The Smiley Smile Message Board

These are moments that I cannot explain, but they are very short and they elicit a strong, involuntary response. Some examples:

The intro to Don't Worry Baby, but only after the outro of Fun, Fun, Fun. There is something about that lead-in that makes the DWB intro even more powerful. Coming off Fun, Fun, Fun - I think, "how can this get and better?!" And it is like Brian read my mind and responded, "Like this..." A real OMG moment for me...

Heroes and Villains theme isolated piano riff. Absolutely riveting and haunting.

Brian's chanting section of Rio Grande with the "Big, big, big sky". I get the feeling of dread; of accidentally witnessing something I should not be seeing. Probably watched the Thuggee ceremony from Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom too many times. LOL.

These random moments give me goosebumps.

The acappella "ahhhhhhh" break in Good Vibrations right before the fade. Rarely do I hear the guys hit it live. But the recorded version is absolute perfection.
The acappella Wouldn't It Be Nice right as the entire group harmonizes for the first time.
The repeated 8-note synth riff on Feel Flows directly before Carl sings "Encasing all embracing wreath of repose..."
The "domino" part of Surf's Up.

- After Caroline, No fades out on the 40th anniversary album of Pet Sounds, there is a moment of a cappella backing vocals from WIBN that play for about 10 seconds and it sent goosebumps down my spine when I heard it the first time.

- Brian's first "columnated ruins domino" on the 1967 demo track of 'Surf's Up'.

- the 'Don't Talk' vocal snippet from the Pet Sounds sessions.

- any given moment from the Smile backing vocals montage. But more specifically just how perfect the backing vocals from the "girls and boys" section of 'Heroes and Villains' (for that matter, the harpsichord playing/chord progression for that section is achingly beautiful too).

- the harmony outro for 'vegetables' it is so brilliantly silly and beautiful - yet, at least for me, evokes a lot of emotion.

- the wordless harmony outro for 'Don't Go Near The Water' - coupled with the harmonica, it's a vibrant gem in a really underrated album (not underrated for hardcore fans, but the general public)

The brief oboe (I think it's an oboe correct me if I'm wrong) after Brian sings "I'm better on my own" in Pacific Coast Highway. 

"Deep and wide!!!"

Our Prayer.

One For the Boys

The way the sax snarls into Heroes and Villains with BWPS

The previously mentioned "ahhhhhhhhhhhh" in Good Vibrations

Rhapsody in Blue...

How short does it have to be to be considered very short?

The stand outs:

The "aaaahhhhh" vocalizations at the end of You Still Believe In Me.

The Hum-Bee-Dum insert in the Smile Sessions version of Good Vibrations.

The "wait for it" aah-ooom-bop-diddit in This Whole World.

The instrumental section of Don't Worry Baby. Really. It just has a vibe about it...

The gorgeous echo/reverb on the words "for these times" at 2:48 right at the end of the acapella section (the very last words of the section where all the music briefly drops out) found only on the alternate version of IJWMFTT:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wGU8dMaQmZ4

And the ending wordless series of “ahhs” at the end of Melt Away, starting at 2:31, which are ONLY found on the 1988 original issue release:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GBTsx3J_0JU

These are simply so gorgeous, it’s beyond words.

They screwed the pooch when the BW88 album was reissued in 2000, and the “remastered” version is inadvertently missing them at the same timecode:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w9spymNA7PQ

and unfortunately, this “remastered” version is the “normal” go-to version for most people, including how it was for me (for years) when I first heard the song. It was only much later when, thanks to this board, I learned of the proper original 1988 mix, and was BLOWN AWAY by hearing this small, but powerful part.

This "remastered" version should have been quarantined and banished, but it's out there and most people unfortunately think that's THE version of the song, when in fact it's a mistake.

CD, I think I completely forgot about the original ending to Melt Away when I first heard the original. I bought the vinyl from eBay and was pleasantly surprised by such a simple harmony yet it adds so much to the song. It is dumbfounding that they left it off the mix for the reissue.

The whirling flutes on 'God Only Knows' beneath Carl's vocal, just before the end tag.

Ever single goshdarn second of 'Don't Talk (Put Your Head on My Shoulder)', but especially the heartbeat bass line, the unbearably beautiful string overdub, the ache in Brian's voice, and most of all, the rising and descending melody that gives me goosebumps every single time. I know that's not short, but take your pick. It's all perfection.

The opening notes of 'The Warmth of the Sun', the way Brian's falsetto cry over the boys' soft bed of harmonies enter your consciousness, feeling the last rays of the sun on your face... it's all very sad yet very comforting.

The pivot point in the middle of 'Surf's Up' ("surf's up, mmmm, mmmm aboard a tidal wave..."), the late great Paul Williams described it as the summation of everything Brian had done up to that point (1966) and the dawning of a whole new frontier that he was gazing out over. Or something like that.

