Vibes I agree.... but that is very vague....
All I suggest is that songs like Cabinessence, Surf's Up, Wonderful, Wind Chimes, etc, are so genius, so far beyond anything that the music is incomparable...but as far as vibes are concerned, I agree.
Brian Wilson is Brian Wilson....B.D.W.....I find no comparisons...maybe (probably) I'm just giddy....
Hmm....I guess I should re-state that and say vibes AND lyrical content, production techniques, orchestration and even things like phrasing (and more technical musical techniques I can hear but am not great at explaining) of feels and the like that are VERY similar to the sounds of Smile. Many of these people spent time with Brian during the era at things such as the famed dinner parties and other celebrations of the era (think the picture of everyone with Brian at the airport). Yes, Brian and Van Dyke's songs are majestic and flew higher than most others - but remember Smile never came out. And it had already made a splash locally amongst fellow musicians, artists and friends; not to mention the music media - Smile is one of the most hyped up albums in history, it was coming on the heels of the Good Vibrations single and how could that not have made an impression?
There are a quite a few songs around there dealing with the impact Smile had on those who were lucky enough to hear it and/or the subject matter of its non-release and the resulting effect that caused in L.A. Off the top of my head, songs I can think of (and the albums they are contained within) are Sagittarius'
My World Fell Down (ft. Bruce Johnston, amongst others), Chad & Jeremy's
Painted Dayglow Smile, The Smoke's
Cowboys & Indians (written after Micheal Lloyd attended a H&V recording session), Hyle King Movement's
Flower Smile, Fun & Games'
Don't Worry Baby (w/Our Prayer style intro), Laughing Gravy's
Vegetables (obviously) and other obscure 45 releases associated with people such as Tandyn Almer, Curt Boettcher, Gary Usher, Gary Zekley et al. There are also documented stories of Brian walking into the Ballroom's recording session for
Baby Please Don't Go right around the time he started Smile and apparently it made a strong impression. And I recall something about David Marks walking into a session for Good Vibrations (while possibly on LSD...I think) around the time he was starting The Moon with Matthew Moore. So in conclusion, no there aren't songs that sound exactly like Smile era BW, but all songs are different really in their individual ways and I believe a strong case can be made for the similarities between Brian Wilson's original Beach Boys Smile recordings and other psychedelic sunshine pop being produced in Los Angeles during the same period (usually with the same backing musicians, in the same studios
)
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