I also highly recommend we be more specific with our assertions, especially the big ones that are presented objectively. We can all say "Smile was OFFICIALLY not worked on after a fixed date" and anyone reading this might think, "Ok cool, so it's documented somewhere that each recording is for an album called Smile, until a certain date, and then all the documents said Smiley Smile."

But that isn't true. None of the documentation gives the name of the project, and there is no change in how tape boxes, AFM contracts, or anything else is written after a certain date, and certainly not in the post-Derek Taylor article time frame that people are giving here.

So, before we continue to spread more misinfo, let's be careful with what we're saying here, and know where things come from.

Once again, what is that date? What documentation suggests certain material is recorded for Smile, and then not Smile? The dates you previously provided were without source, and there was about a week of recorded Beach Boys music between them - how on earth do you explain that not being a part of either project if there is such a clear divide?

And once again, sections that were recorded in October 1966, February 1967, and April 1967 were all used on Smiley Smile. This is all without Good Vibrations. You are repeating misunderstandings that I have attempted to correct many times.

If we're going to continue with the narrative that Smiley Smile was made simpler for the stage band... please address my last post on page 7, and explain how every point makes the music "easier." No one has replied to it and I'm thinking that those making this assertion have not listened to Smiley Smile in a long, long time.

More and more mounds of misinfo.

The Da Da tracks were likely recorded during the Brian solo sessions on December 27 & 28 - they were done onto the 8-track Prayer reel, which Brian had just removed the DYLW verse onto.

Brian says he wrote CCW in March of 1967... great, but in May he was recording LTSDD, which is that song with different lyrics. It was recorded as CCW for the first time a few weeks later. I think we can trust the dates of what was actually recorded in favor of Brian remembering off hand when he wrote something. He also once said Smile was recorded in 1965, but I am trusting the actual dates on all of the documents over that memory.

Vega-Tables is the title of the track Brian was working with in 1966, which is mislabeled as a "demo" on the Smile Sessions box set. Vegetables is the title he was using from April-June, and that includes the "Smile version" I presume you are talking about, the Smiley version, and everything in between. To refuse to use the titles Brian himself was using across all documentation in favor of something more familiar is to create confusion and miscommunications.

Ah yes, that good old Priore book. Lots of "info", very few sources. Lots of what he's said in that book has been debunked by the documentation, which has slowly revealed itself to fans over the years, and some of what's said in that book, as has been determined by real data, was entirely invented by Domenic Priore. I'm surprised people are still going to that book for Smile information, but I guess that truly shows how big the need is for something actually backed up by the tapes and the music.

By the way, how much interest is there in the actual facts regarding dates and documents and when splices were made, etc? I would think that would be right up the alley of every Smile fan on earth, but I've been surprised to see a lot of the info, which has been revealed here for the first time, completely ignored! Brian splicing the Worms verse from Worms (which he'd otherwise just chopped up for Heroes) and planning to use it as an intro for the original Da Da, via notes on the tape box? I thought that would get a big reaction!

Putting aside the debates regarding contemporary quotes and what they mean re Smile's transition into Smiley Smile, I'm surprised that most of the new information that's being given in this thread from original documents is kind of getting washed over. That's the part that fascinates me the most - the music, and exactly how, when, and where it was made. Through that, Brian's rapidly changing plans can be traced, as can his increasing interesting in minimal tracks, and instruments that are stacked by himself, rather than played by a live ensemble.

Liz, with all due respect, you have been posting mounds and mounds of misinformation, accumulated from decades of incorrect assumptions made about Smile before the resources were available. It's required consistent correcting, and when Will and I give information that may be new to you about what sections were recorded when, it comes from AFM contracts, tape boxes, Capitol files, content of actual tapes, and careful scrutiny in comparing all of the above. It isn't "revisionist history" to say Love to Say Da Da wasn't recorded as a section for The Elements, when piles of documentation confirm that's the case, and when that was only ever an assumption made by researchers in an attempt to make the album easier to understand. If the facts do not fit a narrative, it is not the facts that are revisionist and must change.

