One more word: Iconess

The late Greek actress Aliki Vougiouklaki.

Run her name through Google's Image Search for more photos. She's in Wikipedia, too (although without a decent photo).

[eight]

Still waiting for them to open Beach Boys Central...  six or seven years later however long it's been.

Checking the domain registration records, it's been almost eight years! The domain name was registered July 5, 2005.

Hey, found it on Discogs.com!

The album title was THE FULL LIFE, released on RCA in 1977. "God Only Knows" was the last track on Side 1 ... right after "Send In The Clowns." 

Something I didn't remember is that the album also included covers of two of Bruce's songs, "Don't Be Scared" (from his Bruce & Terry days) and "Disney Girls." I have absolutely no memory of either one!

All years, but here's a list of versions I've found so far... 
( some Wiki, some YouTube, some... ) 
God Only Knows by Andy Williams  ( 1967)
God Only Knows by Claudine Longet (1967)
God Only Knows by  Ava Cherry and the Astronettes (1973)
God Only Knows by Betty Everett (1975)
God Only Knows by Glen Campbell (1977)
God Only Knows by Neil Diamond (1977)
God Only Knows by David Bowie (1984)
Pirun Kaunis Nainen by Clifters (1992)
God Only Knows by The Nylons (1996)
God Only Knows by Langley Schools Music Project (2001)
God Only Knows by Jonatha Brooke (2004)
God Only Knows by Joss Stone (2005)
God Only Knows by The Swingle Singers (2009)
God Only Be Without You by Alvarius B. (2011)
God Only Knows     Holly Kirby 
God Only Knows    Mathew Jordan     
God Only Knows    The Flaming Lips 
God Only Knows    Julie Nunes  ( Ukelele version, on YouTube)
God Only Knows     Dean Drouillard   
God Only Knows  by Elton John 

Great list, bgas! I've never heard most of 'em. (There goes my weekend, listening to  YouTube!)

One that escaped your list, though, is a cover by Jack Jones, produced by none other than Bruce Johnston himself. Years ago, I had the album with the track, but it's long gone now, so I can't even tell you the title. My recollection is that it was really terrible MOR that diverged from Brian's basic arrangement about halfway through, at which point it went downhill FAST!

I think it's one of those early 70's Capitol repackages, but I cant think of it right off.

It's not available in mono at all ... the original LPs are fake stereo.

Wasn't the 1976 UK reissue LP all mono? Does anybody know if that was done from the (theoretical) original mono master, or was it just a folddown?

I seem to recall hearing many years ago that Venet claimed he used Weaver's name as an alias after Weaver died so that his family could receive some royalities (or something like that). Then it turned out that Weaver was still alive, and a lot of Venet's stories unraveled as being not-so-true (like the one that had Brian singing lead on the Basil Swift version of "Farmer's Daughter"; we know now it's Danny Hutton).

[Greatest Hits]

Looking closely at the tracklist for the 1-CD Greatest Hits and the 2-CD 50 Big Ones, can someone explain to me why "Be True To Your School" is on the former, but not the latter?!! It was a #6 single, for God's sake! Good enough to be one of the group's 20 greatest hits, but not one of their 50 Big Ones? It makes absolutely no sense to me.

I'll upload a couple other ones if there's interest.

I'd be interested in hearing "Darlin'" and "I Can Hear Music." I assume Justyn sang lead on both. I loved his vocal on "All This Is That," so I'd like to know how he did with songs that originally featured his dad more prominently -- and, in the case of "Darlin'," rocked a lot harder.

[Pet Sounds]

The Pet Sounds liner notes are very unreliable (for example there are no mandolins on Wouldn't It Be Nice), and I'm not sure what AFM sheet you're thinking of, but Blank No. 247440 for 11 March, 1966 at Sunset Sound for the "Here Today" session does not have Carol on it at all, in fact Ray Pohlman is the leader.  Just be careful when referencing documents--it's hard enough to get things straight.  Another example, Carl is playing 12-string guitar on IWFTD and Ray is in fact playing some sort of bass along with Carol.

Most of the misconceptions about Pet Sounds credits seem to originate with Carol Kaye.  Check out this interview at http://www.albumlinernotes.com/Carol_Kaye.html:

Wouldn't It Be Nice -- "I played thirds a lot in the bridge and other places, a romping good song similar to ‘Help Me Rhonda.’ I think it illustrates Brian's happiness in the studio, his freedom to create and have us play this stuff. Jerry Cole--the top line electric guitar; Barney Kessel and Ray Pohlman on two mandolins (rhythm and fills); Bill Pitman-electric guitar (rhythm); Larry Knechtel-quarter notes (with some rhythm) on piano; Al de Lory on piano, doubling what Larry did. The two accordions, Carl Fortina and Frank Marocco (the lick in the middle)."

