A Ten-episodes official web series on the SMiLE Sessions is now on YouTube

[guitarfool2002]

I have to give Al credit on this episode: Short of unveiling more new studio session film clips, Al explained something that has puzzled me and I'm sure many others since that interview in Goldmine. The "Dixieland" explanation makes perfect sense, and it now adds up logically when Al claimed the BB's were singing parts of Heroes in 1961.

Hardly - they were singing a riff that later became incorporated into "H&V". I very much doubt Brian told them "This is part of something I'm working on, it's called "Heroes And Villains", OK ?". You could just as easily claim that Phil Spector wrote the main riff by this logic.

Also, does anyone else consider this amusing coming from someone who seemingly hasn't written a completely original melody in his life ? 

I agree Al's words can be taken too much at face value in Goldmine, he sets up too many assumptions. But I did say "parts" of Heroes, and Al said "idea, not the song"; obviously Brian didn't have the song Heroes in 1961. The problem was for years people have read way too much into what Al originally said, myself included. So here is what Al said in the interview, so we can judge it verbatim:

Al: In fact, “Heroes And Villains” at the start, was one of the first things we ever did, really early on, even before we recorded “Surfin'”; We were working on that song way back in '61. We all became instruments for Brian's barber shop concept. He said, “Let's all do this, let's sing this idea.” Carl would be one instrument, I'd be another. Mike would be another instrument.

Question: So the idea of “Heroes And Villains” was born back in 61.

Al: Yeah, the idea, not the song. We started singing a capella first because we didn't play instruments. With none of us really being players, we would just scat in the car going to a show or something or going to school, anywhere.


What it seems Al said originally isn't far off from what he just said in that video. The *idea* of the band's vocalists riffing like a Dixieland jazz band was something they had done for years, directed by Brian. Fast forward to 1966-67, and imagine you're Al. Brian now wants to record sections of music as backing vocals and full vocal sections of a song which are the same concept and delivery as you (Al) had done back in '61, only now it may or may not appear in a song called Heroes and Villains, the exact structure hasn't been determined.

Andrew, if you're being asked to sing something similar if not exactly the same as you had done numerous times as a group 5 or 6 years prior, and someone asks you about it decades later, wouldn't there be a natural inclination to say "we were working on that back in '61"? Al could have clarified what he was describing, I agree,  it's just a shame Al wasn't more precise with the wording he used in that Goldmine piece probably not realizing what would be assumed by fans reading it, but it's easier now to see where he was coming from in that original interview.

I think it adds a neat nostalgia element to Heroes which I didn't catch before, hundreds of listens later. That "Dixieland" section now sounds more fun and childlike realizing this is what the Wilsons, Love, Jardine, etc. used to do for fun when they were in their teens, and here it is appearing on a record after they achieved worldwide fame and fortune through their music. I think that element changed how I see at least that part of the Heroes story, so I'll cut Al a bit of slack on the interview front.

[Iron Horse-Apples]

As Al highlights certain lines from the section, (i.e Carl sang that bit), I took it to mean that something they worked on in '61 was incorporated into H&V.

However, who's to say that Brian, in '66, when wanting to write a  song with an old timey dixieland feel to it, didn't use that old arrangement as the basis for it.

Maybe this section was the starting point for H&V.

Maybe Brian had been wanting to do something with it for five years. In which case, H&V was started in '61. It just didn't have a title.

All conjecture.

[Shady]

Such a waste limiting this to youtube and facebook..

Should have been on TV or a DVD with the box

[HeyJude]

I don’t think there’s much ambiguity in what Al is saying in that interview. There is a bit of ambiguity in his initial comment, but then he clarifies that the “idea” was something they sang back in 1961, not the song. So I don’t think anybody is claiming Brian wrote H&V back in 1961, or presented anything as H&V back in 1961. I think Al’s comment is pretty general, simply something along the lines of “we were doing singing like that back in our early days”, and he recognized a connection back to that when they were recording H&V.

Maybe some people want to interpret “idea” as if Brian had written that segment, and then incorporated it years later into H&V. But I take it more as the simple idea that they had already dealt with the concept of singing like that.

Brian and the other guys have re-used songs and melodies so many times, and what Al is talking about here is not even something of that scale.

[HeyJude]

Such a waste limiting this to youtube and facebook..