Yeah, and I think it's important to notice that Brian's personal involvement in the tracking is actually a really great example of the creeping Smiley ethic that slowly overtakes the Dumb Angel ethic -- On Pet Sounds, Brian outsourced all the playing to the Studio players (save That's Not Me and a short piano o/d on the title track) but almost from the beginning of the Dumb Angel/Smile project, Brian starts to take back some instrumental responsibility (And I think he used Van as a sort of proxy for himself, in a weird way.)  Carl also very slowly gets more involved that he had been for about a year or so.  We have these really small, assembly-line type productions in Great Shape, Wonderful (1&2), Wind Chimes (2), that are just Brian or Van (or Dorothy the harpist) and a bass and/or some other minimal instrumentation.  Then Brian keeps pushing in that direction until we get to the Heroes and Vegetables stuff that is just Brian essentially doing everything himself on 8-track.

It really is a slow, smooth transition into something very different. Smile and Smiley Smile are a lot more similar than people realize, and Smile and Pet Sounds are pretty damn different. It's that distinct Baldwin + detuned piano texture that just makes everyone think there was some bizarre 180 in Brian's production methods.

Another interesting production technique Brian settles on is the use of a basic track as a silent click to be heard while overdubbing, but not to be mixed in the song. Wind Chimes is a great example, where everything is overdubbed on top of his loose piano performance, but the piano itself is silenced in the mix. This is something he'll keep doing during Wild Honey, especially with some off-mic drumming as a guide. But that's largely thrown out the window with Friends, when he returns to live band tracks as he'd done on Pet Sounds and some of Smile.

The Beach Boys were using the studio as an instrument too much so he... enlisted the help of engineers to create new studio techniques (the pitched-but-not-sped-up She's Goin' Bald vocals) and increased the dynamic contrast between the hard-edited sections of songs?

It's actually a kind of interesting point; if there is a concrete distinction to be made between the Smile sessions and the Smiley Smile sessions, I think it's entirely fair to say that the Smiley Smile sessions were much more "produced" than the earlier Dumb Angel and 66->67 stuff.  In some ways, it's completely a by-product of Brian settling into the home studio, but I think the increasingly default use of 8-track contributes as well.  Dumb Angel and the core Smile productions are very much products of the 3-track age, and what ends up on Smiley is a lot more 8-tracky.  But again, it's not like one day they stopped recording on 4-track and only recorded on 8-track.  Marimba version of Wind chimes is such a great example of a very Smiley style production ethic on what is considered a very Smile track, because it was assembled via 8-track instead of recorded as a band making a master take.

And of course, we can easily see that Brian's interested in sound effects start on things like the Great Shape tape explosion, and come to fruition with the Eltro.

Exactly. And much of that also comes with Brian being in a position where he enjoys layering the instruments himself without the help of other musicians. But as you say, there are hints of that throughout Smile, such as Wind Chimes. It's clear that it was all eventually leading up to a full project based around that style of production.

Also, check out the middle section of Smiley Wind Chimes, and the reverb that gets applied throughout. By Dennis' last "tinkling" they sound like they're at the bottom of a well.

And to get back to what this was originally about - when exactly in this list does the music become "reproduceable" by the touring band, where it wasn't before?

But can you tell between which exact 2 recordings listed here that that change was made? Or exactly which vocals were recorded in a swimming pool? Where is this sudden shift, if it's so sudden, and how exactly did it help live performances become easier?

You'll have to ask the fans and the writers who were hammering the band in 1967 what they heard in the band's live performances that didn't sound enough like the records. If you make projects more of a band effort, have the same guys on stage that were recording the music as well as the vocals, and have less complex studio creations like Good Vibrations and Heroes (more in some of its original forms) that relied on technology and the recording studio itself as an instrument, it might help bridge the gap and please more of those fans who were complaining.

So, the fans and critics were complaining so hard about the drums-bass-guitar band not sounding like the record, that not only did it completely derail the project, but it forced the band to record music that sounded closer to the touring band.

