The Smiley Smile Message Board

Does anyone have any theories about what Brian's intentions were when he held this session on October 15th 1965 with arranger Dick Reynolds?  I find "Stella By Starlight" and "How Deep Is The Ocean" with Reynolds' vocals to be pretty baffling.  The experiments called "Three Blind Mice" make a little more sense, if you see them as early attempts at making movie music in the style of "Run James Run" a month later.  That makes a little sense, but the syrupy 1940s songs with Reynolds singing his odd lead vocal don't seem to serve any purpose, other than perhaps a chance for Brian to observe Reynolds working with the big orchestra.  I can see Brian wanting to hone his arranging skills in preparation for the music he say himself making in the coming months.  Could that be the only reason for these elaborate takes?  Or did he have a project in mind that he quickly gave up on?

2 days earlier, on 10/13 Brian was cutting "The Little Girl I Once Knew" at Western.  That track seems to have nothing to do with the work on the 15th.  Two weeks later he starts cutting "Trombone Dixie" and "In My Childhood" and the project that would end up being Pet Sounds is underway.  So what was he planning to do with "Stella By Starlight" and "How Deep Is The Ocean?" 

They were the first tracks for the comedy album he always wanted to make.

Brian was not and is not a man who goes by normal logic. He probably just did it on a whim. Maybe he thought it was funny, maybe he was trying to see what he could do with a weird voice. He probably was trying to practise to some extent or another. I don't think it meant much in the grand scheme of his career.

For what it's worth, on the AFM contract for that session, no artist's name is given, "Brian Wilson" is the "employer" listed in the box on the mid-left side, while the employer's name in the upper right corner has been typed over with Xs and replaced with "Capitol Records".  "Richard Reynolds" is listed as the "leader".  Brian cut these tracks (utilizing a 40-piece orchestra) at the huge United Studio A (across the lot from, and in the same complex as, Western) with the great legendary engineer Bones Howe.

I always thought these tracks, which I've never heard, were just a tutorial session with Reynolds teaching Brian some things about arranging, particularly with strings, I guess. "Three Blind Mice" was just an exercise, right?

In my mind, I see these as possibly being backing tracks for The Beach Boys to sing on a TV variety show (Andy Williams, Red Skelton, etc.?) . I could see the group overdubbing the BG vocals and then singing the lead vocal and BG vocals 'live' on a show. I view the Dick Reybolds' singing as a 'guide vocal' for the track. The guide vocal would indicate the entry points of the lead and background vocals.

I don't think the vocals Mr. Reynolds put down were anything but dummy vocals. It is rare to do vocal tracking during an instrumental tracking date.   

The Beach Boys did do some MOR songs on TV at about this time.

That's an interesting theory. I don't know of much evidence to back it up. When you say they "did do some MOR songs on TV at about this time" I can't think of any that they did near Oct. '65 or later? They did "Things We Did Last Summer" on Red Skelton in 1963. But other than that and Graduation Day/There Hearts Were Full Of Spring...both BB's accapella specialties, what other MOR songs did they perform on TV? I'm drawing a blank.

Part of what confuses me is that the tracks are so polished (save for vocals) and the whole session would have been pretty expensive if just for a tutorial in string arrangement.  But then again, this is Brian Wilson we are talking about here, they guy who spent $50,000 recording one single.  I see no way it was a potential BBs project, not with BW's obsession with making the BBs hip and competing with the Beatles and company.  I most have been some sort of practice session or a potential project for a non-BBs artist that never got off the ground.  I think it is telling that soon after the session BW started doing stuff like Run James Run and Let's Go Away For Awhile.  He wanted to get Run James Run (aka Pet Sounds) in a James Bond film.  I think film music was on his mind at this point.

Definitely NOT a Beach Boys project...their name is no where on the AFM contract as it is for the songs Brian cut for them in this period. 

Besides 'The Things we Did Last Summer', are we also including their orchestra version of In My Room that the Boys sang over on some show featured on An American Band doc?