The Smiley Smile Message Board

Wait... So "I Don't Know" is... TUNE X? WHAT?

Also, listen to (Carol?) after the "I wanna Be Around" session "That Can Be Side 2 to the album" "Yeah That's what happens after the fire!" HAHAHA!

I Don't Know is I Don't Know. Tune X is Tune X.

Ha! So she was sort of right. Unfortunately, it's not Brian saying it so there's no real confirmation.

At least from the short clips, they sound like different arrangements of the same song.

I think they're just similar. Not that I'm Gosh Darn Brian Wilson featuring Gosh Darn Carl Wilson featuring Gosh Darn Dennis Wilson, but the last band I was in, I had written a bunch of material we were going over (only due to me having prior recordings) when we wanted to start attempting some stuff written by the other guys. First thing the other two brought in had the same time signature, same key, same tempo (basically), similar structures etc. Happened in another band I was in, too. Just happens that way sometimes, I guess, especially when dealing with people's earliest compositions when working together (as was the case with Dennis and Carl and all the instances I'm talking about). I think it's just coincidence.

I'm in a lot of bands and I've not once seen that. I think that's a really really strange coincidence.

Cool, Cool Water (Version 1)

Been hitting samples at random. This is… sublime. Exquisite. Sounds like it might even date from the Sunflower era sessions – anyone hazard a guess?

If that's the case, Mark and Alan, my birthday's not until April so you've plenty of time to ready the Sunflower/Add Some Music box for release – just be sure to include an entire CD's worth of Cool Cool Water sessions & outtakes, a-la GVs/H&V on the SMiLE Sessions.


please…

50.   Heroes and Villains: Part 2 Revised      1:54
51   Heroes and Villains: Part 2 (Revised) [Master Take]

Jeez… stunning

My guess would be June 7th 1967.

 ;D No accuracy there

Wait, Swedish frog is missing... Swedish frog? NOOOOO!!!

Backing Vocals Montage - DYLW "tape warp vocals" in stereo!  :rock Sounds fantastic.

The very name of this thread instantly made me go here. And just a friendly reminder to those who find it difficult to resist:

http://www.hmvdigital.com/artist/the-beach-boys/the-smile-sessions

 >:D >:D

Do You Like Worms (Part 3) is getting my attention right now- never heard the piano part before. I can't quite tell if there's a subtle descending left-hand part or if it's just my brain filling in gaps given these sub-par headphones.

Definitely sounds like the familiar rhythm guitar staccato chords played in the right-hand on a piano...the first two counts of the bar play the lower notes of the F and Bb chords and the last two counts play the higher notes of those two chords.

There are some sublime tracks on here - I'm blown away by the H&V Verse Edit Experiment - this has always been my favourite version of the verse, and here, in amazing quality, the experience is taken to a whole new level.

The standouts for me are predictably CIFOTM and SU '67. Everyone is going to have a few reservations I s'spect, and mine is the album mix of IIGS. It's a bit awkward, and I was hoping they'd use some of the more extreme echoplex feedback. But the sessions sound incredible. Meh - can't please everyone all the time. But no issues with BY, oddly. SU is incredible, but personally, I think they over-egged the rvb plug in. The power of the vocal can carry it without props, and personally, I'd prefer a more subtle one. But that's nit-picking.

The sheer quality and sensitivity of these mixes...and the Blessed Continuity of Audio Experience! I cannot begin to express the sheer joy of everything being at the SAME LEVEL and EQ Profile! It feels....joined up. Unified in a way I never expect my experience of Smile to be. That is such a huge achievement. '67 Smile is a lost moment in time, but this gives us the most cohesive experience ever, and what ever individual reservations about particular moments exists, they are stampled into insignificance by the sheer reverence shown to this material.

Definitely too much reverb on the SU vocals. The second section sounds much better dry; more intimate.

I think it gives it a bigger, more "majestic" sound, closer to BWPS. It's definitley less "intimate", but the original intention could have very well be closer to this. We have no way of knowing.
SU '67, on the other hand...

Perhaps this was Brian's intention for the original track in 1967 and this was relayed to Mark at some point in 2004 because the BWPS version of Surf's Up has prominent reverb in all the vocals (both lead and background).

I must say, after listening to surfs up a bit more,
I like the vocals a LOT, they seem to flow less "blandly" with the new sincopation,
It "rolls" Better.

The intention may have been for a fully orchestrated 'majestic' second section, but since all we have is the piano demo I don't think swathes of reverb really work in this context.

It's going to be a subjective response to SU, as it seems to be the Smile track most people have the closest relationship with, but I reckon there's good historical and aesthetic justifications for the mix, and of course we'll have reserve full judgement til we hear it in its entirety.

Also, you can't really tell from the snippet, but I reckon that the real production/mixing triumph of this set will be one of the first online sneak-peaks: Vega-tables! That mix is utterly transformative in terms of the importance of the tune to Smile as a whole, and it reveals the complexity and variety of the track whilst keeping it a fun, and very cool pop song. It's a bold mix, a real declaration of intent, and I was nearly cartwheeling with joy when I first heard it - can't wait for the full audio experience.

I was trying to work out what Teeter Totter Love reminded me of..a simple chord progression going on in the background with bizarre shouty vocals...and then it hit me: Drip Drop :p

Sorry if this has already come up, but there are H&V sections here I've never heard.

And the bit's I have heard now sound fantastic. That fade remake. Wow

Reminds me of a gently steaming pile of sh*t.

And the You're Welcome, where they are walking in is great. They should have gone with that.

And I like Teeter Totter Love. I love that sort of quirky sound, and his voice is supposed to be bad eh? Thta is the charm of it.

Good Vibrations "Persuasion"  (134). Anyone heard this before?

