Finally got my CD copy, now just sitting in the sweet spot staring at my stereo, enjoying the sounds. (Aside, I have the spatializer hooked up so some sounds sound like they're coming from 'outside' the speakers; I note that Stephen Desper is credited as a recording engineer, too!)

So here's my formal thanks to all involved in making this great package!

I have to say, I do love the Smiley organ.

I'm just going to throw some thoughts and ideas for discussion. It's an interesting subject, for sure!

Listening to the progression of the approach from the "end" of the Smile period to Wild Honey (and later Friends), it's actually very organic. The Smile box bore this out but hearing the Wild Honey backing tracks/sessions just emphasizes it. Brian's still using the detuned piano for feels, still recording modularly, etc. I don't know what "changed" per se, but Brian was already pulling back from the studio musicians + Beach Boys vocals approach in the Smile era. He was also doing more "basic" tracks to build on.

Other things to consider (as always) are competitiveness, the sheer effort involved (mentally, physically and emotionally), the want for commercial success, the want for critical acclaim, the desire to keep making music, the following of the muse, and, yes, the input from the rest of the group.

You can also look at Party's (and Barbara Ann's) commercial success compared to Little Girl I Once Knew and Pet Sounds. I can see how Brian would get discouraged, or how the rest of the band would question the need for going through all the effort.

I like the surf guitar at the end, reminiscent of "Pet Sounds".

Do You Like Worms also seems to reappear in Wake the World.

http://smileysmile.net/board/index.php/topic,22947.0.html

Maybe something like Busy Doin' Nothin' in the Gilmore Girls sequels...

There's an alternate version with a sax solo, which may address your last point.

I have to jump in here with some off-topic information for fun. I may have posted about some of it before but as we see, some discussions come back around years later.

1. I'm curious if you guys have heard Hugh Le Caine's 1955 musique concrete "Dripsody" - it's the sound of a single drop of water being manipulated and multitracked into a fascinating sound collage. I wonder if the Cool Cool Water sounds on the Chamberlain might have sounded similar. http://www.hughlecaine.com/en/compositions.html

2. The same man designed a touch-sensitive keyboard in the mid-50s. The patent was later picked up by... Baldwin! I'm curious if Brian's Baldwin had this feature, which might account for the characteristics described in this thread. http://www.hughlecaine.com/en/tsorgan.html

I believe it's the harmonica-laden tag to the early 1967 H&V, also used as the tag to My Only Sunshine on The Smile Sessions, with the "haaa haaa hum dum be doo be do" vocals. It was thought by fans (and bootleggers) to be Barnyard at the time, until the actual Barnyard was found/booted.

That's just my understanding, corrections/clarifications welcome.

That's great! Imagine if Mike had never lost it... "I think this song needs a sax solo, Brian." "You say that about EVERY song, Mike!"

I foresee Shut Down, Part II being added to the setlist.

Mount Vernon and Fairway sleeve?

One was the Standells' Dirty Water. For Nelson Bragg, I think?

That seems about right from what I recall. Al forgot the words to California Saga, which was awesome to hear, regardless. Wild Honey blew people away.

I was very happy to see that this show was a "triumph" in a sense, since his previous two Ottawa shows were a horrid festival appearance marred by technical difficulties and a great Gershwin show played to about 500 people in a 2500 seat concert hall (and I maintain that his Gershwin live performance was the best vocally I've ever seen him do). Brian himself wasn't the star per se but he seemed in good spirits and I noticed that he seemed to genuinely like what he was hearing from his band when he wasn't 'engaged'.

Al and Paul did a great job keeping the energy going (while not to my taste, the  extended flute and sax solos got the requisite cheers), Matt won people over with his DWB, and Blondie stole the show with his great vocals and wandering solos (and his sporadic appearances). It made for a really enjoyable concert, even without the Pet Sounds performance. I wish that the crowd had gotten into it a bit more. They were coaxed out of their seats to dance during Good Vibrations and then the encore was the usual party.