So Brian removed most of the bass and guitar from his productions, and all of the drums. He based all the new arrangements around his Baldwin organ and Chickering grand piano, neither of which were used by the touring band. He added melodica, found percussion, children's choirs, and various sound effects to the songs, made the tempos freer, and generally complicated the chord progressions and vocal arrangements.

The Beach Boys were using the studio as an instrument too much so he... enlisted the help of engineers to create new studio techniques (the pitched-but-not-sped-up She's Goin' Bald vocals) and increased the dynamic contrast between the hard-edited sections of songs?

Songs like Good Vibrations and Heroes and Villains were too hard, so... both songs were included on the album? And the verse section of Heroes, which is Smile at its Spectorian peak, had even more instruments overdubbed, and a more involved vocal arrangement...

All for the Beach Boys to not play any new songs from the album live, besides Gettin' Hungry, which only sounds like the record because... Brian needed to bring his Baldwin to Hawaii if the band wanted him to go. They played it 2 nights in a row and then never again.

Do you see how this theory, as interesting as it sounds, makes absolutely zero sense?

Also, how many critics can you name that came at the band with this exact complaint?

But can you tell between which exact 2 recordings listed here that that change was made? Or exactly which vocals were recorded in a swimming pool? Where is this sudden shift, if it's so sudden, and how exactly did it help live performances become easier?

And to get back to what this was originally about - when exactly in this list does the music become "reproduceable" by the touring band, where it wasn't before?

I think that the changing texture is of major consequence! This entire era is my favorite to study for many reasons, and that's one of them. Once Brian gets comfortable in his new studio setup, and begins using the Baldwin, the detuned grand, and other tools rather consistently, the recordings really gel with another, and it makes sense that the album didn't really get going until a general sound was found. I just happen to disagree that there's an exact moment where it all changes. When you say 30 minutes of Smile music, do you mean stuff like Cabin Essence, the bigger Heroes sections, Good Vibrations, My Only Sunshine, and other big productions? Or material like Cantina, the early Da Da, Vega-Tables, bridge to indians, mission pak, the Worms chorus, or other sections that involve just piano and vocals?

It's a wonderful bag of varied music, but there's a slow, gradual change toward the more intimate sound of Smiley, if you look at things chronologically. Vegetables in April had one session that involved an ensemble of session players - the rest was just a few keyboards and an upright! If you still think Brian couldn't have possibly cancelled the album called Smile until after he... cancelled the album called Smile... here's a list of the next few recordings that he did from scratch (not including overdubs to the Heroes verse and chorus, or Vegetables sections from April, which were done during this time period):

Love To Say Da Da (Part 1) - grand piano, tack piano, 6-string bass, bass, temple blocks, drums
Love To Say Da Da (Part 2) - grand piano, Hammond organ, electric guitars, 6-string bass, bass, drums, claves, clarinets, vocals
Love To Say Da Da (Second Day) - grand piano, upright piano, acoustic guitar, 6-string bass, upright bass, bongos, mark tree, piccolos
You're With Me Tonight (Version 1) - 2 electric basses, vocals
You're With Me Tonight (Version 2) - harpsichord, vocals
You're With Me Tonight (Version 3) - bass, upright bass, harpsichord, snaps, claps, vocals
Cool, Cool Water - harpsichord, vocals
Heroes And Villains: Children Were Raised - electric harpsichord, organ, vocals
Heroes And Villains: Barbershop - vocals
Vegetables (Unused Attempt) - grand piano, organ, bass
Vegetables - bass, tuned water jugs, celery, vocals
Little Pad - grand piano, organ, steel guitar, marimba, claves, ukulele, sound effects, vocals

Where exactly is the major change, after which things sounded nothing like anything they'd done before? It has to be exactly between 2 of these, right? Keep in mind that most of the stuff Brian had done until this point was not much more than piano and vocals for the past few months.

