The Smiley Smile Message Board

I can't believe I've overlooked this incredible piece of music for so long, it's a soundscape of sonic beauty. Parts of it remind me of SMiLE, does anyone know when Brian wrote it?

according to steel guitarist Al Vescovo, he "wrote" the tune on the spot the day it was recorded. Brian wanted a Hawaiian-sounding song, and he was more involved in creating sound effects like banging rocks together, making ocean sounds with a tub of water, and using a reverb unit to sound like a volcano erupting. Everyone involved got a writing credit, as it was a spontaneous creation.

What does anyone know about Jim Ackley? he's the fourth co-writer on DH, playing keyboards I presume. did he do any other Beach Boy stuff?

This song is the closest Brian would get to SMiLE until 2004

I love it. One of my favorite tracks from Friends. Hell, every track on that album is my favorite ;D

Little Bird, too.

Rio Grande is pretty SMiLEesque as well

I'm curious about Al Vescovo, Lyle Ritz and Jim Ackley, they seem like exceptionally talented musicians.  8) I always thought Diamond Head and Can't Wait Too Long were two very dynamic tracks from the late sixties that had a lot of SMiLE influences.

I use Diamond Head to end my SMiLE mix.  It's a fantastic track. 

I've got it mixed with Little Pad near the end of my SMiLE mix. like so: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1kLJgK8R-x8

Lyle Ritz is the master of upright bass and jazz ukulele. Lots of Wrecking Crew sessions as a bassist.

Al Vescovo was mainly a pedal steel guitarist but also a standard guitar player, playing primarily jazz on both instruments.
He passed away recently but we did share a couple emails awhile back, and he filled me in on the Diamond Head session.

Lyle and Al are both on Little Pad too.

I don't know a thing about Jim Ackley unfortunately.

Take "Be here in the morning" off Friends and put in "I Went To Sleep"
and end it with "Be With Me" and you have an album that makes Pet Sounds look a little less amazing.

Friggin' love it!!! Really, the two go so well together, thanks!

God I wish Brian had put out an entire exotica/Beach Boys album.

I cut Diamond Head in half, just before it goes to double time I put an edit of Little Pad in and then end it with the double time part of Diamond Head.  They're a semitone apart so I lowered Diamond Head by a semitone.

You've gotta upload this. This is too much justice, I can't handle it man.

Also add "Time To Get Alone." But what's wrong with "Be Here In The Morning"?

Be Here in the Morning is one of the best songs on that album IMO! Personally, I would take off Be Still. Beautiful but kind of boring. Maybe add another Dennis song A Time to Live in Dreams.

In the 70ies Jim Ackley recorded as part of a duo with Chuck Aarons. No further recordings with the Beach Boys afaik.

http://jam.canoe.ca/Music/Pop_Encyclopedia/A/AaronsAndAckley.html

Count me in as Diamond Head nutter too, please.

Where Rio Grande is 'SMiLE by numbers', Diamond Head is the real thing.

this sounds really cool. i'd love to hear it

"Diamond Head" is astonishing. Definitely among my most favorite BB tracks.

I've noticed that people sometimes seem to discount the group's instrumental output, but to me several of them (along with a lot of the backing tracks) are totally essential listening.

Nonsense! Be Here In The Mornin' is the single most insanely catchy, musically inventive track on the whole album. (Diamond Head and Little Bird run it a close joint 2nd)

Better yet, remove Transendental Meditation and replace it with I Went To Sleep, the perfect album closer!

Even better, remove Transendental Meditation and replace with We're Together Again, thereby the entire 'friend' theme of the album is brought full circle. It works perfectly! TM to me is the only real downer on Friends.

I find TM quite daring and interesting. But it just doesn't suit the theme and mood of the album.

Q: what if the BBs had become a fully fledged PR band for the Maharishi? Putting out album after album about TM? You know: albums like 'At The Hop', or 'Hopland', or 'Carl & The Hoppers'?