Should have been on TV or a DVD with the box

I don’t know anything about the innerworkings of how the label budgeted the Smile set and whatnot, but I do know that there’s a point at which a major label is not going to continue to expand a boxed set. In other words, while it seems like they could have gone to 7, 8, or more discs for this set, Capitol may well not be willing to go past five discs. If that were the case, then it would be a question of whether a DVD with a short documentary would be preferable to one of the CD’s in this set.

But in general, I agree, I would love to have this as a full-length documentary on DVD. Something more group-oriented than “Beautiful Dreamer” is still needed documentary-wise.

[bossaroo]

Episode 5 with a bunch more studio footage!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jf9n39OWKzI

[Joshilyn Hoisington]

Episode 5 with a bunch more studio footage!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jf9n39OWKzI

Yes.  Bask in the majesty of this new footage.  Wow.  This is so cool--seeing Tommy Morgan in there with the diatonic harmonica...Jay, Steve...wow-wee.  Superb.  Moving pictures!

[hypehat]

That footage of him working stuff out with Hal is so bloody cool

[adam78]

I pray for the day we get the entire studio footage, unedited. Those stills are taken from it too right? Everytime it's on, it's over too quickly!! Amazing.

[guitarfool2002]

Yeah, we can pretty much say this is an awesome piece of film. Finally, a chance to piece together how Brian would set up his favorite Western #3 studio for sessions in 1966. This is really historic stuff, and like everyone else I hope to have the entire reel of film available to study and enjoy. I'd write a research piece on that one for sure, it's akin to finding another lost scroll in the Dead Sea series of said scrolls if you're into the studio history...

[guitarfool2002]

And that upright piano in the film is, I believe, one of the famous tack pianos that showed up on a bunch of Brian's music from 66-67, whichever he recorded at Western. Each studio had their own tack piano, but the one in the film has a lot of recordings to its credit, if that is the one.

Is that Van Dyke with his back turned, with Brian at the upright piano?

[monicker]

Episode 5 with a bunch more studio footage!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jf9n39OWKzI

Tommy Morgan in there with the diatonic harmonica...

That's a chromatic one.

[Iron Horse-Apples]

And that upright piano in the film is, I believe, one of the famous tack pianos that showed up on a bunch of Brian's music from 66-67, whichever he recorded at Western. Each studio had their own tack piano, but the one in the film has a lot of recordings to its credit, if that is the one.

Is that Van Dyke with his back turned, with Brian at the upright piano?

I was thinking the same about the tack piano, and yes, it certainly looks like VDP's funny little head. Hard to tell though.

[Joshilyn Hoisington]

Episode 5 with a bunch more studio footage!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jf9n39OWKzI

Tommy Morgan in there with the diatonic harmonica...

That's a chromatic one.

Of course it is, which is what I meant--but I was so woozy with delight I confused chromaticism with diatonism.  If it were diatonic it's not even really necessary to say so.  Can you believe it!  It would be like saying "ooh, look at his awesome 4-string ukulele."

So now that we can see that there's a clarinet in there, it almost slam dunks this being the 6/16/66 session the "Klezmer" version of the verse.

[guitarfool2002]

Not only is there new studio footage, but check out one of the first still frames of Brian, wearing the firehat and the blue striped T-shirt. That is from the Good Vibrations film, shot at the firehouse, and that frame appears to be a camera angle which did not appear in the actual clip. The shot looks to be taken in the upstairs sleeping quarters where the film was shot, and where Brian slid "up" the fire pole. in the movie. Wondering if this is a still photo, or part of home-movie outtakes like the one of Dennis riding in on the firetruck which was never shown either?

[Been Too Long]

Episode 5 with a bunch more studio footage!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jf9n39OWKzI

Tommy Morgan in there with the diatonic harmonica...

That's a chromatic one.

Of course it is, which is what I meant--but I was so woozy with delight I confused chromaticism with diatonism.  If it were diatonic it's not even really necessary to say so.  Can you believe it!  It would be like saying "ooh, look at his awesome 4-string ukulele."

So now that we can see that there's a clarinet in there, it almost slam dunks this being the 6/16/66 session the "Klezmer" version of the verse.

Pretty sure that's a soprano sax in there (at 1:50) not a clarinet. Keys are too big and it's conical shaped. Still probably the 6/16/66 session.

[Joshilyn Hoisington]

Episode 5 with a bunch more studio footage!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jf9n39OWKzI

Tommy Morgan in there with the diatonic harmonica...

That's a chromatic one.

Of course it is, which is what I meant--but I was so woozy with delight I confused chromaticism with diatonism.  If it were diatonic it's not even really necessary to say so.  Can you believe it!  It would be like saying "ooh, look at his awesome 4-string ukulele."

