The Smiley Smile Message Board

As is evident from the tracks included on the Good Vibrations box set, the Beach Boys evidently had songs such as Wonderful, Vegetables, and Wind Chimes already in the can prior to the demise of the SMiLE project.  Why, then, did they re-record these three tracks for Smiley Smile?  What confuses me the most about the whole thing is that compared to the relatively simplistic re-recorded versions for Smiley Smile, the original SMiLE session versions of these songs were far superior in many aspects, especially instrumental arrangement, to the versions that ended up on Smiley Smile.

No one knows why for certain;  it is one of the great Smile mysteries. Theories: 1. Brian (and the group) wanted tracks solely played by the group -  no outsiders* 2. Brian simply didn't like the Smile versions/ wasn't done tinkering w/ them and must have liked the Smiley versions "enough" to release them or 3. the Smile versions were too complex to deal with/mix/edit - a good example being Vegetables. Simpler was better.
*but interestingly, Brian did use part of the Smie version of Vegetables for the acapella ending and fade.
Paul

odd as well: Capitol still planned on releasing smile, even after smiley.

Well its an area of some debate that anything apart from Heroes & Villains was finished, and we can't be certain that either Wonderful, Vegetables, or Wind Chimes were actually finished themselves, despite their inclusion on the box set.

Apart from H&V nothing from the Smile tapes we've heard actually sounds finished though many people have, in the absence of the final product, assumed they were through the process of wishful thinking.

Smiley Smile is a whole different kettle of fish, and its remarkable that Brian completed anything given the disappointment of not being able to finish Smile. Smiley does, though have a discrete charm of its own, and were it to be re-mixed and re-mastered would sound absolutely remarkable, and probably ultimately achieve what Smile itself set out to achieve in terms of its themes of humour and general avant garde-ness.

I think one could argue that Wonderful (the August version, with Brian's vocal added in October) and Wind Chimes were essentially finished.  Yet Brian remade Wonderful twice before the Smiley version - in January and April, not finishing either one.  so clearly Brian had not yet put on tape the version he heard in his head, or wasn't satisfied with how the song was coming out.  The same must have been true of Wind Chimes - he had already rerecorded the verse and the fade of the song, and apparently still hadn't achieved what he wanted.

So why on earth was he satisfied with the Smiley versions?  Compared to the Smile tracks, they sound rough and unfinished.  I think Brian had stopped caring about perfectionism and was instead bowing to expediancy and group/record company politics.  Get the product out there.  He was also actually embracing the rawness of the tracks, like another "Beach Boys Party" album, only with new songs, goofy humor and mistakes left in.

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I love Smiley Smile, but you only gotta listen to the myriad SMiLE sessions on U tube to hear just how damn great it would've been, and supposedly how unfinished the GV boxset SMiLE tracks most likely are. Listen to the backing track sessions for Windchimes - breathtakingly beautiful, and quite unlike the version heard on GV. Listen to the Fire intro sessions or the million different background chants recorded for Vegetables - listening to these, I'd say Brian was still some way from realising his vision for SMiLE when it was abandoned for Smiley.

Is there anything new on youtube.com that isn't on the "usual" bootlegs for SMiLE ?

Thanks

A very good question. Maybe they just wanted to keep the option open to finish Smile someday? Or maybe they thought the new versions suited the mood of the non-Smile songs on Smiley Smile better?

I pondered that question myself and I think that Brian wanted to underproduce these songs and just like heroes and villains because he wanted these songs and smiley smile album to be forgotten. He didn't care anymore to be the best producer in the world thats what is says in the 2fer smiley smile/wild honey cd.

My theory is that Brian intended to finish smile post SS either as a solo album or with Redwood. Smiley Smile was intended as the Beach Boys take on the material whilst Brians version (which was still being touted as a possible post-SS release) would have been the 'real thing'.

Firstly an album was in demand, Brian was still months away from potentially finishing Smile so he agreed to put out a 'quickie' with the BBs. They quickly rerecorded all the Smile material except for H&V which was altered by adding an organ overdub (iirc), therefore technically making it a different master to the Smile version which may, or may not, have been longer and completed (...or not :)).

SS was also an attempt to appease the fans who wanted to hear Smile material, as a sort of introduction to what Brian had in store later. I think SS was the compromise Brian had to make in order to buy time to finish Smile alone - editing the mixdowns of the studio sessions into a cohesive whole on his home multitrack whilst the boys did their stuff. My belief is that this explains some of the flotsam around from post-Smile days such as 'Can't wait too long', 'Lonely days' etc. These were recorded, imho, as parts with which to complete Smile, either as links that were needed or expansions on ideas. I also think that Redwood were going to be used in the completion of Smile as I've got a real suspicion that TTGA was, at some point, intended for a later version of the album. What, I think, happened is that Brian lost focus as the pressure to produce Smile faded and the project was either abandoned or (in my dreams) finished and stashed away (the Dumb Angel tape possibly).

The mere fact that the albums title is SMILEY Smile is, I think, a give away that it was intended as SMiLE-Lite, otherwise why not call it Smile or something entirely unrelated. I'm convinced there's more to this than meets the eye :police:

I've certainly found lots of original SMiLE session material on U Tube that I've never heard on any bootleg, such as the Vegetables session with Marilyn Wilson singing the 'I know that you'll feel better..' section, as well as some brilliant Fire intro sessions featuring some really creepy sounding stuff, plus some great sessions for songs such as 'Can't Wait Too Long' that sound totally different to the released versions. It all seems to sound so much better and clearer than on any bootlegs I've ever heard. Just type Smile sessions into U Tube (often little sections which I'd never heard before were buried in between material which I had, so be sure not to just skip passed a session just because it at first sounds familiar - i.e. on the 'Holidays/Tune X' sessions, I'd heard the 'Holidays' material before, but (after a bizarre minute long pause) there's a whole section of music most of which I'd never heard before!)

That seems to be a theory you have developed alone in the absence of truth. Have you any evidence for that theory (which incorporates aspects completely unrelated to and not backed up by previously reported histories)? Redwood material intended for Smile...Lonely Days used for Smile...

Wasn't Lonely Days written for Wild Honey AFTER SMiLE was abandoned? Plus, it's uncredited, so who's even to say Brian wrote it...?

The three guys in Redwood were recording TTGA as a single to be released under their name. Not a track for a Brian Wilson solo album. At least that's their assumption to this day.

Redwood didn't know they were doing a single.  They thought they were doing an album. It only became an offer for a  single when Carl and Mike intervened.

Eden, while I don't entirely agree with your theories, your point about Brian finishing SMiLE later (after Smiley Smile and/or Wild Honey) does have some merit.

In Domenic Priore's book, Look! Listen! Vibrate! Smile!, there is a memo from Capitol A & R Director Karl Engemann, which discusses not including the Smile booklet with Smiley Smile, but holding it for the next album - the finished Smile album.