The Smiley Smile Message Board

I listened to Sunflower yesterday, which was the first time in a few months. Each time, I find something else to love about that album. What I noticed yesterday is how many of the background vocals were "lost" compared to what I heard on the Made in California vocals-only mix. Granted, the lack of background clarity could be due to the fact that I was in a soft-top Jeep Wrangler with the heater blasting, but the vocals-only mixes of Slip On Through and Our Sweet Love  on MiC gave me goosebumps and I missed some of the really intricate yet subtle parts.

Of course, the a cappella songs like The Lord's Prayer, Our Prayer, And Your Dream Comes True, Their Hearts Were Full of Spring/Now A Young Man Is Gone etc... are obviously meant to be listened to without instruments, but I am really digging the songs that were just as beautiful once the instruments are stripped.

I would have to rate my favorite vocals-only moment as the first time I experienced Wouldn't It Be Nice. I was intrigued with just the lead vocal but as soon as the stacked harmonies came in, I was blown away. California Girls was great too, and the fullness was kind of unexpected. Kiss Me Baby is a fantastic song without instruments.

I am not looking for your favorite Vocal-only songs, but the parts of those songs that made you really appreciate the Beach Boys in a new way.

For me, the real "ear-opener" was the a capella breakdown in "Sloop John B".

Another favourite is the intricate vocal arrangement in the chorus of "I Just Wasn't Made for These Times".

"Girls On The Beach"----pretty well all of it. :=)

I only wish this was available in better sound quality.  From a very old boot, a Please Let Me Wonder session.  The final take where the boot-maker drops the backing track out- mindblowing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vh0iKhXW6vw

That is nice. I was hoping it was from the Unsurpassed Masters Alternate Today album, but it does not seem to be. There are a few takes on UMV08D01 where the instrumental track is low in the mix and the vocals are very prominent, but not this good. Thanks!

My favourite vocal-only moment is always the "tag" to Vegetables as in CD1 of the Smile Sessions. Absolutely transcendent.

Kiss Me Baby and Wouldn't It Be Nice. I got chills hearing those vocals only tracks for the first time.

The other-worldly, simple "ahhhhhhhhh" that starts in the middle of the bridge to "Sloop John B" (starting at the same time as Mike sings "Stone" in "Sherriff John Stone") is a stunner among stunners. Almost *unbelievable* that human beings sang that.

A lot of the material from Pet Sounds is what jumps out at me, which is all the more impressive when I consider that I could say the flipside of the same coin: that album also has some of the instrumental tracks that jump out at me as the best. WIBN, Sloop John B, Here Today, IJWMFTT ... it's not a bad album, I guess.

There are also vocals-only versions of "Surf's Up" and "'Til I Die" floating around "out there", and those are of course stunning as well.

The vocals only "Forever".

Hearing Brian ad libbing at the end of that vocals only "Forever" is amazing. Until he screams and blows out my ear drums.  ;D

Yeah ouch on that part! :lol

An absolute favorite from '70 and still is.

Poor ol' captain is an outsider on that one: I think it's a decent but not great song and performance. Dennis's stuff in general on Sunflower isn't really my thing.

There's moments that I will forever remember as melting my brain. One: the water chant from Cool Cool Water. That had never been done before or since. And the tag on Smiley Smile version of Wind Chimes still sounds otherworldly and always sought me to find a holy grail of BB harmonies which I've never found.
Also as a guilty pleasure for a song I normally can't stand & offending my Brianista sensibilities, the vocal breakdown in I Can See Music is draw dropping and sets the sense for all the other cliched BB 'sounds' in the future

The end of the Pet Sounds 40th Album where that short vocal only of WIBN comes in. And the vocal only of She Knows Me Too Well (from the Keep An Eye On Summer release)...Mike's bass vocal coupled with Brian's falsetto on the chorus is an example of what made this band phenomenal.

Also the backing vocals track for she knows me too well!

Yessss. That whole album is a treasure chest full of goodies. Why didn't they do a release like that for the Today and Summer Days albums? Like, we got sessions for Pom Pom Playgirl but f*** the idea of releasing vocal only tracks for the Summer Days tracks.

Don't know at all, I want heyjude to run BRI dammit! ;D

I vote in favor of this! One of the most sensible posters in this fandom. Though sensible and this band rarely go hand in hand haha

Vocals only Tag on God Only Knows, the unreleased alternate version. Stunning.

AMAZING completely agree!!!!! my personal fav take being...
 'She Knows Me Too Well (Take 16, Stereo Chorus Overdub Session)' from the Archaeology (Lost Recordings Sessions 1963 - 1968).

Stephen Desper's Study Video for Cool Cool Water comes to mind.  Phenomenal vocals!

I need to check all of those out again asap.

WIBN from the PS Sessions box. Starting with the element of Brian's lead actually being belted out and sung very forcefully versus in the "sweet" softer voice that many cover vocalists do and therefore miss the mark, it just keeps getting more and more stunning as Brian adds the various sections of harmony and backgrounds, each one perfect for the song.

I'd also add being able to hear some of what had been buried on I Just Wasn't Made For These Times on the same vocals-only disc was a revelation.

If there was only a way to rescue Denny's original lead vocal from I Just Wasn't Made For These Times. I keep hoping a way will be invented to "rescue" tape that might have been taped over (sort of how historians can remove a painting that has been painted on top of another), but I realize the limitations of magnetic tape might make this forever impossible. I also wonder if there's a way to tell from actually looking at the physical splice on the reels of tape if those lines of vocals which are thought to be splice-ins of Denny's lead are in fact such. I'll keep dreaming...

The opening of 'Soulful Old Man Sunshine'.

Excellent choice

first 20 seconds of "it's gettin' late"...soulful harmony w/ that bittersweet synth in the background. kills me

Agreed 100% about the water chant and the SS "WC" tag.

And your guilty pleasure looks pretty guilty to me. :lol   

just play from 07.43
wow creamy, love the dynamics on the chorus.