Sentimental favorite is David Leaf's book - got me all ramped up on SMiLE in the late 70s and that passion hasn't faded.

I don't think Brian's as messed up these days as everyone seems to think.  I see no evidence of tardive dyskinesia - I'm a physician and I have taken care of multiple psychiatric patients.  Brian looks more like an eccentric old guy than damaged goods.  The guy has what appears to be schizo-affective disorder. 

The past is slipping away - it's not the wrong forum to pay tribute to someone who contributed to our social and cultural heritage.

Night and day - wow.  The only vocal thing missing is Carl.

The inclusion of Hey Little Tomboy is beyond creepy!  My Diane is a great song but not great enough to salvage this travesty of an album.  Read the quotes attributed to Dennis in regards to MIU - especially the Mike Love karma bit.  SIP is worse.

Brian looked like he just wanted out - Mike was into it.  So so at best IMO.

My Solution!

A big supposition here - but maybe they were the "original" lyrics to a released song.  Would they fit any known release from 1964 or early 1965?

I'm sure the cartoon sleeve was created as a result of the "Brother Records" deal - that made the Capitol sleeves obsolete in the USA.

Unfortunately somewhere along the way at that point in time someone didn't tell Brian that music isn't a contest, race, or fight - it's art.  With good music everyone wins!

Intro - California Girls

Outro - This Whole World

Rio Grande is a beautiful thing.  Love and Mercy along with Melt Away are as good as any songs in the cannon.  That Brian could make music that good in the midst the the ensuing Landy debacle demonstrates the man's incomparable talent.

I was flat blown away that the damn thing was actually released.  I had more or less given up on Brian ever doing anything significant in music ever again.  That album has 3 or 4 classics on it - about as much as any BB album.  It's a major part of the cannon IMO.

I'm holding out for a Keith Partridge signature strat or better yet - a Danny Partridge signature P-bass.

The first 8 bars of "Don't Worry Baby" might be the best sound ever devised by man.  Still stunning after almost 50 years.

I think it' better than Battle Hymn of the Republic.  Kind of a Spike Jones thing going on.

Rag Doll - Aerosmith.  I can't remember where I heard he liked that song but it's stuck in my brain somewhere.

Holy Crap - any ideas where this stuff has been for 45 year?  I want to see very bit.  Maybe the lost footage from 12/66 is out there as well.

It's easy to look back 40 years and view Brian as a martyr for his art - remember that Mike wrote the lyrics for GV and contributed to the hook.  These guys weren't obligated to be Brian's robots and just do what he told them - Mike has co-responsibility for several hits that made a lot of money.  If Brian wanted to be in The Beach Boys then to some degree he was obligated to consider their desires, needs, and tastes - otherwise he should have made a solo LP, left the band, or both.

Not to diminish the significance of Mike's contributions in any way, but when you have a guy writing material like "Surf's Up," Wonderful," etc., why wouldn't you want to be his "robot"?  Of course everyone wants to be heard, but I can't imagine hearing music like that and then having the audacity to question the man who is responsible for its creation.  Brian earned the right to do things his way without being questioned.

I would - but I can certainly imagine Mike not wanting to go that "artistic" direction.  He's never been much of an experimenter since - especially in terms of lyrical content.  Bands directed with an authoritarian artistic style rarely survive the long haul - ask John Fogerty.  For all practical purposes Pet Sounds was a solo record with the Beach Boys as session singers - so was SMiLE. 

I can imagine Carl having concerns that the music could not be reproduced in concert.

What Peter says was voted down was Brian's concept of Smile as a three movement suite.  After the meeting it went back to a 12 track album. 

I find this difficult to accept since the first time we hear about movements is from Peter speaking with Brian in the late 70s/ early 80 s.  Van Dyke, Brian's collaborator for the project, never heard anything about movements - there were to be 12 tracks, no link tracks or movements.  Why would Brian keep this concept from Van Dyke but share it with mike, Carl et al?  And let's assume he did tell Mike and Carl he wanted to do the album in movements - what would be their objection?  If they liked the songs, do you think Mike would say, OK, cabin essence and Surf's up are great songs, but you can't put them together in a movement, that's too weird?

Color me skeptical.

I don't buy this - I don't think there's much evidence to support the 3 movement paradigm in 66-67.   I would expect to see evidence in Frank Holmes art - which I don't.  Maybe "The Elements" as a 3 movement suite - but not the LP in total.

What I can't get my head around is how does anyone other than Mike have the audacity to veto the album in December '66?  Was Al even a voting member of the band at that point?  Bruce?  Dennis wouldn't vote against Brian and I'd be very surprised if Carl did - Good Vibrations is still on the charts.  Mike was pissed about the Van Dyke thing - my guess is that any meeting had less to do with the music than Mike, and maybe the others collectively, bitching about the lyrics to the point of refusing to sing some of them, ie "Hang on to Your Ego".

This may have taken place after or around the session that went "badly" in December and "almost broke the band up".  Shortly thereafter VDP leaves.  It appears, however, that Brian didn't give up without a fight.  He directs his attention to a single to buy some time and gets Parks to come back for a short period of time.  It would explain why so many songs are so close to being finished waiting for the lead vocals - they were arguing over the words.

Ultimately Brian's deteriorating psychological status, loss of confidence, and ultimately the final departure of VDP signal the end.  Brian shelves SMiLE and to extent that he can leaves it buried.

I'll bet you that if Brian had caved to some degree - let Mike write lyrics for several of the songs - SMiLE would have been completed.

It's easy to look back 40 years and view Brian as a martyr for his art - remember that Mike wrote the lyrics for GV and contributed to the hook.  These guys weren't obligated to be Brian's robots and just do what he told them - Mike has co-responsibility for several hits that made a lot of money.  If Brian wanted to be in The Beach Boys then to some degree he was obligated to consider their desires, needs, and tastes - otherwise he should have made a solo LP, left the band, or both.

He never lost his talent just his focus IMO.  This Whole World is more satisfying to me in many ways than all the songs on Pet Sounds or Smile. 

1979 poor quality cassette tape sent to me from a member of BBFUN - a year or so after the Leaf book.  Next came the original vinyl boots in 82 or 83 I think.  Prior to that I compiled my first fan mix using released material based upon the Leaf book and then Preiss.

I love the JMZ version of Good Vibrations - maybe better than any official release I've ever head.  It's the "kitchen sink" of Good Vibrations.

A rather sniffy review in WORD magazine. Claims that SMiLE is of a lesser quality to Pet Sounds and the Beatles albums of the time. It also says that a lot of SMiLE is filler, or words to that effect, stating that apart from Wonderful and Surf's Up nothing else on SMiLE comes close to Good Vibrations and Heroes and Villains. Personally I think all of the above is garbage - SMiLE is infinitely superior to Sgt Pepper - but each to their own I suppose... Not a big fan of Word magazine anyway.
Looking forward to next issue of MOJO however. They're generally big supporters of Brian and the Beach Boys so hopefully SMiLE will get a cover, feature, interesting review, etc. 

You may prefer SMilE but I can't say it's "infintely superior" to Pepper.  By virtue of the fact that Pepper was completed and released as a tramsformational work speaks for itself.

To the casual listener I can certainly see that much of SMiLE does sound like filler - there's lot's of vocals incomplete or missing entirely or relatively esoteric instrumental tracks.  When I listen to SMiLE - part of my brain is trying to fill in the missing links - non fans can't even begin to go there.  In the end, SMiLE garnered substantial mystique from being unreleased for so long - ironically it does live up to the hype.