The Smiley Smile Message Board

You've seen the famous back-cover Smile ad from the March 1967 issue of Teen Set...compare it to the Smiley Smile page ad from the December 1967 issue of Teen Set! Nothing earth-shattering, but I saw this in color and it's something you don't see reproduced too much, and thought it would be of interest.

December 1967 issue? Smiley was released in September 1967...but Teen Set at that time seems to have been post-dated three months from when it would have been released. The "Look Listen..." Smile ad appeared in March, and going back three months would be December 1966, assuming the "target" date was still a possibility for that release. And the other big news of the 12/67 issue was the death of Brian Epstein, which was late August 1967.

Notice the list of hits...Good Vibrations, naturally, though the single was a few months shy of a year old at the time of the ad. Heroes, again naturally included in the ad. Gettin Hungry? Wasn't that released as a "Brian and Mike" single, b/w "Devoted To You"? Typical of the confusion around this era perhaps.

A pretty bland ad, overall, and one which doesn't jump off the page like its Smile counterpart. The novelty of this for me is viewing it in color...

(http://i115.photobucket.com/albums/n295/guitarfool2002/smileysmileprintad.jpg)

And following behind by probably a couple of months , we get this glorious 2 page ad, the "Young Swingers Selection of the Month" from the Capitol Record Club: 


(http://i730.photobucket.com/albums/ww302/bgasnow/scan0007-2.jpg)(http://i730.photobucket.com/albums/ww302/bgasnow/scan0013-2.jpg)

and then again in the February 1968 issue: 

(http://i730.photobucket.com/albums/ww302/bgasnow/scan0006-1.jpg)

I'm guessing "swingers" meant something else back then...  :o

Either way me and the mrs are in!!! ;D

Where might I see a picture of the March 1967 Smile ad? (I did try a google search).

http://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/1967-rare-beach-boys-smile-ad-in-teenset-magazine

I tried that link and got involuntarily directed to that  "we found a virus on your system" fake scan thing. Anybody else?

link worked fine for me....

I still think Smiley Smile has awesome cover art and I would wear a T-shirt of it, haha. What other endorsement could you want!

I had no problem with the link, either; but to simplify, here's a nice scan:

(http://i730.photobucket.com/albums/ww302/bgasnow/scan0014-1.jpg)

Never would've thought this kind of stuff would be so...square.

Comparing "Fall Breaks..." with "Let's Go Away For Awhile" and "Pet Sounds" is a stretch, and I've never thought of "Little Pad" as a parody of their earlier surf songs, but I pity the guy who had to assess this album and figure out a way to sell it to "young swingers".

Thank you very much for the scas. Never saw any SmileySmile-promotion, so this is really great....

I felt the exact same way about whoever was given the job of writing the copy for that "Young Swingers..." record club promotion. How do you describe Smiley Smile at that point in time? I didn't understand the Little Pad/surf parody reference at all, but realizing what a shock the rest of the album must have been after the obvious singles, what else could a Capitol staffer write about it? They're still trying to write for the teen-pop market, but the music and artists they're writing about had already turned the corner...and mentioning the word "surf" in context with Smiley Smile just seems too desperate. It might be like using the words "Mop Tops" when writing about Sgt. Pepper.

One thing the scans do is put to rest any notions that, like the charge surrounding Pet Sounds, Capitol deliberately under-promoted the album. The materials on this page are in line with other print ad campaigns fellow Capitol artists including The Beatles would have received. At least in my opinion. Now my job is to search a few other publications for Smiley Smile promotional ads.

Interesting that the writer states that "all this time" [since Pet Sounds] "Brian and the boys have been working on their new record, Smiley Smile."  The writer also indicates that Brian "teamed up with pianist Van Dyke Parks to write songs for the album."

In a sense, these statements are true, but I can't help but think that they set fans up for disappointment.  "A year and a half of work, and we get THIS?!" Might have been better if they'd been a bit more honest...  Something like "Brian and the boys worked on Good Vibrations and some other projects for the better part of a year before slapping most of Smiley Smile together in a few weeks at Brian's house. Enjoy!"

Yeah, and the strings he mentions are also nowhere to be found on SmileySmile

Aren't there strings on Vegatables?  I'll have to go back and listen but I thought there was a cello in there.