Would that be a gently steaming pile of sh*t, Motherfugger?! ;D

Teeter Totter Love sounds great, way better than I expected. Reminds me of some of Shelly Manne's music for the tv show Daktari

It reminds me of Monster Mash ...  :smokin

Teeter Totter Love just has connections to stuff of the period like French Yé-yé. I suspect those who are so appalled by it have a very narrow, stodgy view of music. And give me a break, the singing is not terrible. He sounds (much) better than Bob Dylan and some other revered "singers."When the HMV link got posted yesterday, this was the first track i went to play because, in my past experiences, when so many people speak THAT poorly of something, 9/10 times i have found that it ends up being something truly great.

The sound quality is blowing me away too. It's crazy that it was sourced from an acetate, i would have never known. What's the other Jasper Daily track from the period that hasn't surfaced?

Also, i cannot believe how great the transition between the ending of YAMS and Barnshine is. That sounds perfect. I'm really happy about that. It might be my new favorite transition in all of this music. That alone will make up for eliminating the hard cut into the bicycle rider chorus in Worms, and eliminating the hard cut going into the chorus of Wind Chimes. The hard cuts all over Smile were always, for me, one of many amazing details that elevated these recordings to another level. It's really a shame that this release seems to be doing away with them completely. But it's the sessions that matter here anyway, so screw tracks 1-19.

Speaking of which, does anyone have any clue why spectral editing software wasn't used for the Humble Harv vocals? I honestly do not like being the negative nancy type, but that just seems completely inexcusable. Within 24 hours of the release, "amateurs" in their bedroom, i'm sure, will be successfully isolating the IIGS/Barnyard demo vocals.

Okay.

The clue is that "spectral editing software" is still hard to handle and get good results with. Even those days. And also, these software can be massive audio artefacts generators. I prefer 10 times that Mark Linett respected the audio material as much as he could by not using this kind of software on his mix.

And by the way, I really like how he decided to mix the piano/vocals upfront in Barnyard, rather than trying by any mean to "integrate" Brian's vocals as if they were a "standard" overdub. This is clever and works rather well IMO.

Let's leave the "spectral manipulations" to amateurs for their "bedroom" fan-mixes :p

72    My Only Sunshine (Part 2: Master Take With Vocal Overdubs)

It says WITH vocal overdubs, when its actually ONLY the barnshine vocal overdubs!

THE SUPER-COOL VEGA-TABLES DEMO BACKING VOCALS ARE ON THE 45 VINYL MIX OF VEGA-TABLES!!!!!!!

You know, 'Run all around dig a hole in the ground'

and

'Pop those buttons right off of my shirt'

!!!!!!

!!!!!!

Mind... blown...

Part 2 probably means Barnshine. Part 1 being Old Master Painter/Sunshine

What's the story with the new percussion sounds on Wind Chimes?

I realise that, but it says with, when its a capella

The mix just brings out some of the percussion that is on the tape, and was there in earlier mixes, but mixed very low and thus hard to hear. It's clearer now. There's a sort of weird detuned piano thing that happens as well, just before the quiet opening verses/marimba section goes into the loud chorus section. I don't remember hearing this little bit before.

MattB

my vinyl to cd recorder will be put to use on that one....vinyl -> cd -> itunes -> ipod.

POSSIBLY ROUNDABOUT. 

...and another spoiler, already mentioned on its own thread, as I just thought it was SOOoo cool, but I have to put it in here too...

The isolated Baldwin overdub for the Smiley Smile H&V chorus is available as a hidden track on Disc 3 of the 5-disc set.

How cool is that?

I know some folks don't like the Baldwin, but I also know it has its fans (of which I am one). And I can't get over how freaking cool this little part sounds.

Also: the sessionography in the box explains a VERY INTERESTING fact:

...to wit, the 'rinky-dink' organ part on Vega-Tables, the part Brian played directly into a mono mix (remember the endless takes of it you can hear him doing unsuccessfully on SOT17) and which was included at the very end of the *Smiley Smile* version of Vegetables...

...was actually done at a *Smiley* mono mix session (June 3rd), not a SMiLE one. Which, I guess, is why that part is NOT on the box anywhere. That'll necessitate the reworking of quite a few fan mixes...! (several of mine included...)

MattB

The DaDa Fender Rhodes bit...holy crap, that's soulful and funky as hell! It makes you wonder what direction Brian's music would have gone, or would have been perceived, had he substituted either the Baldwin or the detuned piano for a Rhodes on certain tracks, Wild Honey-era. The feel that Brian had playing chords was so damn unique and good!

It's amazing how the timbre of a keyboard like the Rhodes can instantly add *soul* to a piano track you've heard many times before. Makes you wonder "what if?" And why did he abandon that beautiful Rhodes sound in the first place...

Roundabout? Hell no - I mean, what other way is there to do it? I ripped my vinyl singles (and Side 4 of the album) Friday night, and it's all right there on my iPod already.

Bit mad, I grant you: the original analogue tapes were digitised by Mark Linett for the project, mixed in digital, then cut to analogue vinyl, then I ripped them back to digital again to go onto the iPod...

...er, OK, I see what you mean. It *is* roundabout...!

MattB

Several items on these mixes and several tracks all together on here are post-Smile, though. Unless you mean that track only exists on the mixdown and nowhere else. Unealaejg9hwearjh98ase5h84698

I was going to say that exact same thing....

Yup, noted that too. I'll keep in in my V-T mix anyway. ;D

My mix is soooooo historically inaccurate... it features BWPS vocals and even one part of the tribute show (when was that again? around 2000 some time).

Yep, that's why.  It'll have to wait for the Smiley Smile box set.  (Just kidding)