The Smiley Smile Message Board

For my money, some of the most holy moments Brian and the crew ever recorded are showcased in this track, from the sessions box set. What REALLY gets me though is that after the song has faded out (in the "normal" versions) they do the AMAZING "oooooh yeah yeah" harmony. Oh man! It does not get any better than that for me. It is perfection. I also love the prior "...well I feel so broke up" because (at least) two voices are holding out the "up" and one descends while the other rises in pitch. It is so amazing. They do it before, but that final time is so strong, so awe-inspiring. I mean, every moment in this track is amazing, but I wondered if anyone else noticed the beauty of those parts.

Has anyone else noticed this gloriousness? I'm listening to it now and in awe every time.

Also, the most religious music experience I ever had (and will likely ever have) was at the 34 second mark of "Wouldn't It Be Nice?" a capella. God...brilliant. The multilayered "Hooo" backups just dropped my jaw. I saw the beach boys in a different light, forever a fan.

Genius.

Any thoughts?

Yeah, the sloop thing's nice.

My favourite WIBN moment is 1.10ish with the run, runs coming in and the great bass line form Mike.

Just when the backing vocals come in on the second verse is sheer magic on WIBN.

Although i would be hard pressed to argue that there is a better example of the entire 'blockbuster' Brian Wilson production than Sloop. Everything about it is just absolutely stunning, from those interweaving guitar licks to the glockenspiels, and that fantastic bassline, to the acapella break and when it just THUNDERS back in from '...i've ever been on'. All the harmonies are maginificent, too, as if that needs to be said. And it even fits on Pet Sounds!

I'm right there with you Dylan, hearing the vocals-only versions of Sloop and WIBN were life-altering moments for me.  As great as the finished songs are, sometimes Brian's wonderful tracks hide how incredible the vocal arrangement is, and just how well the boys executed it. 

Those group vocals that come in on the second verse of Sloop (right after Mike sings "Sheriff John Stone") still give me chills every time I hear them.  They really get buried on the finished track, and I remember being so stunned when I first heard them sans track...I didn't realize they sounded THAT good.  And for the life of me, I still can't comprehend how any human being could come up with the bridge to WIBN, vocally or instrumentally.  The bass part there is ridiculous, and the vocals are so dynamic and creatively arranged that you can listen to just that part on repeat over and over again and hear something new each time.

Great thread Dylan  8)

Jesus, that is good music. I agree. The holy "ahhh" is unreal. Flawless. I can't play those tracks enough.

The first time I listened to the Stack-O-Vocals on the Pet Sounds box I was choking up through the sheer beauty of the vocals, especially Wouldn't It Be Nice. I know it's not part of the Stack-O-Vocals but the a capella ending to the alternate version of God Only Knows is immense - it makes every hair on my body stand on end, if I close my eyes when listening to it I feel like I'm ascending to heaven  :angel: - and I'm an atheist, that's how powerful it is!

I remember posting on another thread that WIBN has the most beautiful harmonies ever created....I have to take that back: Brian's 'unreleaed vocal snippet' on disc 3 of the Pet Sounds sessions is probably the greatest harmony ever created. The complex layers and Brian's beautiful voice make it the most spiritual piece of music I've ever heard.

I just listened to the 'Vocals only' of Sloop John B, and I heard the 'oooooh yeah yeah' part: WOW! Moments like that really make me question how anyone cannot like the Beach Boys - or take them solely for a surfing band who had 'a few good hits'.

I just posted this in the youtube thread, but thought it appropriate to post it here too:

I just made a version of Sloop John B with the "ooooh Yeah Yeah!" spliced into the A Cappella bridge. I gotta thank you DSamore for making this thread; otherwise I'd have probably never really listened to the 'Vocals Only' of Sloop John B...and thus never really heard the 'Oooooh Yeah Yeah!' part...one of the best vocals in BBs history.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-J-zMJIgxUM (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-J-zMJIgxUM)

"WIBN", stereo track, stereo backing vocals has exactly the same effect on me now as it had back in 1996 - I sit there jaw open, shaking my head and wondering how the f*** anyone could come up with something so utterly bewitching.

Did The Beatles even come close ? No sir, they did not !

Same here. The Beeb used the instrumental WIBN a couple of months ago, as background to some report in their Breakfast News programme. I recall two things: that my favourite female announcer introduced the item (lovely girl, mid-30s, brown/black hair); and that WIBN burst into my dreary hazy early morning. There was that jolt, the amazement, the WOW factor...

...and I can't remember for the life of me what that report was about.

I'm a fairly big Beatles fan but by the time of Sloop John B, Brian totally had John, Paul and George Martin by the balls. Nothing they were making came close to what Bri was achieving.

On an ancient message board about ten years ago, I went by the name 'Sheriff John WAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH' in homage to precisely that truly incredible part of Sloop John B. I was *amazed* at how such an awesome harmony part had been so comprehensively buried in the original Pet Sounds mono mix.

There's lots of moments like this that never really came to the fore in Brian's mono mixes. The full-length stereo Smiley arrangement of 'Vegetables' on the 'Hawthorne, California' album showed how some of amazing harmony in the acapella section near the end had been mixed so low in the mono version as to be almost inaudible - the stereo mix restored it. And then there's the super-quiet tag to 'Wind Chimes', also on Smiley Smile. And that's just two examples off the top of my head. There are SO many more...

