Anyone have opinions as to which is the better-sounding version?

Ha, I've been trying to come up with the perfect Smile (now Smile-like) compilation for maybe 9 or 10 years now, far longer than Brian tinkered, so I guess you could say I'm much worse...

Although people like me who try and put this material together don't necessarily have any musical ability (I don't anyway), we probably do have a certain obsessive/perfectionist personality trait in common with Brian.  Good thing or bad thing?  Who knows?

Now I'm thinking of adding Let the Wind Blow, which seems like a must if Country Air is in there.  That would mean taking out Little Pad, which I think drags things down a bit with its stoned laughter.

I initially though I would include Little Bird, but to my ears, it doesn't use all that much of of CIFOTM, and  is otherwise fairly similar to the other Friends tracks ("guess I'll go and mow the lawn").

With Country Air added, I'm up to 79:57, and that's after changing things to use the shorter, tag-less version of Can't Wait Too Long (from the GV box set) and the slightly shorter version of Ol Man River (from the 1990 issue of Friends/20/20 instead of the 2001 issue).  I also had to delete bits of end-of-track blank space here and there to make things fit.

But I'm still interested in everyone's comments and suggestions--even if I don't wind up using them. :>

OK, well this is why I posted this ... I was hoping people might point out something I'm missing.  Thanks Winston and Buddha, I'll try Country Air between Little Pad and Cool Cool Water.

I do disagree on Time to Get Alone, though--in spite of its possible inclusion in Smile concerts.  The lyrics (a retreat from the world) sound very Friends-ish to me, and much of the track is very spare.

Thanks Sheriff.  They do indeed fit on an 80-minute CD, but just barely; there's only about a minute of free space.  It's actually coincidental.  I never intended to use the entire CD, but the songs I identified took me right up to the brink.

Doing this has been fun, partly because it gets me thinking about connections between various songs that I wouldn't think about if I were just using my standard Smile formula.  For example, I really like having Prayer between 'Til I Die and Surf's Up rather than at the start, as all three are very spiritual songs. 

Also, placing songs like Tree and Diamond Head in this context, rather than their original albums, helps bring out subtle aspects of those tunes that I'd otherwise miss, maybe in the way that certain color schemes will help bring out the best in each other.  As brilliant as much of the BB and BW material has been, some (though certainly not all) of the albums are, IMO, disjointed and less than the sum of their parts.  Compiling songs by genre can really help with this.

Thanks.  I thought about Country Air, since it may have been derived from the mysterious "air" section of the Elements.  But it's always sounded more R&B-like than Smil-ish to me.

For years I’ve worked on various attempts to replicate what Smile might have been, without ever coming up with a satisfactory product.  I’ve also tried compiling CDs of the various sessions, but those too have left a lot to be desired.

So I’m trying a new way, which for me is working much better.  I’m extending the time period of my compilation to 1971, and include any Smile-like tunes in that period I want to hear.  I’ve stayed away from alternates, in order to make the disc as listenable as possible, but otherwise feel like I’ve included what I need.

Having said that, I’d really welcome any comments.  Here’s the list:

SMiLING, 1966-71
1   You’re Welcome
2   Good Vibrations
3   Cabinessence
4   He Gives Speeches
5   Do You Like Worms
6   Wonderful (GV box set)
7   Heroes & Villains intro
8   Heroes & Villains (Cantina)
9   How I Love My Girl (SOT 17)
10   My Children Were Raised/Sunny Down Snuff (last 1½ mins. of H&V single)
11   Barnyard
12   The Old Master Painter (no tag)
13   Can’t Wait Too Long
14   With Me Tonight (Smiley Smile)
15   I’m in Great Shape
16   I Wanna Be Around/Friday Night (faded out early)
17   Whistle In (Smiley Smile)
18   Old Folks at Home/Ol’ Man River
19   Wind Chimes (GV box set)
20   Whispering Winds
21   Holidays
22   The Elements, part 1 - Fire
23   Fall Breaks and Back to Winter
24   I Love to Say Da Da
25   Diamond Head
26   Little Pad
27   Cool Cool Water (Sunflower)
28   Vegetables (GV box set)
29   Child Is Father of the Man (April 1967)
30   Look
31   A Day in the Life of a Tree
32   ‘Til I Die
33   Our Prayer (20/20)
34   Surf’s Up (Surf’s Up)

