Have to say I love Domenic's intro page to LLVS. I get psyched everytime I read it. Might even shout out "hell yeah!" or something next time around.

The first post of this thread included the following:
personally, I like a 'Heroes' reprise (part 2 anyone?) to close the album.

I like this. But isn't it "side 2"? The slow "my children were raised...." is so cool as is the "and wise" part.

The album starts with the children being "often wise" and ends with the children being "wise." They learned something along the way.

Some folks may not know that the Zen Interpretation of SMiLE website didn't end up in Japan or Hawaii.
http://pages.cthome.net/tobelman/The_Out-Of-Sight_SMiLE_Site.html

Just want to say that much of the early literature encouraged safety & people having a guide who had prior experience.

It also seems like Brian Wilson studied up and was ready before his 3rd trip. That may have made all the difference.

Can't claim to be experienced and am not a fan of psychedelic music. Realized the drug destroyed many lives.

But also realize it was partly to blame for things like environmentalism, the sexual revolution, getting out of the Vietnam, interest in Christian and non-Christian religions as well, acceptance of alternative lifestyles, organic living, as well as plenty of colorful artwork. Pretty sure this is by no means a comprehensive list. Folks in the sixties pretty much questioned everything, and this drug had a part in that.

The drug also helped put some people's lives back together. The black actress who played Julia (Diane Carroll?)and Cary Grant come to mind.

So today when I eat my genetically modified carrots, and think of Japan's ongoing nuclear disaster, I'm going to think back upon that sixties generation and ask some questions.

That idea certainly has some merit. Brian likely didn't want Murray to figure out what he was up to and Mike Love didn't need to catch into the ego death angle (since he'd blown his top over "Let Go Of Your Ego").

The album was meant to be presented without explanation. Van Dyke Parks states as much in the Beautiful Dreamer documentary.

The album was meant to be presented without any tags being attached to it at all except maybe "Beach Boys album."

So yes, people can make anything out of it they want. Yes. But was it actually intended to work in a way far beyond a regular record album, yes. And was there some ultimate experience attached to this, yes.

So I do agree with you. One can take whatever they want from the work and this was likely part of the calculation on the creator's part.

But the album is a document of the ultimate religious experience. The album may very well be the finest piece of psychedelic art ever worked upon for this reason. The album, taken on this level, confirms Brian status as a potential leader of the youth movement of that time. Taken on this level David Anderle, Michael Vosse, Paul Williams, Jules Siegel, and the whole gang's glowing accounts of SMiLE are completely justified. David Leaf's "anything was possible" claims are spot on. Taken on this level SMiLE trumps the higest praise ever reaped up it ever in print. Taken on this level Sgt. Pepper's is lightweight fare.

Seems a shame to dim the brightest light possible.

That's the highest compliment anyone could ever have. Thanks ALL GOLDEN 74.

Just want to say that the release of the SMiLE Sessions is what we've all been waiting for.

Domenic's liners will be pretty "earth bound" (gotta wink at my pal in heaven Bob Hanes for that one).

Anyway, it will be great but you may have to take bicarbonate with Van Dyke's next batch of comments.

My tendency is to think this was all done chem-organically at the planning level. Brian contemplated the mystery somewhere & had a wonderful experience. SMiLE is that mystery....now you can possibly have a wonderful experience.

One semi last thing....."nobody" made a great post on this thread about 2 years ago.

Finally, SMiLE's not Zen proper but rather a new form on that tradition. 28 smiles were handed down from the Buddha to Bodhidharma and the SMiLE album cover had 28 smiles inside the shop. It's like those guys were creating a new art form to pass on the enlightened state of mind.

One last thing....

Brian's "bio" says that after he had an acid flashback he remembered Loren saying that flashbacks were "comparable to Zen riddles, little mysteries full of meaning."

The point of this is to say that SMiLE is not a Zen riddle or numerous Zen riddles in any sort of proper form, but it is something thought comparable to Zen riddle(s) by Brian's most influential friend at the time and apparently Brian as well.

