Mark, I asked this on another thread and was directed back to you - I remember when you redid the 2fers a few tracks were remixed because you were unable to find the original mixes done for the 1990 2fers - Old Man River was one, and I Do another (according to Mr. Doe).  What were the others?  I vaguely remember Baker Man.

You would think a corrected back cover slick would have existed in the Capitol art archive if it had been corrected, wouldn't you?  There were booklet proofs and front cover slicks.  If the back cover never got corrected, then the covers couldn't have been assembled.  Which would mean that only the front cover slicks were destroyed in 1969 - the back was never printed.  Would there need to be a separate P.O. and printing request for the back cover slick?

I'm trying to remember what tracks had to be remixed on the rereleased 2fers - I know Old Man River was, but what were the others?  I'm thinking I Do and maybe Baker Man.  Anyone have this info at hand?

I have that bootleg - it's mostly a rehash from the first Smile vinyl boot plus some live show cuts.  Haven't listened to it in years.  You should pass on that unless they're giving it away.

I'm not surprized that Carl produced All  I Want to Do - it's my understanding that Carl and Dennis produced ALL of the tracks on Sunflower with the exception of Add Some Music, which was the sole track Brian produced from start to finish.  Does this jibe with what you've uncovered, Alan?

How about the claim in Love You's liner notes that Brian rather than Dennis is singing Mona?

I think Stephen may be mistaken - why go to the trouble of recording the lead vocal and not mix it down, when all the other pieces were mixed down?  His memory is good but not infallible.  And he was not the recording engineer on the Smile sessions - he only stepped in for some of SMiley at the home studio when the engineer they had been using was ill.

As far as I can determine there's no evidence that Carl or anyone else recorded a verse vocal for this in 66/67 - the session tapes and mixes from 66 indicate there was no lead verse vocal, and we don't have any record of any further vocal sessions after 66 until the 20/20 period.  There might be some clues in the multitrack tape as to when things were done but that's missing - only the stereo mixdown is extant according to Alan Boyd.

I think there has been a longstanding confusion about Brian not wanting Good Vibrations on Smile - it's on the list (which he must have approved at some point, even if he didn't physically write it), the single came out in October about two months before the album was originally due (by Christmas) and it would have been de riguer (sp?) to have the recent hit single on the album.  I think Brian didn't want to include it on Smiley Smile, where it clearly doesn't fit production wise.  Some of the comments about not wanting to include I remember came from the Anderle/Williams pieces where it's not clear which album they're talking about.

There are a few problems with that, however.
1. Mark Linett has stated numerous times that they dumped these liner notes for the 2001 Pet Sounds release because it contained so many inaccuracies. (He never stated any details, however.)
2. Al Jardine has said in an interview from 2003 that (paraphrased) Capitol forced the song onto the album. We have discussed this interview on the Smile Shop board.

Brad disagreed with David Leaf on several points, which is why the liner notes were dumped - Brad became unwelcome in the BB camp after that.  One point of disagreement is whether Brian or Carl was singing the alternate vocal for God Only Knows - Brad said Carl based on the tape box notes, David said Brian based on Brian's recollection.  You judge for yourself - but at least Brad always cited his sources/reasons for his pronouncements, unlike David.  I find Brad's notes were more provocative, informative, and interesting than David's cheerleading notes - listen to how great this part is, etc.  Wears on you after a while - let the listener discover how great it is on their own.

Don't have the 2003 interview, but I find the Feb 66 track list more compelling than an interview 37 years later, when separating myth and fact is more difficult.  Anyone have a quote?

$615?  Guess if I decide to retire I'll sell mine.

When selling that stuff on ebay it seems the best course is to warn buyers the auction may end early, and give the highest bidder at the time the auction is removed the winnning bid.

Beatles stuff is not patrolled the way Beach Boys stuff is, and usually goes through to the end of the auction.

It's been removed - the Beach Boys bootleg patrol is very efficient at removing stuff from ebay within a day of it's posting.  How much were they asking?

I wouldn't part with my copy either.

A one disc set of Good Vibrations sessions and alternates (presumably the Rarities version - there aren't any other vocal alternates I know of) was being prepared for 1996, to follow the Pet Sounds box set.  The PS box set was delayed ... and delayed ... and the GV disc was scrubbed.  Don't know how much, if any, work was done on it.

I put the Lord's Prayer amen at the end based on Mike Vosse's understanding of how Brian wanted to end the album (it's in that Fusion interview, 1969)

My order for Smile:
Side One:
Prayer
Worms
Heroes and Villains
Cabinessence
Old Master Painter
Wonderful
Child is Father
Wonderful tag (mama mama . . . )

Side Two:
Good Vibrations
I'm in Great Shape
Vegetables
Wind Chimes
The Elements (Mrs. O'Leary's Cow/Water chant/Dada)
Surf's Up
The Lord's Prayer (just the "amen" part at the end)

He said that Van Dyke and him aren't very good friends, but that they respect each other a lot.

I find this interesting - Even back in the 60's it seems they weren't really "friends" - supposedly Brian "dominated" Van Dyke at that time, Van Dyke being subject to Brian's whims and erratic behavior which he apparently didn't appreciate.  And now, perhaps Brian is dominated by Van Dyke, with Brian being more passive and unsure of himself than during their previous relationship, and Van Dyke always having an opinion and something to say on anything and everything.  Their collaboration was really an intellectual/artistic partnership, unlike some of Brian's previous collaborators who fell into the role of "new best friend" - Usher and Christian for example.

I dig Lazy Lizzie - it's only on the level of a demo, but it could have been worked on and made into one of the better tracks of the period.