As for what I have not included, here’s a general list:
Air DaDa
All Day
CIFOTM early version
Comedy sketches
Good Vibrations alternate instrumental sections
Good Vibrations hum-de-hums
Good Vibrations Pet Sounds version
H&V bridge to Indians
H&V country western theme & flutter horn
H&V orgasmic sounds
H&V part 2 final verse of dit-dit-dits
H&V single – first 2:10 (before slow “My Children Were Raised”)
Mama Says (Wild Honey)
Old Master Painter “barnshine” tag
She’s Goin’ Bald
Surf’s Up solo piano
Tones
Unknown (Spanish style) Instrumental
Vega-Tables demo
Vegetables Smiley Smile/Hawthorne versions
Vegetables promo bits
Wonderful mamamamamamas
Wonderful with jazzy and Rock Me Henry overdubs
Wonderful Smiley Smile version
Wind Chimes Smiley Smile version

Of course, the majority of Beach Boys songs from late 1967 through 1971 are not really Smile-like, so they also are excluded from this compilation.

Thanks for any thoughts.

Is there any evidence as to when it was recorded - at least which year? 

Is it even clear that this is in fact a BB/BW Smile-era recording?  To my ears, it really doesn't sound like anything else he or they ever put to tape, for Smile or otherwise. 

Can you point out which disc this is on? I've several Unknown Instrumentals or Untitled Instrumentals in my collection and aren't sure which is being referred to here.

I think it's on Secret Smile, and probably at least one or two others.

Don't forget too that Brian cannibalized CIFOTM for Vega-Tables.

I've forgotten - what from CIFOTM was used for Veggies?

The "bop bop bop bop doo doo doo doo doo do" part that comes after "I burst into laughter".

I always figured that the SOT people just added that at the beginning themselves.  So it's clear that bit actually was part of the April '67 version of CIFOTM?

Maybe it's in the same category as "Here Come de Honey Man."

Wasn't that "Here Come de Honeydew Man" an atmospheric Miles Davis fragment that masqueraded as a Smile track (Holidays) on the earliest boot from the mid-eighties?

That's what I've read.  It's actually "Honey Man,"  though.  No "dew."

Don't forget too that Brian cannibalized CIFOTM for Vega-Tables.

I've forgotten - what from CIFOTM was used for Veggies?

Maybe it's in the same category as "Here Come de Honey Man."

Is there any evidence as to when it was recorded - at least which year? 

Is it even clear that this is in fact a BB/BW Smile-era recording?  To my ears, it really doesn't sound like anything else he or they ever put to tape, for Smile or otherwise. 

I'm still here.

Yeah I know, the title of the thread was a not-so-clever play on "where have you gone Joe Dimaggio."  Apparently when Dimaggio (never the hippest guy) heard the song, he said something to the effect of "what do you mean, I'm right here," and he considered suing for defamation.  I'll hope to avoid that misunderstanding with you. 

In all seriousness, I do value your posts and those of others who have been at this for a while.

And you're setting up a strawman by comparing "finished unreleased songs of the others" to "Take 143 of an alternate clarinet overdub on a Smile track." 

Well naturally. That's virtually the only way to make a point ... I find nuance doesn't do well on message boards.

But really (as you may have guessed) I don't care one way or the other. I'd like to hear anything, including the sessions I've mocked, even though I don't obsess about or catalogue them, and get bored reading people's discussions whether (and guess what, this is an exaggeration alert again) the phrasing of the violinist makes the 15th take superior to the released version. But hey, I get tired of reading most anyone's discussion of any unreleased music, since it tends to quickly become obvious how the point isn't the music, but the hip factor of the person who has found the means of hearing it.

That said, why do I post here? Great question. Either I love the music or I'm a masochist. Or both. Probably both.

And in all seriousness, I see you're a relatively new poster. Welcome aboard. Don't take my sarcasm seriously, ever. I mean no offense (ever).

Luther-

Thanks.  No offense taken, and I appreciate the welcome.  I actually used to post years ago when the board was part of the Smile Shop, but I haven't been doint that recently.  So maybe my question in this thread is in part directed at myself...

This is for Jeff has he would like to discuss SMILE some. So here we go.....

I always kinda liked H&V. Never a fave. But when I heard the January 27th 1967 mix (my birthday btw, I was eight), I fell in love with the song. The released version has such a freaking laided back lead by Brian. The cantina version has such an energetic lead and the whole tune piece is alot more vibrant. H&V is now one of my top 5 all time favorite. Any one else like this one better?

