SMiLE Sessions box set!

[tansen]

I like 'Surf's Up' from the album with the same name, but to me Brian's piano demo is a lot better. To my ears, Brian was meant to sing it, and I never cared for the instrumentation on the album version (up till "Dove nested towers..." anyway).

Have you heard the Anne Wallace mix? Personally I think the music track to Surf's Up Pt. 1 is one of Brian's greatest achievements. The demo is beautiful but it really does pale in comparison to the real thing and I can't even fathom what he had in store for Pt. 2. Maybe the problem is that he couldn't fathom it either. But I find that hard to believe.

Yup, got that mix. It's great but I still like the honesty of the Brian+piano only demo better.  I never even liked the trumpet part on the album version (except for the layers on 'columnated ruins domino' in which I like the harmonic content).

[dmcguire70]

I like 'Surf's Up' from the album with the same name, but to me Brian's piano demo is a lot better. To my ears, Brian was meant to sing it, and I never cared for the instrumentation on the album version (up till "Dove nested towers..." anyway).
[/quote]

I totally agree . I never really cared for the Surfs up album version either, for all of the reasons you mentioned.The live version Brian did on the  Leonard Bernstein TV special in 1966 is one of my favourite vids on you tube.Here is the link.
It just sounds beautiful in its simplicity.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a9-waCF60GQ&feature=related

[originals]

To me, nothing sounds better than the version of the song 'Surf's Up' than the version from the 'Surf's Up' album - - but that's probably because it's the version I grew up hearing. I love it.

[juggler]

CD WOW, which is still showing the (doomed) Aug. 9 release date, has cut its pre-order price for the double-CD to $17.99.
http://www.cdwow.us/CD/beach-boys-smile-sessions/dp/22221797#bc=fabc

I know that times are difficult for many of us, and the deluxe box is likely to be a bit dear, but no one here should have any excuse not to scrape together 18 bucks for the 2CD set. 

[acedecade75]

 Personaly, I've been waiting so long for an official release of SMILE that the cost will never be an issue.  This is possibly the greatest musical release ever.  I'll gladly buy the box set at what ever the price is.

[Shady]

CD WOW, which is still showing the (doomed) Aug. 9 release date, has cut its pre-order price for the double-CD to $17.99.
http://www.cdwow.us/CD/beach-boys-smile-sessions/dp/22221797#bc=fabc

I know that times are difficult for many of us, and the deluxe box is likely to be a bit dear, but no one here should have any excuse not to scrape together 18 bucks for the 2CD set. 

I emailed CD wow a month or so ago and again last week and they are still standing by that release date 

Always approach that website with caution

[Shady]

Anybody else see this?

   
06/05/11 at 12:11 PM   
#1
Anybody get their promo/reviewer copies yet?
I got a 4-track promo in the mail on Friday which has:
1. Mark's stereo remix of GV that we've had here forever.
2. Twenty  minutes of `missing' pieces (mostly from BB 30th).
3. Heroes and Villains
4  Twenty minutes of `missing pieces', backing segments and segments of iso'd vocals.

And that's it, on a CD-Acetate.

And, it's rip-proof, i.e. it won't recognize on any kind of CD ripper program I have. Not Nero, not CD-EZ Extractor, not Windows not Roxio... I suppose I can record analog out and back in onto my laptop, but maybe there's some kind of audio-version of Macrovision on here too in order to prevent that. Have to try it tomorrow when the other computer is finished and I go pick it up from repair.

http://bsnpubs.websitetoolbox.com/post?id=5335023

 

[Andrew G. Doe]

Anybody else see this?

   
06/05/11 at 12:11 PM   
#1
Anybody get their promo/reviewer copies yet?
I got a 4-track promo in the mail on Friday which has:
1. Mark's stereo remix of GV that we've had here forever.
2. Twenty  minutes of `missing' pieces (mostly from BB 30th).
3. Heroes and Villains
4  Twenty minutes of `missing pieces', backing segments and segments of iso'd vocals.

And that's it, on a CD-Acetate.

And, it's rip-proof, i.e. it won't recognize on any kind of CD ripper program I have. Not Nero, not CD-EZ Extractor, not Windows not Roxio... I suppose I can record analog out and back in onto my laptop, but maybe there's some kind of audio-version of Macrovision on here too in order to prevent that. Have to try it tomorrow when the other computer is finished and I go pick it up from repair.

http://bsnpubs.websitetoolbox.com/post?id=5335023

 

Yeah - I checked with someone who would know. Hoax.

[Shady]

 

Who would do something like that

[Andrew G. Doe]

A cad... a bounder.

Or Phil Cohen. 

[The Shift]

Read the entire thread -  looks like the guy was set up by a colleague &/or some school kids.  No Cohen mentioned!

