The Smiley Smile Message Board

Yep

Only thing changed was the yodeling but what a great addition to put back in. That was a revelation when I heard in Purple Chick's mix.

Disappointed. The restrained vocals are worse than Brians shot voice on the 2004 version.  :(

That's a bold statement....

I think you accidentally purchased Smiley Smile.

well there's only one word to describe "wonderful" and it's .......well I forgot..oh yeah "wonderful" is the word I'm looking for..

.....and I love the 2004 version. This is not an improvement IMO :(

Had you never heard the Brian harpsichord version before?  I'm asking in all seriousness - if you loved the 2004 version, I don't see how you couldn't like this.  It's virtually identical, except the vintage vocals sound miles better.  What's not to like?

It's Mike's favorite, and for good reason. It's a beautiful track with wonderful lyrics. The Yodeling vocals are fantastic. I've always thought that if any song off of SMiLE could have been on Pet Sounds, simply from a stylistic standpoint, it would be Wonderful. Maybe not lyrically, but the song is very melodic and beautifully sung. Would have sounded great right before God Only Knows.

It seems that all the Boys liked this one - during one of the "Our Prayer" session excerpts, they are practically begging Brian to work on "Wonderful" that same session, even though he tells them there isn't another session scheduled for a couple of days.

FWiW I think its too busy, and the yodelling isn't necessary. I doubt Brian would have included it at the time.

I would have loved to have heard a vocal applied to the version with the fuzz bass and ride cymbal (version 3?), but without the 'rock with me Henry' vocal which is annoying and a bit crap.

i think this new mix is the best yet. love the yodelling put back in. i remember hearing this song years ago in poor quality and thinking the backing vocals were a trumpet or something. once i finally heard them properly, just one of the best examples of him using the voice as an instrument. love it!...
...although, as with anything on smile, the fact he was still working on different versions to the end, who knows what the final track would have been like?

Yea I heard it before but only in poor sound quality. I dislike the vocals, how restrained they are and how he doesn't hold out the notes in the "one one wonderful life" - part.


That I did too actually  :-D

I like the way they have sorted and sequenced these pieces on the album...wonderful, child, surfs up.....

I was sort of expecting some of the more traditional mixes as the one with  Carl such as on the Surfs Up album where child is a tag on Surfs Up...still is...sort of.

These songs which were the middle section of BWPS are so nice done this way.  I am surprised but in no way disappointed.

I can't wait to get home today and listen to some more.  I haven't even gotten past the second disc yet.  The lps are still in the paper.  And I have to get some new headphones.

Wonderful is one of the sandbox songs and unlike H&V and CE and many other modular songs it is a piece in itself - lots of chord changes thoughout - like Surf's Up

IMHO one of the top SMiLE tunes

Oh man, I also think this is the best version of Wonderful. The yodeling is perfect, and is just what the track needs. I don't understand the sentiment of Brian's vocal being restrained or whatever? I mean this is basically the GV93 boxset version in better quality with added yodeling. Beats the living heck out of the Smiley Smile and BWPS versions IMO.

Never noticed the 'yodeling' during the 'yore the lady who' until the backing vocals montage.

fucking perfection is what it is

Wonderful in the backing vocals montage legitimately blew my mind.  :brian  Especially the main line, which sounds to me like Mike. (Can someone confirm that for me?)

You're either listening to the wrong version or you're somehow confusing the BWPS version with the '66 version. The BWPS take sounds particularly nasty due to Brian being doubled by Jeff Foskett, which is total blasphemy.

Wait - are you Jeff Foskett, by chance?

With all the complaining about pitchshifted/fly-in vocals, it's funny to listen to the Smiley version of "Wonderful," with the cartoon/helium voices.  A similar sound on something Brian did.

Except there it was intentional and used for effect. For about three seconds.

Right, but it's not such an alien thing in Beach Boys music as people want to make it out to be.

Chopping up a vocal from a different recording and pitch shifting it all to hell just sounds bad. The end of "Holidays", for instance. Again, not a matter of principle - it works great on "Fire", for instance, but other songs... naw :(

I agree that not every instance is ideal.  I'm not trying to say that it's what they would have done.  Just that, when I went back to Smiley Smile, it struck me that they did it there, so I realized that when I heard it on the Smile box it didn't have to sound so weird to me.  Or that it didn't have to sound like a compromise.  But I hear you.

Fire is in the same they as Fall Breaks, only much faster. "All" they did was to cut the vocals in some places to make it fit, but they did not use pitch shifting (and thank god for that!)

I have a question about the "Rock With Me Henry" version of Wonderful from the box set. Why is Carl's line "I need some water, man" missing?

I'm sure it was just an aesthetics thing, or perhaps out of respect for Carl, who probably wouldn't have wanted that line (or even the whole vocal) to be heard at all. 

Makes it easier to use if you want it in a mix.

Never realized until now how much I hate the 'Rock with me Henry' part.

It can be edited out easily. I did a mix of it without Mike's part months ago.