Discuss.

Friends should've ended with "Don't Do Anything Illegal" by Charles Manson, sung by Mike Love.

Brian stays the hell away from the group at that point to make an album of quirky songs in 1970.

well, the TM-Sidhi program (which is the thing that has "yogic flying") wasn't introduced until 1975, so the first yogic-flying themed album would've been 15 Big Hops.

Links to my whole SMiLE mix are here:

http://smileysmile.net/board/index.php/topic,12403.0.html

thanks... heady stuff!

In an alternate history in my head the Beach Boys made a Manson themed album called 'Cease to Exist' in 1969, followed by a TM themed album called 'Good by Charlie, Hello TM'

 :lol

I'm told he was the an engineer on the session. Helped Brian get the reverb sound; so Brian gave him a writers credit it seems.

I assumed Ackley was playing keyboard, but maybe that's Brian?

Al Vescovo said Brian was banging rocks together on this track, as well as making the water sounds with a washtub and the reverb "eruptions"

must be one of the only tunes Brian played percussion on.

Surfin' too  ;D

Funky Pretty. and doesn't he play some drums on Love You?

Yes, I think a lot of the percussion on Love You was played by Brian, such as the shakily-timed tambourine in "I'll Bet He's Nice."

From the original liner notes:

“Diamond Head”

With full instrumentation and sound effects, “Diamond Head” is probably the most complicated creation on Friends. As it unfolds, “Diamond Head” draws a musical painting of the Hawaiian landmark and is yet another remarkable example of the arranging genius of Brian Wilson.

Historical Note: Peter Reum: “Parts of ‘Diamond Head’ especially the bridge, are reminiscent of some of the more pictorial music of Smile.”

Yes, at least some of it was just him doing snares w/ earle engineering.

Also, I have always thought that the drum part on Honkin' Down The Highway is a tape loop of a kick and snare. Hard to tell who played the part, though. Could be anyone.

Where was that story posted about Brian putting down a guide drum track for a song that was never completed or recorded elsewhere, the tapes were recorded over etc. where Brian, much to Carl and the engineer's astonishment, erm... played the f*** out of those drums? Really wish there were some evidence of his skill back then aside from the very minimal style done to suit the few songs he did play on, which wouldn't call for a louder or more elaborate style of playing.

Recently I've been listening to a lot of Martin Denny's old LPs from the Fifties and early Sixties, and so much of his stuff has that "Diamond Head" vibe to it. While he tended to use the marimba as a lead instrument instead of the lap steel, there is still quite a similarity in mood and approach.

I think most fans of "Diamond Head" would enjoy a Denny song like "Off Shore" for example:

http://www.sendspace.com/file/658di6

(I tried to link to a YouTube video but there wasn't one available, so hopefully I'm not breaking any board rules by posting a link to just this one song.)

Denny and Baxter's exotica records sure are a lot of fun. I used to collect them on scratched up vinyl until a few clicks gives you the lot! Really wonderful stuff to relax too, I think you can hear them in the Pet Sounds instrumentals as well. Les Baxter particularly.

A shame Wilson never played around more in this direction for some kind of film soundtrack or mainly instrumental LP with wordless harmonies or something. Would've been a nice addition to the catalog and pure ear candy!

Yeah I agree ontor pertawst. It's fun to play "what if" Brian had broken up the Beach Boys after Smile collapsed and went on to be a producer/ arranger, making film scores and such. We'd miss out on a ton of classic music of course, but maybe we would have had full albums worth of "Diamond Head" quality stuff? The mind boggles.

I only recently got past my Les Baxter and Martin Denny hits compilations and started getting into the albums proper. So much to discover! The best songs are like little movies for your mind. I've already blown a couple of minds by playing some early Les Baxter cuts that featured theremin parts almost 20 years prior to Pet Sounds.

I'm pretty sure that is in a Desper thread...either on this site or the old surfermoon site, the archived section.