So the obvious jump is for Brian to think that such "mysteries full of meaning" could be used much like Zen's riddle....to bring about the enlightened state of mind.

Still, my tendency is to think this was all done organically. Brian contemplated the mystery & had a wonderful experience. SMiLE is what he contemplated....now you can possibly have a wonderful experience.

Hi Fishmonk,

Your post is really great.

As far as the weird Brian Bio LSD micrograms & all that goes...my guess is that there weren't too many LSD experts involved with that book. That's sort of good because it kind of gives credence to Brian's 3 trip claim. He's no expert.

I tended to look at trip lengths in the bio and verify them vis a vis Brian's trip claims in the Tom Nolan article from the time.

One thing to note....outside of the Bio there has been not one mention of any specifics of his great 3rd LSD trip anywhere!!!!

My guess is that that was the reason for the great SMiLE secret in the first place!!!

The secret of SMiLE is this great religious spiritual trip----I can't tell you what it is because it's a matter of you picking up on it----here's SMiLE!

"I'm Wishing" from Snow White.

"The Perfect Nanny" from Mary Poppins.

"Little April Showers" from Bambi.

Some favorites.

A lot of Brian's language circa 66 can be traced to the album HOW TO SPEAK HIP.
http://howtospeakhip.com/

Just a few minutes of listening will catch Brian fans' attention with the "just relax, me and this cat" and "world peace" stuff that Brian was doing during the "Ego" recording sessions.

If Brian got his pronunciation of "Zen" from the album it might sound more like "zan" because when Geatz Romo spouts "Like in Zen" it sounds like "like in zan."
You can hear this for yourself in the section entitled THE HANG UP at http://howtospeakhip.com/

This may sound weird--but I have the feeling that if Bob Hanes wasn't around, we never would have gotten SMiLE.

This cover art reminds me of jazz records. Jazz albums usually had better cover art than musical contents.

Hopefully that won't be the case with this album.

The idea of oblique references in SMiLE inspired the first part of an article that was presented in ESQ a few months ago.

It can be found here for those interested.
http://pages.cthome.net/tobelman/

[kids' kids]

Just wanted to note, off the top of my head, that in the INSIDE POP tv show from April, 1967 Brian Wilson's friend Paul J. Robbins makes a comment about '"our kids' kids "getting it"' with regard to the social changes initiated in the mid sixties. His thought was that change wouldn't come with the following generation but the one after.

Seems that Mr. Robbins may have gotten this correct!

The meteor shower connected the connected Brian & SMiLE & vegetables & his pals to the universe. It's all very obvious. If we all are the result of the Big Bang then we're all related & interconnected.

You have to remember that Darian got Brian into BWPS by presenting it as a live performance. Brian, apparently, was pretty terrified about doing the SMILE album live, or at least, recreating SMiLE as it would have been done in 1967 for a live performance.

So what we get with BWPS is a presentable version of SMiLE without some stuff that might have freaked Brian out. But man, it would be cool to have heard a '67 version.

Just want to say sorry about this topic thread. Seems like I was wrong to suggest "Heroes & Villains" was "good trip/bad trip." There's probably something to their similar opposite dynamics, but the way I framed it doesn't seem to make too much sense. Sorry.

I think that Andrew is correct about the "cc" bit but perhaps such measurements were applied to obviously larger quantities like, for instance, something that the Swiss manufacturer Sandoz might supply (when LSD was legal).

Speaking of Sandoz didn't they put out a light blue liquid form of LSD? Then one would "drop" the acid.

Funny how that could remind one of the "I could use a drop to drink" lyric from "Blue Hawaii" which was the music from "Love to Say Dada" which sort of had those L,S,D, letter thing going on. Hmmmmm.

So if Brian has a bad trip ego-death & a good trip ego-death & death = "done" then "heroes & villains just see what you've done done" might make sense.

"Bicycle rider" = A classic LSD reference as Hoffman rode his bike during his first intentional trip.

"See see" = "cc" is a measurement unit sometimes applied to LSD.

"done done" = two ego-deaths

"To the church of the American Indian" = In the mid sixties an American Indian church (I believe it actually was Christian based) was under the gun for using hallucinogens as part of its traditional ceremony.