Al's fretting hand seemed to be bothering him but he nailed his vocals, especially during Pet Sounds. That extra level of authenticity made it that much better. I'm really glad he's on the tour and that I got to see him with Brian.

I surmise that Disney cartoons and Looney Tunes influenced the arrangements for Smile. I have no evidence, however.

http://www.acontinuouslean.com/2014/08/26/surfers-wore-short-sleeves-beach-boys/

Thanks for sharing that!

I want to see a more in-depth assessment of their clothes, particularly from the '66-'67 years. I found their England photos to be pretty inspiring back when I was first getting into Smile (photos in LLVS). Brian's Pet Sounds pea coat is classic but he also wore a British Warm in the Lake Arrowhead photos. Brian also sported a big fur coat in the 60s, if memory serves.

Are there any photos of the Beach Boys in tweed?

Combustible Edison's "Vertigogo" shares some melody with Passing By.

Someone really needs to update/expand LLVS as a digital (searchable) archive, sortable by either publication date or date of interview.

I'm not disputing that (and I've not read all the evidence in a long time) but its more that, like many ideas (and Smile itself), perhaps what started as one thing ended up as another.

On that note, and going in a different direction, I feel that Fall Breaks, as one track, could almost be The Elements suite (has Fire, Earth and Air sounds in it). My opinion is not important but it's all interesting to think about.

[
I wish I could find it, but years ago Brian had a Q&A on his webpage, and I asked him what was Earth, Fire, Water, and Air, and he answered it, but it was just a kind of off the top of his head B.S. answer.  It was still really cool for him to stipulate something, though... there's probably a copy of it here on the forum somewhere because I mentioned it before, but he basically mentioned 1 song for each element and I can't remember which was which but one didn't even make any sense.  i'm sure he was just saying whatever, but it was still fascinating to me...

I can't find the source, but I'm sure this can be found on this board somewhere, anyway it was:
MOCW - Fire
Prayer - Air
HV - Earth
Surf's up - Water!
This is very good..each song really represents one elemnent! Will try that in a mix!


Thank you, I  tried to find it the other day and couldn't track it down.  That's really interesting, huh?  Of course I immediately think that's just Brian running something off the top of his head, but.... what if it isn't?  

I'm glad you brought this up. I think it may be worth further thought. If you subscribe to this then you can dispense with the notion that there was an unfinished mythical "Elements Suite" out there.  The important thing is that the Elemental themes came through... And since Fire was the only one tracked as such then that's what made the hand-written track list.

Anyway, I'm rambling a bit but this old post from Brian definitely came to mind as I was reading through the thread.

The Smile Party tape may warrant a more in-depth listening because (going on memory) it sounds like Brian is directing the negative vibes (similar to the Vegetables arguments).  Like the Mike Love H&V narration, it may behoove further study to confirm Brian's intentions for the recording.

I think the theory has merit as yet another factor that could have distracted/derailed the project.

- upped pressure to match it chart-wise
- upped pressure to top it artistically
- vindication of Mike's lyrics potentially changing the dynamic of their relationship at the time
- vindication of the modular approach

Also, I disagree that it "being a hit" is the same thing as it "hitting no. 1", particularly given the time and effort involved in producing it. The week of December 10 seems to line up with a shift in the project.

The intro verse bit in WTW is verrrrry similar to the DYLW verse.

I haven't seen this mentioned/discussed before (I could be wrong!) but I think it warrants a new thread simply to draw attention to it. So Little Bird isn't the only "updated" Smile track on Friends...

Sweet cover photo. Is that from the December 15 Surf's Up filming?

As far as I know, the only album it appears on is the Pop Symphony No. 1, which has the backing track. Considering the rest of the songs are remakes, this leads me to believe that this was its "proper" album release.

I don't know if people have jumped on this "Summer of Wilson" thing but there's something to it if they can pull it off. Let Mike have '67, 2015 is the #SummerOfWilson.