PS - When I mentioned this to someone back in the 90's, they said "January 27th - Brian still using uppers....more energy. June 1967, Brian and the group smoking hash..very mellow....." 

Thanks petsite.  I definitely prefer the Cantina version as well.  Although I have no illusions that it is as good as the earlier version which included Barnyard and Great Shape, it sounds very alive to me, and I really like the tape explosion and the fade.  I also like the "My Children Were Raised" and "Sunny Down Snuff" verses of the Smiley/Hawthorne version, but I get around that problem by making them a separate track on my compilation, following How I Love My Girl (which itself follows Cantina).  Of course, it probably isn't the way Smile would have come out, but it makes for good listening.

But what's wrong with wanting to hear those guys' music? The Beach Boys were more than Brian; finished, unreleased songs of the others might be more interesting to some people than Take 143 of an alternate clarinet overdub on a Smile track.

Of course there's nothing wrong with wanting to hear what you want to hear.  I was just amazed that so few people still seem to want to hear Smile material.  And you're setting up a strawman by comparing "finished unreleased songs of the others" to "Take 143 of an alternate clarinet overdub on a Smile track."  A number of the wish list items in the thread on this board are for demos or alternates (thus my reference to someone wishing for "Bruce's Ten Years Harmony demo").  And I see no reason to believe that we can only hope for extremely minor alternates or overdubs to the Smile tracks we already have.  Again, the early version of H&V (not the Cantina version, but the one that incorporated Barnyard, I'm in Great Shape and/or With Me Tonight) would likely be very, very different than anything we've heard.

So, everyone's is 99,9% sure that what's circulating out there is all we are ever going to listen to or know about Smile. That's all. I'd rather debate Bambu or the MIU sessions.

That's quite a definitive statement.  And yet, a very credible poster to this very board has heard Smile material that has not been booted or released.  I certainly don't know all the details, but I recall reading about a version of H&V he heard that included a section of With Me Tonight with bells & whistles overdubs.  But you're 99.9% sure that the rest of us will never hear this?  How can you be so confident?

Actually, not just Bicycle Rider ...  but anyone who still cares about Smile.  On this, the successor to the Smile Shop board, we have a 3-page thread about unavailable BB tracks people want to hear--and only one poster includes Smiles tracks.  Not a single person mentions the fabled early version of H&V.  Instead, people would rather hear classics such as "Bruce's Ten Years Harmony demo."  And as of today there's a 5-page thread on Mike Love's solo album.  I imagine the comments are not positive ... but man, why even bother discussing it?

Has it really come to this?  No one even cares about the still-lost Smile recordings enough to wish for them?  And they would rather hear '70s and '80s outtakes--even from Bruce Johnston?  Unfortunately, this Smile malaise seems to be present throughout the Net.  One Smile Yahoo group that used to be active every day now gets one or two posts a year.  A number of sites clearly haven't been updated in years.

Yes, I know that the BW-released album created a sense of finality for a lot of people.  But I never thought interest would fall so far, so fast.  The shame of it is that to the extent there's any chance of additional unreleased, unbooted Smile tracks coming out, the lack of enthusiasm among even BB fans will surely weigh against that.

OK, that's it.  Sorry for the whining.

I've always thought that the Elements was going to be a series of roughly minute-long pieces strung together into a whole 4 minute track.  "Fire" and "Water Chant" would bear this out, and since we don't know what Earth or Air might have been, this scenario makes the most sense to me.

I've always thought that, too. Which raises another question, to me anyway, and that has to do with "Fire". The actual "Fire" piece is roughly a minute or so, but, if you add the "intro", the bells and whistles part, now we're over two minutes. So, do the bells and whistles part really belong in front of "Fire"? On the boxed set, the track is (erroneously?) titled "Intro To Heroes And Villains". You know, it does sound good right in front of "Heroes And Villains".

It's hard to know what to do with H&V intro.  Is it in fact the proper start of the cantina version of H&V?  H&V starts so suddenly that it sort of needs an intro.  Or is it the intro of H&V part 2, assuming that exists?

A few years ago, some people were speculating that the Sunny Down Snuff section, from about 2:35 of the H&V single was recorded during the Smile time period.  Has there been anything new on this?  Anyone have any opinions?

Same question for the Stand or Fall part.  I've never heard anyone say that this might have been recorded during Smile, but who knows?  Anyone?