The Smiley Smile Message Board

The title alone makes me feel sore. One of Mike's inane jokes. Then: the song. The first half is glorious. Then it segues into a plodding, completely uninteresting, er.... what? An attempt at blues rock à la The Flame? Anyway, then everything nice that I got from the first part dwindles away, and I feel a heavy weight on my stomach.

Criminal. People have killed for less.

Should have been left best as 2 separate songs. Notice they didn't perform them as a medley for very long anyway? Just some '72 shows and maybe to promote the never-to-be '72 SMiLE. "Won't you hold on today?" indeed! Who is Bill by the way?

Wasn't the 2nd half a cover of something?

Matter of taste I guess. I love it, even if the pairing is a bit odd. But then again, I love the Flame album as well. And guess where the "Don't Worry, Bill"-part of this medley came from? (and I assume Heartical D. knows that "Don't Worry, Bill" is a Flame track)

I like Wonderbill, just not the name. Blondies vocals are, as usual, pretty awesome. Kind of annoyed Mike doesn't do the 'Whitealbum' esque bass vocals on it though.

I think loving the Flame is crucial here. I don't love them. Not that they were bad musicians, mind. But there are styles that I can't listen to. Endless southern boogie jams are an example. If they contain a drum solo, I start to think about suicide.

You know... by quoting my reply you accidentally also quoted the (slightly altered) title from that reply....  ;D

Weird. I must be going bonkers, or Korsakov is setting in, finally. I don't get your remark. Please enlighten me... and if it's too embarrassing, PM... :-[

subject went from "I Hate it" to "I Love it".

Don't forget the thiamine to stave off the Wernicke-Korsakoff

(http://i54.tinypic.com/2qnnjp4.jpg)

 :lol Wonderb... I mean: Wonderful!

I'll take "Wonderbill" over ANY live rendition of "Barbara Ann" ANYDAY! I want to strangle that song.....

 :lol In Holland, it was a long-running soundtrack for a TV ad promoting toilet paper. True.

If you haven't listened to "Don't Worry Bill," you should really give it a try.  The portion of it in "Wonderbill" really gives no hint of what a sensational, scorching-awesome song it is.  It is in no way an "endless Southern boogie jam."  I don't like those, either, whatever they are!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jTpm3iD7rkg (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jTpm3iD7rkg)

Hmmm... thanks!

Still, to hear wonderful, albeit interrupted, and then Don'T Worry Bill, is a different experience. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r7Hx09cCzH8&feature=related 

and going there led me to a radio ad I hadn't heard( there's probably only about 3000 I haven't heard... 

Don do you not own "The Flame" album? Hang your head in shame.Listen to Summer In Paradise 12 times in a row as punishment.  ;D

The whole album? 
they'll have to lock him in the psycho ward after a trip like that...

AGD did it 3 times. I highly doubt he's ever been the same since.....

Oh dear...

12 times in a row, X 3? 
Sounds like he might have cried( like the crow) for your sins

Life without parole seems a better option.

that would be letting you off easy.

 :lol

If "Wonder-Bill" was an indication of what they were planning to do with the Smile project remnants around that time, or just a novel experiment, I'm glad it never went beyond that song. The stripped-down version of Wonderful that appeared on the box set is beyond comparison, simply beautiful, and to graft another band's song onto it after the fact...again I'll say I'm glad they never messed with that idea again.

hey, That's a good Idea! Pairing Smile songs with another unrelated, seemingly, for a new BBs version.  have to give that some serious thought. 

I have visions of Mike and Carl, circa 1971,  sitting in front of a cork board, a pile of thumbtacks in hand, and two stacks of 3x5 cards: one stack of "Smile" songs and the other stack of random Flame tunes. "These will sound GREAT together!" "Yeah man, let's get Al in here so Blondie can teach him the harmony..."

Combining Barbara Ann with toiletpaper is one thing (and I assume some among us can see some humor in that)...

...but much worse (and sadly also true) is that in those same 90ies the I Get Around tune was used (abused) for a tampon commercial...

Seeing it is believing it... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mca3sYJeUxE

I like the "Don't Worry, Bill" part.  I'm not sure it exactly fits with "Wonderful", but it is a nice Flame song.  I know some people don't like the songs Blondie and Ricky provided the band with; after all, they are as far removed from "the Beach Boys" as you can get.  Which is exactly why I like them.  They introduced a different sound to the group that greatly enhanced the band's live performances during the early 70's.  And when the Flame sound was properly fused together with the Beach Boys sound in songs like "You Need A Mess of Help To Stand Alone", "Marcella", and "Sail On, Sailor", the results were awesome.  I wish Blondie and Ricky had stuck around longer and they explored this sound a little more (with a particularly better sound production than the dry, wheezy mess that were Carl & The Passions - So Tough and Holland). 

I have visions of Carl and Mike circa 1971, sitting with two piles of cards. The one: unfinished SMiLE songs. The other: Wishbone Ash songs. The idea is that each half SMiLE song will be ending with a WA zinger, with long guitar solos and loud drumming.

Also: an even more eclectic option: a random generator providing the 'second part' of each half SMiLE song. Examples of possible outcomes:

Wind Chimes seguing into: 'Yes Sir I Can Boogie', by Baccara

Surf's Up ending with not the CITFOM coda, but with the 'Hey Jude' one

Ms. O'Leary's Cow finishing with 'Light My Fire' material

...and 'Blue Hawaii' going into the Lambada, for good clean summer fun.

