Yes, the elements are one of SMiLE's biggest mysteries.

I have never heard what Brian intended for Earth. I've heard fans argue that Vega-Tables is earth, that DYLW was supposed to bridge Americana and the Elements together and that Look was supposed to bridge Innocence with Elements, as a sort of earth instrumental. None of these ideas sounds definitive (because they almost certainly aren't). In every SMiLE related work I've ever read, there's always some speculation on what Air and Water were supposed to be, but Earth is always completely glossed over.

I've read that Brian's original intentions for Air were to be a "flighty" piano solo. The piano exit of Wind Chimes (which was omitted in TSS version) seems to fit that description, and with fans speculating that Wind Chimes itself was the air track, it kinda makes sense. You could also say Holidays is the air track (at least the second part anyway) but nothing really backs that up. Then Dada has recently been proposed as the Air track. It has woodwinds, which are an "airy" instrument, and its alternate title (Second Day) is an obscure reference to air just as "Mrs. O'Leary's Cow" is an obscure reference to fire.

I remember reading in the Catch a Wave biography that Brian's original idea for Water was to record different bodies of water like rivers flowing and waves breaking and edit it together into a type of track, or at the very least use it for inspiration. I've always thought Dada was water, and it seems to be the defacto water track in most fan mixes. But, assuming the "In Blue Hawaii" lyrics were written at the time, was it actually supposed to be part of Americana? Maybe it was the bride between those two suites? Then there's Cool, cool water, a song that while not recorded during the SMiLE sessions, it has its roots there. It's an entire song about water, so that makes sense as the water track. The only problem is it isn't an instrumental, but then neither are Vega-Tables and Wind Chimes and they're usually used as placeholders for Earth and Air so who knows.

Fire is Mrs. O'Leary's Cow. No argument there. But what I'm curious about is, if it turns out NONE of my suggestions were really elements, did Brian abandon the entire concept of an Element Suite after he got scared of Fire? Or was he just going to leave fire out of it? I know he rewrote fire as Fall Breaks for Smiley Smile, but if he was willing to do that why was no work done on any other element?

I really wish somebody, Brian or Van Dyke preferably, would just come forward and say "Yes, Dada was a working title that would've been changed to Second Day and stood as Air, the first element, which would lead into a Diamond Head type instrumental for Water, which would lead into Fire, then go into Look which would transition into the Innocence Suite" or something. Even just say "Fire was the only element worked on. We could never decide what to do for the others." I just want some kind of answer to this

The Elements thing has been getting to me lately too. Love to Say Dada/In Blue Hawaii is interesting - it works as Water but as well as a sort of coda for the album (going through 3 movements and ending with an "Our Prayer"-like vocal bit), and I just think the title "In Blue Hawaii" is a simple Elvis reference, just like the Plymouth Rock roll over lyric is a riff on a line from Cole Porter's "Anything Goes".
Air is strange, recently I heard this thing on YouTube (I cannot find any longer) where Mrs. O'Leary's Cow was Fire, Dada was Water, and this more ambient track was Air, and the video did not include Earth and I have not been able to track down this cool Air track used, but it sounded pretty authentic.
Oh yeah and "Look" always irked me as its place among all SMiLE songs seems weak, and how it would be as a bridging track or a piece of something else feels so up in the air (hah!). It doesn't feel totally right between Wonderful and CIFotM on TSS, because the whole "Cycle of Life" suite has a metaphorical growth going on in it, which is musically represented by the trumpet in Wonderful, Child Is..., and Surf's Up. In comparison to the other tracks which are so much more full (at least Wonderful and SU) it just seems like a bridge of something, almost like another "Three Blind Mice" situation (though I don't know much about the history of that track).

The extension makes perfect sense to me. It fits with the more progressive style of SMiLE, as well as it being on an album, it would give Brian the liberty to have a more full version of the track as he saw it - since Capitol (before it was released and became a massive hit) thought the track was too long, and that is not something you can really say to a track on an LP. At least it doesn't go all out of whack like the various remixes like the Alternate stuff like "She's Already Workin On My Brain" or the Rarities Mix. Those are really cool, but as what are essentially remixes" In the same way the Heroes and Villains Pts. One and Two are fantastic and would have been a ground-breaking single release, but something resembling what they did on the side 1 of TSS makes more sense as what would formally be known as the canon Smile version (which is debatable on what is definitive, but you understand the ballpark I am working in).

Paul was certainly at the sessions for Vega-Tables, as he played some versions of Pepper tracks for Brian as Paul was hearing the Smile songs. You could argue he may have tracked some celery (though it is hard to hear anyone specific besides maybe Carl or Al in the 1st Verse instrumental, but clearly there are a bunch of people talking and laughing), but don't worry I'll hope in my time machine and take plenty of videos of the Smile sessions when I get a chance.

It is a perfect song, the "Sunny Down Snuff" section is to die for...the whole thing weaves together Gershwin (I've Been In This Town) and Bach(Children Were Raised) influences so gracefully. It alone makes me sad there is no proper stereo Smile in existence.

There are analogue synths, you know. They're all over Love You, even! I think you're conflating 'analogue' with 'acoustic' or 'non-amplified'?

I'm not a musician, but generally I'm talking about sounds that would be right at home on the Tron soundtrack.  Or sounds that mimic another instrument, but that are not generated by that instrument.  Or just electronic sounds in general-- something created by pushing a button rather than picking a string.  Nothing wrong with synths, but I personally prefer an instrument to an electronic sound.  The synths on Love You make it even less appealing.  That's not the primary factor, though.  I think I'd like that album much better if Brian didn't sound like death warmed over-- heck, if I could even recognize without too much effort that it's actually him.  Ah, but I suppose changing any one of those factors would moot the album's authenticity.

Ah yes, but you have to understand Synthesizers aren't just trying to emulate violins. The same way guitars aren't just trying to be violins. Guitars are not just a simpleton's violin hit crudely with your fingers or a little plastic oval-ish triangle. It is a guitar, and you get that. The proliferation and such of synthesizers has made it hard to get.