The Smiley Smile Message Board

So in ten weeks time when you finally get your hands on MIC, how are you going to listen to it...?

Personally, although I'll be sorely tempted to skip straight to WIBNTLA and CD 6, I'm really going to try - on my first listen - to sit and listen to the whole set, in order, CD 1 through to CD 6.

Anyone else planning on doing the same, or are you just going to race straight to the juicy parts?

(To keep the thread on track, if you're not going to be buying MIC and/or you're just going to be picking and choosing whichever songs you do or don't want to hear on the internet, then please reframe from commenting and restating as such, thanks. This is a thread for those who are going to have the actual psychical box in hand).

I'm planning to load each CD to play in reverse order, starting with CD 6

Chances are I will purchase it from a foreign website since prices are usually more attractive, so it will take one or two weeks to get here. In the meantime I am sure I will find a way to download it from the internet (and why the hell not, since I am buying the thing anyway), and once you have access to all the different, separate tracks on your computer, I guess it is much harder to resist going straight for the juicy bits.

So I suppose that is what I will do, go straight to the rare/unreleased tracks. I will probably start with "You're Still a Mystery".

I found listening to the GV boxset in order was a very rewarding experience. I plan to do the same with MIC. I'll download the albums in FLAC on my computer first. I'll have my studio headphones on and the volume will be up as high as it can go. I'll be dying to hear WIBNTLA, and I'll probably have a stupid grin on my face as I listen to it. I'll be hard pressed to get through the Kokomo era section, and even the Live section; I can't wait to hear the a cappella version of This Whole World, and the slew of other songs on disc 6.

I'll also read through the book as I'm listening. Mostly I'll have my eyes shut as I take in every note and melody of music.

I will reframe from playing the CD's in order and skip all over the place to find my favorite tracks to play.

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I'll most likely start with disc 3, bounce back up to 2, then go to 6, and then decide where to go from there.  If I were to start at the beginning, I would be spending all that time thinking about those particular tracks that I'm so anxious to hear, and I wouldn't be concentrating much on what is currently playing.

You're going to reframe the booklet pics?  or  Refrain from listening in order?

i will make 1 mp3 cd from all 6 cd's to play in my car so i can play them loud  ;D

I am going to listen to every song and go nut's

No, I'm not gonna reframe the booklet photos, but we'll see what promo posters or other paraphernalia surfaces for this release. It'll be interesting to see if Capitol goes all balls out to promote it.

I'll probably listen to it in order AFTER I skip around to all the good stuff first.

"Reframe" was used in Disney Boy's initial post on this thread.  I liked it so much I thought I'd be a poseur and use it...

I'll wait until I go to work, in the car by myself, and start with the disc that includes WIBNTLA.

Thread title is extremely misleading.

I'll be going straight to the most interesting tracks first but eventually Ill devote a day and listen to it all the way through, like I did with the Smile Sessions.

I'll start with CD 1, track 1 and listen straight through -- probably twice (my wife's away the day it comes out...)

Firstly, I will listen to the Surf's Up album in all it's true potential glory:

Side A:

Sound of Free
Don't Go Near The Water
Take A Load Off Your Feet
Feel Flows
Wouldn't It Be Nice To Live Again


Side B:

4th Of July
Long Promised Road (linked to 4th)
Disney Girls
Lookin' At Tomorrow
A Day In The Life Of A Tree
'Til I Die
Surf's Up


 :smokin

Many will disagree with this configuration, but this is the way I want to hear WIBNTLA in a realistic context (assuming this is how Carl could've done it and Dennis consented).

In the right order. A journey through Beach Boys history.

Well, now I have second thoughts on how I'll listen to MIC ;D What an excellent idea that I may try myself.

