The 20 minute version of Bull Session with Big Daddy is bananas

So a lot of people don't know that The Royal Tenenbaums originally ended with Sloop, and in fact there were some early screenings of this version of the film. Eventually it was replaced in favor of a vastly inferior song. Four years ago I did a mock up of the BB version, which I'm finally uploading to youtube now.  I was using fairly primitive video editing software and a fossil of a computer, so it's a bit rough. Still works great as a closing song, I think.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7u6ZN-r8eqU

There was another version that used the Beatles "I'm Looking Through You" (Anthology version). I made my own version of this one too, I'll have to try and dig it up.

The year: 2020
The show: American Idol
The singer: Britney Spears' teenage son

"A cigarette butt when you throw it in the water goes pfffftt..."

Let me put it this way, when was the last time you heard a Fats song on the radio? Any time this decade? What about last decade? People may be "aware" of him as a name and a few young people may discover him, but otherwise he's largely ignored.
I'll bring up Bing Crosby again - he's the third biggest selling artist of all time after Elvis and the Beatles. How many people out of 100 can name a single song of his, excluding Christmas music? I'd guess no more than maybe 5-10, and that of those maybe 1-2 would be under the age of 65. I'm not trying to denigrate Bing or Fats or Patti Page, because they were all great artists and I love all three of them. Perhaps the rise of XM radio will help reverse the trend a little, I do hope so.

Fats Domino only getting a bit of lip service? Oh please! Fats Domino is one of the most influential musicians of the past 60 or so years! If Fats is only a footnote then why was there a Fats Domino tribute album released last years that featured covers by Neil Young, Tom Petty, John Lennon, Corinne Bailey Rae, BB King, Elton John, Paul McCartney, The Dirty Dozen Brass Band, Joss Stone, Buddy Guy, Dr. John, Lenny Kravitz, Bonnie Raitt, Art Neville, Robbie Robertson, Robert Plant, and Randy Newman, among others? How come Brian Wilson decided to cover Blueberry Hill for 15 Big Ones? Fats Domino is the man!

That only proves my point, 95% of the people on that list were children/teens when Fats was in his "prime." 15 Big Ones was almost 35 years ago. He may have influenced a lot of people from that generation, but probably none from the last 40 years. That's not a knock on Fats! It's just that he's largely unknown/forgotten/ignored by everyone under the age of 50. He sold 200 million records (or whatever) and now he's just a footnote in the history of pop music.

I think pop music from the mid to later 20th century will be mentioned as a footnote,,,maybe a paragraph...in the history books of pop culture...and they will be mentioned together...."musicial entertainers  such as the Beatles, Bob Dylan, and Brian Wilson and the Beach Boys had a significant influence on the youth culture of their day"........etc.

something like the way we regard Stephen Foster or Paul Whiteman.........

I think this is almost certainly what will happen

Fats Domino and Patti Page were the two biggest-selling artists of the 1950s, each selling in excess of 100 million records, yet they are largely (and unfortunately) forgotten today. If Patti Page is mentioned by anyone at all it's for Doggie in the Window, which no one under the age of 60 has actually listened to, and which is always cited as typifying the type of "square" music the Beatles saved us from. 

Fats gets a little lip service for being one of the contenders for "first" rock record, but that's about it.

Bing Crosby sold about a half a billion records and is only remembered for his Christmas music

I can't imagine BW/BB getting even a full sentence in a history book

this one? unfortunately it's watermarked

Try the "Search" function at the top of the page! 

What make/model of car did they take that hubcap from?

No, I mean the cello/upright, the last thing played before the chorus. What makes it so..."heavy"?

A bit different from the others listed, but the Woody Woodpecker trumpet "laugh" in Surf's Up shows up again in Fall Breaks

1. What (percussive?) instrument is used to make the "railroad spike" sound in the Iron Horse section, and who played it?

2. Similarly, in the Grand Coulee section there is some kind of an (wind?) instrument that sounds a bit like an owl ("who who, who who"), what is it and who played it?

3. How did Brian get that insane speaker-shattering, whale-fart-in-an-echo-chamber bass sound at the end of the verses?

[Endless Harmony]

Main reason the "CIFTTM" track wasn't on the 1993 box is because it wasn't discovered until the research for Endless Harmony... during which the master for "Battle Hymn..." was also located (and i've told that tale so often, I'll not bore you with it again).

