes drawn from a spaghetti western – trippy.

You’re With Me Tonight “with a smile” provides a nice little break in the unfolding stream of melo-dramas, a peak of the band at work in the studio reminiscent of earlier such appearances. And, of course, the ensuing little ditty conjures visions of, how shall we say – oral contraception?
“On and on she go down-be-do-down – on and on you go.” Hmmm…

She’s Goin’ Bald – Psychedelic Coasters – what are they doing here I forget. Is it Little Egypt or Along Came Jones? I get dizzy just thinking of this tune.

Coming up for air - Whistle In – “remember the day-ay, remember the night-night, all day long” – WTF??? – what does it mean? Whatever, this sweet little chant bookends Well, You’re Welcome. Between the two are five boy-meets-girl songs, the standard subject of a pop-tune, all psychedelicized to reveal whole other dimensions of meaning. Hendrix said the BBs reminded him of a psychedelic barbershop quartet (quintet?) He must have been referring to Smiley.

The single most important change in this reconfiguration is the removal of the studio hit single version of Good Vibrations at the heart of the song cycle. The dry rehearsal in its place fits perfectly the minimalist aesthetic of the album, enlightening all that has preceded it and all that will follow. The boy/girl theme is elevated to the plane of cosmic consciousness – sex as the dance of the universe.                            

Mama Says’ childhood admonitions serves here as a grounding and short interlude between what might have been sides one and two had the album been fully realized.

Side Two leaves girl/boy concerns behind on a meander thru a Wonderland of psychic landscapes - The Elements. A 16 beat bass-note (from Hawthorne, appended here) provides a nice, and again, minimalist, intro to the suite – earth, air, fire and water - Vegetables, Wind Chimes, Fall Breaks and Cool Water. Lyrical content, such as it is, takes second place here to what can only be described as musical equivalents to impressionist paintings – gurgling, gulping, whooping, wavering, babbling, ornamental vocal filigree – interspersed, inter-cut and overlaying the barest of instrumentations – bass notes, woodblocks, bells. Who knew that Fall Breaks and Back to Winter (Woody Woodpecker Symphony) is in fact the legendary lost Fire from Smile, reduced to the flickering flame of a candle? And can anyone tell me the aural inspiration for Cool, Cool Water the purist of psychedelic vocal soundscapes? Was there an experimental “classical” composer working with such voicings whose work served as a model for these?

We surface, finally, within landfall and the refuge of a Little Pad “…in Hawaii,” but press on to the finale with, first, the portentous Surf’s Up, which pulls together, elevates and deepens all that has preceded, followed by the mysterious, majestic Cabinessence, which recapitulates and thus encloses all that intervened within the Americana theme initiated by Heros and Villains at the outset of the song cycle - a trip to the frontiers of the American psyche, circa 1967.

Nothing tops Cabinessence, which is perhaps the supreme masterwork in the Beach Boys’ catalogue.

Except perhaps a snippet of the fading vocal tag, minus vocals, that miraculously reveals a delicate Arabesque dancing as thru a window.

From all the above it can be seen that Smiley Smile was Smile, or the logical culmination of the experiments and explorations of the Smile sessions reduced to the barest minimum. The record suffered, however, by the fact that it was poorly mastered, improperly sequenced and, despite the fact that all the pieces were readily at hand, inexplicably incomplete.

To sum up:

The remastered 2012 stereo version of Smiley Smile reveals a beauty and delicacy that was lost or obscured in the muddy 67 release.

Of the missing pieces –

Well, You’re Welcome was complete, released as a flip-side but withheld from the album.

Good Vibrations rehearsal was in the can.

Alternate Vegatables was in the can.?

Mama Says is a Smile leftover released in this configuration on Wild Honey. But I’m not sure when this version was recorded.

Cool Water Chant is from the Wild Honey sessions, but hadn’t it first appeared during the Smile sessions.

