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

[Joshilyn Hoisington]

To be fair to the 610, I think there's plenty of magic in them--it's the fault of the tape-in pad, not the amp.

[Pretty Funky]

This series is great and I am enjoying it but wondering at what point could it become a possible DVD release. Just looking at the numbers for youtube views.

 The Beach Boys An Introduction to "SMiLE Sessions". A tad under 40k views in less than a month.

The Beach Boys - SMiLE Sessions Webisode #7 - Love of Harmony . Just over 3000 views since Monday.

Keeping in mind this is a free series and I'm sure many of us here have watched each webisode more than once, I'm wondering just how well this might sell?

What sort of sales numbers make it viable?

[Shane]

While we're getting heavily into this discussion of ultra hi-fi equipment, let me throw a bit of perspective in here.  It is easy to express disbelief at the "bad" fidelity on an album like Smiley Smile.  But most of us are hearing this music on CDs, or vinyl on mid to high-end equipment.  Now picture yourself as an average Joe in 1967.  You hear the "latest Beach Boys single- Heroes and Villains" (in low fidelity) on your AM radio.  Then you decide you like it enough to purchase the Smiley Smile LP. 

You unwrap the album, and listen to it on your brand new 1967 Magnavox console stereo that weighs two tons, takes up half a room, and features an old-style ceramic phono cartridge.  While giving a unique "warm" type of sound, these stereos do not pick up a whole lot of sonic detail, leaving the Smiley Smile LP sounding pretty much on the same level of fidelity as every other record in your collection.  And this is a best case scenario... many portable record players in use at the time sound even worse.

The point is the options for hearing this music the way that we do now simply wasn't part of the public's ability at the time.  Therefore, the quality of mastering really wasn't that important, and shoddy work would go generally unnoticed.

[STE]

So what's with the episodes? Wasn't one supposed to be uploaded last Thursday?
Let's at least hope for today.

[JohnMill]

So what's with the episodes? Wasn't one supposed to be uploaded last Thursday?
Let's at least hope for today.

Last Thursday was a holiday (in the US at least).  It's likely that the webmaster or whomever actually does the uploading for the YT series had the day off.

[STE]

Right! Your Thanksgiving thingy..

So what holiday was yesterday?

[bgas]

Right! Your Thanksgiving thingy..

So what holiday was yesterday?

Cyber Monday

[guitarfool2002]

While we're getting heavily into this discussion of ultra hi-fi equipment, let me throw a bit of perspective in here.  It is easy to express disbelief at the "bad" fidelity on an album like Smiley Smile.  But most of us are hearing this music on CDs, or vinyl on mid to high-end equipment.  Now picture yourself as an average Joe in 1967.  You hear the "latest Beach Boys single- Heroes and Villains" (in low fidelity) on your AM radio.  Then you decide you like it enough to purchase the Smiley Smile LP. 

You unwrap the album, and listen to it on your brand new 1967 Magnavox console stereo that weighs two tons, takes up half a room, and features an old-style ceramic phono cartridge.  While giving a unique "warm" type of sound, these stereos do not pick up a whole lot of sonic detail, leaving the Smiley Smile LP sounding pretty much on the same level of fidelity as every other record in your collection.  And this is a best case scenario... many portable record players in use at the time sound even worse.

The point is the options for hearing this music the way that we do now simply wasn't part of the public's ability at the time.  Therefore, the quality of mastering really wasn't that important, and shoddy work would go generally unnoticed.

I disagree with some of this, but at the same time I can understand and agree with the sentiment of the post. The ultimate blame rests on Brother Records as a whole, or whoever signed on to releasing Smiley Smile (and Wild Honey) with that muddy, lifeless sound. Those albums simply did not cut it sonically, at a time when sonics and mixing/mastering was important to a lot of artists and engineers. What engineer would want his name attached to a record which sounded shoddy? Would Bones Howe, Al Schmitt, Larry Levine, Eddie Brackett, or any of the other top Grammy-winning engineers of that era want his name on something shoddy? I think sonics were very much a consideration, although more important in some circles than others. But a record which sounded great in 1966 still sounds great, and a record which sounded muddy in 1966 still sounds muddy, no matter what technology has developed in the meantime.

However, it's tough to write off the poor sonic quality of Smiley Smile (and Wild Honey later the same year) in light of the quality of many classic recordings that were released in that same 6 month span in '67. I hate to continue to fall back on this because it's been done so often, but one of the groundbreaking aspects of Sgt. Pepper was the mixing and engineering, i.e. the way the record sounded apart from the music itself. And I'd argue a song like "Day In The Life" sounded big, present, vibrant, and alive whether it was heard on AM radio, a mini turntable, or a hi-fi set.

It's a major frustration as a BB's fan too because all it takes is a few listens to California Girls, or Help Me Rhonda, not too far removed from July '67. They explode out of the speakers, you can hear details like the sound of a stick on a cymbal in that intro, the breath of the horn players, and details of the lead guitar lines in Rhonda that sound brilliant 5 decades later. And they sounded great across the board of various systems and formats, and still do. The truth is that Smiley Smile and Wild Honey still sound muddy and lifeless to these ears, and as much as recording in a house environment where acoustics were not taken into consideration and the gear was hastily assembled. At the end of the process, the mixing and mastering wasn't as good as it could/should have been. The frustrating thing, too, is that both albums could be served very well by a remix, if such a thing is possible based on how they were constructed in '67.


But take a listen to any radio broadcast tape from 1967, and some of the songs are simply amazing, even on limited AM radio. They explode out of the speakers, there is clarity to those mono mixes, and hearing a single like Heroes in that context...maybe it's something everyone has to hear on their own to make a judgement. I just think overall, Smiley Smile and Wild Honey sound like there is a towel covering the speakers *in comparison* to other albums and songs of that same time period, where the sound of the mix and the mastering seemed to be important to those involved. 