I'm really confused regarding what they have of "version 1" of this song in the archives.  It seems to only exist in various forms of mono mixes that add and subtract elements.  Brian's mono mix featured on the GV box set doesn't have what are commonly referred to as the "yodeling" vocals and has different backing vocals during that part that aren't present on the yodeling version.  There's also a mono mix of the backing track w/o Brian's lead, but with all of the backing vocals (including the yodeling).

The isolated backing track seems to be missing...like many SMiLE recordings the master take was snipped off of the reel.  Based on the snippet of early takes on the box set, the backing track was recorded in mono.

Where it gets confusing: the vocal only montage adds isolated stereo backing vocals (including the yodeling) to the mix that could only come from a multitrack.  Where did these come from?  Wouldn't the backing track and Brian's vocal also be on this tape?  That mono mix of the backing vocals and backing track without Brian's vocals suggests that no bouncing was done, but even if these came from a 2nd stage tape with the track/Brian's vocal in mono they could still manufacture a decent stereo mix.  Why wasn't it done for the vinyl?

I always thought it was part of the song though. I've always thought of the "Rock With Me Henry" version as kind of a comedy song. The talking during the song seemed to fit with Mike's goofy bass vocals.

Isn't it obvious?  Sometime after the date of that session, they gave him some water.  It was probably around the time of the '67 Cool Cool Water sessions, although I guess it could have been as late as Sunflower.

 ;D


Anyone notice on the tape box photos after the Sessionography, it has the box for the Vegetables Fade, with the notes - 'Like Heroes Bridge + Middle Part of Wonderful'

Which he means the 'chorus' of H&V, as someone plays the same riff on the piano during the Veggies fade.

This might well mean the Smiley Smile version of Wonderful  is the closest we have to BW's original plan in terms of structure..... or not  ???

Great catch!  I've always liked to think Smiley held some clues to Smile.

I want to know this too, and I wish someone would make a stereo version using the backing track and background vocals, because I sure as hell can't get it to work!

Was the rock me with Henry bit, ever really 'on the table' as a vocal insert, or was it just a duff lyric to fill in a bass vocal line to be determined at a later point. Who's Henry?

I think this disc 1 version, is just about perfect, great to see the yodel back in, I feel sure it would have been lower in the mix back in the day, bur nice to hear closer to the front

It's not perfect, but here you go:  http://www.megaupload.com/?d=IFJ3W558


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

I have a suspicion this note (in black marker and different from the other writing on the box) was added to the tape box after the SMILEY SMILE version of "Wonderful" had been issued. Perhaps Carl or Stephen Desper notated this in '68 or '72 when reviewing the tapes?

That'd be Brian, not Mike.

Took ages before I warmed up to the "Rock With Me Henry" version, but I really like it now. Both it and the original have so much to offer that the other doesn't, there's a really cool vibe on this one.

Also, anyone else notice that they autotuned the bajeezus out of Carl's flubbing of the "locket" line? Not a fan.

Holy crap they did, I completely missed it!  :o Another case with the release of "just because one can, does not mean one should"

Thanks! That's pretty darn good!

You know what, my first reaction to this was no they haven't, but you're right. They've not auto tuned it to be in tune, they've simply fixed the pitching of the already out of tune note. He's flailing all over the place on the SOT version on that "locket" word.

I think they thought they could make it less embarrassing by fixing it so it wasn't as bad, but he was so out anyway, what was the point?

Beats me. Too much fun pointing and clicking rather than keeping things in perspective?

The more I hear this the more I like it.

This one is a new "definitive" for me.

Good initiative, but it sounds like you have drenched pretty much everything with reverb? I like the idea of those vocals being panned differently though. You could also do some volume automation here and there, especially on the 'da-da-da's' on the right side of the stereo image.

Also, on a general note, it would be a lot better if people started using soundcloud for these fan-things. So much easier to access and download.

*clapping hands* I think it's almost perfect. My only wish is that the brass should be louder during the second and third chorus

I think they should have gone ahead and crossfaded Wonderful with Look, considering some of the other fades they went with.

here's my WonderLook: http://www.sendspace.com/file/t18oo1

The yodels, oh those wonderful yodels - the few seconds that they last for are better than some bands entire recorded output, heaven.

Since Darien and Brian linked "Wonderful" into "Child Is Father Of The Man" on BWPS, most fan mixes have done the same. So, now we basically have the "Wonderful" which just ends abruptly with a few bass notes, or a "Wonderful" that links/fades directly into "Child Is Father Of The Man".

I have a request....Let's assume (not argue) that SMiLE released in 1967 would've been stand alone tracks. And, let's assume that "Wonderful" would've been one of those tracks. Did anybody or could anybody construct a version of "Wonderful" with a fade that lasts for about 8-10 seconds and goes "Won, Won Won Wonderful" - just repeating that phrase as the song fades out? Thanks.

I have heard one that is exactly as you described. Fan mix. I can't remember which one and I have been looking for a while to find it.