I will reframe MIC like this (this photo is taken in my room, in my room):

(http://s12.postimg.org/nvnzcvuwb/Untitled_1.png)

Brilliant idea

I might do the same with Wild Honey. This box set takes us a few steps closer to a true stereo mix of the album

I'm going to go straight to the ones i want to hear most, probably in this order:

This Whole World (A Cappella)
Where Is She?
Meant For You (Alternate Version)
Don't Worry Baby (Stereo Session Outtake w/ Alternate Lead Vocal)
California Feelin' (Original Demo)
We're Together Again (2012 Stereo Mix)
(Wouldn't It Be Nice To) Live Again
Be With Me (Demo)
Don't Go Near The Water (Instrumental Track)
Transcendental Meditation (Instrumental Track)
Our Sweet Love (Vocals w/Strings)
Slip On Through (A Cappella Mix)
Pom Pom Play Girl (Vocal Session Highlight)
Amusement Parks USA (Early Version)
Guess I'm Dumb (Instrumental Track w/Background Vocals)
Had To Phone Ya (Instrumental Track)
I Believe In Miracles (Vocal Section)
Why (Instrumental Track)
Barnyard Blues


And then maybe the stereo stuff/mixes that are new to this set or have sessions stuff tacked on, see if stuff like Old Man River, Can't Wait Too Long, Back Home, Sherry, etc. have anything new.  And then probably check for hidden tracks. And then go through the whole thing from beginning to end.

Good idea but wasn't Lady the proposed third Dennis track not Sound of Free? I'm also going to construct my ultimate Surf's Up tracklist once I get the box (no doubt everyone will).

I believe extreme thought was given to make certain you were misled

X-TREEEEEME

(http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3361/3430473900_d699f4b85c.jpg)

(http://keyprofits.com/images/jack-links-extreme-sticks.jpg)

(http://gravec.at/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/pretty_fucking_extreme_let_me_tell_you.jpg)

(http://2.imimg.com/data2/PI/MH/IMVENDOR-2034730/extreme-soya-250x250.jpg)

X-TREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEME

I am torn beef between the above approach and the below approach.

@runnersdialzero!

Hahaha!  :-D

Great idea! However, I'd have WIBNTLA coming after Til I Die, which - correct me if I'm wrong - is how Dennis wanted it. I'm going to sequence the following track-listing:

1. Don't Go Near The Water
2. Long Promised Road
3. Sound Of Free
4. Disney Girls
5. 4th Of July

6. Feel Flows
7. Lookin' At Tomorrow
8. A Day In The Life Of A Tree
9. Til I Die
10. WIBNTLA
11. Surf's Up

Now that is a freakin' stunning album!!

 Yep, the impact of "WIBNTLA" on a SURF'S UP tracklist is something we will ponder. Would SURF'S UP have been The Beach Boys' greatest album had the Dennis stuff made the final lineup?

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Ahem
(http://extreme-band.com/site/wp-content/uploads/2008/07/Extreme-III_Sides_To_Every_Story-Frontal.jpg)

I'll leave a slightly longer than average pause between the fade of WIBNTLA and Surf's Up kicking in though.

I want to :'( cry :'( every time a Beach Boys fan disregards Take A Load Off Your Feet and removes it from fantasy Surf's Up alternate track lists. I will take Feet over any Dennis song except Little Bird. Should i be medicated?

I will also be making an alternate Surf's Up, but nothing will be removed, even SDT, which despite it's horrible lyrics and the aural assault of the siren, is a really rockin' tune that the album needs. The instrumental and backing vocal track on that song are killer.

I'm sorry if this is a dumb question, but I'm blanking - was "Sound of Free" ever considered for Surf's Up (or any BB project) before or after the release of the Rumbo single?

No... Feet is actually fun and catchy. Most Dennis songs are neither of those things.

I feel the same whenever someone knocks a Dennis song. There are no winners in the 'playing the ultimate victim of Beach boys fandom'

For what it's worth, i wouldn't remove take a load off your feet. It's a cracking song.

When 'mic' comes out I will wait for someone to upload 'wouldn't it be nice to live again' and the other choice cuts to Youtube, and play the hell out of it. In terms of laying down hard cash, I'm into desirable objects, normally vintage 45s, and this is a modern day collection of cds with a picture of some sand on the cover

I will just tag Feet and SDT at the end (alongside the Desper mix of Til I Die) at then as "bonus tracks" . :)

Anyone actually going to wait until they've heard WIBNTLA before they decide where it would fit best on Surf's Up?

Hey, what is this? The MIC listening thread or the fantasy Surf's Up resequencing thread?

