The Smiley Smile Message Board

Hey there. I've been working on this little project over the last few years-- assembling all of the known recordings and takes of the complete SMiLE sessions. Although I'm only a little over half done with this project, I thought I'd share what I have anyways.

I will try to post a new day of recording every day, up until I get to the unfinished point.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6H45TB2oEow

February 18th, 1966 - Gold Star Studios: "Good Vibrations" - Master # 55680
The very first recording sessions for "Good Vibrations", at this point still a contender for Pet Sounds and recorded during those sessions. The Master was Take 28, with overdubs recorded March 3rd. Although the recording did not end up making the final cut for the Pet Sounds album, the verse sections of Take 28 were later used on the final version of "Good Vibrations".

This is FANTASTIC!  :)

I've been collecting SMiLE since the first vinyl boot in 1983, and have thought about doing this very thing someday for a LONG TIME! When we got the SMiLE Sessions in 2011, I started to compile all the H&V stuff editing in sections from bootlegs to make things the most complete they could be and eventually I got overwhelmed and gave up! (LOL)

Is there going to be an audio only/flac version of this at some point?

VERY enthusiastic about this!  :hug

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8d1yrUvAqhM

March 3rd, 1966 - Western Studios: "Good Vibrations" - Master #55680
Session to overdub bass, vocals and jaw harp onto Take 28 of "Good Vibrations". This first, completed version of "Good Vibrations" would not find it's way onto Pet Sounds, and Brian would later re-record various sections of it in his new "modular" recording approach. This recording is notable for the original set of lyrics by Tony Asher, which was about telepathy.

These are awesome, thank you. Fascinating listening already.

Maybe it's just me, but on this one I hear some common DNA with The Boy From New York City around the 18-minute mark.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S5TSXUk6zKM

April 9th, 1966 - Gold Star Studios: "Good Vibrations" - Master # 55949
Unsatisfied with the previous recording of "Good Vibrations", Brain attempts a remake, with Take 26 as the master. Once again not making the cut for Pet Sounds, Brian would retrack the song with a modular approach the following month for a stand-alone single, discarding this day's recording altogether.

Happy New Year!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VfhCEzVMta8

May 4th, 1966 - Western Studios: "Good Vibrations" - Master # 55949 / 1A0257
With Pet Sounds in the bag and scheduled to be released within weeks, Brian returns to "Good Vibrations", this time using his "modular" approach and recording each section of the song individually instead of a singular take of the whole composition.  This way, he could more accuracy find the emotion and magic of each section, editing the best together at the conclusion into a full composition.  Here, Brian records the Chorus section, as well as the entire Fade Sequence.  Of the later, only the Bridge will eventually be extracted and used in the final master of "Good Vibrations".

Sounds exciting! One of the biggest annoyances with making a Smile mix is going online to look for that one vocal/instrumental snippet you can't find anywhere else. Subbed!

Great job on the overall  8)  but this particular sequence is not so easy to crack. Overdub 1A and the next track on UM (Chorus Vocal Overdb) are alright, but Overdub Take 21 is not. That one is a lot of strangely-sequenced pieces from Sessions 3 and 4, totally unrelated stuff. I forgot completely about researching "Tape Rewind", great to find it here to remind me of that one. And of course, two vocal overdubs are over the track recorded way after March, so chronologically they are way out of the timeframe.