The Smiley Smile Message Board

This morning a friend of mine sent me his new song, Something Else. I like the name. I wrote this (entirely different, not remotely similar in any way) song, Another Something Else. This is just a live, one-take demo of guitar and voice straight through together, then a single piano over that to sketch out some arrangement ideas. Obviously nowhere near a real recording, but I liked the tune enough to see what anyone else thinks. (No, I don't plan to hold that "later" vocal so long on any real recording ... the mood just struck.) Enjoy. http://www.sendspace.com/file/b7gk6i

This is nice, it reminded me vibe wise of Neil Young, but a lot more melodic than he can manage these days...and your high vocal on the 'later' is also a bit Neil-ish I thought. I like the voice and the guitar together it gave it a real urgency and ambience which gave the song and the subject matter a bit more weight - like you really mean it (even if you don't!), not sure if that makes any sense whatsoever....

Congratulations! You've kept your streak of naming people I dislike as comparisons. Your prize is... Thanks for the kind words, though. As for meaning it, I think you guessed correctly: nope. Fiction. But it was easy to mean while playing and singing, to be honest, especially the lower register verses. Not sure why that is.

A good Al Jardine approximation with a little Brian Wilson.

There is something perversely amusing at being compared to people you don't like, I get (wrongly in my opinion) accused of sounding like ELO - and I hate ELO!

OK, I like those guys, but can't say I hear them in the tune. (For the record, I think the verses sound like Mountain Goats; not sure what I think about the other bits.) OK, the chords are really simple, so maybe that's Jardine.  ;)  Thanks for listening.

Well, in addition to the chords, the first line of the verses reminds me of the beginning of the verses on the demo of "Santa Ana Winds", a little vocal riff you can still hear on the finished version. The acoustic guitar gives it a folksy touch. A couple of unexpected twists and turns in the song structure are the Wilson elements. It's really that brief vocal melody that made all of these connotations, I think.

If there is one holy vow I could swear to, it's that Santa Ana Winds has never and will never be a conscious influence on me! (Sorry, Al ... you cheesy, persnickety midget.)

I like it. It has a nice simple feeling. Won't mention any comparisons.  ;)

I do plan to get around to doing a fleshed out version, which will hopefully make it more interesting while keeping some of that simplicity. Of course there are another couple dozen sitting in that same holding pattern, so we'll see when that actually happens.