On a slightly different topic, that's one reason I love Smiley Smile, odd as much of it is. You get to actually hear some of those amazing harmonies that were completely lost on the original version of Pet Sounds, because Smiley's arrangements are, on the whole, so much less complex.

How I really, really wish there was a sessions recording for Little Pad out there. Of all the tracks I wanted to hear on SOT, with its gorgeous harmonies, that was one of the mostest. And instead, we got furshenliggen 'Getting Hungry' sessions and NOTHING from Little Pad. That is just... just cruel!

The Beatles were revolutionary - no doubt. But the Beach Boys had beauty....the a cappella in Sloop John B, the Bass in Don't Talk, the instrumentals in Caroline No, the escapism of Let's Go Away For Awhile, the layers of vocals in IJWMFTT....it truly is spiritual music.

I think the Beatles are a sonic marvel, but they have nothing on the Beach Boys.

One of my all time favorite Beach Boys moments is at the end of the a capella break in Sloop John B where Brian
sings "WELL I", loved it since the first time I heard it. What amazes me is that Brian just totally re-arranged (re-imagined if you will ;))
Sloop John B and made it into his own. That guitar lick will forever be in the back of my mind in any version of the song I might listen to.

'nuff from me..

closes thing the beatles got to the beach boys harmony wise was "because". 

Yep. I am a lover of classical music. The only mainstream group that I classify as 'classical' are the Beach Boys. Or rather: pop AND classical. They defy all boundaries. I am sure that, had Mozart or Bach heard the work of BDW, they would have bowed in awe. These brilliant composers were much more bound to structure, and would first have been a bit wary, and then be amazed, and then would have incorporated Brian's ideas into their own work. This is no joke, brothers and sisters, I know it's true.

I know that some of you will say: hey, but pop has more 'odd men out', such as Cap'n Beefheart, or John Fahey. Agreed on this point (I love both of them).... but Beefheart and Fahey, great as they are/were, worked much more in the blues tradition.

Hey, want to really thank you for inspiring me to take a fresh listen to the "gloriousness" that has been sitting on my shelf for almost 15 years. I thought I had listened to the "stack o' vocals" disc thoroughly, had always held WIBN there and the instrumental track with backing vocals on disc 1 (a favorite moment-"happy times together weee....") close to my heart, but just had another epiphany on re-listening to "Sloop" as a result of this thread. Could have gone for years without listening to that again. I can't believe I didn't catch it's greatness until tonight, and will cherish that vocal track for the rest of my life.

I particularly love their backing vocals whenever they are isolated-Break Away and Our Sweet Love on bootleg, fade to "Time to Get Alone" on "Hawthorne, CA", etc. Hope to hear more of that in the future by hook or by crook!

For all of these wonderful Stack-O's... aren't we all glad for stereo?

Stereo sucks. I'm a shellac man, me.

I usually prefer listening to Pet Sounds in mono, but WIBN and Sloop John B are utterly fantastic in stereo. Especially the stack-o-vocals. Also, the WIBN stereo instrumental with background vocals never ceases to amaze me.

Cylinder superiority FTW!

 :lol yeah bro'. You got the Pet Sounds Complete Mono Sessions on 2,500 cylinders then?

I got yo cylinder right here dawg

^_^

I have something that claims to be that, yes, but God knows I'll never find out because it's not like I could ever actually listen to it -- do you know how much value would be lost if I actually listened to music?!

 :lol great. The anally retentive obsessive-compulsive collector personified...

Just noticed that this thread is far more lively then when I moved and hadn't had access to the board. What a nice surprise! Among things that caught my attention:

1) I actually screwed up the order of the "hooooh (which there is an H sound  to the ooooohs in so many of Brian's arranged backups) yeah yeah and the 'feel so broke up'" bit. oops.

2) I LOVE the Sheriff John WAAAAAAHHHH name. bahahahaha! That is something that you would have to think about a second before it made sense.

3) I agree about the mixes. Once I heard this glory, I was saddened that it wasn't as noticeable. Then again, who am I to question Brian, and I certainly have experienced in mixing of my own music in mono that it is no small task. Assuredly, this task becomes millions of times harder on a four track with limited time.  God only knows (french horn) that Brian did a sweet job showcasing it all!

4) This track will always rule. Always be in my top 5 musical moments. Same for WIBN which actually while we're at it here's the whole story...

I smoked (you know, that stuff) and put on a disc of the Pet Sounds A Capella tracks that I culled from the sessions set disc 3 and played it, having never really heard Pet Sounds fully. I love harmony so I figured that I would learn the album first by a capella and then by backing tracks to culminate with a "normal" listening experience. I decided to take a bath and let that baby play on the stereo system.

Anyway, at the moment where the band and full backups come in after "you know it's gonna make it..."  To use inspiration from a fellow board member's former name... Wouldn't It Be HOOOOOOO

WOW! amazing. That was the jaw dropper. That was the most holy music listening experience in my life. Thank you, Brian Wilson. Now I'm more obsessed than any sane human being.

That's why I enjoy this board....I am not alone!  ;D Cheers to keeping this thread alive! More people need to know about this kind of stuff. So good, so genius.