[rab2591]

i thought that this was basically going to be "the beach boys present brian wilson presents smile"

There's not much to suggest that's the case at this point.

"Linett says Wilson's 2004 "Smile" album has served as a blueprint for the current project"

http://www.billboard.com/news/beach-boys-lost-smile-album-to-see-release-1005070202.story#/news/beach-boys-lost-smile-album-to-see-release-1005070202.story

Hey Rab,

That quotation has mislead a lot of people. I've written about this before here but I will repaste it, because a lot of people are under the misconception that Linett claimed that The Smile Sessions Disc 1 will be modelled on BWPS. I think mostly this results from the fact that his comments were taken out of context in the summary from the article above. But if you look at the actual interview where the summary comes from, Linett says this:

If you take Brian's 2004 version as a blueprint, [The Smile Sessions will have] all of that music, all of the significant parts and even the little segue ways

What this is suggesting is not that they are going to replicate the structure of BWPS. Rather, he is saying here that all the music that is on BWPS can be found from The Smile Sessions (something that the serious Smile fan already knew) and therefore all the music that was on BWPS will also be on the boxset. Now this can mean two things - he is misusing the word "blueprint" or the sentence as a whole isn't coherent. This doesn't necessarily mean that the tracklisting for Disc 1 of the Smile Sessions won't be modelled on BWPS. Maybe it will. Either way, Linett is not suggesting it will in this quotation. I think the only way to really make sense of the sentence is to read the sentence without the word "blueprint" and see it this way: "If you think about BWPS, we have all that music available for The Smile Sessions."

Thanks for the clarification....I remember reading that a while back, must've slipped my mind.

Can't wait to find out what this thing is going to be made of!

[Jeff]

i thought that this was basically going to be "the beach boys present brian wilson presents smile"

There's not much to suggest that's the case at this point.

"Linett says Wilson's 2004 "Smile" album has served as a blueprint for the current project"

http://www.billboard.com/news/beach-boys-lost-smile-album-to-see-release-1005070202.story#/news/beach-boys-lost-smile-album-to-see-release-1005070202.story

Hey Rab,

That quotation has mislead a lot of people. I've written about this before here but I will repaste it, because a lot of people are under the misconception that Linett claimed that The Smile Sessions Disc 1 will be modelled on BWPS. I think mostly this results from the fact that his comments were taken out of context in the summary from the article above. But if you look at the actual interview where the summary comes from, Linett says this:

If you take Brian's 2004 version as a blueprint, [The Smile Sessions will have] all of that music, all of the significant parts and even the little segue ways

What this is suggesting is not that they are going to replicate the structure of BWPS. Rather, he is saying here that all the music that is on BWPS can be found from The Smile Sessions (something that the serious Smile fan already knew) and therefore all the music that was on BWPS will also be on the boxset. Now this can mean two things - he is misusing the word "blueprint" or the sentence as a whole isn't coherent. This doesn't necessarily mean that the tracklisting for Disc 1 of the Smile Sessions won't be modelled on BWPS. Maybe it will. Either way, Linett is not suggesting it will in this quotation. I think the only way to really make sense of the sentence is to read the sentence without the word "blueprint" and see it this way: "If you think about BWPS, we have all that music available for The Smile Sessions."

I hope you are right, but I definitely don't share your confidence.

When Linett speaks of the Smile Sessions even having "the little segue ways," that sounds to me like he's talking about replicating BWPS.  How else could the Smile Sessions include those segues unless the BWPS structure is used?

[Mahalo]

Alright, so lately I have been on a classical kick. A classical composer is given so much respect and awe as compared to a Rock n' Roller. However, Brian is a true composer as much as anyone else, IMO. So as a composer may take years or a lifetime to finish a work, so did Brian Wilson present Smile 30+ years after the fact...it is still authentic, like it or not.

Personally, I look forward to a blueprint on the new box set provided by BWPS. Is my own order different? You bet. Is it my music to decide?...well, unless I'm Brian posting in disguise then, No, it is not. If the composer wants it that way then SO BE IT.

[Jeff]

Alright, so lately I have been on a classical kick. A classical composer is given so much respect and awe as compared to a Rock n' Roller. However, Brian is a true composer as much as anyone else, IMO. So as a composer may take years or a lifetime to finish a work, so did Brian Wilson present Smile 30+ years after the fact...it is still authentic, like it or not.

Personally, I look forward to a blueprint on the new box set provided by BWPS. Is my own order different? You bet. Is it my music to decide?...well, unless I'm Brian posting in disguise then, No, it is not. If the composer wants it that way then SO BE IT.

