The Smiley Smile Message Board

I know that in the ‘60s, pre-Pro Tools and such, Brian had to rely on the “live” performances of his band or other musicians in the studio, which inevitably lead to “imperfections” in recordings.

Sometimes these “imperfections” have their charms of sorts, but sometimes they just plain annoy me. I’m not talking about extraneous noise that wasn’t edited out (like the infamous “Wendy” cough), but things where a glitch in someone’s playing sticks out like a sore thumb every time you hear the song. 1 more take and they could have nailed it! These are the kind of things that you largely DON’T hear on Pet Sounds.

Examples:

-   Certainly a great deal of “Surfin’ Safari” suffers from musical imperfections, and an overall “rushed” sound, but c’mon... 1 more take would have done “Summertime Blues” some good, the way the drums come in late around 1:24 right after “ain’t no cure for the summertime blues”

-   Right when the drums come in at the beginning of Land Ahoy, they are about ½ second late, which bugs me.

-   At 0:04, the 3rd bass note in Wendy is late... in the pre-click track days, I can just see the bass player waiting to see when everyone else was gonna hit their notes, just to get it right in sync with everyone else...but they blew it and got it late!!

-   Probably my all time biggest annoyance, especially since it’s with a Pet Sounds-esque and –era recording, is The Little Girl I Once Knew, where the 1st drum/percussion hit of the comes in glaringly late, in an otherwise very ornate and detailed production. C’mon, 1 more take, Brian!

I know there have got to be a bunch more, particularly in the sloppy-yet-charming Love You era. Anyone got more examples, or comments on the ones above?

-Ben

Most of Don't Hurt my Little Sister. It is so overly busy at parts that the songs grates on me.

Also, I forget what song it was, but one of them off of 15 Big Ones, if you listen to it on headphones, you can here someone either hit or knock over a mic stand. It's on the right channel, and it's annoying as hell.

(http://991.com/newGallery/Brian-Wilson-Gettin-In-Over-My-290148.jpg)

Nuff `said.  ::)

:lol


Great point. I actually like the album, but more as an "official bootleg" as opposed to a genuinely great album.

Agreed.  When I treat it as an "Odds and Sods" album, I tend to enjoy it more.  I guess we were just spoiled by the superior earlier versions of the tracks that appeared on several, uh "Doc Martin" CDs.

Two songs always come to mind, or at least two parts....The closing line on "Had To Phone You" with Brian croaking "Come on, come on and answer the phone...", and the last line/tag to "Roller Skating Child", where Brian goes flat.

Those two songs are almost perfect and COULD rank up there with the BW classics - if not for those fleeting parts. Brian's voice at that time was so rough that another take or two probably wouldn't have mattered. Maybe he could've given those parts to somebody else...

1. The drum intro to "Don't Worry Baby" always bugs me. It's technically incorrect. There should be one more beat.

2. On the claps during the fade of "You're So Good To Me", somebody is off.

3. There is weird talking during the begginning of "Ding Dang".

4. Back Home. It's the way that Brian yells "Ohio" in the first verse. Also, during the "back home back home" part in the chorus, somebody (Mike or Al) says "A-back home", and it always stands out to me.

5. On the "Be Here In The Morning" chours, that weird sound effect on the vocal gets shut off early, and a single word does not have the effect. "Be here and make my *life* full".

6. At one point in "Anna Lee The Healer", you can hear what sounds like paper falling to the ground. Probably sheet music.

7. During "Forever", Dennis's voice cracks  during the last verse. "I'm *gonna love* you in your way".

I treat it similarly. I take it for what it is...and I know AGD and I have clashed on this point....but its not meant to be another Pet Sounds. Its not the most coherant album you could hope for but it has some really enjoyable songs. However sometimes you can tell Brian is disinterested.

As for "just one more take"...sometimes you have to gamble. Maybe there is a mistake in the bassline because the bass player is getting tired after the previous 6 takes....but perhaps the singer's voice is just warmed up. Going for an extra take might just result in a better performance, or it might begin ti disintegrate as some participants get tired or pissed off playing the same song over and over.

Personally I prefer the old way...a group actually playing together and performing the song 'live' rather than everybody recording their bit separately, possibly in a different country...but the worst thing for me is the work done after the recording...the quantising, pitch correcting etc. By their very nature, a music performance by a human being will have flaws.

You see, I wouldn't change any of these moments like the interference on 'Country Air', the "good!" on 'With Me Tonight', the stuff of 'Be Here In The Morning', talking on 'Here Today'...  They're all accidents yet for me, always add a certain eeriness to the songs, in a very good way.

On the original released mono-master of "Wendy" there is no cough. Brian probably didn't care about the early stereo mixes too much.

And "Land ahoy" wasn't released at all until '83, so that can't be considered an original release.

I wish they would've done one more take on some of the second vocal overdubs, like "Shut down", where Mike's coming in too late after the solo.

I think that Brian's "manly" voice works on 15BO. I love the "Come on, come on..." line, as it's his first solo singing on the album. To me it's even kind of a triumphant moment in a way - "I'm finally back to sing for you after being practically non-existent on the last few albums."  And call me crazy, but I also like the way he sings "Ohi-i-o."

With that said, I wish that he'd done more than just one take on most of "Love You." Lots of those songs sound like first-take attempts.

That's on That Same Song.

The "good" on 'With Me Tonight' wasn't an accident...there's an interview out there where Brian talks about it.  Plus, it's perfectly on-beat - definitely done intentionally.

Happened AGAIN on Back Home. Just relistened to the album again. :lol

It WAS an accident, but they liked it so much that they moved it onto the beat.

Ah, I always liked the way he sang "Ohio". Brought so much more charm to the song, I'm sad that it doesn't make any other performances, it feels lacking without it.

The one that always gets me is that missed bass note on the Smiley Smile version of Vegetables (right after the line "if you brought a big brown bag of them home...")

I used to hate the background talking on many of the 1960s titles (did those guys ever shut up?) However, I'm now so used to hearing it as part of the recording, I feel as though any modern-day stereo remixes are incomplete without it! (The obvious example, of course, is "Here Today," but there's extraneous chatter on lots of their output.)

On the subject of "Pet Sounds," it took me years to realise that the ghostly presence on the instrumental end of "I Know There's An Answer" was in fact Brian's guide vocal going through the echo chamber pre-fader. Again, an irritant at the time, yet the stereo remix sounds slightly wrong to me as it doesn't have it!

I love it. It makes me imagine Brian giving Dennis the stare of death in the studio while they're recording the song, listening to the playback, saying "well, I guess we're lucky Denny even managed to hit the drums this time" and then calling it a day.