Endless possibilities.

And what great material for the live crowds to sing along with! Even if the tempos, grooves, and keys are totally different between songs, mash 'em up anyway!  ;D Hey, we're the Beach Boys and The Flame, we'll make it happen...

Well KISS did their own line of condoms. I imagine with the right market strategy, a line of Beach Boys jam rags with Mike Love's face on them could take the female hygiene world by storm.

Ahhh... see, I was thinking you meant "wonderbill" was used for the toilet paper commercial.  

I tried to check the IGA ad, but the video cut out something fierce, and it sounded like they were singing in some weird language. If I didn't know the melody, I wouldn't have thought it was the same song.  

heck, why limit it to females? 
Toilet paper squares with Mike's face on each one would, no doubt, be a million seller for sure! 

 :lol :lol :lol

oldsurferdude would buy them by the dumpertruck load!!!

Got my prepaid order already in-I took the perfumed version and the likeness minus the turban.

Just....yuck.

It really shouldn't work, but it does.  I love Wonderbill.  It's worth it for Carl's "MAMA!" alone.

Are you sure you're not talking about 'Wild Honey'  ???

During the "Yes I pray" vamp in the "Don't Worry Bill" section (at least on the Endless Harmony version).

After hearing that live version of wonderful, does anyone else think Carl should have sung lead on the SMiLE version instead of Brian?

I have often wondered if that's what Brian's intentions were in the first place. Brian sang the SMiLE version but it was incomplete and basically a demo with some background vocals attempted by the group as well. His final version on Smiley Smile has Carl singing lead and changed keys from C# to F# (if my memory serves me right). Carl obviously has the sweet voice that such a tender song requires. I still love the Brian version on the boxed set no matter what and it was actually the first version of the song I ever heard back in 1998.

Alright, bringing up a buried thread here after a brief google search, but when Mike refers to SMiLE, an album "to be released later this year"...what is he talking about? Sory if this has been discussed...

Mr. Positivity was just being optimistic maybe?

Also, I think at that moment, releasing Smile ASAP was a stipulation in their Warner's contract. I'm sure AGD can correct wherever I'm wrong here, but I think what I'm saying is basically true.

There was an attempt by the boys, but I think mainly Carl, in the early 70s to go back to the tapes, put them together, and release Smile in 1972 (I think that's the right year).

Yes, Carl and Jack Rieley announced it's imminent release early that year, while in London.  Carl and Desper went through the tapes, but ultimately they gave up.  Interestingly, Dennis and the Brother Studio engineers (especially Tom Murphy) also went through the tapes in '78, made some reference mixes, but that's it.

It was a condition of their signing to Reprise, and cost them $50,000 in advances when it was not delivered. Brian seems to have not cared about it at all - Carl and Stephen Desper did the work.

Interestingly, Linett and Boyd have stated that Carl's work on the tapes in 1972 (which from what I gather was making safety copies and not much editing or assembling, the task being too much for them) essentially ensured we have them today.

Carl is the unsung hero in the SMiLE saga. :hat

Don't Worry Bill is an outstanding track, anyone who doesn't own The Flame album really needs to search it out because it's sublime!

I love 'Wonderbill' (which it's not actually listed as on the actual tracklisting). It's terrfic. It's one of my favourite commercially available live Beach Boys tracks. Amazing guitar solo in the middle, I think the two tracks work together brilliantly. This to me is the group at their best - in terms of performing live. After this it was a slow descent into cheerleaders and credibility-destroying oldies sets. They sound vital here.

To each his own. ;)

Wonderbill's great. Imagine if they performed it on the reunion tour! I'd s.hi.t my pants!

Yeah I enjoy it too..I think it's a ballsy pairing, putting these two songs together.

Wow, that's some real interesting news indeed to me...thanks for the info guys!

If Ricky and Blondie are there, they should do it to transition from smile songs to the early 1970s material.

I don't mind "Wonderbill" but it's an odd pairing. Also, "Wonderful" is going to make almost any other song by anyone sound like sh*t in comparison so it's indeed a bit of an anti-climax when it segues into "Bill"... That said, at least they were trying to create something new and original at the time and it's nice that Blondie and Ricky got to sing a couple of songs of their own in concert. "Leaving This Town" I think fit in particularly well with the group's other material.

I agree! That song is rather meh.

If i remember right 1st Flame lp came with a poster.Vinyl version..And yes i do like the lp.

For me it's one great song ("Wonderful"), one good song ("Bill"), and one bad pairing.  They're just too different in style and lyrical content to mesh well.  Must've been the drugs that made them think it'd work...

Ballsy is fine, but to graft a totally unrelated song onto one of the better Smile songs - the one from the '93 box set destroys me every time I hear it - it's unnecessary and really doesn't make any sense musically or lyrically, and doesn't really enhance or compliment either of the original tunes, in my opinion and as someone who considers the 1966 Wonderful a special song.

Some said having the Fat Boys rap with the Beach Boys was ballsy too, so...  :)

I remember listening to Wonderbill with my former girlfriend once. She was kind of staring blandly during the Wonderful part, and when the Bill part came on she smiled and began rocking her head. Now I stared at her in disbelief - she really liked that part that was to so uninteresting to me because in my mind any garage band could come up with that.

(Obviously, I won't go looking for the Flame LP... ;D)


So will you be wearing diapers just in case? :wink

I'll line my underwear with really expensive things that would be ruined by my shitting on them, just because I know it's never gonna happen.