I'm a little late here (as ever) but thanks hugely for this... you've put in so much time, work and skill. Thank you!

I love all your mixes, especially Look, Fire, Wonderful...  in fact all of them. The only one that slightly jars for me is Holidays. I think you've about proved that it is not possible to add the vocal part from DYLW. If anyone could have done it it was you. I wonder if here you could do one of your subtle BWPS fly-ins? Everything else works so well and I'm not enough of a purist to rule-out additions from BWPS. Of course, it has cost me nothing to download and critique your work so you're fully justified in ignoring my opinion completely! I hope for SMiLE A.D. 5.0.. but you deserve to take a break for a while. 

Has this been mentioned (and is this thread dead?) but for my money the 'cover' by The Free Design on the Marina collection Caroline Now! slays the Beach Boys version. An extraordinary reinvention I think, but I'm probably wrong and no one's that bothered anyway...

Just wanna add my congrats: this really is excellent work. When you're done with SMiLE A.D. (around maybe version 33.0 or 34.0 ) you should seriously consider posting a copy to BW... or someone who has access to the great man. I know you've done all sorts of crazy manipulations to the original recordings but I really think this Look has the ring of something BW might have done in his heyday.

BTW not sure if you answered this already but where does that high sung part that begins at 0.43 and then again at 1.37 come from? It follows the melody unbelievably well and is really haunting. I'm wracking my brain but can't identify it.

My only critical comment would be that the track ends suddenly as it is but I guess this might be addressed in the work in progress.

Can't wait for 3.0. The world awaits with baited breath... will Good Vibrations be in?... will He Gives Speeches make a triumphant return?...

You know, enjoying these various SMiLE mixes and lapping up all the improved versions and fixed tracks makes me feel a good deal more sympathy for Mark Linett and Alan Boyd (and everyone else involved) in the SMiLE sessions. I truly believe they did as good as they could. It's amazing how ears can hear different things at different times - one track can seem just right one day and yet can sound so different when someone the next day calls 'flaw'! (Someone on this board has almost ruined one track on Pet Sounds for me by raising a supposed defect - I won't say which one and why because it could spoil your enjoyment).

Linett and Boyd were trying to put together hours of music - not just the SMiLE reconstruction on disc 1. In an ideal world free of leaks and piracy they could have run prototype mixes around various expert fans... but then they would have got countless different ideas about how each mix should be improved... so I think there was always going to be room (even a necessity!) for fan mixes, but this doesn't mean we have to be so down on TSS...

Peace!

I'm a little late but thanks hugely for sharing this: a great achievement.  You, soniclovenoize and seltaeb1012002 are doing astounding work but following such different approaches. More power to your elbow as they still say in some remote corners of my country!

This is really, really good. Glad you dropped the cough in I'm In Great Shape... and you've persuaded me about leaving off Look and Holiday which are great (IMO) on BWPS where they're finished, but tend to slow the pace, in their unfinished states, of other SMiLE mixes.

Looking forward to 3.0!

Great work and many thanks.

BTW The cough in I'm In Great Shape, that was intentionally left in, I thought it was fitting, adding a sense of irony to the song.  I'm also obsessed with imperfections in music that implies perfection, something, off the top of my head, The Beatles intentionally left in (The "Oh sh*t wrong chord in Hey Jude for instance).  This isn't something I hear really with The Beach Boys though, but still an element I tried to leave in.  Also, that cough signals the exact point in time where the vocal/piano track cuts out on my mix (times up with the bass note I believe) and it seemed like a "happy coincidence" which I've always felt was a good sign that I'm on the right course (such as the phasing on the Good Vibrations 2nd verse vocal, and how both sides came out to be a little over 21 minutes).   
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Another very late reply. Sorry, but I'm a married man with kids...

Holy Guacalmole, I've been having exact same thoughts recently... how imperfections add something to great music... it's a bit like the Muslim idea of deliberately leaving an error in a design to respect God's true perfection, paradoxically this can draw attention to the (near) perfection of the human artefact... examples that come my mind include the organ bursting through Country Air... to me that's the sound of the bee who buzzed all that inspiration in Brian's ear... and the distortion on Judee Sill's second record. It's like these records come so near perfection something has to be wrong... So now I'm really trying hard to love the ending to the new Holidays. It's a tough mission, but I'm on it...

This, of course, is to revisit one of the great debates of the ancient Church Fathers: open country / agriculture / something else. Orthodox tradition allows a range of opinions on the matter. 

