Dec. 27 and 28, 1966 sessions

[A Million Units In Jan!]

This was brought up a couple of years ago, and it's something I've wondered about, also. Don't know if any other info has/was been found regarding these sessions, but....
What does everybody think was done at these sessions? Brian by himself for ten hours in the studio? What are the odds that this was an attempt to finish the album? I know that as far as 'The Elements' go only 'Fire' was completed, unless of course 'Wind Chimes', 'Vegetables', and 'Surf's Up' were going to be elements ( quite a long shot, IMO). What else would have been done though, just Brian tinkering around in the studio? It does, on the surface at least, appear to be an attempt to at least see how much was done, and how much he had left to do.

[Bicyclerider]

Both were attempts by Brian to finish Heroes and Villains, the next single. 

Dec 27: Brian only for “H &V (overdub)”
Dec 28: Brian only for “(insert) H & V (overdub)”

What vocals he was overdubbing is the big question.  I suspect the lead vocal for Dec 27, and for insert - "You're under arrest?"  What form Heroes was in at this time is an interesting question.  The November Heroes/Great Shape/Barnyard had already been abandoned, since Dec 10th the track list was submitted with Great Shape a separate track.  Cantina had not yet been recorded to take it's place.  I suspect the song was similar to the mono track on SOT 17, track 16 - which goes 1st verse/2nd verse/Whistle (Bridge to Pt 2)/My children(Bridge to 3rd)/3rd verse -perhaps with the edited part two track 10 (How I love my girl) section at the end.  How I Love my girl was recorded as part two, revised version, and maybe part one was great shape/Barnyard?

[Andrew G. Doe]

"You're under arrest" isn't Brian... and somehow I don't see his sister-in-law's husband taking time out to accede to his whims.

[Bicyclerider]

Good point - I guess almost ANY part of Heroes and Villains could be considered an "insert" other than the first verse.

[Been Too Long]

I think I may have been one of the ones that brought this up a few years back. I'll have to look but I think I remember the Dec 27th 1966 session being the one that included work on several tracks Heroes and "Who Ran The Iron Horse" among them.

---Been Too Long

[Andrew G. Doe]

My info is that both were vocal sessions at Columbia. 27th was for "H&V", "WRTIH" & "Wonderful", 28th just for "H&V".

[c-man]

Good point - I guess almost ANY part of Heroes and Villains could be considered an "insert" other than the first verse.

"Insert" was typically used in those days to mean "overdub".

[Been Too Long]

   It was partially that listing of multiple tracks on the 27th that got me wondering about this a few years ago if I can find the post.
   I think my thinking at the time was that if Brian was recording an album in pieces, sections, he would have to hold a session where he could sit down in the studio and splice all these pieces together into their final forms. Now a lot of this editing would have been and was done at the time of the original session but with all the inserts and new little modular sections he was switching back and forth for the songs there would still be the need for some amount of work at the very end. Maybe just one or two splices on a song, like Mark Linett mentioned doing to complete Wind Chimes for the 30 years boxset, then mixdown or maybe a few final vocal overdubs on to the completed track maybe fixing lyrics cut off in editing like the “excitations” in Good Vibs. By the end the idea would have been to have twelve tracks (and, I guess, an intro)  ready to sequence and send off for mastering. If the album was set for release on the 15th then he was only about 2 or 3 weeks away.

   Now sessions were held the week before with the rest of the guys but that ended on the 22nd with a session for a Heroes insert, which also may have produced the “Swedish Frog” section, then the break for Christmas. Brian comes back in on the 27th and 28th to assemble the tracks and then the break for New Years. Now he probably would have brought the group back in to overdub a few parts on the mixdowns (and ruin any chance for a true stereo remaster, like a lot of his past work.) This took place on January 3rd, the first chance after the New Years holiday. Even a few new sections were recorded: the first “Eat a lot”, “Bridge to Indians”, “Pick Up to 3rd verse”, “All Day” and a few other odds and ends. While this is listed as a Heroes and Villians session, it has been thought that not everything recorded at this was for Heroes just noting the Eat A Lot section.  On Jan 5th was one final overdub session adding bass to the chorus to Worms and probably other songs as this was also listed as a Heroes session (part 2 I believe.)  One last session was on Jan 9th listed as “Wonderful (Insert)” producing the “Rock with Me Henry” version and all work on the album stops. I would guess, complete. The single and album are supposed to be released but instead Brian holds them back and then starts work on the Heroes single again after two weeks of nothing.
   From this point until the single is changed to Vega-Tables in April all but one session are for Heroes and Villians sections, we know for the most part what was recorded at each of these. The other tracks are not worked on again or even mentioned because, I would guess, they were COMPLETE, at least at that time.
   Does that make sense?

---Been Too Long

[grillo]

Somewhere on this board Peter Reum ( I think ) also mentions a SMiLE dub-down session sometime in Dec. '66, but I thought the idea was authoritatively shot down. Your ideas make sense to me though. A December assembly means Brian could spend the holidays listening to what he had and figure out what he needed. As you said, likely just a few instrumental and vocal overdubs, then on to the singles. The Capitol suit and the overall bad vibes cause Brian to shelve the album and even burn his final dubdown, starting the rumor he burned ALL the tapes.

[Mr. Cohen]

I don't know, I've thought that Brian burning the final dubdown was plausible, but thinking about, I don't feel that way anymore. It's just such a crazy idea, that Brian had SMiLE completely finished in '67 but then he burned it, that someone would've actually said it by now. "Why wasn't SMiLE finished?" "Well, we had the whole thing done but then Brian just burned it the foda up!" Just seems like someone would've said that. Instead, we always hear that it was a mess from other people, or that it there were ideas but they were never fully realized.  Unless Brian managed to be so secretive about the final mixes that almost no one ever heard them. But that seems unlikely, too. He would have needed to the other BBs, most likely, to do the final overdubs. I mean, it's possible that he kept the sessions incoherent enough that other BBs never could figure out what they were actually recording,  but it would've been hard. Eventually, one would've been able to put 2 and 2 together, you'd think. You'd think...

[Andrew G. Doe]

Interesting ideas... but the fact - supported by the documentation - is that the two sessions in question were for vocals (by Brian alone) on Columbia's 8-track. Not any kind of editing or assembly. No instrumental overdubs.