Brian's "everybody's gone surfin'..." falsetto in the chorus of 'Surfin' USA'. The first true falsetto vocal on the first truly great Beach Boys track. As Ben Kenobi once said, "you've taken your first steps into a larger world."


There are so many more, but I don't want to take up too much space with a single post. I'll be back for more.

Augh I was trying to edit my post and it quoted it for a new post instead. Sorry .

There's this part in "Funky Pretty", right after Mike sings "daughter of Neptune, ruler of the sea", where the synths sound like they're coming from outer space or something. Definitely one of the coolest moments of the song!

It's pretty ridiculously lazy how that happened. The Beatles would never have gotten that type of treatment! I know I've read that it's likely because the masters for the BW88 album were a mess and and not properly all together, or mislabeled somehow.

Yet the only good thing about this goof version of the song being so widespread is that it makes the original version an unexpected, amazing treat when a fan finally hears it. Shame it happened to a top tier BW solo track, probably in his top 5.

Oh, Caroline, noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo.

If we could...FIND a way. If you would ONLY stay.

Just to be clear, the version with the "ah-ahs" missing was withdrawn. The deluxe edition that I have features these vocals.

The same vocal part is also on the IJWMFTT version.

well......
well-a well-a
well

Yes! Not sure how I forgot that one!

It sounds like a cross between an oboe and a violin! There's too little body and too much vibrato for an oboe, I feel.

It might conceivably be a keyboard... 

That's right, I do recall hearing that it was withdrawn and subsequently fixed. But the amount of copies that it sold before it got withdrawn must be pretty significant. The damage has been done, because I've found that the wrong version is far and away the most common version one will come across of that song. I purchased my CD copy of BW88 (remastered) in the early 2000s used at a used CD store, and I was totally unaware of this error being an issue (this was the early days of my BB fandom), but years later I discovered that my copy was one of the affected copies.

Curious if anyone knows, when was this error "caught"? Was it hardcore fans online who made a stink, and then it got fixed? I wonder how many months or years it took.  Because the incorrect version is still very frequently the version one will hear on Youtube or streaming sites (as memory serves I think Spotify had or perhaps still has the wrong version). It's just not something that is taken particularly seriously by the artist or the label, which sucks. Because if it was the wrong version of a Pet Sounds song, you can be sure it would be much harder to find that wrong version.

I bought a digital copy of BW88 from iTunes back in 2010, it had the flawed version of 'Melt Away'. Currently on Apple Music (and I can only guess other streaming services) the version of 'Melt Away' on BW88 is the flawed version. In an age where streaming music is becoming more popular and CD's are definitely becoming a thing of the past (especially with the upcoming generations) it's a shame that the fixed version isn't available on streaming services for all to hear.

Spot on. It's seriously unacceptable. I hope the bitching and moaning we do on this board can help get this mistake fixed on streaming services! :) It's embarrassing that nobody in charge has made the effort to see this get fixed and stay fixed.
 
It's as if nobody cares except for a few nerds like us on this board. That may be true, but it's still worth fixing.

Oh my gosh, I just heard this version for the first time... it's beautiful. I can't stop listening to it. Thanks for sharing this, I had no idea.

You're most welcome, happy to share the info.  :)

Powers that be: time to get this fixed on all streaming services!!

The first few seconds of "From There To Back Again". You know, the part where you realise how great of a song it is, and the ground suddenly opens from underneath  you...

Opening vocals for can't wait too long...

When Brian sings this whole world at the end of said song.  It gives me a feeling of just how big the world is and it sounds like he's sighing thinking about it. 

Those final 'na na na's at the very end of Surf's Up, the faint echo gives me chills everytime.

So many thousands of sublime sound snippets.

The violins that come in after: "I've been waiting to see the change in you / You can do it just the way you used to do" lines in "Baby Let Your Hair Grow Long." An astonishing touch. And there are no violins anywhere else in the tune.

It sounds like a violin.

-"I" (the very first word in Good Vibrations)
-"Come be my redeemer"
-The halt before "Hung velvet overtaken me..."

Think about the subject for minutes and I found almost EVERY Beach Boys song has some moments to hook me. (and that's why I love them)

Maybe I'll sort out the best of these moments later....

"Music is in my soul". I have never identified with any single piece of music or song lyric as I do that one.

Two moments off Pet Sounds stand out.

After the instrumental break, there's the hook "God Only Knows What I'd be without you..." But it stays on the same chord and continues into the verse: "If you should ever leave me..." I don't know why, but it gives it such a sense of urgency and seriousness. It's nothing special, and yet it's probably my favorite moment in the song.

Also the part in Sloop John B. where the instruments drop out and you have all that vocal counterpoint going on is H E A V E N L Y. It's a contender for favorite moment on the album, period.

・One of the alternate version of God Only Knows whose coda is a cappela always kills me and take me to heaven,  just because of You're So Good To Me-like coda.