This is amazing, Thanks for this!!!
Have to say that my first memories of listening to Smiley Smile for the first time back in late 90's, after I'd first really got into the Beach Boys via Pet Sounds. Was one of shock and horror. It seemed to me at the time that the album was one massive car crash!!. Where was all the beautiful music gone?? And what the hell happened between Pet Sounds and Smiley Smile??. When I heard Vegetables with the jug sound my first thought was to rip my headphones off, but I'd carried on and bits of it at that first listen I'd hated for the under produced sound, Others like Wind Chimes I thought had promise but needed more time for me to grow into. To be honest I'd felt relived when the album finished playing that first listen. But I still wanted to know more so I'd read the cd booklet which for me told of the missing link between Pet Sounds and Smiley Smile ( ;D), And the pressure that the group and esp Brian had at that time. And so I'd played Smiley Smile again a few more times, and started to really like it. To this day it's one of my fav Beach Boys albums as well as Friends, 20/20, Sunflower, Love You and of course Pet Sounds. Smiley Smile has a special place in my heart because if it wasn't for that first listen and my first reaction to it I wouldn't of got deeper into the Beach Boys music beyond Pet Sounds. So for that I salute you Smiley Smile for making me dive into the Beach Boys music. ;D

^ Fantastic post Letsmakeit31!


"The romantic With Me Tonight and Wonderful...."

Who would have known that the words "don't lick your c***" could be so romantic!  ;D

Though I have to agree with the assessment of With Me Tonight - that is a beautiful song.

Thanks for the scans/uploads! Nice to see something new.

Flag on the play !  BB urban myth #104b - just as no-one says "son-of-a-bitch" during "Wild Honey", so the aforementioned phrase isn't uttered in the middle eight of "Wonderful". What a gently medicated Brian actually says is "don't you think you're God... vibrations".  Nothing like as amusing, but possessing the merit of being entirely accurate. ;D

Surely the oddest thing about all this is that, by December 1967, Smiley Smile wasn't even their "new" LP? Wasn't Wild Honey issued in December? Admittedly, only a couple of months after Smiley, but isn't it odd that Capitol are still promoting their previous LP?

Frankly at that point I think it's a blessing they bothered to promote them at all...

but smiley was still climbing the charts in november.  billboard's nov 18th issue still had it rising with a star. billboard's issue for december 9th had an ad for the wild honey lp. not to odd to still be promoting smiley. and a capitol ad for "new" lp's on capitol was in billboard for the christmas season with 2 beach boys lp's shown...smiley and wild honey.

Wait a second...sketchbook  ???

Sketchbook, as in by Frank Holmes.

I made sure to mention when posting that first scan about the dating of this magazine issue: Teen Set post-dated by 3 months, which means December's issue featured news and articles from September, which also would have included the death of Brian Epstein and tributes from late August/September.

So at least in the case of the Teen Set ad, the timing and dating adds up, and the issue was in the hands of readers in September when Smiley Smile was new, just like the original Smile ad would have been in readers' hands in January despite the March '67 issue date.

As far as record clubs, to the best of my knowledge, the "hot new releases" were not included in the special offers of any of these clubs as soon as they hit the stores. With BMG's club, up to the end, they didn't really deal in new releases until sometimes months after the album had run its course at the stores, then it could be sold at a discount through the club. It was a way for the labels to sell a title which had run its course as a hot item on the store racks, and still make decent profit doing so.

Meaning the Capitol "Swingers Club..." deal on Smiley Smile, as Bgas mentioned, appeared probably several months after the Teen Set ad when Smiley Smile was a new release.

Oh right. I was thinking it was a blank sketchbook...you know, FOR HIPPIES!  ;D

A few period reviews from Billboard, and part of a Heroes ad. Important to note Billboard was not read by the general public for the most part, so these reviews and ads are targeted to distributors, people who stock jukeboxes, record stores, radio stations, etc. Interesting to read the Gettin Hungry review calling it "an important chart item". I still don't hear it in 2011!  :)

7/29/67
(http://i115.photobucket.com/albums/n295/guitarfool2002/heroes.jpg)

7/29/67
(http://i115.photobucket.com/albums/n295/guitarfool2002/heroescopy.jpg)

9/2/67
(http://i115.photobucket.com/albums/n295/guitarfool2002/gettinhungry.jpg)


And worth noting the week before Heroes appeared in Billboard, the announcement was made about Brother Records and Capitol on the front page, suggesting it was not only major news but also it was promoting the Heroes single on page 1, saying it had already been receiving airplay in some markets. KHJ broke the single in Los Angeles labeling it a "Hitbound" the week of July 12, 1967, 10 days before this front-page announcement.