This is a weird idea but recently the thought has occurred to me that "Heroes & Villains" may be a "good trip" and "bad trip" idea. Naturally the 'good trip' is the 'heroes' part of the equation.

Brian Wilson told Tom Nolan that his spiritual experience was what inspired SMILE & that 2 of his LSD trips were part of his new direction.

Judging by Brian's "autobiography" one trip was a bad trip & one trip was a super great one.

Here's the point; if "Heroes And Villains" is the "centerpiece" of SMiLE (as David Leaf claims) then would "H & V" be the 2 trip thing (as Brian stated 2 trips inspired SMILE)? Centerpiece = centerpiece. Brian had a good trip & a bad trip. Could this be "Heroes & Villains"? Naturally there would be other meanings attached as SMiLE was multi-meaningful. Good trip/bad trip=heroes/villains?

When Van Dyke talks about good triumphing over evil in the SMiLE DVD is he talking good trip trumping bad trip?

In any case, the idea that "H & V" might be "good trip/bad trip" (on one level) would firmly ground SMILE in with Brian's spiritual experiences.

If you understand the idea of ego-death & LSD you may get the lyric, "it's all an affair of my life withthe heroes & villains."

Heavy stuff & cool all the way.

It is Derek Taylor that stated in a book he did in the seventies that the Pet Sounds promo film was done in the mountainous region above Lake Arrowhead. That's where the idea that Brian's spiritual trip could have happened came from.

I laid it all out on my webpage;
http://pages.cthome.net/tobelman/The_Out-Of-Sight_SMiLE_Site.html

If you compare David Anderle's description of Brian's "Big Sur" adventure to Lake Arrowhead you'll see that Anderle's description could apply to Lake Arrowhead as well. Anderle mentions that Brian got into the "snow" and I've often wondered if Big Sur had any snow in late April of '66. There's a good chance that Lake Arrowhead had snow.

No doubt.

While Brian does indeed often note the spiritual quality of his music overall, an accurate account of his history does show SMiLE to be when there was a spike in singular spiritual focus.

Read Brian's quotes from the SMiLE era & compare them to any other part of his career. Do it honestly & accurately. Remember that after the SMiLE era Brian was automatically spiritualized. Stuff that follows SMiLE automatically is going to have the spiritual bent due to Brian's heightened awareness of such things. Write down all religious/spiritual comments from day one & see if SMiLE doesn't seem to be when all this spiritual stuff went public in a big way.

Another way to realize that the modular "Good Vibrations" and SMiLE are both on the same wavelength (pun intended) is by viewing the Brian directed firehouse promo film for "GV." "GV" and SMiLE aren't separate events but rather co-current events judging by the film.

The way to connect the "GV" promo to the spiritual/religious theme of SMiLE is through Brian's personal LSD experiences. His 2nd trip (in the "autobiography") has Brian in an apartment seeing firemen falling down & getting hurt. In the "GV" promo film you can see the firemen Beach Boys split from the apartment running & doing it up in Keystone Cops style. Brian's spiritual 3rd LSD trip must have put a positive spin on the ego-death scene of Bri's 2nd trip (must likely via a positive ego-death outcome this time around). In any case it seems to all go together, "GV" & SMiLE.

The Tom Nolan article is in LLVS. It's the article w/the Zappa picture. It's called "Pop's New Frontier" or something like that from some Los Angeles Weekly newspaper, or something similar.

You said;

I have come to understand the spiritual, at least in part, referred to the difference between social music (music for dancing such as most of the BBs output 61-65) and reverential music, music to sit and listen to, music to pray to, as Brian told andrew loog oldham.

You're supposed to look, listen, vibrate, smile!

The "my children were raised.." bit, I swear, is about the "children of God"(Brian's expression), AKA "the beautiful people," AKA the "flower children," AKA freaks, hippies, etc. The vocal section entitled"soul becomes beautiful" gives one such an indication. The "suddenly rise" reference would then have to do with "sudden enlightenment" or the speed at which the change occurs.