The Smiley Smile Message Board

Anyone else notice the similarities between the tag on the Smile Sessions version of Vega-Tables and the bridge on the Smiley Smile version of Wonderful, or am I just making this up? Is there any relationship between the two?

The low notes on said tag resemble the low notes of the Bicycle Rider theme, while the bridge IS the BR theme in a major key.

Actually this is something that people noticed years ago, so if someone criticizes you for not noticing earlier or not using the search function, don't feel too bad about it.

Hey, I noticed that too, many years ago when I first became a SMiLE fan and posted it on one of the old, old message boards.  Thought I had discovered something new and everyone made me feel like an idiot.  I thought it was pretty cool at the time.  It's my favorite part of Vegetables.

COMMENT:  In case you weren't aware, there is a Vega-tables Study-Video you might enjoy checking out.

See:  http://swdstudyvideos.com

~swd

Terrific stuff, too! Thanks for all the work, guys. Fascinating. Any new videos in the works we can look forward to?

Yes as micha points out as well as its similarity to the vegetables fade, it's also similar to the major key br variations that crop up in Heroes and Villains Part 2. I don't think there's any larger significance other than Brian having favourite segments that he shifted between songs at a whim but who knows.

I do think wonderful, sublime though it is, benefits hugely from such a contrasting middle 8. I always feel the smile version as it appears on disc 1 of TSS lacks that counterpoint - it's almost too nice as is.

If BW did indeed ditch Look as the December track list would suggest, I wonder if it ever crossed his mind to cannibalise any of it for other songs? We know how well it works with Wonderful segueing into it on BWPS. However, I always feel that the pulsing chorus of Look would've created the perfect slow/fast dynamic had it been added as the chorus to wonderful. Like a poppier Cabinessence.

Look was cannibalized - the chorus was echoed in the a Capella section near the end of Good Vibrations, and another part ended up as the middle 8 section of Child.

I also think that a middle 8 would improve "Wonderful" to another level. So, willfully ignoring the composer's intentions I mean-spiritedly cobbled together a middle 8 from spare parts. Not stopping there, I also cannibalised another song and added an intro that IMHO fits like a glove in instrumentation, lyrics, and, surprisingly, keywise. Good thing Brian had a favorite key at the time!

Buddhahat, I don't know if this middle 8 is as contrasting as you have it in mind - I used a piece that has about the same tempo - but in case you're interested, here it is:

Wondeful edited by me. (http://www.michael-fredrich.de/Wonderful-M-edit.mp3)

This is fantastic! I'm not sure I like it better than without a middle 8, but it sure is better than what they came up with for Smiley Smile. Also, the "children were raised" bit works weirdly well as an intro to Wonderful--the more I think about it, the more I realize that SMiLE could have been composed of nothing but Heroes and Villains.

Thank you very much and merry Christmas! :)

Is that link not working for anyone else?

Seems I had screwed it up. I fixed it in the original post now, and here it is too:

Wondeful edited by me. (http://www.michael-fredrich.de/Wonderful-M-edit.mp3)

Buddhahat seems to have found a way to listen to it in spite of the bad link.

That was tremendous - great alignment Micha. Thank you.

Thank you! :) I'm going to decorate my Christmas tree now.

Excellent job!  The middle 8 fits very well although I don't like it as a part of the song.  I also agree that the intro fits like a glove.

Thank you for your feedback and merry Christmas! :)

I often have the feeling that that was the case. Of course Smile04 doesn't really go that way.

Micha, thanks for that link. It's cool and the edits work very well.

Thanks Stephen.  You are a treasure-trove of these things...But then again, you're you!  I was lucky enough to hear you mixing in the studio and on tour.  I am a lucky woman...

Danke dir! :) Fröhliche Weihnachten!

Could Rock With Me Henry have been an intended middle 8?

IMHO very unlikely, that seems to be a new complete version with no middle 8 intended for it either. Isn't that one in a different key as well? The Smiley middle 8 may have been inserted as replacement for the junked "All fall down" verse.

Would the key be a deal breaker? Wasn't it labeled as "Wonderful (insert)"?

Wow! I just checked out the Stephen Desper site. So cool!

Was it? insert could also mean "overdub", I think. The key could be a deal breaker, as the pieces I used fit in both key and tempo, that's why it sounds so smooth.

I think you're thinking of something else, I think.

That's the "mama mama mama" bit, right?

You two are right. I didn't remember that correctly at all.

So it seems Brian had a "final" SMiLE version of Wonderful including RWMH and a tag.

Those quotation marks don't mean Brian said the word "final", I mean it as "quote fingers" or whatever.

What do you mean with " "final" "? I mean, there was one more version begun before the recording of Smiley Smile commenced, after the RWMH version, during the Vega-Tables sessions in April 1967, and again it didn't get finished.

I'll chime in late and say nice job, Micha. Sounds like something Brian very well could've tried. A few more overdubs on the middle 8 and I see it working perfectly as a trippy interlude.

Thank you very much and a happy new year! :)