No. Once again, two things are being discussed here, and are being confused as one. The next album by the Beach Boys was not scrapped, because, well, the Beach Boys released an album. What was initially planned to be on that album, was scrapped. Songs and titles and bits and pieces were being "scrapped" every day. At one point, with all the press and the excitement that was generated for the album, it would have to be clarified that the next album would not look like what was initially promised.

The "next album" the Beach Boys released had not even been started when Taylor's article appeared announcing the album had been scrapped. So when Carl Wilson said specifically "we started from scratch" to make Smiley Smile, was he wrong? Starting from scratch is not the same as reshaping and reworking the existing project into something new. And the change to Smiley Smile was obviously not planned too far in advance if they had to rent studio gear, have a rented Gates Dualux radio station mixing console on Brian's kitchen table among other places, and cables running across the floors of his new house in order to record there. That's where the 2 weeks immediately following the band's return from Europe become so key to the timeline and history, as that looks more like the exact time when they shifted gears dramatically.

Are you suggesting there is no dividing line, no end point to separate what was being worked on as Smile from what was released as Smiley Smile? If so, then would that also suggest titling the box set "The Smile Sessions" was a mistake or a misnomer if there was no "Smile" project and it was just something that turned into the next album?

No. Yet again, we are talking about different things, and confusing them for the same thing. Work on material that was to end up on the next Beach Boys album started as soon as Pet Sounds was done, and never stopped. What the album was called and what recordings were going to be on it changed significantly, just about every week. At one point, it was going to be something called Smile. At another, it was called Smiley Smile, and it ended up completely different from how it started, save for Good Vibrations, Heroes, Vegetables, and many of the songs themselves. Almost everything on Smiley Smile was completely done over from scratch. In fact, most songs were started over from scratch more than once before the home studio ever existed. There are some recordings that obviously belong to one era and not the other (Cabin Essence being worked on purely during the Smile era, and Little Pad being a home studio creation), but there is no exact dividing line between the two projects. One became the other. If there is a date that we can say we know the album would not have been the same, it is May 6, via the press release. However, we know that the project had changed significantly long before then, and would continue to change significantly until the album was assembled.

These are facts, and they are not contradictory. And none of these facts suggest that Brian added melodica, celeste, Baldwin organ, a children's choir, and a spoken section to Wonderful in order to make the records more closely resemble the bass-drums-guitar touring lineup.

Well, by "Smile", what exactly do you mean? What exact sequence of songs are you referring to, and what exact structure of each song?

The next album by the Beach Boys was never scrapped. It was continually changing. If you're asking if the exact moment Brian scrapped that list of 12 songs in favor of the 11 songs on Smiley Smile is known, well, that moment simply doesn't exist. We can know when lots of little changes were made, though. For example, Do You Like Worms was no longer a song by December 27, at the latest. The tape evidence suggests that the song had been chopped up on or before that date, with the chorus being removed to after the opening Heroes verse (where it would be "Heroes and Villains part 2" for the next month), and the verse was removed to the Prayer reel, where Da Da would immediately be recorded onto (it was possibly going to be used as an intro here). For another example, My Only Sunshine was no longer on the album by February 10, when Brian replaced the group vocals with his own voice, and used it as the fadeout to Heroes and Villains. Small little changes like these are traceable, as Smile turns from one thing into another. The album is a completely different entity in Brian's mind with each week, and to refuse to see it that way is to intentionally misunderstand Brian's working methods of the time.

None of the recordings made for Smile were used on Smiley Smile so that marks a clear delineation where Smile stopped and Smiley Smile started.  Love to Say Dada was not used on Smiley Smile and MAY have been the last thing recorded for Smile.  Cool Cool Water was not Love to Say Dada.  It was the first thing Brian wrote in his new house and was only merged with the chant from Love to Say Dada in January 1970 for Sunflower.


The scrapping of Smile and the plan for Smiley Smile (then unnamed) must have been discussed when the group returned from the tour and what Brian may have been referring to when Bruce suggested using the album they had in the can - he made a remark about a big argument.   

