B.W. Presents SMiLE in 3 movements. Yes - but what ARE they???

[Reverend Rock]

and anyway, before BWPS, I don't think either Brian or the BBs have ever used segues or crossfades...

"Cool, Cool Water" 

Yeah, I know, but what I meant was segueing or crossfading otherwise separate songs on an album ala Sgt. Pepper or the Moody Blues' albums.

Didn't say that...  just said "ever used segues or crossfades".

My bad...

[PaulTMA]

I hated to disagree with Brian, but what's he know about it. We're the real experts on what he was thinking.

A post undeniably retarded beyond compassionate discharge

12 posts, and it's official; you're an idiot.

But what he said was true

Ding! Another one! I guess you have to point out when you're being sarcastic around here these days.

Plus - I'm better at liking a liking the Beach Boys than this aching ballsack any day of the Chinese New Year, any day.  I have proof from the Crown.

[buddhahat]

I suspect the movements -- or themes -- or concepts of the movements and themes -- were in Brian's head in the 60s, and I suspect he thought about them from time to time afterward. I don't think he sequenced it in the early 80s in secret or anything, but I think he's more aware of the connections in the music than we sometimes give him credit for.

I completely agree with this.

 I don't believe the idea of a cycle of life theme came out of thin air. CIFOTM embodies the concept within the one song, Wonderful is about a girl getting pregnant (as far as I'm aware) and the coda of Surf's Up is about children knowing the way, and again contains the idea (and lyrics) child is the father of the man. Surf's Up also references wonderful which I don't think is a coincidence. I think it was easy for Brian, Darian and VDP to collect songs into Americana and Cycle of life themes because these two themes existed already in the music.

The 3rd suite feels more like an odds & sods collection to me. However I do feel that the elements concept and a general feeling of 'exhultation in nature' was a defining concept behind many Smile songs - Fire, Friday Night, Holidays, Vegetables, Dada, Windchimes, so I don't think this last Elements suite is a new idea either. Where it feels less focused is in the inclusion of Good Vibrations (which I personally feel would've fit with the cycle of life songs better) and Great Shape, although the latter works in the way that it talks about fresh air an' all that.

[Wirestone]

Direct from the man:

E.C.: One thing I like about SMiLE is how the tracks flow into one another…

Brian Wilson: That was because of Darian Sahanaja and me. We sequenced it together with computers and Pro-Tools, modern instruments. And it took us about two weeks to do that but we got it all sequenced together.

E.C.: So was that something that you came up with exclusively for the 2004 SMiLE or did you originally intend to use link tracks on the original SMiLE?

Brian Wilson: No, that's 2004.

http://www.earcandymag.com/brianwilson-2004.htm

[Cam Mott]

Well, of course, Brian does know what he's talking about when he agrees with me.

[A Million Units In Jan!]

Direct from the man:

E.C.: One thing I like about SMiLE is how the tracks flow into one another…

Brian Wilson: That was because of Darian Sahanaja and me. We sequenced it together with computers and Pro-Tools, modern instruments. And it took us about two weeks to do that but we got it all sequenced together.

E.C.: So was that something that you came up with exclusively for the 2004 SMiLE or did you originally intend to use link tracks on the original SMiLE?

Brian Wilson: No, that's 2004.

http://www.earcandymag.com/brianwilson-2004.htm

I wish I never read that interview, because it gives me the impression that Brian just sort of went along with whatever everyone else wanted.

I think my head just exploded.

[Reverend Rock]

Direct from the man:

E.C.: One thing I like about SMiLE is how the tracks flow into one another…

Brian Wilson: That was because of Darian Sahanaja and me. We sequenced it together with computers and Pro-Tools, modern instruments. And it took us about two weeks to do that but we got it all sequenced together.

E.C.: So was that something that you came up with exclusively for the 2004 SMiLE or did you originally intend to use link tracks on the original SMiLE?

Brian Wilson: No, that's 2004.

http://www.earcandymag.com/brianwilson-2004.htm

I wish I never read that interview, because it gives me the impression that Brian just sort of went along with whatever everyone else wanted.

I think my head just exploded.

I don't get that impression at all.  It matches what VDP claims, and it simply sounds like Brian is giving credit where it's due.  Darian has gone on record saying that, for example, in the case of "Wonderful/Song For Children", it was Brian who made the final call saying "That works.  That's how we'll do it."

Honestly, if SMiLE in 1967 were destined to be mastered in the standard pre-Sgt. Pepper pop album format, then I think it's a blessing that it didn't happen that way.  "SMiLE 2004" is much, much better than that would have been.

 

[Wirestone]

I don't know if better. Different, certainly.

I think of it this way. I was listening to the '04 album in the car the other day, and was just floored with Cabinessence as a piece of music. I mean, that thing is freaking cinematic. It's awesome. It's sectional, yet kind of has a verse-chorus structure. It's just an astonishing creation.

And I thought to myself, if a 12-track Smile had 12 tracks like that -- complete, miniature films with multiple sections, evocative lyrics, and clear yet suggestive structure -- that would have been a frigging masterpiece.

But, of course, Brian never managed to get 12 complete tracks like that. At most, he managed five or six such tracks and several more evocative fragments and instrumentals. In 2004, he and Darian and Van Dyke had to deal with what was there. And the best they could manage was to stitch them together by theme, with some new lyrics and links. This worked out far better than anyone expected, but it's an utterly different thing.

