The Smiley Smile Message Board

So, Some Sweet Day finally got released, and it gets some criticism that it's not good enough here and there.

Now, question to you all- what would you include on the upcoming BW Anthology if you could replace Some Sweet Day with other outtake?

My answer is It's Not Easy Being Me, which is from the same era as Some Sweet Day.

https://youtu.be/2AIqXKFEakQ (https://youtu.be/2AIqXKFEakQ)

I think this song has more appeals to those who loves Pet Sounds- assumably much of casual fans who are willing to listen to this anthology.  It has the same vibe.

must be a miracle https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bwBqQIy3u0c

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I think you nailed it with It's Not Easy Being Me. If that had been on there, this would've been a day 1 instant purchase. As it is, I'll probably pick up the anthology eventually, but I'm in no rush to do so.

I would say either It's Not Easy Being Me, or the original version of Gettin' In Over My Head(possibly Brian's last really good lead).

Angels in Love. TLOS outtake written by Brian and Van Dyke. Word on the street is that it's excellent.

It's not easy being me or chain reaction of love.

To me these are all horrible songs.

SSD is nice choice. I don't even know some of the listed below.

Apart from Angels in Love, they are all dated from middle 90s, sessions with Andy Paley. They're all booted, and have been a bit more popular and  available than Some Sweet Day.

By the way, I can't disagree that Some Sweet Day is a nice choice. It has some good vibes, though it's a bit flawed (the sound of piano- or keyboard- is pretty awful).

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I've often wondered if either Brian has developed a distaste for "It's Not Easy Being Me", or if they're saving it for something else, because it seems to be one of the most glaring stand-out tracks of what's left of the known Paley stuff. I dunno, maybe he thinks the title is too self-indulgent or something.

Or it's just as likely it's sitting around unreleased for the same reason the other 427 noteworthy BB and BW unreleased tracks sit unreleased, which is for no apparent particular reason other than ignoring the stuff.

It starts to blow my mind to think that even *more well-documented* and obsessed-over unreleased catalogs like McCartney's end up having a TON of stuff hardcore students of his don't even know about. I'm guessing beyond the easily TWENTY discs of unreleased studio material of the BBs and BW that we *know* about that could be released, there's a ton we know *nothing* about. Brian demos we've never heard of. Al probably has a whole room full of weird tapes we don't know about. I've been discussing recently the likelihood of post-1985 unreleased Carl compositions, and so on.

We need something at least closer to a "floodgates" scenario than a "one or two tracks on a 'best of' compilation" scenario, though of course it's never a bad thing to have a crack at two "new" Brian tracks.

In computer there is bunch of songs "Demos & Outtakes by Brian Wilson". SSD Track 10.You see, the songs I like 1. sung by by smb. else ("Out in the Country", "London's A Lonely Town") 2. feature young voice ("Beginning of the End") 3. feature 2 vocals ("Elbow 64"). It'd be bad move to add these to new BW comp. I stand by SSD. Btw, "It's Not Easy Being Me" is really boring. What do you like about it?

You mentioned in a previous post that you "dislike the melancholic type songs", and "It's Not Easy Being Me" is arguably as melancholic and self-loathing/self-pitying as it can get, so it makes sense you wouldn't like it.

To me, I think the song has some strong chord changes, and nice shift in the bridge section. The whole thing does riff perhaps a bit too much on "I Just Wasn't Made for These Times", and while I think his melancholic stuff is some of the best stuff he's done (how one could be a huge BW fan while not liking "melancholic" stuff escapes me, but however this stuff speaks to listeners is fine by me), "It's Not Easy Being Me", just in terms of its title, does sound a bit too directly self-pitying. I like that Brian doesn't go around in every interview and volunteer unprompted that "you don't know how hard it is to be me!", so perhaps that's why the song hasn't rushed to the top of the list of songs to take a new look at.

Yeah I think that interestingly as Brian's people play the tortured genius card you really don't see much of the "poor me" type material from Brian, and it think that's the case because for the most part (as much as Mike might disagree) it's really Brian that brings a lot of positivity out in his material. Not much of the so-called whining at all. From BWPS through No Pier Pressure (including TWGMTR) there is a nice chunk of melancholy material, but nothing self pitying. Stuff about growing older and looking back ("From There To Back Again", "Summer's Gone", etc) but nothing like "It's Not Easy Being Me." Besides just a few songs in the vein, I don't think that's the way Brian rolls.

I like the vibe and the lyrics of the song.

My money's with Proud Mary all the way, or better yet, In My Life, which I'm still yet to hear at all.

Geez there is a lot of mixed reactions to the Paley material.  Frankly, I think the production is some of the best of Brian's solo career.  It's much easier to listen to than the weirdness of the GiOMH remakes.  When Soul Searchin' and You're Still a Mystery came out on Made in California, the vocals sounded too plain.  The harmonies added on Soul Searchin' as well as the added embellishments to the busy production also made the song sound a bit hokey, compared to the original boot.  It is a real privilege to hear Some Sweet Day in its original form.  The vocals aren't the greatest he's done, but they are heartfelt to me, the remade Paley vocal tracks sound robotic and without depth, it doesn't sound as spontaneous as the sessions allegedly were.  I would like to see a whole album of the original Paley stuff released some day...

I'm just working with the premise of the thread. I like you enjoy the Paley stuff and think it'd be worth an album. If there's not 13 tracks there that together would make a better album than GIOMH . . . .