So we don't know the exact date but somewhere between 19th May and 6th June negations took place and an agreement reached.

Crucially the Beach Boys were given credit as producers even though Brian produced it.  That means a pay off - they got money for producing the album even though they didn't and as Steve Desper said Beach Boys politics is follow the money.  They didn't want Smile.  Brian took it off them and paid them for it with the credit and by using some of the material but mostly changed, and delivering the album really quickly which was vital because they were behind with contractual obligations and Capitol were not paying enough royalties.

Lots of this is false info, so I think some things should be clarified again -

First of all, the "Love to Say Da Da chant" was recorded under the title Cool, Cool Water, in Brian's home studio. It either comes from the main Smiley Smile period, or possibly later during Wild Honey.

Second, LTSDD and CCW are the same song musically, which was first written in December 1966. The chord progression is identical, though the lyrical subject matter has changed. But there's no significant difference between that change and say, the significant restructure Wind Chimes went through from August-October 1966, or the massive changes Child is Father of the Man went through, or the big change in tone Wonderful went through from December to January... not to mention Heroes & Villains being completely rewritten and re-recorded just about every week in January-March 1967. So why does the distinct project "Smile" have to be abandoned some time between these two recordings, both of which were recorded in L.A. studios outside of Brian's house, and neither of which appeared on the list of Smile songs from 1966 OR Smiley Smile? Where on EARTH did that bizarre theory come from, and why is it being repeated so often?

It should also be noted that the Heroes verse was recorded October 20, 1966, the chorus was recorded in February 1967, and the last few sections of Vegetables were recorded in April 1967. So, if there must be a distinct switch from one album to another, based on what material appears on Smiley, I guess Smile had to be scrapped before October 20? Or if we're counting Good Vibrations, before February 17, 1966, during the Pet Sounds era? Or perhaps, Smile/Smiley Smile was a flowing project that went through dozens of changes over time, and didn't become productive again until Brian started re-recording things in his house.

No. Once again, two things are being discussed here, and are being confused as one. The next album by the Beach Boys was not scrapped, because, well, the Beach Boys released an album. What was initially planned to be on that album, was scrapped. Songs and titles and bits and pieces were being "scrapped" every day. At one point, with all the press and the excitement that was generated for the album, it would have to be clarified that the next album would not look like what was initially promised.

Well, by "Smile", what exactly do you mean? What exact sequence of songs are you referring to, and what exact structure of each song?

The next album by the Beach Boys was never scrapped. It was continually changing. If you're asking if the exact moment Brian scrapped that list of 12 songs in favor of the 11 songs on Smiley Smile is known, well, that moment simply doesn't exist. We can know when lots of little changes were made, though. For example, Do You Like Worms was no longer a song by December 27, at the latest. The tape evidence suggests that the song had been chopped up on or before that date, with the chorus being removed to after the opening Heroes verse (where it would be "Heroes and Villains part 2" for the next month), and the verse was removed to the Prayer reel, where Da Da would immediately be recorded onto (it was possibly going to be used as an intro here). For another example, My Only Sunshine was no longer on the album by February 10, when Brian replaced the group vocals with his own voice, and used it as the fadeout to Heroes and Villains. Small little changes like these are traceable, as Smile turns from one thing into another. The album is a completely different entity in Brian's mind with each week, and to refuse to see it that way is to intentionally misunderstand Brian's working methods of the time.

Sure, good point, but again, there are 2 things being talked about here, and we're confusing them for the same thing. Brian's original plan for the album had been scrapped. Brian was still working on an album for the Beach Boys, and there wasn't a new title for it yet. These 2 facts are not contradictory.

As for Bruce talking about Smile I believe Smile was still considered the name of the next album but what that album was going to include was evolving and Brian wasn’t communicating that to his band mates probably because he was struggling with those decisions himself.

Bingo. Also, if Bruce hadn't even seen the NME article from May 6, I wouldn't be surprised in the slightest.

