The Smiley Smile Message Board

Hi there

I'm a huuge fan of the beach boys and brain wilson, cant wait for the SMiLE boxset when/if it comes out.
Sorry if this has been dealt with already, I was thinking just now though.

Have any songs from SMiLE ever been played live by The Beach Boys?
And if so, have any of the songs played live been played ala SMiLE rather than smileysmile versions?

I'm desperate to hear this so would be over the moon for any info/links you all might have

Cheers!

Heroes and Villains and Wonderful are the only two I can think of (unless you count Good Vibrations).

Vegetables too, remember!

Apart from that, i really don't think so.

Surf's Up, in the early seventies.

Good Vibrations, Heroes & Villains, Surf's Up, Wonderful, and Vegetables have all been played live by The Beach Boys. Child Is Father of The Man was tacked onto the end of Surf's Up for the live performance.  The alternate ending of the early version of Good Vibrations has also been played live. Cool, Cool Water (the middle part from Smile) was also played live by The Beach Boys.

I would highly suggest that you run a google search on the phrase: "beach boys live at the paramount 1993."  I think you might be pleased with what you find ;-)

Well, it was part of the 1971 Surf's Up version, so I don't think that really counts...

Huh? What "doesn't count", Jay? You mean Surf's Up? Surf's Up was going to be on Smile - only things basically different in '71 was Carl's additional vocals and the tag. Otherwise, pretty much the same music and lyrics as Brian sang on the '67 Bernstein special. The '71 version of Surf's Up, along with the released versions of Cabinessence and Our Prayer, and I think Wonderful were included on early SMiLE bootlegs in the early 80's.

Ever heard the Beach Boys do Surf's Up live in the early 70's, Jay?

I think he means that you can't count "Child Is Father of the Man" as a Smile song played by The Beach Boys.

I think he meant that Child is the Father of the Man doesn't count, because these didn't really play the song, they just incorporated it into a different song. 

Sure, seeing them do a certain song back 30 or so years ago makes you top dog.

Get the f*** over yourself.

Thank you. Just because a few seconds at the end are played doesn't really count as a song in my opinion. If you want to get Technical, you could say that the CITFOTM played in Surf's Up doesn't even really sound like the SMiLE version.

I never saw the Beach Boys do Surf's Up live, son.  Just heard it on a bootleg.  You never heard it before, eh Jay?

Thanks R&R and BJL for clarifying the young man's post above.

Pretty sure I heard them do it; but the memories get hazy, so I can't remember if they added in the Smile version of CIFOTM or not...

What the f*** did I ever do to you? You've acted like a dick every single time you comment on something I say.

Because for some reason you always feel a strong need to correct me on this board, Jay! I do know a little bit about some Beach Boys stuff - give me some credit, eh?  And I appreciate your desire to have all the facts and small details correct, but you ain't AGD. Not even close. And I'm not full of myself at all - I definitely don't know it all. I'm a sharing kinda guy who likes to compare notes with the knowledgeable people on this board. I have many years on you - been a fan for 41 years. Do you feel threatened by that, Jay?

I correct people when a correction is needed. The above was not a correction at all. It was just an opinion. The tag of Surf's Up is only a very brief portion of Child Is Father of The Man, and in my opinion can not be counted as a song on it's own.

Why did you include that sentence in your reply to me? It does nothing to further your point. That, my friend, is why you are full of yourself.

I'm not "counting" anything, Jay. This isn't a contest. I just included songs and sections of songs (however remote) from SMiLE that I know the Beach Boys played live, that's all. But you made your point. Twice. You win!

If anyone wants to hear 'Surf's Up' live, seek out the Princeton University 11/13/71 concert that's booted. And if you can find the Carnegie Hall 9/24/71 concert, it's on there, in addition to a couple of others from late 1971/early 1972.

Just coming back to things. Who is singing falsetto on that Paramount concert, Matt or Jeff?

Thank you for bringing it back on topic!

Guys...you know I'm cool with both of you. That said, if you two want to continue this argument, please do it via PM and not on the board. Better yet, agree to disagree and move on. Love & Mercy guys.

Imagine the BBs (Mike & Bruce's act) now doing a setlist that included:

Heroes
Vibes
Surf's Up (with or without '71 CITFOM)
Vegetables
Cool, Cool Water
Wonderful (or Wonderbill)

It would be a grand gig to be at and I don't think any of those songs are beyond them. The only thing would be whether it'd be worth their while financially to rehearse songs that they'd play very rarely outside of Europe, given that so many o their gigs are casino and fair shows pumping out the hits to non-fans.

Re: Child is Father of the Man, there's a bootleg performance of Surf's Up from Amsterdam (I think) in the early 70s where they perform the chorus of CIFOTM virtually identical to how it is from the Smile sessions.  It's not performed like it is on the tag on the studio version of Surf's Up.

Possibly this is why Mikie is asking Jay if he has ever heard The Beach Boys perform Surf's Up live? 

You're referring to the Grand Gala Du Disque performance. Although only audiorecordings circulate, it's in fact a Dutch TV-broadcast from Febr. 25th 1972.

Jeff left the band in 1991.  :)

As AGD mentioned, Jeff wasn't in the band, so it was Matt (best falsetto ever in the BBs except for Brian in his prime)
That night "Eat a lot" was incorporated into "Vege-tables", so they've played that one too. Everything else was mentioned already I believe.

Here's a liveversion of Surf's Up from '71:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A4y4nU41HsM (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A4y4nU41HsM)



Regarding the very first question of this thread: H&V wasn't done in the SmileySmile version but also not in the Smileversion. Carl remodeled it a bit so it would rock in concert. It more or less is the Smiley version but the "sunny down..." part was left out and the "Bycicle rider" lyrics appeared.
In '67 they did the complete SmileySmile-version in Hawaii (and did very well under those circumstances imo. Wonder why the group didn't keep it in their setlist. It was a hit after all)

Thank you Camus and Smile-Holland!

Thanks Billy!

I think you mean the "My Children Were Raised..." part was left out.

Of course. Thanks for pointing out ! Wish they would've used it but I can how that it didn't fit with the rhythm of the liveversion.

Thank you Rocker for posting the link. I saw the band do SU live in Saint Louis on that tour. (At The Arena annex. Weirdest venue for concerts I've ever been to. Anybody remember that place?)  Anyway, two things struck me right away. 1) The song was performed much better at Princeton and 2) The crowd was MUCH more well behaved. At my show all they did was yell for oldies and Bruce got really mad at the audience. The restless crowd prolly caused the performance to be less than memorable.

I was at the Annex. But my memories are "hazy", to say the least. I also remember seeing Alice Cooper at the Annex, sortof.  The memories only come in small pieces

Oh,  smiling outloud here bgas. Only brief spurts of memory from that night. At least our mutual recollections are most likely on the same plane. One last thing about that Annex. Imagine seeing a concert in a dark hall and after it's over, the entire low ceiling in the place lights up with flourescent lighting! And there was no seating in this place. You stood up or sat on the concrete floor's indoor/outdoor carpeting. Too much sensory input from my fellow concertgoers when those lights came on like a permanent flasbulb. A buzz-kill I will never be able to forget. Especially in the state I was in. My memory goes blank after that.

YES!!

What I find most interesting about this live version is that the drums and other instrumentation on the tag are very similar to the fully-produced tracking session for "The Child Is Father Of The Man". One can imagine hearing that backing track, with its vibes, percussion and quivering cello, as the "fade" section to a '66 version of "Surf's Up".