I'm Waiting For The Day -- Ray Pohlman, electric guitar through Leslie organ speaker. He's playing fills, then electric guitar rhythm. Al de Lory-organ fills; Larry Knechtel-organ quarter notes. Lyle Ritz is playing ukulele. We kidded him about bringing in a ‘shrunken guitar.’ The drums dictated the beat at first; notice the bass part with the 4th (sus 11th) on the bottom. Very rare! Brian really stretched his orchestrating there, but it's fine. This was a little boring to play without a lead...sort of like Beethoven, the bass wound up playing scale-like figures to a march time, ending a jazz-like chordal spread of violin and cellos."

Damn! Just learned about this, too late to catch it.

But ...

My local PBS station re-runs "Charlie Rose" the next weekday at 4 in the afternoon! So, on Monday, my DVR will be recording while I'm at work, and the show will be waiting for me when I get home!

Was the machine brought to Western specifically for Brian to mix the vocal tracks he had cut at Columbia? Was it brought in so he could not only mix but also *record* at Western using 8-tracks?

There's also the possibility that Brian had nothing to do with the 8-track machine being brought to Western. I raise that possibility because he wasn't the only one to use it. Frank Sinatra recorded "That's Life" on Western's 8-track on Oct. 18, 1966. I don't know if that was the first 8-track session at the studio, but it does allow us to say that the machine definitely was there by that date.

I can actually believe it because we have a little scrap of it already, you know?

Of a "Barnyard" suite? You'll have to explain that to me. I don't deny that we have "a little scrap" of a "Barnyard" song/track/section/whatever-you-want-to-call-it, but that's a far cry from having a suite or anything indicative of a suite (like the recording session ID we have for "Fire" and "The Elements").

[WAIT]

WAIT

What if he was indeed talking about The Elements here as you suggest...  and that Brian meant that the section of Barnyard was meant to be the "earth" section of The Elements, to be combined with Mrs O'Leary's Cow? 

 

That actually makes a lot more sense to me than the idea that through the now 40+ year history of Smile, a second four-part suite was mentioned by Brian only once and never mentioned by anyone else at any time. I mean, think about it, as much time and effort as has been put into research and documentation of Smile, nothing else has ever turned up about a "Barnyard" suite?!! That's just unbelievable! Literally!

[Smile]

What you're saying makes sense, but we do have a mystery track (IIGS) from the Capitol memo, and an H&V section that, lyrically, sounds like it could be related to living on a farm in the country. Since people love to solve mysteries, over the years, for a lot of people, IIGS has become the aforementioned "barnyard suite". The Piano Demo further fanned the flames for this notion.

Understand that I'm not saying there wasn't a song/track/section titled "Barnyard." There most definitely was. It was part of "H&V" at one time, then was excised when that song was re-thought. What I'm saying is that I don't think there was a four-part "Barnyard" suite.

As for "IIGS," it too was excised from "H&V," but unlike "Barnyard," Brian intended to do something with it as a standalone track - not as part of a non-existent "Barnyard" suite that so many keep trying to construct, but under it's own title. That much we can deduce from the handwritten track list. Exactly what he intended to do with it, though, we'll probably never know. Unfortunately, that's just the way it is with some details of Smile.

[ever]

Can you post the quote please?

Sure. Herewith, the only reference ever made in the history of The Beach Boys to a "Barnyard" suite:

"The Barnyard Suite, that was going to be four songs - in four short pieces - combined together, but we never finished that one. We got into something else."

And since it's an isolated quote, we have no real idea of the context in which it was said or what question Brian might have been asked or even whether the printed quote is pieced together or edited from several comments.

Since the quote originates with Preiss and isn't lifted from another source, it apparently dates from late 1977, when Preiss was working on his book. Read or listen to any other interview Brian did around that time and it's obvious he wasn't in such great mental shape.

So how much weight should be given to what appears to be a random one-off comment? Doesn't it bother anybody else that there's no other support or documentation anywhere for a "Barnyard" suite?

Think about all that's been said and written over the years about Brian's "Elements" suite. Surely, if he'd been planning two such suites, somebody else would have noticed and said something at the time. But no one did. All the talk was about the "Elements" suite." In fact, if you left off the first three words of the Preiss quote ("The Barnyard Suite"), everybody would think you're talking about the "Elements"! And I think there's a good chance Brian actually was.