It's worth mentioning that Bruce had not been in the studio with Brian Wilson for at least 2 months by May 27. He was getting weirded out by the drugs, and had been distancing himself for a while. He wasn't part of the April Vegetables sessions at all. If he seemed out of touch with what Brian's plans were by then... well, he was! All of the band were, all of the time. Everyone has expressed frustration over the years at Brian's lack of explaining things during this time. Brian's plans were kept in his head, although with all of this documentation and Craig Slowinski's great Smile sessionography being available to us now, it's easier for fans to see the progression of Brian's ideas now in 2022 than it was for the Beach Boys at the time, who were often given arrangements to sing and pig sounds to make without having any idea of how it was going to fit together.

It seems pretty clear that Derek Taylor and Bruce/The Beach Boys/Capitol were using the word Smile to mean 2 very different things. When Derek said the album was scrapped, he was referring to Brian and Van Dyke's original vision as of ~October 1966. Of course, we know this now, and it's obvious that this had been the case for a while. An announcement that the next Beach Boys album would be different than initially promised was inevitable. Like I said, songs like Do You Like Worms were no longer in the running by the end of 1966. All of the work in 1967 until the announcement was purely focused on a single, and the project was on the back burner, while Brian slowly cannibalized many of his songs for the sake of producing a satisfying single.

What Bruce is referring to is the next Beach Boys album. The music that Brian worked on from September 1966 - July 1967 was all planned to be on the next Beach Boys album at the time it was recorded. The music changed significantly, but it was a gradual change. The Smiley Smile title hadn't been thought up by Brian's little cousin (I believe it first appears in a July article, although it was probably thought of earlier), so although the project was not the same as it started, Smile was probably still being used by the group to refer to whatever music Brian was working on at the time.

LTSDD was always a Beach Boys song that would've been on the next Beach Boys album after Pet Sounds at the time it was being worked on.

In late December 1966, who knows if this album would've been called Smile if Brian was forced to put it out then, but it would not have included Do You Like Worms, The Elements, or I'm in Great Shape, as those songs had been chopped up, used in other songs, or scrapped.

In May 1967, we know it would not have been called Smile. But LTSDD was a new Beach Boys recording, possibly something that Brian was doing specifically for Vegetables' B-side, and it would likely have appeared on the album too.

In early June, with the song now called Cool, Cool Water, it would have appeared on the new album. Brian was still working on a single, and that had been the focus for about half a year, but the single would probably be on the new album as well.

When the home studio was set up, there may have been an early attempt at Cool Cool Water, though that much isn't super clear as of yet. But whatever the case, the song was soon abandoned in favor of other material, and it did not end up on Smiley Smile. Brian continued to work on it over the coming years until it found its way onto Sunflower.

So, the whole "Love to Say Da Da is water" thing has been going around for a while, and somehow, despite lots of contrary information being available, it still goes around, so I thought I'd clarify a few things.

This was first assumed way back when, and it would be a reasonable assumption to make if Brian's music-making fit into a cohesive plan over long stretches of time, and if he wasn't going through rewrites and resketches of his ideas every single day. Love to Say Da Da is musically the same as Cool, Cool Water right? And wasn't Brian working on an "Elements" track? So that must've been the water section! It really makes perfect sense on paper. But, things aren't that simple.

The first mention of "The Elements" is in Frank Holmes' artwork, which was done from lyric sheets supplied by Brian and Van at the start of the project. At this point in time, "The Elements" was the title of a song that contained the lyric "my vega-tables." Essentially, it was the title for the song most people refer to as Vega-Tables or Vegetables. However, when the list of songs was written out for Capitol's mockup covers, "Vega-Tables" and "The Elements" were listed as two separate songs. So, "Vega-Tables" had been renamed, and "The Elements" title was now being used for another song. It was probably at this time that Brian had his plans to record a 4 part suite, with each part representing fire, earth, air, and water, as a few friends from the era have recalled.