I downloaded at the beginning of the week and have had several listens. Would like to say a big thank you for your work and for sharing! The sound is fantastic throughout. Just wondering, is this the definitive soniclovenoize mix or are you going to issue a mark 2 in the future? My only suggestions for possible improvement would be to hide/cut the cough on I'm in Great Shape and to beef up your notes re Surf's Up:

"The album concludes with certainly the greatest song Brian Wilson ever wrote, possibly one of the greatest pop songs ever written"

Come on man, this is Surf's Up!... Definitely one of the greatest pop songs ever written!

Love the mix. Will be on steady rotation in my car (and in the house when I can sneak it past my wife).

A bit late.. but thanks Barnshine for sharing.

I've got a huge sentimental commitment to the BWPS sequence (saw the SMiLE concerts twice in London) even though I know some of the songs probably wouldn't have appeared in the hypothetical 1967 album. Holidays (one of my favourite tracks... not sure why) is better without the Whispering Winds section flown in. I seem to remember PurpleChick doing a reasonable job on this... but that could be rose-tinted memory! Those post-BWPS fan mixes seemed great at the time (with the resources available), but will sound increasingly creaky in the post-TSS world!

Many thanks for sharing these tracks. I'm one of the many lacking knowledge of the arcane ways of creating new mixes - and bow down to those who can. It's funny how an off the cuff demo to a radio DJ has contributed so much to the on going life of SMiLE. I guess there's no way of retrieving the word 'agriculture' from the original... digital manipulation can only go so far...

I watched this avidly on Friday night and have the programme taped to watch again in my own time. A great documentary which will hopefully bring Dennis Wilson's music to the attention of even more people. I got the impression of a vivid character, exciting and unpredictable, but also very challenging to work with. That clip of the Beach Boys sitting on the couch on Morning America (was that the show?) with Dennis hungover and out of it made me feel a great deal of sympathy for Mike Love and the rest. Actually, I thought it was Carl who looked most uncomfortable! I guess Dennis was too head-strong a character for there to be the kind of intervention that ultimately saved Brian from self-destruction. I thought the most heart-breaking clip of Dennis was of him croaking "You are so beautiful" at the 1983 4th July concert. Still, the message of the film was not to dwell on the tragic end of Dennis's life, but to celebrate and enjoy the powerful and beautiful music he made (and I type this listening to Bambu).

I LIKED what you said AND how you said it. Sorry, I just meant that some might find both
my post and yours to be overly analytical and hard to take. I meant no offense and should
probably just speak for myself in future.

I think SMiLE fans should feel free to take this line of thought and analysis as far as we can, in the
absence of first-hand clarification. Really, no offense meant, quite the opposite actually.

Thanks for the clarification. I know I shouldn't find offense when none is intended. It's just this message board thing - it's hard, sometimes, to tell how posts should be read.

Is it on one of the BB DVDs (An American Band?) where Van Dyke Parks speaks about his run-in with Mike Love re Smile and says something to the effect, "The lyrics don't mean a thing. If you don't like them, ditch them."? Surely a most disingenuous comment if ever there was one (I seem to remember a mid-70s Parks - in the clip - looking really groovy however). I'm no conspiracy theorist, and honestly I don't normally find myself obsessing over pop or rock group lyrics, but I do think there is substance to the concept (and the lyrics) of Smile that you don't find in other great albums of the time. Maybe Forever Changes and electric Bob Dylan are comparable. I don't have the authority to say.

JCarson's posts are very interesting (or tedious, subjectively speaking, as is this one). There was of
course a movement in the late 60's, which is now further metastasizing and morphing in this genera-
tion, to peel back the layers of entitlement, manifest destiny and the like to expose the hypocrisy and
fallacy of land and property ownership, seen from this perspective as outright theft of Native American
land, and the need to first somewhat clearly, if lyrically obliquely, expose and acknowledge these acts
as a prelude to them being somehow revised or repealed (a difficult proposition) sounds like a plausi-
ble explanation for the "can of worms" visual, and overall intent of the westward expansion/"American
gothic trip"/Western European exploitative Bicycle card deck-Rider portion of the original 3 part SMiLE concept...

Thanks, everyone, for tolerating my self-indulgent ramblings. I hope they have had at least some merit and those who have read this don't feel that they have totally misspent a chunk of their
precious time.

 

Err... okay, so did you dislike what I said or how I said it? I guess you're making a point.

Whether or not they were conceived under the influence, they stuck. Weren't they submitted to Capitol Records on the infamous handwritten list? And, weren't they submitted to the artist for the SMiLE booklet?

JCarson wrote an excellent post (his take) about the meaning of "Do You Like Worms" on the Hawaiian Chants on Roll Plymouth Rock thread.

I'm just as curious about "Look" and "Holiday".

Cheers man! I've never been referenced like that before... I'm genuinely touched that you liked my post.