In case this is the latter, I'll remove Surf's Up, TALOYF and Disney Girls from the lineup and replace them with Live Again, Sound Of Free, 4th Of July, and My Solution. ;D

yeah

Take A Load Off Your Feet belongs on Surf's Up. Heck, all of the songs belong there, because that's how the Boys wanted it to be! It's a great, great song. Anyone who takes it out for wacky little songs like TALOYF don't really get the Beach Boys, IMHO. Their music is like... life itself. So many different sides. No one's all sad and emotional all the time. I mean, sometimes you just have to take good care of your feet!

And a 10 minute version of STD. Or do I mean SDT. No, I'll stick with the first.

And yes, Feet stays were it is. The Welfare song can go though. Rich rock star sings about what it's like being unemployed. No thanks. Almost as insulting as "Imagine no possessions"

How did you arrange for that? :-D

"Student Temonstration Dime"? :-D

To explain why I remove those songs (and "Lookin' At Tomorrow" which I forgot to mention ) is that in my fantasy Surf's Up had already been released on SMiLE, then after Sunflower there was an LP called "Landlocked" with both LAT and TALOYF on it (I love both tracks actually), and finally the next album with the main heap of reality's Surf's Up album would have been called "Sound Of Free". I'll spare you the tracklist, but "SDT" is on there...

HOW AM I GOING TO LISTEN TO MIC?

Start with CD 1, skip the tracks I don't like and go at least until WIBNTLA.

Sexually Transmitted Disease

Student Transmitted Disease…

I always thought that until I heard a live version of it from the early 70s, where it sounds twenty-five years ahead of its time...

Just lucky -- the Minnesota State Fair is that week, and so my wife's going to visit her parents in the US...

ehm, I left it on  ;D

Pah! This is more like it:

Don't Go Near The Water
Long Promised Road
Disney Girls (1957)
4th Of July
Student Demonstration Time

Feel Flows
Take A Load Off Your Feet
A Day In The Life Of A Tree
'Til I Die
Wouldn't It Be Nice To Live Again

 :3d

Just not quite a Surf's Up album without the title tune on it.

I tend to favor WITBNTLA as the final track, but it's a good point to say we can't really judge that until we actually hear it... I am also toying with the idea that it might be better if Dennis is side A (4th, Fallin' in Love, WIBNTLA) with Brian having side B (Tree, Die, Surf's Up)... I guess I am mostly just excited to experiment around.

In fairness Al and the others were pretty broke at the time the song was made.

Everything is insulting to you proles, isn't it? :)

I'm English, not Prolish!

 :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol

Well played, sir. Well played.

Just because Al had money to live comfortably at the time doesn't mean he didn't have a lot of empathy for those who are struggling. That or Jack Riley told him to write about it, but either way, Al doesn't strike me as the kind of guy whose entire being is devoted to their money while criticizing and having no understanding of those with less money.

Hating "Take A Load Off Your Feet" is akin to kicking a puppy. You don't kick puppies... do you?

Only if they interfere with the flow of my day.  >:D

I want there to be a special pressing "mistake" where OSD's copy is the live version of Summer In Paradise on each track of each disc ;)

Too hard on OSD's love of BBs before the Mike Love era of 1980 to 1998.... :lol :lol :lol :lol

I loathe dogs and puppies and would happily run them over for a living. Cats Rule!

Re TALOYF. Yeah it's a fun song, but it should've been a B-side. Lookin' At Tomorrow is great however.

 

I very much prefer cats, too, but wanted to use something more people could relate to. Regardless, I'd never kick a puppy, nor would I hate "Feet" or understand how anyone could. Not everything has to be a dead serious bloated attempt at a masterpiece.

I know most would say we'd have one shitty album and one O GOD IT'S SO SERIOUS AND PROFOUND album, but two 1971 albums - one with more light-hearted stuff like "Feet" and "Loop De Loop" and the other with the more serious/social commentary stuff like "Surf's Up", "Live Again", "Feel Flows" etc. etc. would've been darn cool. I kind of like the duality of the Surf's Up album but these guys were amid a creative peak in terms of output (sans Brian) and most of it was album worthy to one extent or another.