So Stephen, rather than set up the matrix each time I play the CD, I'd be better off copying the CD through the matrix, and then just playing the copy?  The results would be the same (the sound results, that is)?

Cool!  I like the picture of Pete Townshend with Jimi - perhaps just before they tossed a coin to determine whether the Who or Jimi would go on first?

And don't forget the Byrds, Buffalo Springfield, and Moby Grape were there too! (Byrds and Springfield sets disappointing, but Moby rocked!) 

"Zappa was one of the most competent guitarist/musicians I've worked with, including Hendrix."

Stephen, could you elaborate on working with Hendrix?  What recordings, and with what band? 

I wanted to carry this over from the locked board:

Van Dyke has writen a response to the big article on 'Smile' published by the New York Review of Books. i've seen the question of the collaboration between Van Dyke and Brian discussed here and this is of relevance.

http://www.nybooks.com/articles/18629

Volume 53, Number 1 · January 12, 2006

Letter
'SMILE'
By Van Dyke Parks, Reply by Scott Staton

In response to A Lost Pop Symphony (September 22, 2005)

To the Editors:

Re: "A Lost Pop Symphony," by Scott Staton [NYR, September 22, 2005].

For forty years, in numerous print articles, Brian Wilson has repeatedly stated he contributed music only to Smile. As well, I've maintained I only provided lyrics. Although I truly appreciate Scott Staton's take on the work, I must disabuse him of Brian's having envisioned the album as "an affectionate critique of America's mythic past" etc. Manifest Destiny, Plymouth Rock, etc. were the last things on his mind when he asked me to take a free hand in the lyrics and the album's thematic direction.

Music expresses feelings. Words, thoughts. In combination, they make songs. Still the most portable of all cultural goods, songs have consoled, amused, and even stirred peoples to nationhood. This broad potential of the song-form dates from the time of David to the present.

Brian sang: da da da da da da da da dah. I wrote "Columnaded ruins domino." I've lived to regret it for the majority of my adult life. Now, I'd like to enjoy it justly. Still, I thank Scott Staton for the print. Many more deserving talents never get a whit of recognition in their lifetimes. We got lucky, I guess.

Van Dyke Parks
Los Angeles, California

Scott Staton replies:

I'm disappointed that Van Dyke Parks feels I mischaracterized his collaboration with Brian Wilson. My piece did make plain Parks's important lyrical contribution to Smile. In describing him as a crucial participant, I referred to him six times and suggested that his departure from the project made it difficult for Wilson to complete it. I also referred to his first two solo full-length recordings as "minor masterpieces of idiosyncratic Americana," and much of the piece closely considered the substance of Parks's lyrics.

Despite these acknowledgments, Parks apparently feels that he wasn't given just credit in my piece. This is surprising, because past remarks of his have clearly indicated that he was hired by Wilson, with whom he shared an interest in American themes, and that he worked with him in a collaborative but subordinate role. As I understand it, his task as lyricist was to illustrate images that Wilson's music evoked. This is suggested by recent comments of his that are available on-line, in "audio portrait" sound files at the Web site of the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (www.ascap.com /audioportraits/vandykeparks.html).

In these comments, Parks says of his collaboration with Wilson: "I was trying to follow his instincts, unquestioning, like a dog. Just be devoted and work hard to try to provide words to the phrases he came up with." He says that the music of Smile is "anecdotal, fragmentary, schizophrenic...and the lyrics were required to follow suit.... What comes first, the music or the words? In this case, it was the music." He continues: "Melody, it seems to me, provides the most fundamental, the deepest feelings, and I think feelings trump thoughts any time."

Parks goes on to describe Wilson's music as "image laden," and explains that "we just kind of wanted to investigate...American images.... Everyone was hung up and obsessed with everything totally British. So we decided to take a gauche route that we took, which was to explore American slang, and that's what we got." Parks's liberal use of the word "we" to describe Brian Wilson and himself implies that they shared an understanding of the album's thematic direction.

In an interview with Parks published by The Guardian in 1999, he stated that Brian Wilson "was completely in control." On the topic of possibly reviving Smile for release, he said, "I would like Brian to address this particular dilemma of his own life. If Brian would want to work on it, then I would be involved in that. But I don't want to be paid to go to the embalming room. It was his baby." For his part, in his 1991 autobiography Wilson recalled playing early recordings of Smile songs at a dinner and explaining the material to his guests. "The whole album is going to be a far-out trip through the Old West," he said. "Real Americana. But with lots of interesting humor." In spite of his failure to complete the work in 1967, it seems Wilson had an idea of Smile's thematic underpinnings.

None of this is to diminish the significance of Van Dyke Parks's contribution to Smile. I hold his work in very high regard and much appreciate that he wrote lyrics for Smile.


I think this guy is missing the point of what Van Dyke is saying.  He's saying that the lyrical content and thematic content was left to Van Dyke by Brian, and that Van Dyke came up with the manifest destiny, Plymouth rock to Hawaii, American West lyrical themes.  He's not saying that Brian's music didn't inspire him to come up with these themes, due to the images Van Dyke heard in the music, or that they weren't collaborating (clearly the musical ending of Worms wouldn't have been written without the lyrical Hawaii references coming first, right?) - but that Brian didn't tell him top write about that, it was Van Dyke's decision, with Brian of course agreeing and having the ability to veto whatever Van Dyke came up with.  Van brought the Americana trip into Smile - Brian brought the Elements, as Van Dyke has admitted having nothing to do with that (other than writing the lyrics to Vegetables - but this was a theme Brian no doubt came up with, as is evidenced by the Vegetables "arguments").