Surf’s Up, from the WH sessions, works beautifully as a solo vocal/piano piece and took how long to record – 3 minutes?

Cabinessence was largely complete as the session tapes demonstrate, and might have been completed in relatively short order.

As for the sequencing – the record is a mess as released and thus incomprehensible. The addition of the missing pieces almost compel the sequencing outlined above to reveal – Smile - as it might have been.

[guitarfool2002]

Just for some perspective relative to that era, I'll list a handful of now-legendary albums that are easily "must haves" in music collections, and which have been in the collections of musicians and fans who "get it" for decades.

Find some sources for the chart success or failure of these, and compare it to what's being discussed here.

Love - Forever Changes
Velvet Underground & Nico
The Kinks Are The Village Green Preservation Society
The Zombies - Odyssey & Oracle
The Byrds - Sweetheart Of The Rodeo
Van Dyke Parks - Song Cycle

[c-man]

That might explain why Gettin Hungry was promoted and released as a "Brian Wilson and Mike Love" release instead of the Beach Boys.

That doesn't change the fact that it was on of side two of the Beach Boys album that followed Pet Sounds, where like the rest of the songs, it was credited to the Beach Boys.

My understanding is Brian and Mike wanted to release it as a single, and the other guys didn't, so they did it as "Brian and Mike". For the B-side, they picked a song that showcased their two-part harmony singing.

[The Shift]

I wish that the Boys had put out a time-buying album in the wake of Pet Sounds, in the way Party!! bought Brian some time before Pet Sounds was completed. I agree with the idea that Smiley is Smile even though it's miles from Smile. Another back to basics album, with Mike's lyrical input, even, that took minimal time to string together but spent plenty of weeks on the charts, could have bought Brian a whole extra several months to bring Smile to fully realised maturation. That might even have eased the band's feeling that Brian was getting along without them …

[CenturyDeprived]

That might explain why Gettin Hungry was promoted and released as a "Brian Wilson and Mike Love" release instead of the Beach Boys.

That doesn't change the fact that it was on of side two of the Beach Boys album that followed Pet Sounds, where like the rest of the songs, it was credited to the Beach Boys.

My understanding is Brian and Mike wanted to release it as a single, and the other guys didn't, so they did it as "Brian and Mike". For the B-side, they picked a song that showcased their two-part harmony singing.

Only a slightly less bizarre WTF action than recording Teeter Totter Love a few months prior.

I find it hard to understand how either Brian or Mike would have wanted this tune released as a single. IMO, it seems like an act of desperation that Mike talked Brian into, since Mike has in years since, unlike Brian, gone on and on and on about the importance of the boy girl theme, how that theme was HIS idea for Good Vibrations ... It seems in character for him to remind the public of that fact in general, hence the unusual GH credit seem like a logical extension of that reminder.

[Cam Mott]

That might explain why Gettin Hungry was promoted and released as a "Brian Wilson and Mike Love" release instead of the Beach Boys.

That doesn't change the fact that it was on of side two of the Beach Boys album that followed Pet Sounds, where like the rest of the songs, it was credited to the Beach Boys.

My understanding is Brian and Mike wanted to release it as a single, and the other guys didn't, so they did it as "Brian and Mike". For the B-side, they picked a song that showcased their two-part harmony singing.

Only a slightly less bizarre WTF action than recording Teeter Totter Love a few months prior.

I find it hard to understand how either Brian or Mike would have wanted this tune released as a single. IMO, it seems like an act of desperation that Mike talked Brian into, since Mike has in years since, unlike Brian, gone on and on and on about the importance of the boy girl theme, how that theme was HIS idea for Good Vibrations ... It seems in character for him to remind the public of that fact in general, hence the unusual GH credit seem like a logical extension of that reminder.

Or, as it is established that Brian was the album and song's Producer, he wanted to remind the fans that even though they had a new label and their last single "only" went to #12, the Brian/Mike #1 making duo was still on the team. IMO.