The Smiley Smile Message Board

I apologize for starting a new thread, as, presumably there is already one somewhere, but the search function didn't find it.
Recently, Probyn Gregory made a comment on youtube that this demo is lost. I've read many references to it, so perhaps someone here has a copy. Here's the link; his comments are at the top. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OOCVGFfVdHc

Well, lots of people have a 'copy'. So whoever took them to bootleg still has them...

But, like, unless they just flat out stole Scott Bennett's laptop I'm confused as to how that could happen? I mean, this is the digital age! He would still have the masters from which that f***er bootlegged them. Unless....

And of course, this guy probably isn't Probyn Gregory. This is YOUTUBE.

Didn't Andrew confirm some time ago that the demo version was used on the final album?

Lead vocals from the demo are used on the final version. Scott has said this.

Also, the song is apparently a rewritten version of Message Man. True story.

Whoa!!! I never heard that before!!! That's great.

I'm confused.  Is the youtube clip the demo?  For some reason, the lead vocal sounds different from what I remember hearing on the album.

I can't confirm if the Probyn on YOUTUBE is the real man. However he said exactly the same thing to me a few weeks ago! The demo is lost!

The DEMO is awesome I just found it!!

I guess there are three possibilities:

- Probyn doesn't know that, while the TLOS demos were lost, they were also found and everybody has them..   
- He means that the multitracks for the demo are lost
- There is actually an earlier demo of the song

I thought Message Man was a rewritten version of Beatleman. WHere did you hear your story?

I'm positive I've read that there was another version of demos for TLOS that haven't been circulated.

Correct me if I'm wrong but wasn't MAD originally more 'rockier'?

Maybe that's the demo being referred to.

Why would Probyn be watching someone's upload of MAD on Youtube anyway?

Yep, read that too. maybe he means them....

Message Man is Beatle Man with a new set of lyrics by Scott.

But at the same time, according to Scott in an interview for Mark Dillon's new book, it was the up temp tune that Brian and Scott then transformed into MAD.

On another point, the lost demo talk is also nonsense because that track -- the demo of MAD -- was officially released on Brian's website.

Beatle Man?  Message Man is Marketplace.

You know, message man message man buy some bananas and apricots lets go and see what else they`ve got...

Message Man and Marketplace are not very similar. I mean, yes, they each start with the same six notes, but they go in very different places.

Regardless, Message Man was turned into Midnight's Another Day. This is according to the song's co-author, and is described in a legitimate new book.

http://www.amazon.com/Fifty-Sides-Beach-Boys-Songs/dp/1770410716

Wire, that's precisely what I was thinking, but, strangely enough, I can't find that demo anywhere online. I even downloaded something that says "Brian Wilson website, August 6, 2007," which sounds the same as the album version....

Hmmm...upon further listen there are a few differences (some cymbal flourishes on the finished one but not the demo). But these are definitely the same vocal tracks and mostly the same instrumental tracks, hardly the revealing "demo" that Probyn (who does seem to be Probyn, given all of his youtube comments) mentions.

From Probyn (responding to whether this was the same demo posted on Brian's website): "yes, i think the confusion is that I refer to an early working version where BW and ScottB had yet to add the strings and BG vox, which were probably added right after my horn. So the thing i heard (piano, lead, horn) only existed for a day or so. Frankly, i preferred that one-- so stark and lonesome, like the lyrics."

Yes and the demo I have is sparse but has backing vox. Sounds a lot better than the released version. But is not th eone Probyn refer's too.

The "demo" -- or 2006/7 version -- that circulates has vocals done only by Brian and Scott, piano, horn and (maybe) vibes.

The "official" -- or 2008 version -- has largely the same lead vocal from Brian (but with less echo, I think), replacement background vocals by the band, a full string arrangement, and the horn and vibes.

The 2006/7 demo is preferred, if only because I prefer the sound on BW's lead vocal, and it's awesome to hear him singing falsetto backgrounds. The strings are also way too much on the 2008 version.

And the"demo" Probyn is refering to is different again.

Yeah, although I don't think an in-process track is the same as a demo. The demo was finished and is widely available. Nothing was lost, and I'm sure it would be easy enough to reproduce what Probyn is talking about by wiping some of the parts away.

Also, Probyn seems to be confusing the initial recording and work on the album, as strings are not present on the 2006/7 track.

The guy loves music.

Don't forget that there were two demos for TLOS. The first one hasn't been heard (the one that apparently had Brian's fingerprints all over it).

... and also on a sampler given away promoting an Australian music festival. Details on 10452.