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- Latest Member: bunny505
| March 04, 2026, 05:25:21 PM |
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41
on: February 27, 2026, 10:42:00 AM
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Started by Julia - Last post by mike s
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My current on-the-go H&V mix folks. See what you think. I won't explain it the format should explain itself. I'm already thinking I could cut the Smiley chorus which here I've used as a middle 8. Audio is very lumpy as I've had to nab from so many different sources. https://vocaroo.com/14Sm9hr5qWFd |
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42
on: February 27, 2026, 10:30:49 AM
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Started by Julia - Last post by Julia
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Mr. Carter responded to me to confirm that to the best of his knowledge PJR never wrote any article about SMiLE and he reviewed LAFP issues up through March '67 where there was a gap of several issues.
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43
on: February 26, 2026, 11:18:08 PM
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Started by Julia - Last post by Don Malcolm
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The question remains open with respect to a "spring SMiLE," even though the evidence you cite strongly points toward its inclusion.
Working with the "four variant" notion, I could see a version where it is left off, and three others with it (but each in different locations relative to the other tracks).
IMO the only presentable line-up of SMiLE where GV is NOT included could have been with it NOT in the tracklist in the first place. That would have been a bold conceptual idea, to present the new album without the tried-and-true hit song. And if it was, as we know, to have a GV-less SMiLE would be to diminish the album. I agree it's not an important cog from the viewpoint of concepts intended for SMiLE, but realistically, it has to be there. OTOH the tracklist is itself problematic and is a snapshot in time that "fell into a French horn" almost immediately. Which is why in a book that reconstructs several scenarios for a spring SMiLE, one of them should include a version of it w/o GV. Of course you are free to dismiss such a variant for whatever reason, but since the possibility of a GV-less SMiLE is at least >0%, such a scenario deserves coverage. I'd leave it to Julia as to whether the variants would be given some kind of probability ranking, given historical evidence and where each variant ranks in the spectrum of the level of influence (VDP<-->BW). A GV-less SMiLE is a separate "decision tree" but might simplify some of the other decisions. Looking at her list of track variants, we find several that omit GV but fewer that remove MOLC--which indicates to me that a shift from "exhuming the SMiLE wreckage" to "in what way(s) could Brian have threaded the needle, avoiding the pitfalls that befell the project" is what is needed for a series of tracklists whose reach doesn't exceed their grasp. I think MOLC and the rest of the Elements almost certainly have to be sacrificed in order to get a "spring SMiLE" released in mid-late April. Doing so would have lowered the temperature with both VDP and the band in one fell swoop, increasing the chances that Brian would have avoided the disenchantment that scuttled the project. I encourage another round of tracklist combinations that focus on variations within the Americana/Cycle of Life 2-sided structure. (There are at least three or four from Julia's list that make for a good jumping-off point.) What BWPS shows us is that the tracks that connect to the more ornately orchestrated tracks were not likely to become as caught up in production paralysis. (Smiley, too, demonstrates something similar--but not as an actual re-creation, given that it was the Americana side that was mostly disappeared.) I do think most of these will include GV, with it most often situated as the lead track on Side 2. A "spring SMiLE" really is dependent on some kind of successful resolution of H&V, though. Mike S's point can't be discounted--but snippets distributed across Side 1, with the closing vamp (ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-BA-ba-ba-ba-ba-BAH!) appearing as a repeating segue, perhaps, could have provided a version of what was more explicit in what Zappa and Joe Byrd were interpolating into their projects... |
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45
on: February 26, 2026, 08:00:34 PM
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Started by HeyJude - Last post by Rocker
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From the '75 version, it appears it first morphed into a track that was booted years ago usually titled "Where We Are", which is a track a lot of fans assumed, based on its sound, came from the early 80s, but apparently came from circa 1978. And then, I would agree that portions appear to have been repurposed for "What You Gonna Do About Me" for the '81 solo album. Yes! You're right. I totally forgot about "Where we are" but for some reason found myself singing it to myself the other day. Now it all makes sense  Thanks for the heads-up |
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46
on: February 26, 2026, 07:46:24 PM
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Started by Dan Lega - Last post by mike s
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'Palestine' was a region where everybody lived - NOT an Arab state. The Romans came up with the name as an insult.
Arabs came and conquered and the local population mingled with them. Now it's Palestinian Arabs. Different from Saudi Arabia Arabs, or Mauritania Arabs, or Arabs of any other Arab country. Yep - Muslims marauded and took over - eventually conerting the whole aree to Islam. So they did colonise it but more by osmosis than just bulk replacement of pop. |
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47
on: February 26, 2026, 07:44:36 PM
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Started by Julia - Last post by mike s
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This is perhaps neither here nor there, but I do think that the Cantina mix of heroes from Feb. shows that, from a creative and musical perspective, it was absolutely possible to integrate these two sides of the project seamlessly. Brian managed it at least one time, in one of really only a handful of "finished" mixes we have from the period. The Cantina mix is undeniably gorgeous and sophisticated music, with a very strong Van Dyke Parks influence, that fits well alongside the darker and more serious side of the project. But it's also full of Brian's musical humor, in almost every section: the slide whistle at the end of the verse, Mike's exaggerated doo-be-doos in the acapella section, the madcap laughing in the cantina section, the "your under arrest," rhyming "jive" with "survive," the dum dum dums that lead into the tape explosion. All of those moments seem, to me, to be clearly products of Brian's musical humor kick! Now, could he have pulled it off for a whole album? Honestly, yeah, I think he could have.
Cantina is made up of genius sections but isn't really a song - its more of a collage. I think the various FX are grating and wouldn't bear up to repeated listens. Its an interesting experiment that was ditched almost immediately and I can see why. |
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48
on: February 26, 2026, 07:08:45 PM
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Started by HeyJude - Last post by HeyJude
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I received the 3LP/3CD set early last week, from the UMe orders, which makes me think that things are going better with the rollout than what has been reported in that marathon kvetch thread over at you-know-where.
The packaging is really terrific, Howie's notes are great (as is often the case, cannily weaving in salient words from the band...), and I love the glossy cover for LOVE YOU (makes for a great contrast with the original).
Jude has already covered the return to form of the remixing efforts in exemplary detail, so I'll just echo his words. This wild, weird, sweet and dizzily disjointed klatch of music has never sounded better, and as a result is totally endearing.
Looking forward to hearing LOVE YOU in its entirety on Friday night!
A refreshingly calm and enjoyable reaction to the set to read! Yes, I think the initial *decision* to go "D2C" with this release, and to be conservative with how many copies to manufacture on the initial run, has somehow morphed into the comical levels of histrionics on other boards. The reality is that a company made X units of a product, sold it exclusively direct to consumer, and more people wanted to buy it right at the outset than they expected. So then they made more and put the set back up for sale. That it's selling better than they thought it might, and they're having to ramp up production, is a good thing! They hedged on the initial run, they sold all the allocated copies, and so they fired up the presses and made more, and sold more. Not complicated in the slightest. I do think they should have put *into* all the press releases that the physical boxed set was only being sold D2C via Capitol, Universal, and the band's official site. That would have made it crystal clear from the start. Though, as I've mentioned before, doing that would have ironically led to a *quicker* sellout on that initial run! |
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49
on: February 26, 2026, 07:01:02 PM
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Started by HeyJude - Last post by HeyJude
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From the '75 version, it appears it first morphed into a track that was booted years ago usually titled "Where We Are", which is a track a lot of fans assumed, based on its sound, came from the early 80s, but apparently came from circa 1978. And then, I would agree that portions appear to have been repurposed for "What You Gonna Do About Me" for the '81 solo album. |
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