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Hi all, For me this was a massive surprise when I'd heard this on Secret Smile and this deserves a much wider audience. The sessions for me is amazing, And is that really a sitar being played??, Only 5mins of distilled pure Smile era Brian. Any other fans of this session, Or is there any better sessions e.g. God only knows (One of the best too) that you think are better?.

I think the instrument in question is a banjo played to sound like a sitar. And Cabin Essence is one of my favorite alltime Brian tracks.

Either a banjo or a resonator guitar played with a slide, i think....
 Cman and his AFM sheets are welcome to correct me!

Dobro, yeah.

Sounds like a banjo to me.

There's a banjo in the 'home on the range' part for sure.

Bouzouki, according to the AFM contract (played by Tommy Tedesco).  But I also think there's a banjo in there, as well.

Ah yes, that well known Chinese instrument... the Bouzouki ?!?  :o

I'm guessing that in LA in late 1966, kotos were in short supply.

Is there a sight anywhere that has the listings of who played on what SMiLE tracks? I know that Bellagio has what was recorded on certain dates, but how about who played on the dates, maybe copies of AFM sheets, etc. ?

This piece of studio music is one of the most stunning single pieces of music I've ever heard, so far beyond the standards of pop music that it can't be put into a category. It's as unique and as amazing as anything Brian ever wrote and arranged.

Tommy Tedesco, and one of his proteges Mike Deasy, had an amazing collection of unusual string instruments from a wide variety of countries and styles. Tommy's secret was something he called "plectrum tuning", which allowed him to read actual musical notation on whatever instrument he'd be called to play, which was simply amazing.

The secret with Tommy' plectrum tuning was he'd tune everything like a guitar and then he'd read it like a guitar. I don't think anyone ever complained at the results! he was a first-call mandolin player and he even tuned THAT like a guitar. Classic! ;D

Deasy's routine was to often get double scale for his work on the sitar - he was one of the few that actually owned a real sitar and could play it with confidence - and he'd sometimes bring an Indian rug and candles to the session and set them up where he'd play on the floor. He knew it was a put-on but I heard him say it made the producers think they were getting their money's worth when they hired him!

One of my favorite sounds in Brian's work is in the Cabinessence sessions: The sound of someone either plucking the strings behind the nut or behind the bridge of an electric guitar (depending on the make and model) to simulate the spikes being driven in the railroad tracks. Amazingly creative.

I totally argee with all of this post 100%!!!

I also loved it that the sounds of the backing track  are workers from around the world working on a railroad (Or in a mine??) by the camp fire playing and singing their songs without hate of each other races as seen from the point of view of a crow!!!. Is that right?? ;D

I still hold that the sitar sound, of course we could be talking about different things depending on what we consider to be sitar-like, is the Dobro played with a slide, by James Burton.  If the Tag session is from the same as the verse, which seems to be the case(?), that would match up with what's happening on the verse.  I'll have to listen again, but in any case, there certainly is a bouzouki on there also--there's a lot going on there.

There definitely isn't a sitar on Cabinessence, those sounds are definitely made by James Burton who was a master/prodigy Dobro player who I think once was billed as "Dobro Jimmy"!

I just threw in the Mike Deasy sitar story for a laugh - he and Tommy shared the same sense of humor the way it seems! But if it were a sitar part needed in LA I think Deasy got the call. Whether they got Friar Tuck or Mike Deasy on the session was up to Deasy!

What about an Oud on Cabinessence?

Scratch the Oud - that was something Tommy played on soundtracks much later, I don't know if he had an Oud in '66 but I could be wrong.

I love it when during the sessions Brian says "Hold it a little softer on the little bell goodies, here we go" or something like that great quote!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D0qfivwwRgs

This might be my favourite part of the Smile bootlegs too.

I especially love the take (there's only one, can't remember the number or the section), I think it's an outro, where the drums come in for about 60 seconds and the whole thing turns into a 60s rave-up.

It's from take 2, Take 3 is where the "little bells goodies" quote is from, Take 4 is a false start, Take 5 is the master take ;D

The last 1min20secs of this has the tag and some Smile photos too ;D

After re-listening to this entire session for the first time in awhile, I've come to realize that the banjo (heard most prominently in the verses, but also present on the tag) is Carol Kaye!  The AFM contract lists the guitarists as Carl Wilson (he's definitely playing on the session...at one point between takes, Brian mentions that he's having trouble hearing Carl and asks if is mic is even on, so Carl plays a little bit to demonstrate that is is...he's playing an acoustic that comes in halfway through the verses), James Burton (who plays dobro throughout:  rhythm in the verses coming in at the same time as Carl, the "spikey" behind the bridge plucking sound heard in the choruses, and the sitar-ish slide heard prominently in the tag), and Tommy Tedesco, who is also paid for a bouzouki double, which can be heard in the background during the tag.  The basses are Bill Pitman (playing a Dano 6-string with fuzz-tone) and Lyle Ritz (plucking the low single notes...the cellos are the only arco (bowed) instruments on here).

I've always dug the flute line (played by Jay Migliori) and the neat counterpoint line that follows, in which the accordion and harmonica seem to come from different ends of the same scale and ultimately overlap each other.

Thank You C-Man for that amazing post about my fav Beach Boys Sessions of all time ;D
Now towards the Summer and PLEASE put the whole of this 5 mins sessions onto the Smile cd/box set!!!

Very, very cool!  I do hope that they use the original artwork for the release...

What a tribute to Carl and Dennis...especially to have been relatively young to be working on such an historic project. 

It is one of those frozen-in-time works of art, that comes but once-in-a-lifetime! 

Thanks... ;)

The tag to Cabin Essence is easily my favorite recorded Beach Boys moment, and possibly my favorite recorded moment of all time.  It reduces me to tears every time I hear it, and I'm one jaded dude.

Just goes to show what great taste in music we all have :) Glad you like it as much as I do ;D

Like I said before hearing the sessions is amazing too. The song that gets me all the time is the Slow version of Till I Die, Brian Wilson soul in a song

Are you referring to the alternate Desper "long version"?

Just checked out the YouTube link-great work! The more I listen to the backing track of Cabinessence, the more I think that it's the best piece of music Brian ever did.

Yes thank you the "Desper mix" Amazing gets me everytime and here's what I mean by "Brian Wilson soul in a song"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FYLGvUgYkHU Enjoy ;D

Thank you and I argee it seems the more I hear Brian's music the better it gets :)

Does anybody know if the 20/20 version represented Brian's original "plan" for the track? Were alternate sequencings ever considered?

Yes Cabin Essence as on 20/20 is Brian's original plan for this track