I want to hear what the composer would have done in 1966/67, not what his handlers persuade him to do in 2011.  Figuring out exactly what he "would have done" is an impossibility, I know, but I would rather they make their best guess instead of throwing up their hands and importing ideas developed decades later by the Wondermints.

[Chocolate Shake Man]

I hope you are right, but I definitely don't share your confidence.

Well, it's not so much confidence. Like I said, this doesn't disprove that they are using BWPS as a template. It just doesn't prove it.

When Linett speaks of the Smile Sessions even having "the little segue ways," that sounds to me like he's talking about replicating BWPS.  How else could the Smile Sessions include those segues unless the BWPS structure is used?

Well, but keep in mind that throughout the interview Linett's intended audience are casual fans, which is why he says that most of the stuff will be new. When he says that we even have the little segues, I just think that he means, "Can you believe it? We found everything that was on BWPS in the vaults. It's all available to us and it will all be on the boxset."

But, furthermore, that can't be right. What about the segue that connects H&V and Roll Plymouth Rock - the one that comes immediately before RPR begins? Is that really from the 60s - it doesn't sound like it and no one that I know has heard it before. How about the little piece before I'm In The Great Shape? I don't know...

[Chocolate Shake Man]

I want to hear what the composer would have done in 1966/67, not what his handlers persuade him to do in 2011.  Figuring out exactly what he "would have done" is an impossibility, I know, but I would rather they make their best guess instead of throwing up their hands and importing ideas developed decades later by the Wondermints.

Priore suggested that Alan Boyd has been working very hard on the history of Smile SINCE BWPS was put out. Linnet, in his interview, stated that where available, they are using Brian's mixes from 1966/67. To me, all signs point towards the fact that they are doing their best to recreate Brian's 1966/67 vision(s) for the album, however unclear they may have been to him.

[Wirestone]

None of the music in BWPS is new (with the possible exception the lead vocal over the water chant).

The brief string interlude before RPR is just quoting the melody of the "canvas the town and brush the backdrop" line from Surf's Up.

Likewise, the interlude before IIGS is just the melody line from "Around and 'round in the warmth / her body fanned the flame of the dance" line from H&V.

[Matt Bielewicz]

None of the music in BWPS is new (with the possible exception the lead vocal over the water chant).

Weeeeelllll... I always wondered about that. There is *one* other bit I can think of that always seemed new to me (or at the very least, its provenance is unknown to me)... at the very end of 'In Blue Hawaii', just *before* the repeat of the phrase from 'Prayer', and before 'Good Vibrations' starts. The strings, otherwise unaccompanied, perform a phrase descending through the notes of the F sharp major triad, starting on C sharp (one octave up from middle C) and going down to the A sharp just below middle C.

There are lots of descending phrases in SMiLE, most famously the H&V verse melody ('I've been in this town...' through to '...and unknown for a long, long time'). But this *particular* string section at the end of 'In Blue Hawaii' doesn't quite seem to resemble anything else in the 66-7 sessions that I know of.

The closest thing I could find is the snippet known as 'Soul Made Beautiful' (as heard on the 93 GV box set, in the H&V sections track on disc 2, Track 20, from 2 minutes 23 secs in, finishing under five seconds later at 2 minutes 28 secs). But that was a *vocal* snippet in the 66-7 sessions. And it really only resembles the string passage from the end of 'In Blue Hawaii' in feel, and in some of the harmonies. The main melody notes sung are different to the string passage (Soul Made Beautiful is a harmonised vocal scale descending the first five notes of the C sharp scale).

So... not all that alike at all, really. But if that's the case, where does the string part at the end of 'In Blue Hawaii' come from? Of course, it isn't long - about four seconds - but even so, I think that might be a contender for a truly new bit of music in the 2004 SMiLE...

Anyone have any other suggestions as to where that part came from?

MattB

PS Oh, and surely the jury is also out on the lead vocal melodies from 'In Blue Hawaii' and 'On A Holiday', which are probably 2003 creations, and not of 60s vintage? To be clear, not the lyrics — the creation date of which are also uncertain as far as I know — but the *melodies* the lyrics are sung to.

[buddhahat]

None of the music in BWPS is new (with the possible exception the lead vocal over the water chant).

Weeeeelllll... I always wondered about that. There is *one* other bit I can think of that always seemed new to me (or at the very least, its provenance is unknown to me)... at the very end of 'In Blue Hawaii', just *before* the repeat of the phrase from 'Prayer', and before 'Good Vibrations' starts. The strings, otherwise unaccompanied, perform a phrase descending through the notes of the F sharp major triad, starting on C sharp (one octave up from middle C) and going down to the A sharp just below middle C.

There are lots of descending phrases in SMiLE, most famously the H&V verse melody ('I've been in this town...' through to '...and unknown for a long, long time'). But this *particular* string section at the end of 'In Blue Hawaii' doesn't quite seem to resemble anything else in the 66-7 sessions that I know of.

