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680601 Posts in 27601 Topics by 4068 Members - Latest Member: Dae Lims March 29, 2024, 03:31:10 PM
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1  Smiley Smile Stuff / General On Topic Discussions / Re: CIFOTM unknown vocals on: May 26, 2019, 05:26:49 AM
Hello

Is anybody has informations about these vocals? I found that on "Audiogalaxy" in the early 2000'. It's been almost 15 years I didn't listen to it and I find it intriguing.

Thanks

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1GyDVKnpv0REULPI87vVnLDs8ODZmKFCv/view?usp=sharing

I remember downloading this a from a link posted on the old Smile Shop in early 2000 (the date stamp on my download is March 20).  Can't believe that nearly 20 years have slipped by.  I'm afraid I can't remember the name of the creator (possibly Chris someone?) but it was part of a hobby project to fill in the missing pieces of Smile with new vocals.  He said something along the lines of, "Unfortunately I can't sing like a Beach Boy, more like a beach bum".  Anyway, I always thought his new Child verse melody was rather good, although the words are too much like a retread of Caroline No nostalgia.  The backing vocals in the bridge are flown in from the H&V sessions and the Don't Talk "Unreleasd Background" outtake on the 1990 Pet Sounds CD.   
2  Smiley Smile Stuff / General On Topic Discussions / Re: CD Twofers Sound Quality 1990 vs. 2001 on: November 24, 2018, 04:45:50 PM
I've always preferred the 1990 CD's despite the noise reduction because the EQ is less harsh and the volume isn't maximized (less compression than on the 2001's).  But I hear if you listen to them with a processor that's HDCD capable, the 2001's sound better.

It turns out that, like many HDCDs, the 2001 Capitol twofers don't use the peak extension feature so there is absolutely no difference in the dynamic range when they are played back with HDCD decoding.  The 1997 Pet Sounds box does use HDCD peak extension and has a significantly wider dynamic range when properly decoded (at least when I look at the spectrum in Audacity - I must admit I struggle to hear the difference with computer speakers). 

HDCD was a strange beast.  If the peak extension feature is used, the playback will be inferior if the disc is not decoded with HDCD.   On the other hand, a normal CD has sufficient dynamic range that the disc would have sounded just as good on a normal CD player if had been mastered without compression in 16 bits.  It may be worth noting that HDCD can now be decoded in software (e..g with Windows Media Player or libhdcd on Linux).   
3  Smiley Smile Stuff / General On Topic Discussions / Re: MiC up for order on Amazon, August release on: June 21, 2013, 04:18:01 PM
For that matter, the Good Vibes box was transformative in how I looked at the band. I only had a hits collection and some BW albums. The attractive packaging and curated contents were appealing to someone who didn't know where to start, and didn't want to buy a bunch of obscure records.

It's worth remembering that in the mid-90s most of the Beach Boys' records were not just obscure but out of print.  In the UK, the only original albums on the shelves were Pet Sounds, Today/Summer Days, Smiley Smile/Wild Honey and Friends/20 20. On the GVBS the proportion of material that was unobtainable elsewhere was therefore about 60%.  We weren't talking ephemera like the backing track to Transcendental Meditation either but some of the Beach Boys' greatest work -  things like Till I Die, Surf's Up, This Whole World, Forever, not to mention about 80% of the Smile material that's worth hearing.  In those pre-Internet days the GVBS was an essential purchase for any new fan.  The case for spending £100 on a 6 CD set today is much, much less compelling.   A newcomer would surely be better advised to buy a few twofers from Amazon for about £5 each.
4  Smiley Smile Stuff / General On Topic Discussions / Re: Smiley Smile was a joke. on: September 13, 2008, 07:01:02 AM
The Sea Of Tunes 18 bootleg shows Smiley Smiley in a very different light.  The piano arrangements and vocals are as beautiful as anything on Smile when they're allowed to breath in stereo and not smothered in that cloying organ sound.  "Evil twin" is exactly the relationship between the bubbly Smile arrangement of Wind Chimes and the forlorn cannabis psychosis atmosphere of its Smiley counterpart.  It perfectly captures the feeling of early autumn when the nights are getting cold, the wasps are feeding on the fallen apples and you're wondering where the time went.  If there was an act of sabotage it was in the final mono mix.
5  Smiley Smile Stuff / General On Topic Discussions / Re: Origins of Brians '80s' voice on: July 07, 2006, 07:55:10 PM
John Lennons voice didn't change dramatically the day he started pot.

Maybe not the day after, no, but Lennon had screwed up his voice quite dreadfully by 1969.  The songs were so great that perhaps it never mattered, but he would never again be able to pull off a "Hard Day's Night" style delivery.  I think "And Your Bird Can Sing" was the last time he came close.  His 24 year old self would have cringed if he had heard the 1975 rendition of "Stand By Me".  It's not a bad performance - Lennon's vocal frailty makes the song even more moving - but the "brassy glare" (to use Ian MacDonald's phrase) that was one of the trademarks of the early Beatles has vanished.
 
