The Smiley Smile Message Board

I really enjoy this, probably because much of the material comes from my favourite period i.e. Pet Sounds - 20/20. I love it that we get lesser known album cuts like Aren't You Glad (one of my favourites from the whole catalogue) and Wake The World, and overall the quality of the performance seems really high - especially Their Hearts Were Full Of Spring.

I was just wondering what others' opinions of this album are. I often see a lot of discussion of, and love for, the In Concert album but maybe not so much for LIL (might be my imagination though). Personally I find this a much more enjoyable listen, although I do like the former.

Also (and I'm going to regret asking this), hoiw 'live' is the album in question? Presumably, as was common at the time, a lot of overdubbing was done? The Horns, for instance?

Finally, on a related note, I see a lot of enthusiasm for The Carnegie Hall 72 Concert. I've heard this and it has some great moments but I can't help being struck by some bum notes in the singing, that kind of make me feel a bit indifferent about it. I'm totally clueless about the mixing process for albums such as these i.e. what is/isn't possible but I guess I'm wondering, if this was to get an official release, would the dodgy notes (not many to be fair) be kind of mixed down or what? To my ears In Concert sounds vocally much stronger, but perhaps boots of the same show would reveal more rough edges, out of tune singing etc?

Doing an A/B with an audience tape from the same show, if there is any post-sweetening/fixing, it's done really well. The only obvious difference is that some of Mike's patter is cut (nothing of any import).

If they have access to the Carnegie Hall 72 multi-track tapes and the vocals are on separate tracks then fixing pitch problems it's a piece of cake.

I've always been a big fan because of the use of horns with the setlist...I always LOVED Brian's part on the trumpet during Do it Again!  But those era of tunes NEED horns, the ones that were performed (besides Barbabra Ann)...to me, this is the closest we'll ever have to the Beachago tapes....which is sad

Well, that's good to hear! Thanks for taking the time to compare.

Carl, 1989, on the Live in London album:
"They had a remote there and we didn't want it to come out. It had a lot of energy, but we thought it was one of those nights where we were real zippy. We were blazing through the set and it sounded real fast to us."

http://s115.photobucket.com/albums/n295/guitarfool2002/?action=view&current=CarlWilsonp2.jpg

"Darlin'" might be the best live version of all, that could also be said for GOK (also Al's falsetto in the end is very quiet) and GV (apart from Mike's "dearly beloved..."). Unfortunately for some reason I'll never understand, they cut the intro to "California girls" which is terrible. But all in all a very nice live set. Not as powerful instrumentally as In Concert but the singing is great, they still were in top form vocally

man, that's cool. Any chance you could post the whole article?