This idea was first put on tape on November 28 at Gold Star, with the infamous Fire section (slated by Larry Levine as "part 1" of this song called "The Elements"). But even by the time Brian was leaving the session, he'd changed his plans: "Yeah, I'm going to call this 'Mrs. O'Leary's Fire' and I think it might just scare a whole lot of people" (Goodbye Surfing, Hello God). So by the end of that very day, a song titled "The Elements" no longer existed, and thus would not have appeared on Smile. "The Elements" is not a title that shows up on any tapes, Capitol contracts, or AFM sheets again. The 4 part idea was thrown away in favor of a fire-centric song called Mrs. O'Leary's Fire, which comes straight from Brian himself.

A few days later, of course, the building burned down, and even that song got thrown away. "I can do a candle and it's still a fire."

A month after all this, on either December 27 or 28, Brian records Love to Say Da Da for the first time, in 2 sections (The Smile Sessions, disc 4, tracks 8 & 9). It's titled "Da Da" on the tape box, but that is probably just shortened from the full title (the verse of DYLW was spliced onto this reel too, possibly as an intro for this new song, and is just called "Worms"). 5 months after this, from May 16-18, he re-records it, beefing it up from a few keyboards to a full wrecking crew production at Gold Star (The Smile Sessions, disc 4, tracks 10-13). Again, it goes unfinished. 2 and a half weeks later, he re-records it again at Western, now as Cool Cool Water. Also left unfinished. It gets re-recorded in several forms over the next few years, and finally ends up on Sunflower.

So, songs called The Elements and Love to Say Da Da never coexisted. One was written a month after the other was gone. A big misconception about Smile is that Brian was working on the same album continuously over the many months we call the Smile era. But Brian's changing of plans was occurring at a frantic pace. Of course, he had a vision and a plan for everything he recorded - but this plan looked different every day.

When the Boys returned to the US that May, Brian was still recording Smile. The Derek Taylor announcement, I think, was either premature or simply wrong when it was published. So the Boys return, upset at the criticism and here's Brian still recording tracks which could not be reproduced on the stage. There are possibly arguments, finger pointing, anger, etc.

I'm extremely confused... you think that the Beach Boys accidentally announced that their new album was scrapped, and then happened to scrap the new album later? All because Love to Say Da Da has clarinets instead of melodicas and children's choirs? The latter being somehow easier to reproduce on stage?

I'd like to know who told Derek Taylor to make that announcement.  Capitol didn't - they still had recording sessions scheduled after that date.  Brian could have but in July was still discussing the cover for Smile so it seems unlikely.  Who would that serve?  Who would Derek Taylor believe and accept their authority to act upon it?  Was the announcement made to cause the scrapping of the album?  Seems to have worked that way.

Brian Wilson. Derek was a publicist working for the Beach Boys, and Brian was the guy who was making all the decisions, especially about Smile. Any theory that Taylor went rogue and accidentally predicted the future, or just straight up lied (and became right), comes directly from crazy town. Smile was announced as "scrapped" (which meant temporarily put aside in favor of something else) on May 6, but it had not been worked on for many months before that. The Beach Boys still had recording sessions after that date because they never stopped working on an album. These recording sessions continued all the way until July 20.

I know who he was but why would Brian have told him to do a press release saying the album was scrapped in early May when he had studio sessions booked for a week or 2 later?  The Beach Boys were in Germany during that time so the sessions were not booked for them.  Someone in this thread said that someone else ran the session.  I must try and check.  I can't imagine someone other than Brian directing the session.  Capitol cancelled the sessions the next day.   Brian and Capitol are still in discussions about the cover for Smile in July.  I don't think Derek Taylor went rogue.  I think someone told him to issue the release I just don't know who or why. 

You say "It hadn't been worked on for many months"  and "they never stopped working on an album" - which is it?  In May there wasn't another album and Da Da was for Smile and that was the scheduled session.  Plus they didn't start working on Smiley until Brian's home studio was operational on 11 June.