 
6  Smiley Smile Stuff / General On Topic Discussions / Re: Is Carl Lying? on: May 07, 2006, 02:04:29 PM

I think the homemade production WAS, as you state, a let down. It's personal taste, of course, but I think Brian's music suffered when he eased out of the Western/Sunset Sound/Wrecking Crew mode of recording and moved into the simpler, home studio style. While I can appreciate parts of Wild Honey and Friends, I still prefer the "full blown" BW productions. Do you think the listening public did too?

But wasn't it the quest for studio perfection in the Smile period that brought Brian to creative breakdown in the first place?  I think Brian was suffering from a lack of discipline, but it wasn't limited to the home studio.  In the professional studio he eventually had too much freedom to rework obsessively and become unable to make decisions.  Did the listening public prefer the full blown stuff?  Probably it did, but a rawer style was becoming fashionable in the late 60s  e.g. Music From Big Pink, John Wesley Harding, White Album.   The Beach Boys might have been able to sell Wild Honey as their "Big Pink" with better PR.  I think Friends is a pretty damn good production.  It's instrumentally sparse in places, but it has all of the old vocal warmth.

Quote
The period of 1967-70 certainly did contain some worthwhile music. But I think it's a stretch, even as a faithful diehard, to say it was SUSTAINED brilliance, rivaling everything before. Rivaling Today, Pet Sounds, Good Vibrations?

The band never released another album as consistently good as Pet Sounds before or after 1966.  Sunflower comes quite close and I would say it's a better album song for song than Today or Summer Days.  For me, the frequency and magnitude of the highpoints are comparable in both eras.
7  Smiley Smile Stuff / General On Topic Discussions / Re: Is Carl Lying? on: May 07, 2006, 11:19:24 AM
The Beach Boys went a year and a few months from the release of Pet Sounds to Smiley Smile. Back in those days, that was good for about two new albums. What if Brian never met Van Dyke Parks at that party, never asked him to write lyrics, and decided to stick with Love, Asher, himself, or somebody else. What if Brian continued to produce music a la Summer Days & Summer Nights, Pet Sounds, and even "Good Vibrations". You know, commercial, ground breaking, accessible, Beach Boys' sounding music. 

Isn't that close to what the Beach Boys achieved?  Wild Honey is filled with Wilson-Love songs in the classic style, let down in places by the homemade production.  Songs like "Let The Wind Blow" stand with their best work.  Listen again to the live version of "Aren't You Glad".  Then we have Friends with a proper Brian Wilson sound and more eccentric (but still great) compositions.  By the 1969-1970 era, songs such as "We're Together Again", "Do It Again", "Breakaway", "This Whole World", "All I Want To Do" (Sunflower), "Forever", "Cool Cool Water", "Slip On Through", "It's About Time", "Lady", "Sound Of Free", "Till I Die" and "Big Sur" (first version) were meeting your specifications exactly.  The group, especially Dennis and Carl, filled the void as Brian began to withdraw, but his guiding spirit is unmistakably there.  The work was not always released in the most commercially sensible way, but 1967-70 was a period of sustained brilliance that rivals everything that went before.  It's a pity that there were few sympathetic listeners.
8  Non Smiley Smile Stuff / General Music Discussion / Re: "Free as a Bird" and "Real Love" on: February 21, 2006, 06:59:20 PM
These are nothing new to anyone who's been around Beatle boots for awhile, but some may not have heard 'em, and they're pretty neat.
First up is a cool little digitally doctored version of "Free As A Bird" that was created (I think) by OOPSing the released track, and then editing in parts of the original Lennon demo. It's extremely well done, you'd think it was legit. Lennon's vocal loses the "tin can" effect, and it comes across as a kind of unplugged version with strummed acoustic guitars to the fore and no Ringo.

Chance, thanks for sharing!  If there were some way to isolate and add George's lead to create a raw, "Maybe I'm Amazed"-like marriage of guitar and piano, it would be perfect.   I wonder why they decided to bury John's voice in the released version.  Were they trying to evoke a "beyond the grave" feel?
9  Non Smiley Smile Stuff / General Music Discussion / Re: Beatles for Sale on: January 17, 2006, 05:05:53 PM
If you replaced Honey Don't, Words Of Love and Everybody's Trying To Be My Baby and the ghastly Mr Moonlight with the coentaneous I Feel Fine, She's A Woman and Leave My Kitten Alone, you'd have a 13-track LP that is easily the equal of A Hard Day's Night or Help!  Thank goodness these wrongs can now be easily righted with CD burners and and iPods.
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