The Smiley Smile Message Board

Why this particular scat line from CCW?

What makes it worthy of inclusion?

Has evidence emerged that this was an intended harmony in LTSDD?

I wouldn't have minded this and the "whispering winds" vocal on "Holiday" if they weren't in totaly different keys. It sounds comically bad due to the vocals being so goofy due to the pitch change. Bad idea imo.

From the sample I've heard of this, the pitch shifting does make the vocals rather bizarre, same with the flown in vocals on Look.  I'm not fussed about it though, as there are versions of these tracks in the box without the flown in vocals.

I think that is the key.  I was disappointed to hear about flown in vocals, as I would like to have the tracks as they were created by Brian, but if they have flown in vocals, as long as we get the tracks without flown in vocals, I think it is fine.

And the "child" vocals on "Look" that sound like they went through a phaser? Not sure about that, either. If you ask me, flying all this stuff in makes Smile sound like more of a mess instead of making it sound more complete. If it had been up to me, for example, I would've used the raw Humble Harv demos for "Barnyard" and "I'm in Great Shape" and kept the instrumentals on disc 2.

Also, why does "Whispering Winds" have to be at the end of "Holidays", but we can make up our own ending on "Heroes and Villains"? Why the weird digital delay on some of the vocals? Why are the pauses taken out of "Do You Like Worms?", actually altering the composition of the original track?

They did a good job remastering these songs, but I think they should've left the edits how they were when Brian came up with them back in '67.

Is there a stereo "Da Da" with the original vocal line on the box?

In the case of "Barnyard" (albeit sans the chorus vocals) and "Look", there are mixes sans the flown in vocals on the later discs.

And yeah, I agree. Some of the flown in vocals just feel too... cheap? I don't know if that's the right thing I'm going for. But too cheap or something for the official, "presentable" disc 1 for Joe Public. The job on "Surf's Up", which I feel is in the top 5 most "important" Beach Boys songs out there, isn't great and lags a bit. I guarantee you the casual "Oh yeah, I love the Beach Boys, Pet Sounds is the best album ever but I've bothered to check absolutely nothing else out" fan will check into this, one of their more famous works (released until now or not), is going to criticize the sound quality of some of this stuff.

I appreciate the work that was put into this, but a better job or occasionally a more conservative job would've made for a better experience for disc 1.

Just me.

Let me also say that I have not heard any of it yet.  Probably won't until the end of next week, as I will be out of town on business in a Podunk part of Ohio.  Just my initial thought on the idea of flying in vocals.

...Haven't heard anything yet, but reading that the pauses were taken out of DYLW is disheartening. Were the tape warbles taken out too? I loved that....made it sound a bit trippy. Do the drums sound any cleaner? I hope so...

As for putting some of the CCW vox over Da Da, that kind of sux too...I never really liked that on mixes. Does the Water chant flow nicely into the beginning? Which version of the Water Chant was used? Was it the one with the cool echo and delay?

Surf's Up? Have to hear it...same with Barnyard and IIGS... Tuesday is going to kick so much heiney. Once in a lifetime type of day..

What does it mean that the pauses were taken out of Worms? So after the first chorus it just goes straight into the second verse without that long rest, or what?

I know all the unedited stuff is going to be on the box, BUT IT'S NOT GOING TO BE ON THE VINYL! so I hope I like the 2011 versions.

It's all surprisingly acceptable. Don't judge until you hear the whole thing.

Clips are enough, in cases like this.

What exactly did I have to do with this???

I respectfully disagree. Smile is always greater than the sum of its parts.

Hrm? I mean yeah, true, but if something isn't done well, then it's not done well - hearing it in context won't change that.

Regarding the pauses.. I don't think they were ever originally there.  If I recall correctly, Brian never assembled an edit in the 60s.  The "Vega-Tables" edit on the 1993 box set is also very sloppy and has some bad edits.  Nobody seems mad that that song was improved upon.

Regarding the tape warbles.. again.. It wasn't "taken out."  It was never there.  What we are getting here is from the master tapes and the warble doesn't exist on the master tapes because the sound wasn't intended to warble.

We shouldn't want these to sound like hastily assembled bootlegs.

(http://img72.imageshack.us/img72/775/p1020854.jpg)
(http://img545.imageshack.us/img545/1180/p1020860w.jpg)
(http://img802.imageshack.us/img802/9291/p1020869.jpg)

Love the pics!  I'm almost as excited for the "extras", namely the booklet with all the interviews/pics, as I am for the music itself.

But how much it matters to you might.

(If, indeed, the fly-ins are sloppily done. I tend to think they were done well.)

Well, it's hard to imagine how Brian could assemble a 1967 version of the song without the pause. And it's not so much a pause, but the effects of splicing together two different takes together on analog tape. Think of how 1968 "Cabinessence" sounds. It's like that. BWPS recreates that pause. But I guess Brian would've used time stretch and other Protools features if he knew how.

I love the picture of Brian on the hillside.

i thought it was a completely unheard dada vocal

it wasn't a bad pitch edit, it was an unchanged vocal brian did in '67, like when he did the slowed down wah-wah-hoo-wahs

those are only my presumptions, anyway