Does Lou Shenk post here? Are you, Lou, known as Bicycle Rider here? If so, what do you make of my take on Do You Like Worms. Have you updated that original essay (Smile: A Children's Song)? That article was the single best thing I've ever read about Smile. Is the essay hosted anywhere?

Questions, questions!
Here's another one. I love the version of Child is Father to the Man which was apparently recorded during the sessions for Vegatables. The one which is piano and vocals only. One of the boys (Brian?) sings something like  'the wood child' or ' the what child' or even (at a stretch!) "the wotcha" at the beginning of each line. Can anyone shed light on this? It's one of my favourite Smile pieces (so many pieces...). And what the heck it's doing in Vegatables I don't know. It's such a mournful little fragment.

Great pictures I thought. Might even get one for my wall I thought. Then I clicked on purchase... sheesh... prices which are outa sight...

I believe that as Van Dykes and Brian were writing, it hit a nerve with the illuminati and masons that have been running America (and the world) for years. So they had to stop them. Thus bugging Brian's house and puting stuff in his drink to make him paranoid.

But, seriously, I think the only way we can figure out what Smile is REALLY all about is to get Mike Love on here to explain it to us.

Glad you and the Sheriff found some merit in my post. Try as I might, I just can't get my wife interested in discussing the meaning of Smile! One of my chief frustrations with the hoo-hah around BWPS was the lack of serious scholarly examination of the original project. The Priore book was readable but skimmed the surface (and reflected theories long known to be highly tendentious or even falsified by evidence). There have been a number of very good books about Pet Sounds (let alone Sergeant Pepper, the White Album and other greats of the period). Can't we get a decent book about Smile? All sorts of books about weird and obscure byways of 60s pop and rock are published every year. Why so little about Smile, which, despite BWPS, surely remains the greatest lost album in the history of rock music?

Wanted an excuse to post this thought for ages (think I once posted it elsewhere to little response).

My take on the "Rock, rock, roll, Plymouth rock, roll over" line is to link it to the original title of the track, namely Do you like worms. I am impressed by Lou Shenk's interpretation of the overarching theme of Smile (as hosted on the late departed Smile Shop) being a 'return to innocence' (as opposed to Pet Sounds being a lament for the loss of innocence). Roll Plymouth Rock is about the desire to turn back the clock, to undo the wrongs of history (or at least not repeat them in the context of the Vietnam war); but in order to do this you must first face what has been already done. Roll back Plymouth Rock, the foundation myth of America, and see the worms wriggling beneath the rock: the oppression of native Americans, the despoiling of nature (ribbon of concrete), the massacre of a culture. Didn't Frank Holmes' illustration for this track feature the opened 'can of worms' of the cliche. See what the Heroes and Villains have done to the church of the American Indian.

Ultimately Smile, on this interpretation, is redemptive. Adults may recoil from worms, but many childen are fascinated by them. We must face up to the sins of our forebears.  And it is to the children's song that we must attend. Do you like worms?

Not sure any of this makes much sense. The Smile project, in this period  (late '66), is so dense with cross-reference and allusion. Truly brilliant.

And I really need to check out that Animal Collective record.

My two pennies worth...

I really loved Person Pitch and Strawberry Jam. Certain tracks put me in the same emotional place as the best Beach Boys output. There's the weird shouldn't work but does work throwing together of sounds, the sudden shifts in tempo and instrumentation. Winter's Love from Sung Tongs is also superb (but the rest of the album, for me, does not quite reach the same standard). Some of the AC/Panda Bear output has the same intense yearning quality that I hear in so much of the Beach Boys music.

And I know already that others will passionately disagree!

C'est tout.

I'm heading to your website right now. I've really appreciated the notes on the Today and Summer Days sessions:  a real labour of love for which I thank you. Good luck with future installments!

Just heard this doc and wondered if the link had been posted here. I have not been disappointed: nice work Luke!

Pete Paphides (now chief rock critic with The Times - apparently) gives a very positive assessment of Dennis Wilson's legacy, even if he calls "Fifth of July" one of the great Dennis Wilson contributions to the Beach Boys! (I don't even consider myself a first division BB fan and I still get a snobbish kick out of spotting mistakes like this). Good to hear the actual voices of family, friends and associates. I still wonder to what extent Bambu was ever really considered an album project as opposed to a bunch of occasional sessions (the doc leaves this kinda vague).

Anyway, it looks like Dennis Wilson is  getting a lot of attention this summer. And this can only be a good thing. I can't wait for the POB reissue. Haven't been this excited since August '04!

I am more of a occasional reader than poster and take a look at a number of music websites from time to time. I had a look at the Smile Shop a few moments ago and found it gone. I know there's some bad history between this site and that, but I'm sure many BB fans here check it out every now and again. Anyone know what's up? Is this temp site maintenance or is the Smile Shop 'done'?