Did Derek Taylor Give the Beatles a Sneek Peak at Smile Tapes?

[the captain]

Frankly, I get a kick out of the Beatles' idea of using successive sounds from animals that are able to frighten or devour the preceding animal...that's pretty brilliant!

Brilliant maybe... but not original. Remember the children's song, "There Was An Old Woman Who Swallowed A Fly" ?  The version i recall is by Burl Ives.

We had that in my house when I was little.

[Andy B]

Didn't the Beatles and half the music population of London get a sneak peak of a Pet Sounds acetate before it was released?

No reason why the same thing couldn't happen to some of Brians' Smile acetates.

[Roger Ryan]

Didn't the Beatles and half the music population of London get a sneak peak of a Pet Sounds acetate before it was released?

No reason why the same thing couldn't happen to some of Brians' Smile acetates.

Was it an acetate? I thought it was the actual album brought to England by Bruce prior to its release in the U.K. Either way, it was finished before being presented which is quite different from presenting unfinished segments.

[Andrew G. Doe]

Didn't the Beatles and half the music population of London get a sneak peak of a Pet Sounds acetate before it was released?

No reason why the same thing couldn't happen to some of Brians' Smile acetates.

Sure, Brian played acetates to pretty much anyone who happened by the house at Laurel Way... whole bunch of difference between that and DT covertly arranging for a playback at Armin Steiner's studio.

However, as the latter event never happened, the point is decidedly moot. 

[Andy B]

Just found the quote i was after regarding Pet Sounds being played to the Beatles before Bruce brought it over - From Kinglsey Abbots book on Pet Sounds;

"Interestingly, Andrew Loog Oldham, the Rolling Stones' manager at the time, reckons McCartney had already heard the album;

'Lou Adler (legendary LA record producer linked to PF Sloan, Jan & Dean, the Mamas & Papas and Dunhill Records) arrived in town with an acetate of Pet Sounds. He came to my house from London Airport. I sat in smoke with Paul McCartney and that first listen changed our lives...'"

Not sure if that proves anything conclusively, but perhaps suggests that it was possible for acetates to go a wandering into other peoples hands without too much fuss.

[Dancing Bear]

This thread and variations of it only embarass Mr. Parks. I propose a self-destruction. 

[MBE]

Parks is a more then fallible person, just like anyone else involved in the whole Beach Boys thing. We can't censer that.

[earcandy]

I think the most telling evidence against this - aside from the undeniable fact that no-one was in the right place at the right time until Pepper was being mixed, of course - is that in the 40-odd years since, and most notably at the RFH premiere of BWPS, Macca hasn't said "oh yeah, heard that back in 1966". Not once.

This visual time-line pretty much explains everything.
http://www.earcandymag.com/SMILESGTPEP-TIMELINE-VISUAL.jpg

Dom's book says nothing about Derek Taylor giving the Beatles acetates-let's only concentrate on what his book says - it only claims that Derek arranged for the Beatles to hear Smile at Armin Steiner's studio - and that THIS influenced "Pepper".  Didn't happen....

[sofonanm]

Listening to Pet Sounds stoned must've blown Paul's mind. It all feels too ... can't think of the word. Like the bass line in Don't Talk - it feels much more deliberate, much more "I am taking your mind here and you are going to adore it" ...

Paul wrote Here, There and Everywhere inspired by Pet Sounds, right? I bet it was Don't Talk specifically. I don't think his song comes close. It sounds like the difference between Beethoven and the result of someone going "Oh yeah, I could do that too".

[Mr. Cohen]

Still, when you have VDP saying this, other credible people saying that Brian had them even convinced that things were being bugged, put under surveillance, etc., it points to one thing. Something weird was going on around Brian at the time, or maybe it all really just comes down to too many drugs. Brian wasn't the only one freaking out, though. And while drugs can cause paranoia, it usually wouldn't be enough to affect that many people in the same way.

[Dancing Bear]

Still, when you have VDP saying this, other credible people saying that Brian had them even convinced that things were being bugged, put under surveillance, etc., it points to one thing. Something weird was going on around Brian at the time, or maybe it all really just comes down to too many drugs. Brian wasn't the only one freaking out, though. And while drugs can cause paranoia, it usually wouldn't be enough to affect that many people in the same way.

Do you believe that 'Seconds' was produced to freak Brian out and the Beatles listened to Smile tapes while making Sgt Pepper, then?

[Mr. Cohen]

Do you believe that 'Seconds' was produced to freak Brian out and the Beatles listened to Smile tapes while making Sgt Pepper, then?

Believe "Seconds"? It already happened!

The Company makes Hamilton appear to have died, by faking an accident with a corpse disguised as him. Through extensive plastic surgery and psychoanalysis, Hamilton is transformed into Tony Wilson (played by Rock Hudson). As Wilson, he has a new home, a new identity, new friends and a devoted manservant. The details of his new existence suggest that there was once a real Tony Wilson, but what became of him is a mystery.

The 1976 Brian Wilson wasn't the real Brian Wilson. The real Brian Wilson died of a heart attack around 74/75. It was somebody else. Or it was a revived  Brian Wilson, but parts of his brain had been lobotomized by government scientists. He knew too much about the cosmic orders. Eugene Landy was a government crony.

[brianc]

You about want to die when Domenic goes and says these things. Van Dyke... hey, I don't mind. It's his opinion, and people are entitled to them, but like I said in another thread, interviews are third tier for fact checking, and too often, people use interview quotes as facts, when IN FACT, they are largely impressionistic... to give colour to an already verified fact.

But Domenic has an agenda with "Smile," and that, unfortunately, will always make the solid parts of his research a bit marginalized. At least in serious research circles.