Can I have this as my new signature Runners?

Im going to put them all on my computer then put the all the new stuff(including new stereo mixes and so on) in my mp3 player, hire a hooker and GO TO TOWN. Afterwards, I'll return to my wife and listen to the whole thing start to finish.

That's disgusting......

MP3s sound awful

Turn on outdoors amplifer - insert 6 CDs and Hit "random play"

go out on my deck and enjoy each pleasant surprise.

Tremendous idea!

Yes. I rather like this idea as well.  :)

And for a touch of a more aquatic experience I may jump in the pool during those surf tunes  ;D

Through the speakers.   ::)

Seriously though, I'm going to just rip the tracks I want off each CD to my iPod and go from there. 

Mr Dialzero, bring me a puppy, 'Feet' is atrocious and should have stayed unreleased after it was wisely rejected the first time round. If I could time travel, I would go back in time, steal the masters for 'Feet' and cast them into Mount Doom and then blow Mount Doom up with some sort of death ray. IMO.

I think I'll finally make that Sunflower/Surf's Up Era "Double Album" I've fiddled around with

Disc 1/side 1 ("Hope")
1. Slip on Through
2. This Whole World
3. Games two Can Play
4. I Just Got My Pay
5. Good Time
6. Soulful Old Man Sunshine
7. San Miguel

Disc 1/side 2 ("Hope but less so")
1. Add Some Music to your Day
2. Back Home (Sunflower version)
3. Deirdre
4. Our Sweet Love
5. All I Wanna Do
6. Fallin' In Love
7. Tears in the Morning

Disc 2/side 1 ("Depression to ignoring reality)
1. H.E.L.P. is on the way
2. Don't go Near the Water (starts "trip" movement)
Trip movement
3. At My Window
4. Sail Plane Song
5. Disney Girls (1957)
6. Feel Flows (Coming down from the high)
Cry for help on last track of side
7. Forever

Disc 2/side 2 (Depression to thoughts of suicide to acceptance and hope again)
1. 4th of July
2. Student Demonstration Time
3. Lookin at Tomorrow (A Welfare Song)
4. A Day in the Life of a Tree
5. 'Til I Die
6. It's About Time
7. Long Promised Road
8. Break Away (alternate on Warmth of the Sun)
9. Wouldn't it be Nice to Live Again

Thoughts? Just a draft right now

That's a great idea-  I love random play, and the surprises that entail.

So here's my fantasy.

SMiLE

A
1. You're Welcome
2. Heroes And Villains
3. Cabin Essence
4. Do You Like Worms
5. Holidays
6. Wonderful
7. Song For Children

B
1. Child Is Father Of The Man
2. Surf's Up
3. The Elements (V-T, LTSDD, WC, MOLC)
4. Prayer
5. Good Vibrations


Sunflower

A
1. Soulful Old Man Sunshine
2. This Whole World
3. Add Some Music
4. Deirdre
5. Got To Know The Woman
6. It's About Time

B
1. Our Sweet Love
2. Slip On Through
3. Tears In The Morning
4. All I Wanna Do
5. Forever
6. At My Window


Landlocked

A
1. Loop De Loop
2. Susie Cincinnati
3. San Miguel
4. H.E.L.P.
5. Take A Load Off Your Feet
6. Games Two Can Play
7. Over The Waves

B
1. I Just Got My Pay
2. Good Time
3. Big Sur
4. Lady
5. When Girls Get Together
6. Lookin' At Tomorrow


Sound Of Free

A
1. Don't Go Near The Water
2. Long Promised Road
3. Sound Of Free
4. 4th Of July
5. Student Demonstration Time

B
1. My Solution
2. Feel Flows
3. A Day In The Life Of A Tree
4. Til I Die (Looped Desper mix)
5. WIBNTLA


That's Why God Made The Radio

A
1. Isn't It Time
2. Beaches In Mind
3. Waves of Love
4. Spring Vacation
5. Strange World
6. That's Why God Made The Radio

B
1. Daybreak Over The Ocean
2. Shelter
3. From There To Back Again
4. Think About The Days
5. Pacific Coast Highway
6. Summer's Gone

YES!!!! I thought it was just me.....

