The Smiley Smile Message Board

I've always been fascinated on Dennis guitar playing. I know there are a handful of songs he is credited with playing guitar. I've always wondered how proficient he was; his desired tone, his style, his playing technique, his guitar of choice, etc.

Is 'Well you know I knew' an example of Dennis' guitar playing?

Probably.

I'd Love Just Once to See You?

Interesting. I must have forgotten in my rigorous session and personnel lists that Dennis was on this. I truly didn’t know that. Where did you read this?

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Well we now know that he’s on Slip on Through and Got to Know the Woman, and both are overdubs. I think Jon Stebbins confirmed that he and John Hanlon (or maybe Alan Boyd) heard an isolated rhythm guitar part on a Dobro that they were convinced was played by Dennis on one of the POB & Bambu songs or outtakes.

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So the parts mentioned in the new ESQ weren’t mixed into the masters for both songs?

I recall Stephen Desper saying so many years ago but I couldn't find his post to that effect. Obviously documented evidence can disprove 40-year old memories, so I'll happily stand corrected.

We don't know that for sure...I've heard the next-to-final takes, and they sound radically different to the released version, indicating a lot of replacement of parts and overdubbing of new parts. Although Eddie Carter played the sole guitar on the basic track of the master take, Desper described in his book how Dennis overdubbed the fingered lead guitar licks in the choruses, which could've been done as "drop-ins" on the same track as the original guitar.

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Doug Dragon's organ part was completely wiped and replaced by Dennis' final lead vocal. The bass part may have been different, as it was played on the session by Joe Osborn, but Desper indicated that Carl played it on the master, so that may have been replaced, too. And, the final take from the basic session was overdubbed with a wild fuzzy lead guitar. In the end, they used the second-to-last take for the master.

Dennis' Leslie'd rhythm guitar is locked in on the same track as the horns, per the track sheet notation. On the bootleg mix, you mostly hear it in the choruses when the horns are tacet, but there is a bit of crossover when the horns re-enter, so even if it was mostly muted or faded out in the final mix, that little part that overlaps with the horns would still be there. But, I think I can still hear it in other parts of the final mix, although very subtly.

There are two acoustic guitars on "Well You Know I Know", so one could be Dennis, while the other could be...someone else.

Do we think this song is a co-write with that other guitarist, or is it really just by Dennis?

Regardless of the history of the song, which of course is very fascinating, I absolutely love this song. So incredibly beautiful and haunting, even in its unfinished state.

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Does anyone know who Denny is audibly demoing these songs for?

Throughout these songs, which almost account for a mini album within 20/20 Sessions set, he seems to interject occasionally as though he's describing the arrangements to somebody there in the room with him.

I'm so incredibly grateful that these songs were released. This is some of the most beautiful, fascinating stuff within the whole catalog, and I'm so glad it has been released.

This is kind of unrelated, but on Tune L you can hear someone (I presumed Dennis) singing in the background.  Anyone know anything about that?  In my opinion this song was a missed opportunity in a sea of them for the band.