The sessions for Love to Say Da Da are run by Brian, as can be heard on the 2011 box, as they are Beach Boys sessions, and Brian Wilson was their producer. Brian consulted with Derek Taylor about the press release because the Beach Boys would not be releasing an album called Smile as their next LP. There were sessions booked because the Beach Boys were recording artists under a contract that needed to deliver an album. Nothing about that is different from before the press release. It is specified in the press release itself that Smile is not being completely thrown away, and Smile discussions between the Beach Boys and record companies continued for many years. It seems like there's a big misunderstanding here, based on the way people want to classify Brian's recording sessions. There is nothing on the paperwork that suggests that something is a "Smile session" or "not a Smile session." They are all sessions for The Beach Boys and their new music, whether the album was called Smile or not. After May 6, it was not.

When the Boys returned to the US that May, Brian was still recording Smile. The Derek Taylor announcement, I think, was either premature or simply wrong when it was published. So the Boys return, upset at the criticism and here's Brian still recording tracks which could not be reproduced on the stage. There are possibly arguments, finger pointing, anger, etc.

I'm extremely confused... you think that the Beach Boys accidentally announced that their new album was scrapped, and then happened to scrap the new album later? All because Love to Say Da Da has clarinets instead of melodicas and children's choirs? The latter being somehow easier to reproduce on stage?

I'd like to know who told Derek Taylor to make that announcement.  Capitol didn't - they still had recording sessions scheduled after that date.  Brian could have but in July was still discussing the cover for Smile so it seems unlikely.  Who would that serve?  Who would Derek Taylor believe and accept their authority to act upon it?  Was the announcement made to cause the scrapping of the album?  Seems to have worked that way.

Brian Wilson. Derek was a publicist working for the Beach Boys, and Brian was the guy who was making all the decisions, especially about Smile. Any theory that Taylor went rogue and accidentally predicted the future, or just straight up lied (and became right), comes directly from crazy town. Smile was announced as "scrapped" (which meant temporarily put aside in favor of something else) on May 6, but it had not been worked on for many months before that. The Beach Boys still had recording sessions after that date because they never stopped working on an album. These recording sessions continued all the way until July 20.

The sound of the Smiley tracks is more streamlined, less loaded with sound and parts on the surface, and yes that sound does contradict how much work was actually done on the Smiley album. My previous term for it was "deceptively simple", where it sounds more basic than it is.

That's where I'm lost. While we're on Wind Chimes, here's a direct comparison:

Both versions start off with the verse, so here are the differences. The Smile version includes a few different marimba and upright bass parts. That's it. The lead vocal is delivered over the top of that, with no harmonies. It's very sparse. Of course, there's nothing bad about this at all - it's one of the most beautiful pieces of music I've ever heard. The marimba parts bouncing off each other under Carl's beautiful voice are very effective, and that one bass break under "now and then..." is perfection.

The Smiley verses include Brian's Baldwin organ, a few tracks of piano string plucking, and some actual wood chimes over a silent piano guide track. The steady tempo of the original version is gone, and so is the solo vocal - now all 5 Beach Boys at the time (sorry Bruce) take turns at the lead, sing harmonic response parts, and sometimes take lines in unison. Instead of the "one chord every 2 measures" harmonic rhythm, loads of minor and diminished chords are added to embellish and complicate the song - that's right, COMPLICATE it. This music is not streamlined in any way, shape, or form.

How is organ, plucked piano strings, and wind chimes a more streamlined arrangement than marimba and bass? What about this free-tempo, multi-layered, heavily overdubbed, 5-part vocal piece of music is streamlined compared to what came before? And why would any of this have to do easing the the touring band, who will never perform it, ever? Or, again... any of these songs, outside of 2 very unique shows with Brian Wilson?

 

By the way, if you're wondering why I'm not talking about the wrecking crew August verses, it's because Brian scrapped that verse section in favor of the simplified track (only featuring Chuck Berghofer and Van Dyke) before doing vocals. Yes, he simplified the arrangement... in October 1966... during the Smile era... and no, it had nothing to do with the touring band.