Does a vintage 1966/67 studio recording of Barnyard exist with the backing vocals, but without the animal sounds? If so, does it circulate?

AFAIK, no. The backing track of Barnyard with the BVs and animal sounds on most Smile boots is acetate sourced. I think Capitol still has the multitracks for the backing itself, though.

I think it was mixed or produced in a way that takes away some of the magnificent beauty of the instrumental arrangements (some of Brian's best work), even if the vocal harmonies are some of the finest they've done. Great album though.

Kinda agree - though I think the muddy/phil Spector sound is what he wanted....could a stellar cleaned-up stereo version be made? Would Linett do that? Would BRI approve? That'd be great...

There already have been stereo mixes of Today! songs officially released, so I can't see why a full album wouldn't be allowed. I think everyone's focusing on the Smile sessions too much at the moment for that, though.

Pretend you're the tomboy in question. Do you want a 37-year-old balding man threatening to "teach you to kih-ih-iss" and "make you feel just like thih-ih-is"? And would you want a 36-year-old fat guy with a hairy chest, beard, and poorly-groomed hair and with a smoker's voice telling you he's had his eye on you?

You could really assign the same argument to most of late 70's Brisongs. I Wanna Pick You Up being one of the fan favorites, methinks.

Can someone tell me what specifically Brian is diagnosed with? I am wondering if we share any similar diagnoseses.

AFAIK, it's Schizoaffective disorder.

...Oh, wait, you wanted me to make a joke about your post quality. Uh, well, I'm sure you two have very much in common outside of the mental illness department.

It's really none of our business, is it? I would hope not personally, but it's neither up to me, nor is it up to anyone in the world besides Brian himself, perhaps his wife and managers as well.

You may want to consider just uploading the collected MP3/FLAC/WAVs to a file sharing site like Mediafire and spreading them around. Sure, it's not as glamorous as Youtube, but at least people will still be able to hear your work.

In light of like 3/4 of the Beach Boys song articles being deleted from the proper wikipedia (meanwhile, trash like http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2CGF_Z3yZAo this has a wiki article for, I don't know, being done more recently?), I wanted to know if anyone would be interested in getting anything like this going? Obviously stuff like Andrew's site is invaluable to a fan, but I was compiling a mix for a few friends over the last few weeks and was looking for specific info on some songs and just couldn't find it. There's so much to know if you're interested and, unfortunately, it can be hard to track it all down sometimes.

I know nothing about getting one started, but would love to contribute! What says you?

More importantly, who would be hosting it? Who would be the web master?

[PM]

Just wondering who thinks "Holiday"  would or would not have made the Smile cut. I enjoy the track but feel it is way under produced compared to any of Brian's other instrumentals. For me I feel it would have been left off because I think it doesn't fit anywhere on the album very well. What are your guys opinion?

I agree with the comments above: the sound quality of the circulating versions is not very good (however, you should listen to the restoration I did on this) and maybe the track -as we know it and a Brian left it- is maybe incomplete. Maybe it was even intended to have some vocals in it or whatever ...

Do you mind sending me a PM of your restored version of the track? I would love to hear it!

I'd like to hear it too.

When the group recorded their version of "I Was Made to Love Her", was James Jamerson's original bass line recreated? Or was it simplified? In my opinion, that bass line as played by James Jamerson is one of the all time best in rock music. But it seems complicated to me. But then again I have no training or any real knowledge of chord patterns.

If you listen to the Sea of Tunes boots on the song, you can hear it being recreated in the sessions. Brian cut off the opening from the finished product, though, for some unfathomable reason.

Bearing in mind that Mark and Alan may have got/found new stuff, what do we believe is missing

1. Multitracks for Wonderful and YAMS
2. Surf's Up second movement

That's a starter for ten..........what else

A proper Barnyard w/ BVs multitrack/vocal, for one. The one on most SMiLE boots is acetate sourced.

He's describing that same tape box photo which Ed Roach himself debunked on this board a few weeks ago - I guess that photo and those tape boxes were considered legit until the story came out.

I don't remember Ed debunking it. I think he posted a thread about it a few weeks ago, asking for any information on the subject. After a couple of arguments about the authenticity about it, the thread sort of floundered without any hard information in regards to the tape boxes.

It's interesting in light of this discussion and others like it to remember there was talk of Don Was and Todd Rundgren being involved in a possible Smile CD-Rom release in the mid-90's which would have collected all the Smile tracks and let fans have a go at sequencing it on their own. It was a very forward-thinking approach which pre-dated a lot of similar projects that put the control in the hands of the fans, but their timing both in the history of the band and Brian and the technology available was a bit too early for anything to happen.

Reminds me of the nice "Project SMiLE" interactive CD-ROM that was floating around fan circles a few years ago.

I actually still have that CD. Wonderful thing, even if a bit outdated nowadays.

And I never understood the obsession with Smile tracklists and sequences which led to the dozens of fan mixes through the years.

It's part of the allure to Smile. The ability to fashion any track order you wanted from the bits and pieces available. It's the ultimate do-it-yourself album. And it's going to stay that way, even after the boxset is released. In fact, I think it's a safe bet to say it'll only add fuel to the fire.