[Smile]

We know that Brian wanted a farm/agriculture/barnyard suite with four songs, right?

Do we? Do we really know that? What's the support for it?

This is probably going to come across as heresy, but I've never bought into the idea of a "Barnyard" suite. As far as I know, there's only ever been one mention of it by anyone involved with Smile - and that's a questionable reference in my opinion.

I've been a fan of the group since the 1960s, and over the years I tried to stay current on any and all Smile information that surfaced. To the best of my knowledge, there was no mention of a "Barnyard" suite (as opposed to a single song) in any of the articles and interviews that were concurrent with the recording of Smile. Nor was it mentioned by Carl or anybody else during the press hoopla when there was an attempt to assemble the album circa 1972.

In fact, the first mention of a "Barnyard" suite was in Byron Preiss's book in 1978, when he quoted a single short comment by Brian that mentioned it. My impression at the time - as it has been ever since - was that Brian was confused and mixing up "Barnyard" with the "Elements" suite. (I'd live to hear a recording or see a transcript of Preiss's interview with Brian to try to put the comment in context.) Since that time, I haven't seen any further documentation or support for such a suite - and, let me tell you, I've been looking for it!

Am I wrong? Have I missed something? Or could it be, as I suspect, that there never was a "Barnyard" suite, and we've just been running around like Pavlov's dogs trying to create something to match up with an erroneous off-hand comment by Brian?

Heresy? I'm sure some here will immediately jump to that conclusion, but I'd really love to see some serious discussion of my theory.

I like Andrew Sandoval's work. GH 1 & 2 sound really great and he used the original mono single mixes.

Except on "Fun Fun Fun," where there was some kind of screw-up and the mono album mix was used. Compare the version on the Singles box from a couple of years ago to that on GH1.

I believe Mark added some stuff to make the album flow in the CD format. He also added the full intro to Wouldn't It Be Nice that is missing on the LP and Epic CD.

Check the credits. I believe that was Andrew Sandoval, not Mark, who was responsible for those additions.

I'll check, but I wasn't aware that he was even involved in anything after 1999.

Dug out my own copy of the CD.

From the credits:

Produced for Reissue by Cheryl Pawelski and Paul Atkinson
Tape Research: Andrew Sandoval
Digitally Remastered by Andrew Sandoval and Ron McMaster at Capitol Mastering

Linett is given only a "special thanks."

I believe Mark added some stuff to make the album flow in the CD format. He also added the full intro to Wouldn't It Be Nice that is missing on the LP and Epic CD.

Check the credits. I believe that was Andrew Sandoval, not Mark, who was responsible for those additions.

(FLACS available upon request)

Yes, please. Make the FLAC files available!

You know, you'd think an outfit like The Grammys could get their facts correct.

In the very first sentence of the press release, they state: "The Beach Boys — Brian Wilson, Mike Love, Al Jardine, Bruce Johnston, and David Marks, who have not performed together live in more than two decades ..."

Of course, those five have NEVER performed togther. David was long gone by the time Bruce joined in 1965, and 32 years later (1997) David re-joined a full year after Brian had last played with the group.

But perhaps they're discounting David and just referring to the last time the performing Beach Boys included Brian and Alan in addition to Mike and Bruce. If that's the case, they're still wrong! It's only been 15 years since those four performed together live, not the "more than two decades" cited in the press release. According to AGD's website (and I have no reason to doubt his excellent trove of data), Brian last performed with Mike, Bruce & Alan at two shows at The Navy Pier in Chicago on Sept. 8, 1996.

Good Lord, Grammy guys and gals, get it right!

Quite an impressive list! The only thing better would be if you indicated the source for each track. Any chance you might be able to do that? It would be a great resouce for those of you us who might like to attempt to duplicate your undertaking.

I'm pretty close to finish mine, so if you people are interested I'll take the time to complete and upload it.

Absolutely! Bring it on! (Please)

I'm now working on an "Alternate Smile Sessions" set as a sort of a companion to the official one.
It will be in flac and include:
1. This stereo edit of Disc 1 (including cross fades and fly-ins)
2. A mono re-construction of an "historical" Smile (12 tracks, no cross-fades or fly-ins).
3. More "clean" stereo/mono mixes of other songs.
4. "Fanmixers toolkit" - Smile bits and pieces in stereo/mono.
5. Vintage BW mixes of songs/sections.

Whatever became of this set? I was really looking forward to it!