Along with those ads, I suppose you could add some of capitol's own promo stuff( targeted to , I suppose, the same dealers, reviewers, etc), for the GV, H&V, and GH singles, shown on BBs Starline-site here: 
http://www.beachboys45.nl/USA-Regular-CapitolRecords%20promo%20items.htm


Yes, I didn't include a specific date, as I'm not sure exactly how the Capitol Club catalogs were mailed; the catalog the first ad came from was coded "7136", which I presume translates to  the 13th  issue for 1967. I'm not certain if the club only had one issue a month, or how their schedule took place. As  most magazines, Teen Set included, were  issued ahead of the printed street date, it's possible that the club mags did the same.  But I wasn't a member, so my knowledge is only what I've been told( and remember).
Past catalogs included: Party, 6036-- This issue has a notice that says the feature of the month will be shipped automatically, if a reply is not received by April 8th. So I presume this code refers to March, 1966; Pet Sounds, 6096-- September 26th receipt date; so it appears the Club runs 3-4 months behind the actual release of the LPs. 
Also,  I noticed that the 2nd Smiley ad I posted is actually from the Canadian KeyNotes and their numbering system is a bit different, more literal, in 6802; translating to February 1968( but of course, when did it actually get to the buyer)

Reading these promos (thanks again to everyone!) I wonder if there is another song called "Gettin' hungry" in the vaults that the writers listened to.... Can't be the one on Smiley Smile

It's amazing, isn't it? Gettin Hungry is one of the more weak choices for a single in the whole Beach Boys' catalog from the 60's, at least to my ears nothing but the chorus says "hit single". Yet the "review" suggests it has great chart potential.

I think we're seeing a classic example of Hollywood-style hype and Ballyhoo, where perhaps a powerful entity like Capitol could have paid for, directly or indirectly, a review like that in order to stimulate sales. The kids buying records at Woolworth were not reading Billboard, mostly - so if a distributor in, say, New Jersey needs to order a few thousand records for his jukebox customers, and sees a positive review of Gettin' Hungry, he might order it unheard and sight unseen because Billboard said it was a good bet.

Upon actually hearing Gettin Hungry, that distributor guy might then say "what the f***?" while spitting out his coffee.

When is this on Wonderful?

I always wondered if the Smile booklet would surpass the Beatles' cut outs/pink hazy sleeve from the Sgt. Pepper album. Is there any real concrete info about what was to be in the Smile booklet? I'm thinking it was in the LLVS book somewhere, but it happens to not be within my reach right now.

as Real booklets survive, and reproductions are available, it's obviously NOT a mystery...  Maybe you just need to look around a bit more

AGD more or less answered this on the previous page...  During the "Hey bobba reba" part Brian sings "Don't Think You're God.... Vibrations..." (and if you have a more open or dirty mind  ;D , you might hear something else...)

yeah, i saw that, I was just wondering at what point in the song did he think he heard it?

damn, i was just wanting to discuss this as a topic and see what other resources others have seen, such as here online.  :-\

Well, thing is, there's a lot of concrete info about what was to be in the booklet, as a handful survive and repros exist, thus, not much point in discussing it. We have all the facts to hand.

There's probably something better out there, but a quick google search yields this site (displaying a series of small images from the booklet):
http://smiledeli.tripod.com/smbook.html

BTW, if the Smile booklet had been released, would it have been the first time Bruce's name appeared in anywhere in the packaging of a Beach Boys album?  I think he's in some of the photos on the back of Pet Sounds, but I don't believe that his name appears anywhere.

thanks, I no longer feel my question is stupid.

Perhaps it was this odd version: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BfM2JklGvsI.

I kinda like this version by Celebration. At least someone really had some ideas for the arrangemnt asnd production.

Bumping this to go along with the excellent Teen Set scans being posted by bgas these past few days. A semi-forgotten Smiley Smile ad that appeared in Teen Set...unfortunately the value may skyrocket on the auction sites once folks find out what is hiding in that issue...sorry... ;D

"Suitable For Framing"