But I'd have Prayer into GV opening side 2

Even if Brian decided otherwise in 2004, I still think Prayer is an absolutely inadequate track to open an album called "SMiLE" with such a funny LP cover. If the album title was "Dumb Angel", Prayer would be a perfect opener!

I dunno. I think it's the perfect opener. All serious and religious then it kicks, without warning, into Gee and Heroes in Villains. Perfect imo. Reminds me of those funeral processions in New Orleans (like in Live and Let Die) where it's somber and sober and then kicks high gear into dancing and merry making. Makes me smile every time.

I dunno either! :)

As far as I know, Gee following Prayer was a Darian idea. I've never for one minute thought this was the intended sequence.

You're Welcome is in the same key as H&V, so to me feels a lot more natural as an opener.

I'm also pretty sure there is a vintage edit of Prayer, which is identical to the "reprise" on BWPS. This suggests to me that at one point, Brian intended GV to open Smile, after Prayer.

All conjecture, however

I find it funny how so many fans get so literal on the meaning of the lyrics and titles as if everyone listens to SMiLE with a smile at all times or is supposed to.  I think Prayer works perfectly how it goes right into Gee and H&V (though the crossfade from the trombone to H&V should have been quicker).  And personally, I never listen to You're Welcome, I think it's a weak track, while Prayer is stunning.

The only alternate edit of Prayer I know of with the penultimate phrase removed. Why? Who knows. But….maybe rather than repeat the same song twice the extracted phrase could have come at the end of the album, thus creating the “amen” moment Vosse referred to in his ’69 interview.  A similar idea was used on BWPS, though the Prayer segment used is not the same as the segment extracted from the alternate Prayer edit.

Smile was probably going to be an album with a little extra somethin’ somethin’ at the beginning, just like Pet Sounds was an album with a extra somethin’ somethin’ at the end.

Link tracks…PAH! The only "gee" in my Smile is when I say "gee, I sure am glad "Gee" isn't included here." Less is more. 12 tracks. No bullshit.

Where did this 12 track, no links idea come from? This site. For me, Smile has always been interlinked, and was always described as interlinked, long before BWPS. That's the nice thing about it though. The '67 Smile is still a very personal thing. We all have our own ideas of what it was.

One thing for sure it was always in flux. So both Prayer and Welcome are contenders for the intro.

Anyway, this thread is getting derailed.

Yeah, because when Brian said "Prayer" was an "intro to the album," he really meant something else.

The fact that the majority of tracks have fades?

And he said Bicycle Rider was the chorus to worms. And he said False barnyard was the fade to YAMS. As I said, it was always in flux


I think there would have been some fades, but also that a lot of the songs would have flowed into each other. When sequencing BWPS Brian was very quick to pair up Wonderful / Look, and Barnyard / OMP. He also refers to the piano section of CIFTTM as "Surf's Up intro" in Beautiful Dreamer. Its also possible that the original "Bridge To Indians" is supposed to lead into DYLW, as it goes up into the key of that song, but is totally unrelated to any other H&V section.

My biggest evidence though is that Brian and Van Dyke made it all flow together when they finished it. If it was supposed to be 12 unconnected songs, why not present it as such?

As I said earlier though, all conjecture. Your fantasy finished Smile has 12 unconnected tracks. Mine doesn't. We'll probably never know.  :)

To me too, but YW is also in the same key as Help Me, Rhonda, so it's probably coincidence.




I think the key of Prayer suggests GV was to follow. I'm sure that was the original idea for the "Dumb Angel" album.




I agree with you that as individual tracks YW is a throwaway track compared to the majestic Prayer. But as an opener for an album called "SMiLE", for me YW works perfectly while Prayer puts me off. You know, like Pet Sounds wouldn't work if you're at the beach on a sunny day.




No need for sarcasm here. Personally, I doubt YW was ever considered by Brian to be the intro. It's just that it works perfectly for me.

Just got and listened to the Friends/ 20-20 two fer the other day and Our Prayer, Cabinessence sounds so weird, out-of-place on that album... (because they are)

But I dont know if I could say sincerely if I had not ever heard Smile that it would have had percieved it that way.