Is there a reason Child didn't end up on EH? Or later on Hawthorne?

And I know Brian Wilson circa 1964 was a more gifted songwriter and arranger than pretty much everyone else on the planet, but I find it hard to believe that he was so gifted that he could even use his skills in his sleep...

The key word there is gifted; where did that gift come from? Brian would say it was from God. If God could gift him with such an incredible ability to arrange in his waking state, is it so hard to imagine that he could also receive this gift in his sleep? This is how Milton was said to have composed Paradise Lost. He received divine inspiration in his sleep and then dictated the poetry to his daughters next morning.

No, it's not the second verse, it's 5 seconds into the song.

Right after "clothes she wears" the organ drops off, it sounds sort like someone turned down the volume. There is a discussion of it here (starts at the bottom of the page, 3rd-to-last post):
http://s3.excoboard.com/exco/thread.php?forumid=54492&threadid=560397

that piece is called "Look"

Good Vibrations fits perfectly on Smile, IMO. It's the exact same "modular" style recording as the rest of the album. Secondly, I believe the notion that Capital wanted GV on Smile against Brian's wishes has been debunked. It was Smiley Smile that shouldn't have had GV on it. Which makes a lot more sense considering it sticks out like a sore thumb on that album.

Instrumental tracks were usually placed near the end of a side, often (but not always) the second-to-last track (of course Smiley throws pattern this out, but it's otherwise present on Surfer Girl, PS, Friends, etc), so I would pencil in the Elements as the second-to-last track on side 2.
 
People usually lump the rest together by "themes" (Americana/childhood/elemental), but this seems fishy to me. The closest Brian did to doing this was the BB Christmas Album with the "teen"/Dick Reynolds' sides, and on Today! with the rocker/ballad sides, but even these aren't exact splits.
Meanwhile on Smiley Brian stuck "elemental" tracks Vegetables and Fall Breaks together on side 1 (with the "Americana" of H&V and, perhaps, Little Pad), but then put Wind Chimes on the side 2 with Wonderful, which itself would thematically "fit" better on side 1 with She's Goin' Bald!

fill in the blanks...

(0. Prayer)
1. H&V
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.

7. Good Vibes
8.
9.
10.
11. Elements?
12. Surf's Up

Worms
Wind Chimes
VegaTables
Cabin Essence
Wonderful
Great Shape
Child
OMP

Are all the earlier two-fers better than their later counterparts?

I like Some of Your Love, Goin' On, and the alternate version of Oh Darlin' with Brian singing lead (on Get the Boot). Santa Ana Winds is the best song, but they put the worst version of it on the album (naturally). Cool cover. Beyond that...

You're both right to a degree. It wasn't a great example for me to pick because I also don't really care much about lyrics, haha. My point was just that people are so reverent about Sunflower, and I just don't see why. Musically I find it boring, and lyrically...I appreciate the "team" effort of the album I guess.

I quite like the "Lost Concert" from 1964. The band is at its "clean-cut" best, Mike Love is at his corniest, and Brian freaking owns Papa-Oom-Mow-Mow

I'm serious, and yes, I'd take Chug-a-Lug over This Whole World six days a week and twice on Sunday. With Chug-a-Lug what you see is what you get, a fun little root beer anthem written by teenagers. Sunflower is self-important AOR pap with too much Bruce Johnston. Lyrically, it's no more advanced than Surfin' Surfari. Give me:

"Here a mug, there a mug, everybody chug-a-lug
Give me some root beer (chug-a-lug chug-a-lug chug-a-lug)"

over:

"You are there like everywhere like everyone you see
Happy cause you're living and you're free"

The former is just a goofy, fun song; the latter is bad high school poetry

One of the greatest pieces of music on the original smile was the "Fade to Vegetables" with fully produced backing and lead vocals, the wrecking crew - I still can't believe Brian left that off BWPS.

Yes!! This is my favorite part of Secret Smile

yes  

I wonder if he played anything from his favorite Beach Boys album, Pet Sounds...I mean Friends..I mean Love You...I mean So Tough...I mean Holland...

...