People need to realize that BWPS and what Mark & Alan are going to hack up isn't trying to be the definitive, authentic release of what was to come out in January 1967. They aren't trying to be a be all and end all of Smile, and nothing ever will be, not unless someone goes back in time and convinces Brian to finish it. (Actually, I think that subject was vaguely touched on in a fiction book I read a while ago. Gave me quite the pleasant shock.) All they are, is an attempt to carve out some sort of finished product out of what we have now. And that's all they'll ever be.

Alright so. ah, I've got to put it on now. Sounds so good!

I think my favourite thing about this pressing is that, for reasons unknown, the "Each time things start to happen again..." verse of IJWMFTT seems to go nearly acapella. It's wonderful when it all comes thundering back in.

I think that was a flaw on the master tape or something intentional from Brian. It's like that for every mono mastering I have, including the DCC, AF, and 40th Anniversary remasters.

SDT is overmetalized, the lyrics are awful, and Mike just couldn't sing properly on this one. Worst song on Surf's Up IMO.

What songs are considered to be recorded in a modular technique? (obviously by the BW):

From what I know:
-GV
-Cabinessence
-H&V
-Roll Plymouth Rock?
-Rio Grande
-Child is the Father of the Man
-I'm in Great Shape/I wanna Be Around/Friday Night?
-On A Holiday/Wind Chimes?
-Water/Love to Say Dada/Blue Hawaii?

-The whole Smile album

Cool Cool Water.

Don't Fight the Sea ain't bad. It's actually one of the highlights on the Postcard to California album. Still, I think it embraces modern production values far too much to be truly great. And Al was never the best songwriter of the BB's, even in their prime. Still, you have to dig those massive vocal hooks.

...

Looking Back With Love and Carl Wilson are fine. Country Love and Youngblood deserve to be buried in a landfill, not reissued.

"Our Prayer": Almost definitely the mix on the box set.

"Heroes And Villains": I'm hoping for a clearer mastering of the Cantina mix, myself. Along with a whole smörgåsbord of various sessions.

"Do You Like Worms": Probably just a remix of what we already have. I doubt they've found any lead vocals for it, judging by what comments on the subject people have already made.

"Barnyard": I think this'll be one of the real treats on the boxset. I have a strong feeling they've found the multitracks for this, based on the inner groove to the H&V/GV single, and, again, from several comments made on this forum by people in the know.

"Old Master Painter/You Are My Sunshine": Probably the exact same version we've always had, unless a miracle happens and they find Denny's Old Master Painter vocals.

"Cabin Essence": I'd have to agree with the 20/20 version, mixed/folded down to mono, of course. Again, unless a miracle happens.

"Wonderful": Boxset version, unless they decide to include the Rock With Me Henry section for some odd reason.

"Look": Maybe there's a way to restore the clarinet from the multitracks? Who knows.

"Child Is Father of the Man": Again, same as we've always had before in clearer sound. I'd cry of joy if they found a proper lead for this.

"Surf's Up": Probably very similar to the Purple Chick version, considering BWPS is the template for this.

"I'm in Great Shape": If they've found an early acetate of H&V with IIGS in it, sure. As for how the song itself'll sound on the set, haven't got a clue.

"I Wanna Be Around/Friday Night": If BWPS is the template, they'll definitely combine it with IIGS.

"Vega-Tables": Complete mystery to me.  Every Smile bootleg has a different mix of this song and there's never been a clear, concise order of what this is supposed to be.

"Holidays": Another highlight, if only because it'll be properly mastered in full clarity.

"Wind Chimes": Box set version.

"Mrs. O'Leary's Cow": With the box set intro, in much clearer sound.

"I Love to Say Da Da": Unless they've found leads, I'll agree with you.

"Good Vibrations": I'm secretly hoping they'll extract stereo vocals from the mono master tape for a full stereo mix.

Is Carl doubling himself on the end of Long Promised Road? The "I'd love to see you" bit. It sounds like someone is singing along with Carl during that bit.

If we have already heard mostly everything (and for what it's worth I believe we have) it's a shame the spinsters feel compelled to tell us bold faced lies that "everything on this box set will be new".  Hopefully once it's released someone will set the record straight in the mainstream media.

If you're going to quote someone, kindly do it accurately. From the 3/11 Billboard article:

BB - "Smile" is one of the most bootlegged albums of all time. What will be new for the listener?

ML - For most of them, the whole thing will be new. The Beach Boys have an enormous amount of material from their whole career and [since] we have been actively doing an archive project for about 10 years, there are things that we have discovered that the bootleggers missed.

"Most of them" is obviously Joe Q. Public, not the likes of us.

At the very least, however, he DID say that there are new things that "the bootleggers missed" in it. It's good enough for me. Anyone who expects everything in the boxset to be brand spanking new is going to be sorely disappointed. Personally, I'm just hoping for a decent quality version of Holidays. The instrumental version on the BWPS vinyl was god-like.

67. Free firehats with every purchase of the Smile boxset.

I am not sure this deserves it own thread so I will ask it here. I have seen gold cds for Pet Sounds that cost more then a regular cd. Could somebody explain to me the difference other then the color of the cd? I have not actually listened to one.

The gold CDs are the DCC, Steve Hoffman mastered ones. They are coated in gold instead of aluminum like a normal CD. The gold is there to preserve the longevity of the disk, there's no sound quality benefit to using gold over aluminum as it is a digital format. The enhanced audio quality comes from the mastering process.

I'd like to put forward the middle section to My Solution '70, too.