[runnersdialzero]

Say what you will, but any "muddiness" on Smiley Smile and Wild Honey are part of their charm. That said, I hear very little of said muddiness. They don't sound like "California Girls", I'll grant you, but these records have a very specific sound to them that I really enjoy. The songs are great, which is worlds more important than the master lacking a bit of treble and the mix not being "flawless".

So yeah, the sound of these albums very much "cut it" for me. No mix of these songs would've ensure Grammy's etc. and said mixes probably would've taken away from the experience, if anything.

[guitarfool2002]

Say what you will, but any "muddiness" on Smiley Smile and Wild Honey are part of their charm. That said, I hear very little of said muddiness. They don't sound like "California Girls", I'll grant you, but these records have a very specific sound to them that I really enjoy. The songs are great, which is worlds more important than the master lacking a bit of treble and the mix not being "flawless".

So yeah, the sound of these albums very much "cut it" for me. No mix of these songs would've ensure Grammy's etc. and said mixes probably would've taken away from the experience, if anything.

Agreed with a lot of these statements, obviously the charm of Smiley Smile is the homebrew, lo-fi sound overall, and ultimately I'm a fan of it despite my opinions on the sounds. But in the context of where the Beach Boys and Brian in particular were being hyped and promoted as leaders of the pack in the way records were made and produced, and that was the hype being fed by Derek Taylor's PR machine among others in the rock press, Smiley Smile was a complete fall-off-the-ledge departure from what fans were being led to expect earlier that year. There was no easy let-down, there was no easing into this "new sound" or even a gradual build-up (or breakdown...) to that new sound, and I think in that context, Smiley Smile was doomed from the start.

[Cam Mott]

Do the 1967 pressings sound muddy?

[hypehat]

new episode - more Brian being ace at the piano

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=7GJqxMR8vIg

[Joshilyn Hoisington]

new episode - more Brian being ace at the piano

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=7GJqxMR8vIg

No new studio video though!

[rab2591]

new episode - more Brian being ace at the piano

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=7GJqxMR8vIg

In one of the more recent episodes I love the part where Brian starts playing CIFOTM on piano - that was amazing.

[Wirestone]

Hey -- the Cabinessence chorus shows up in Fire! Doh!

[SMiLE Brian]

new episode - more Brian being ace at the piano

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=7GJqxMR8vIg

In one of the more recent episodes I love the part where Brian starts playing CIFOTM on piano - that was amazing.

Agreed, after this video series, the thread a couple months ago about the "decline" of brian's piano playing seems crazy.

[Custom Machine]

Do the 1967 pressings sound muddy?

Smiley Smile and Wild Honey have always suffered from poor recording quality.  But, for that matter, from a sound quality standpoint, Today, Summer Days, and the original Pet Sounds mono mix also sound sonically inferior to the better sounding recordings of the era.  Although the Pet Sound stereo remix is a sonic improvement over the mono mix, it's recording quality still doesn't match that of the best recordings of the day.  (Also please note that I am not saying that the stereo version is preferred over the mono; I'm just commenting that the sonics are better on the stereo remix.)

Bottom line for me is that all the original mono BB releases would benefit from a remix, to stereo when possible.  For an example of the dramatic improvement a remix can make, compare the stereo remixes of Kiss Me Baby (from BB Today) to the mono original.  Then listen to the Surfer Girl album from 1963 and note the vastly superior the recording quality compared to anything the BBs released from 1965 thru 1967. 

[Joshilyn Hoisington]

Do the 1967 pressings sound muddy?

Smiley Smile and Wild Honey have always suffered from poor recording quality. 

Safer to say poor mixing and mastering quality, I think.

[Custom Machine]

Do the 1967 pressings sound muddy?

Smiley Smile and Wild Honey have always suffered from poor recording quality. 

Safer to say poor mixing and mastering quality, I think.

Yes, when I said "recording quality" I was referring to the overall sound, but perhaps I should have said "poor mixing and mastering quality" as that's the primary element I was referring to when I said the 65-67 albums would benefit from a remix.  But parts of Wild Honey do seem to suffer from lackluster recording quality, case in point being the buzz on Here Comes the Night.  I bought the Wild Honey album when it was released in Dec. '67, and I remember thinking, "I can't believe how sloppy this sounds, the Beach Boys have taken this home recording studio thing too far."

[Micha]

Say what you will, but any "muddiness" on Smiley Smile and Wild Honey are part of their charm.

While that specific muddiness works great for SS, it gives the WH tracks way less impact. I like muddiness, too, but WH is too much muddiness even for me. It is the only album I put the treble up to maximum. The CD sounds a bit brighter.

[runnersdialzero]

compare the stereo remixes of Kiss Me Baby (from BB Today) to the mono original. 

Most of these newer stereo mixes are not without their fair amount of faults, too.

[STE]

I would pay big Euros for a DVD of Brian playing improvised 10-seconds fragments of SMiLE songs on the piano, even if with wrong chords, tempo and lyrics.
Hell, doesn't even have to be all SMiLE, throw in any BW/BB song that comes to his mind and Shortnin' Bread.

[Joshilyn Hoisington]

New Episode up--pretty fascinating:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=XXoDkZlxg9c

[TerryWogan]

"We were taking drugs...and we were taking, uh, drugs...and...drugs."

[SMiLE Brian]

The ending of this episode has the band very down with the revisting the end of an era for Brian. Brian looked like he was saying the drugs thing to hold back the real reasons for the end and almost seemed like he was going to reveal them.