The Smiley Smile Message Board

...that has been caused on this very venerable board, by the announcement of the upcoming release of you-know-what! Myriad types of speculation, agreement, controversy, realism, fantasy, skepticism, and faith. My two cents: hope and faith are having the upper hand, given the experts working on the case.

In brief: I feel rejuvenated, and it seems like it's 2004 all over again! (Or: 1997; or: 1989; or: 1971; or, for that matter: 1967... ;))

Throw me some, folks...

Yeah, I wasn't around in 2004, BWPS is actually what turned me into a BB freak.
I'm really happy to be here now though. SMiLE is really draining. I can sometimes listen to Friends like every day, but my interest in SMiLE always comes in bursts. I'll have some thought, some experiment I want to try, some idea I want to find evidence for/against, and then I go on a good SMiLE kick, but those tend to wear you out quickly.
I haven't done much thinking about SMiLE recently, but with all this exciting news it's started me up all over again.

I echo your sentiments, Don. Despite being into The Beach Boys since childhood (Made In USA was the first CD I bought), I didn't get interested in Smile until seeing the 2nd RFH performance. I'd heard the stuff from the GV box and it just seemed like an endless bicycle rider riff, but, phewee, that live performance blew my head apart, specifically Song For Children and Child, and from then on I've been pretty consistently obsessed.

I think having come to Smile via BWPS makes it easier for me to accept that album as part of Smile. Had I invested many years in Smile pre BWPS I might share the skepticism about it that some here seem to have - it certainly makes for interesting discussions.

Never been a better time to be a Smile fan! I'm even tempted to take on No-name's challenge: No Smile music until release day!!  :-\

That challenge lasted about 10 minutes for me.   I'm sure the anticipation will wax and wane until the final weeks before release, then the firestorm will again ignite with the power of a thousand stars!

I first read about SMiLE (and starting longing for it) in 1976. My first attempt at creating a fan mix was 1982 (don't ask - it was pretty sad). I had given up hope through most of the 80s, then heard the "alternate" mix of "Heroes & Villains" on the SMILEY SMILE two-fer and it was like a glimmer of light from the SMiLE world coming through the crack in the wall. The boots and the officially-sanctioned GV Box Set material had me ready for the full release which I really thought would happen in '95 and '96. Unlike for some here, BWPS was the wall breaking down and the full glory of SMiLE revealed to me, albeit in a translation from its original language. The SMiLE SESSIONS box set announcement rekindles all those moments from '76 to now and, oddly enough, it doesn't really feel like 35 years have passed since I first heard the album title. Life really is short.

Thanks for sharing.


but isn't it great to be into something as consistently rewarding as The Beach Boys - a lifelong friend, if you'll excuse the soppy sentiment!

Great perspective!  I am excited from the standpoint that whatever tracks will be included in the SMiLE "sessions" might be analogous to the Pet Sounds sessions more to show the evolution of the vocals, and am interested less in the whole "sound" thing that is being bantered about. 

Stuff to sing along to, as in alternative lyrics or melodies should be very cool...and I have no doubt that whatever is included in the package, will be fun to listen to within the concept of peeling back 40+ years...and great to hear the powerful yet delicate, twenty-something voices...

It is all the "perception versus the reality" of what is construed as "finished" or not.  It may not be "the" Holy Grail, but it will help enlarge for the listener, the enormity of both the genius of the composer and talent in the vocal delivery... 

To those who celebrate, Happy St. Patrick's Day!  ;)