So now that we can see that there's a clarinet in there, it almost slam dunks this being the 6/16/66 session the "Klezmer" version of the verse.

Pretty sure that's a soprano sax in there (at 1:50) not a clarinet. Keys are too big and it's conical shaped. Still probably the 6/16/66 session.

See, this clip is just fucking up my instrument identification today!

[Joshilyn Hoisington]

But seriously, it's cool to see Jay playing his Wagner tuba and Hal playing those Nose Flutes.

[Iron Horse-Apples]

And was that Steve Douglas on the crumhorn?

[hypehat]

Rare shot of Van Dyke Parks playing the Bass Waterphone, too

[monicker]

I actually was looking for Hal with a nose flute (from his bag of tricks)...until i got distracted by the serpent and the contrabass saxophone. Oh, those Wrecking Crew guys.

[guitarfool2002]

Some detective work and questions on the latest reveal of the studio film.


The original studio sheet, an excerpt, from 6/16/66 showing the people there. Note Carl Wilson was filmed playing bass but he's not on this sheet as a musician. Any guesses why?


Tommy Morgan's wristwatch, showing a time of approx. 7:20 (PM)...and one session sheet lists 1PM to 8PM, while the other shows 5PM to 9PM, for the June 16th date so it lines up. Any reasons why there were two separate times on the session sheets? Was it an overtime thing they had to list separately?


The first shot of the woodwinds, I'm guessing Steve Douglas standing and Jim Horn seated.


The second, Tommy Morgan with chromatic harmonica and Jay Migliori wearing the shades. Agree on Migliori? I thought originally it was Douglas with the shades but the guy wearing the shades looks too big to be Douglas. It's tough to tell on some of these. I'm going with Migliori.


The "tack piano" shot: I thought the guy in the white shirt looked like Van Dyke's profile, but based on the session info that could be Mike Melvoin standing with Brian. Or is it Al DeLory? Based on that camera angle we can't see the guy's face. Do the session tapes ID him by name?

I've said this before, but the big surprise - one I hope will be revealed - will be Paul Tanner and his ElectroTheremin. He's most likely in the studio as this was being filmed, I'm hoping there is at least a shot of him playing it. That would be too cool. He's a prominent one on the session sheet, apart from Diane Rovell, Bill Pitman, and either Melvoin or DeLory, who hasn't been revealed in the film clips so far.

[Joshilyn Hoisington]

Definitely going with Migliori--100 per centum on that, for me.

I have no idea about the guy at the piano with Bri.  Looks a little unkempt for DeLory who is always seemingly well put together.  Jim Horn and Steve Douglas, yes, in the order you stated.

Carl wasn't on AFM sheets all the time, see GOK, etc.  My guess is that since he was more or less getting paid anyway, they didn't always feel the need to list him?

Seeing Tanner in there would be the ultimate.  Nice work with the wrist watch.

[Aegir]

Here is a picture of Mike Melvoin. Seems to be plausible that the piano player could be him, same hair quality.

[c-man]

OK, here's the deal...yes, we believe it is indeed the 6/16 "Good Vibrations" session at Western.  The images in the footage aided us in figuring out, for instance, who played what in the woodwind section (Michael Andreas, who led the BB's late '70s horn section, helped immensley with identifying the soprano sax & bass clarinet, hence his namecheck in the "Thank Yous".  Yes, the big guy is Jay Migliori.  Not sure who the mystery keyboard player with his back to us is...that caused us a bit of head scratching, but most likely either Melvoin or DeLory (I'm guessing the first of the two)...but note, as indicated in my sessionography credits, Steve Douglas played grand piano on the basic track (as he did on one or two "Pet Sounds" songs as well), Al DeLory was electric harpsichord, and Mike Melvoin played the Hammond organ.

As for the two different times on the AFM sheets:  the conclusion I came to was that the basic track (with Steve Douglas on piano) was laid down at the session which began at 1:00pm, then overdubs (like Tommy's second harmonica part) started and overlapped with the "second" session, for which Jay and Jim Horn were called in (at 5:00pm).  The AFM contract for the first session indicates some musicians were paid for 2 1/2 hours O.T., Morgan for 3, and Douglas (the "leader") for 4.  Study these things for long enough, and they actually start to make sense (some times)!  And yes, Carl was definitely there, definitely playing bass, but they didn't bother putting him on the contract this time (he IS on other ones, such as the 6/18 "Good Vibes" session.