[Reverend Rock]

I don't know if better. Different, certainly.

I think of it this way. I was listening to the '04 album in the car the other day, and was just floored with Cabinessence as a piece of music. I mean, that thing is freaking cinematic. It's awesome. It's sectional, yet kind of has a verse-chorus structure. It's just an astonishing creation.

And I thought to myself, if a 12-track Smile had 12 tracks like that -- complete, miniature films with multiple sections, evocative lyrics, and clear yet suggestive structure -- that would have been a frigging masterpiece.

But, of course, Brian never managed to get 12 complete tracks like that. At most, he managed five or six such tracks and several more evocative fragments and instrumentals. In 2004, he and Darian and Van Dyke had to deal with what was there. And the best they could manage was to stitch them together by theme, with some new lyrics and links. This worked out far better than anyone expected, but it's an utterly different thing.

Good perspective.  I agree that a 12 song album with everything on it being as fully developed as "Cabinessence" would have been a masterpiece and a total triumph.  Honestly, I'm just one of those who feel that what we have is grand and great and satisfying beyond hope.  I couldn't be happier with a finished SMiLE than I am with what we now have.

[The Shift]

Didn't one of the original mixes of I'm In Great Shape end with tape noise/reverb, that kind of implied another song was due to emerge from it... possibly Barnyard, if the demo BW played at the piano for some DJ could be taken as a guide?

BWPS's IIGS morphed into IWTBA from that noise which didn't come across as quite right somehow....

[Bicyclerider]

I don't know about morphing into IWTBA, despite the tapebox title . . . I think it morphed into the "Barnyard Suite" with IIGS, Barnyard, Swedish frog and . . . maybe Do a Lot.

[Bicyclerider]

Or instead of Do a Lot . . . Barnyard Billy!

[buddhahat]

Didn't one of the original mixes of I'm In Great Shape end with tape noise/reverb, that kind of implied another song was due to emerge from it... possibly Barnyard, if the demo BW played at the piano for some DJ could be taken as a guide?

BWPS's IIGS morphed into IWTBA from that noise which didn't come across as quite right somehow....

Yes there are original mixes where Brian has applied the tape noise. It makes me wonder if, at the early stages of H&V, Great shape with the tape noise stood in place of the dum dum dum tape explosion that precedes the FB fade in the February mix of the song. Barnyard would then have been in place of the FB fade, so great shape would have gone to the tape explosion, followed by barnyard as the fade. This is exactly how I've placed great shape and barnyard in my own smile mix, and the transition works perfectly. I agree with you when you say IWBA doesn't quite feel right coming out of great shape - barnyard works much better.

[Ron]

Here's my interpretation of the third movement.  Now I realize he didn't intend it this way, but it's what I hear at least.  So there!

"I'm In Great Shape" - it represents the Earth element, as well as Brian's family settling in Southern California way back in the day.
"I Wanna Be Around" - it represents the Earth element (love is a very earthy thing), and the old timey sound represents Brian's parents meeting and courting.
"Workshop" - Represents the Earth Element (construction, earthy things), and Brian's parents... um.... conceiving young Brian.
"Vega-Tables" - represents the Earth Element (plants grow in the earth), as well as Brian's Childhood.  Eat a lot, sleep a lot, brush 'em like crazy!

"On A Holiday" - represents the wind element (woodwind instrumentation), as well as the Beach Boy's and Brian's early career, this is Brian in his late teens, early 20's.  The "Rock, Rock, Roll!" part in the background is a throwback to the sing a long sound of the Beach Boys backing Brian up vocally.  
"Wind Chimes" - represents the wind element, and starts with that "Long, Long Ago, Long Ago" which is Brian clueing us in that he's about to go back to where all the madness started.  This song represents the beautiful nature of Brian's more introspective work, starting with things like In My Room and culminating with the genius on Pet Sounds, Summer Days!, "Today!", and of course Smile.

Mr.s O'Leary's Cow - represents the fire element, as well as the tumultous nature of Brian's life during and after the Smile sessions.  Insanity, best exhibited by the original recording of this song and the events surrounding it, Brian supposedly locking the song in the vault, etc.  The symbolic moment he lost it.

"Is it hot as hell in here, or is it me? - More clues of Brian's mental anguish in the years following his 'problems'.

"Really in the PINK!" is Brian meeting Melinda, her getting him new doctors, etc. and turning his life around.  Adopting his daughters, etc.

"In Blue Hawaii" - represents the water element, and also Brian's life post Beach Boys with Melinda.  'So far away from Blue Hawaii... Hawaii beckons to Me... Hawaii, Hawaii Lay beyond the sea" all this is Brian looking back on the beautiful music and life that he had in his early 20's, as a member of the Beach Boys, and when he really had it together.  The song even sounds the most like the Beach Boys.  Hawaii is a symbolic theme that represents the paradise he sees the early 60's as in his mind.

"Aloha Nui means goodbye" represents Brian's death

You literally hear the Angels come and take him after that, and then it turns into Good Vibrations

"Good Vibrations" represents the 5th element, the Aether (the space between the other 4 elements) well illustrated by the ESP lyrics.  This song represents what Brian will be remembered for after his death, his incredible music and the brilliant production skills he brought to us.  His legacy after death.



Just my .02, I don't think it's meant that literal but it fits really, really well in my opinion!