Maybe I'm off base, but doesn't "Wonderful" link into "Song For Children" on BWPS?

Yes, it does. My mistake.

But, back to the original request. Does anybody or did anybody come up with a stand-alone version of "Wonderful" with a fade?

I believe Jon Hunts last mix did exactly that.

I totally agree! I rewind that part a lot when I listen, it's SOOOO GOOD!

I agree also, very catchy! One of the main reasons I love the SMiLE Sessions version  8).

Dear All.

This is my first comment and I don't know all the ins and outs of the forum so I hope this doesn't seem too dumb.

Does anybody else think that 'He Gives Speeches' is a dropped instert from Wonderful (i.e. between 'bumped into her W' and 'All fall down')?

It would help both make more sense lyrically. It's what I've got on my version. Admittedly it does need a bit of speed changing, but both W and HGS seem to need that anyway. It might also help to make sense of that odd bit in the middle of Smiley's W.

Ned

That's a great observation, I think I've heard a fan mix put that in the middle of Wonderful...or did they use the outtake of Mike vocals repeating "mama mama mama mama mama mama" and Brian humming over it? I can't remember, I'm sure I've heard both used.

It might be apples and oranges, but there is another instance where they kind of used an insert with "Wonderful" and that would be on "Wonderful/Don't Worry, Bill" on Endless Harmony. "Don't Worry, Bill" doesn't come in at the same place, but it does make you wonder if "Wonderful" had an insert at one time...

I seem to remember that W and HGS were recorded about the same time, but I haven't checked that.

To be honest, HGS can be a bit of a jarring insert to W as, unlike other inserts in the album, there's no room between the 'da da dee dum dum' of the harpsichord and 'HE GIVES...'

However, the end of HGS has three solitary notes played on bass guitar (for some reason left off the Sessions album), which allow enough space before 'All Fall Down..", so this sounds like quite a natural transition.

Either way, if HGS ever was an insert it was dropped early on.

Yeah....me too...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wonderful_(The_Beach_Boys_song)

Anybody know where the "recording" section is from? It sounds very intriguing but I've never heard it before as fact and it sounds suspiciously like fan speculation...

I don't know exactly what you're referring to, even after following that link!

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wonderful_(The_Beach_Boys_song)#Recording (http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wonderful_(The_Beach_Boys_song)#Recording)

thanks Bill! Yeah I just noticed under the Recording section there's a lot of stuff I'd never heard officially about Brian intending to put HGS into Wonderful, and the structure of the "Rock with Me Henry". It also says quite a bit about the actual meaning and story of the song which I'd heard before of course but had never had confirmed by an official party. It looks like it's missing citations so probably just fan speculation?

It is just fan speculation or aimless author speculation. It's really, really gross stuff and I totally fucking hate it.

I think with a bit of work, it could have really brought the whole song together, actually. Either the Pretty Baby part or He Gives Speeches would have made a great insert if they had been rerecorded to match Version 1 of Wonderful a bit better. Have He Gives Speeches come in about a minute into Wonderful just as we introduce the boy who bumped into the girl. Here's the boy. His interlude is perhaps as unwelcome in this song as he is in her. Then Wonderful proper comes in again with a minute left to go. Each segment then is about equal in length, and perhaps we have the pretty babies for the fade?

It would sound like crap if you were to do this with the versions of Wonderful and Speeches that we know have, but I think there's definitely a link between these pieces. I also think once HGS was junked, the Pretty Babies with those Hawaiian sounding bits were meant for a new insert. But I think ultimately Brian would have had some kind of wild, disconcerting insert in the song just like in Smiley. I think Wonderful, beautiful tho it is, would be better for it. As it is now, it's almost too conventional. Too short. Too...not modular like every other SMiLE song. It's still fantastic as we know it today, dont get me wrong, but I think something's missing that would have been there in 1967.

The answer is simple, I would think:  Version 1 multitracks are missing.  All we have is the mono mix of the backing track with Brian's vocal and backing vocals.  Track recorded August 25 at Western, vocals by Brian Oct 6 at Western.  Brian wasnt' finished with the track and on Dec 15 he transferred the backing track, without his vocals, to an 8 track tape at Columbia.  This is where the yodeling backing vocals are from.  He no doubt used the four track from Western and mixed the instrumental track to mono so as to leave the rest of the tracks for vocals, which Brian commonly did (on Pet Sounds, for example).  This 8 track exists and in fact the isolated backing vocals are on TSS in the "Smile backing vocals montage."  But we still only have the instrumental track in mono.

why the early takes on TSS are also in mono suggests that the original four track session tape is also missing (which it must be, otherwise Mark and Alan could have created a stereo mix of the song), and these takes are from a second tape source run in the studio at the same time as the multitrack.  This also was apparently not uncommon for Brian and Chuck to do.

https://mega.nz/file/C8QECTqY#UegMsz0plKvIl8A2fwSmvU_irreS8eYkQf1PU3dFBAA  This is ten years old, and you may already have heard it, but the previously offered links by other members are dead