Very cool.  I liked that phased ending too.

Welcome Tristero!

Thanks, B.  I know I’m late to the party here, but I’ve been lurking since the big announcement earlier this year rekindled my fascination with all things SMiLE and it’s been fun to read all the reaction and analysis here.  I thought that I’d sort of closed the book on all of this after absorbing BWPS, seeing it performed live, but the new set has given me a whole new perspective on how this brilliant music was constructed, how the different pieces fit together.  Just when I thought I was out, it pulled me back in.  SMiLE is a one of a kind work of pop art, a seemingly inexhaustible source of joy and mystery, and while every fan has their own ideas about the album that might have emerged in 1967 or how it should be presented today, we all have reason to celebrate.  I’m thrilled just to see that iconic artwork out on the shelves.

That 10 from Pitchfork is probably helping a lot.

Indeed.  Say what you will about Pitchfork, but that was a pretty great review and I imagine it will help to shift some units with a younger crowd.  I was pleased to see the Onion's A/V club give it an A recently too.  Aside from a few outliers, the new set has been winning rave reviews.  It's up to a 97 on Metacritic now.  I guess the critics do get it right now and then.

Brian is humble and lets his talent for music speak for itself. Wayne has to apparently play the jerk hipster role to justify his lesser talents. Brian is more hip than any other jerkoff "hipsters"

I've never heard of Wayne Coyne. 


I think that really says all we need to say about who said what, who's a jerk, who's hip, etc. 

Just like I wouldn't be too quick to judge Brian--I haven't walked in his shoes--I wouldn't rush to judgment over Wayne's comments either.  I don't like to get too hung up on the personalities--I prefer to judge artists by their work.  I've enjoyed a lot of the Flaming Lips stuff over the years (though some of the recent stuff has left me scratching my head).

How bout a Flac of this edit?

I'm now working on an "Alternate Smile Sessions" set as a sort of a companion to the official one.
It will be in flac and include:
1. This stereo edit of Disc 1 (including cross fades and fly-ins)
2. A mono re-construction of an "historical" Smile (12 tracks, no cross-fades or fly-ins).
3. More "clean" stereo/mono mixes of other songs.
4. "Fanmixers toolkit" - Smile bits and pieces in stereo/mono.
5. Vintage BW mixes of songs/sections.

How does it sound? 

Long time lurker, new member here.  I just wanted to say that I think this is a capital notion.  Like most fans, I'm over the moon about TSS, but this sounds like an ideal compliment to that set.  I'd love to get clean stereo mixes wherever possible, as well as some of Brian's vintage edits in the best quality.  I've done a few mixes in my day, but I'm a bit of a luddite when comes to the editing tools, so this toolkit sounds like just the ticket for rolling your own.   

Wayne's kind of funny when it comes to drugs.  From what I understand, he rarely parties anymore--he's way too busy for that--but he obviously did in his youth and their music has been strongly influenced by the whole psychedelic experience.  Steven had some well publicized struggles with heroin several years back, but he's been clean for a while.  So maybe part of Wayne's attitude is "Yeah, we messed around with that stuff too, but we were able to keep our sh*t together."  But I don't want to put words in his mouth.  Brian's a whole different story.  He had some deep psychological issues to begin with and the drugs just exacerbated them.  I don't think Wayne ever had to contend with auditory hallucinations and the like.

No offense but BW is acting very "dopey" in that interview and it's ironic that this original slacker guy is offended by that.

Say what you will about Wayne, but he's no slacker.  He's actually one of the hardest working guys in the business and for all his freakiness, he's very outgoing and functional.  I can almost see why he might be disappointed after meeting Brian, but I didn't care for some of his comments after that interview--a bit too judgmental.  Apart from the Beck incident, he also got into a kerfuffle with Arcade Fire, so he does seem to have a bit of an attitude.