The closest thing I could find is the snippet known as 'Soul Made Beautiful' (as heard on the 93 GV box set, in the H&V sections track on disc 2, Track 20, from 2 minutes 23 secs in, finishing under five seconds later at 2 minutes 28 secs). But that was a *vocal* snippet in the 66-7 sessions. And it really only resembles the string passage from the end of 'In Blue Hawaii' in feel, and in some of the harmonies. The main melody notes sung are different to the string passage (Soul Made Beautiful is a harmonised vocal scale descending the first five notes of the C sharp scale).

So... not all that alike at all, really. But if that's the case, where does the string part at the end of 'In Blue Hawaii' come from? Of course, it isn't long - about four seconds - but even so, I think that might be a contender for a truly new bit of music in the 2004 SMiLE...

Anyone have any other suggestions as to where that part came from?

MattB

PS Oh, and surely the jury is also out on the lead vocal melodies from 'In Blue Hawaii' and 'On A Holiday', which are probably 2003 creations, and not of 60s vintage? To be clear, not the lyrics — the creation date of which are also uncertain as far as I know — but the *melodies* the lyrics are sung to.

I'm sure all these dovetail sections were written by Darian and based on existing Smile sections and I suspect this bit is no different although harder to pin down. I think it's based on the Surf's Up line "The Glass was raised the fire rose etc." as that seems to descend and then go up at the end again. Admittedly if it is based on this bit, it's a much looser reference though.

[Matt Bielewicz]

You learn something new about SMiLE every day... I've looked for a connection for that string part in the original SMiLE music for years, but I never spotted that!

I think you're right. The melody, harmony and rhythm of the phrase 'the glass was raised the fire rose...' from Surf's Up does fit that string part.

Top spot, Mr 'hat! Many thanks!

MattB

PS My only regret about this is that it means that 'Soul Made Beautiful' definitely *didn't* make it into the 2004 SMiLE in any way... which means it's another original section that goes on my list of 'bits I wish had made it into SMiLE in 2004'... along with the absolutely incredible 'Vega-Tables Fade', and 'With Me Tonight' (any version). And I suppose 'False Barnyard', although I'm less bothered about that bit.

[buddhahat]

PS My ony regret about this is that it means that 'Soul Made Beautiful' definitely *didn't* make it into the 2004 SMiLE in any way... which means it's another original section that goes on my list of 'bits I wish had made it into SMiLE in 2004'... along with the absolutely incredible 'Vega-Tables Fade', and 'With Me Tonight' (any version). And I suppose 'False Barnyard', although I'm less bothered about that bit.

Matt - Let's hope Mark & Alan's Smile might feature some of the bits you mention then, so that it has its own identity separate from BWPS!

[Matt Bielewicz]

I really hope it's ALL there, in New Improved Full Dimensional Stereo (TM)

...OK, OK, a guy can dream, can't he?

MattB

[Chocolate Shake Man]

None of the music in BWPS is new (with the possible exception the lead vocal over the water chant).

The brief string interlude before RPR is just quoting the melody of the "canvas the town and brush the backdrop" line from Surf's Up.

Likewise, the interlude before IIGS is just the melody line from "Around and 'round in the warmth / her body fanned the flame of the dance" line from H&V.

I know that but that's not my point. The fact that the segues quote other songs doesn't mean the segues themselves exist in 1966 form, which is what Linett is suggesting in this quotation.

[drbeachboy]

None of the music in BWPS is new (with the possible exception the lead vocal over the water chant).

The brief string interlude before RPR is just quoting the melody of the "canvas the town and brush the backdrop" line from Surf's Up.

Likewise, the interlude before IIGS is just the melody line from "Around and 'round in the warmth / her body fanned the flame of the dance" line from H&V.

I know that but that's not my point. The fact that the segues quote other songs doesn't mean the segues themselves exist in 1966 form, which is what Linett is suggesting in this quotation.

Disc One is a 2011 creation and there really are no boundaries except for using 1966-1967 recorded music. Not that we are 100% sure about if segues will be used or not, but if they are, some transition pieces will have to be different than what was used on BWPS.  Even the beginning of I'm In Great Shape would have to be different, as the BWPS piece is a new arrangement altogether. I'm in agreement with Peter Reum in this respect; Sometime after Smile was cancelled and Brian went back to work more on the material, segues worked their way back into Brian's creative process. Had Smile been released in 1968, 1972 or 1988, I think segues would have been a part of Smile. Even though Brian has had relatively nothing to do with this new release, I have to think that the tracks, the sequencing and the use of segues are exactly what Brian wants it to sound like.