'dont worry baby' drum into. 

Yessss. Just everything about that song. 'I Can See For Miles' by The Who, 'Tomorrow Never Knows' by The Beatles, and 'Good Vibrations' are a few of the only songs that sound like they could've been recorded 100 years from now. That "I" coupled with the organ in that intro, it sounds magical. The making of this song in Love and Mercy is such a great scene, Brian sitting there in the booth, hands up, moving to the rhythm of the intro. Doesn't get much better than that.

Could be.  I'm not very well versed on such instruments, but that moment is wonderful.

The crazy Hawaiian guitar and BW's chant in "do you like worms". :hat

The first "knows" in the first chorus of "She Knows me too Well" and the "she" in "she can tell", same song, same chorus. Such mean lyrics sung so beautifully. I think it's my favorite vocal. Today, anyway.

I've always had a "thing" for that vocal.  Absolutely everything worked.  Oddly, the lyrics for the time were revealing...somewhat "mea culpa" re: the macho/male domination environment that was so strong at that time.  To be a real man, you had to know how to treat the little woman.  This actually expresses some regret.  We had to start somewhere...

Debbie, you make such a good point. How much time do I spend talking to people who don't even recognize a double standard?
1/2 is much better than none.
And, yeah, the vocal is amazing: rich, clear, soaring, mesmerizing.

On reflection, I'm sure Silken is right. Looking at the instrumental credits in the CD booklet (and after a few more listens), it can't be anything else.

So many, so many... how to choose?
Without much thought:

The wordless vocals at the end of "Meant For You".
The tympani introducing "Worms".
The middle section in "From There to Back Again".
EVERY a capella (or near a capella) break in a BB song.

 

I agree with this 100%

So many great ones listed here...and so many of them coming from Brian's "yin" side.

Here are three that (as far as I can tell) have yet to be mentioned:

--The "my love is burning brightly" tag for "Ail i Wanna Do," with all the amazing vocal backgrounds and the mind-blowing Desper instrumental swirl. Whew!

--The "sometimes I feel very sad" vocal setpiece sung by Brian toward the end of "I Just Wasn't Made for These Times"--so many flavors of his voice captured in twenty sections (including the "put my heart and soul into" that you'd figure to it be a line sung by Mike but Brian brings what VDP called "physicality" to it in a way that no one else could possibly have done...)

--Finally (no surprise to anyone familiar with me), the tag on "Mess of Help," the strangest, funkiest, most complex tag (when you factor in the blend of vocals and instruments) in their career. Carl does a superb job of channeling Brian's approach here with a tune that starts out sounding like it couldn't possibly be the BBs but by its end it's clear that it could not have been done by anyone other than the BBs.

Deep and wide. It makes me feel like I stand on top of a mountain, look at the valley below and see the universe above me... Gets me every time.

Carl's vocals on the bridge of "Givin' You Up"... they are sung so sweetly and with such aching sensitivity, and it's a damn shame that nobody ever talks about this song whatsoever!  Ridiculously beautiful vocals. I have played that bridge over and over repeatedly whenever I listen to the song.

Until recently, I had rarely listened to either of his solo albums, but there are definitely some gems waiting to be rediscovered on there.

When the piano starts the bridge of "thoughts of you" always gets me.

Also, "Its a love thing!" Certainly invokes an involuntary response of some sort...haha

The start of the 2nd verse of GOK, right as the strings hit.

Seconds :10 through :13 of Our Favorite Recording Sessions.

The Whispering Winds segue into Wind Chimes on Brian's Smile album always used to shake me up emotionally.

Denny's voiceover on the Christmas album.

Great thread.

The one singularly strongest moment for me might be the end of "I Just Wasn't Made for These Times" where it does the round of repeating the title lyrics, and on the third time through it adds a downward chromatic chord progression not featured anywhere else in the song. It feels melancholic, but a little bit triumphant too- you can wallow in it but feel that better things are coming:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NR7_TbMIVnA#t=02m40s

But I'll add, after linking it above, that it doesn't sound as good in isolation. As I'm sure with most of the moments here, it's the build and anticipation that makes them so strong. Or, with intros, it's what they're setting you up for. Tension and release!

The short section of Sherry She Needs Me (MiC) starting at 2:11 leading up to Brian's incredibly sweet and youthful falsetto at 2:15. That falsetto gets me every time. It helps that I love the entire song, so when it gets to that part it's almost too much.

the other day listening to MIC cd's in my car I was reminded of one just such Beach Boys moment--FEEL FLOWS, following the Charles Lloyd flute instrumental break there's this rhythm breakdown / shift to a toy type piano taking lead over.  Man, that is just transcendent to listen again to

The timpani after the string section in "Don't Talk (Put Your Head on My Shoulder)"

I love that part as well!! It feels like turmoil and then suddenly calm.