The Decision to Blend or Not Blend Tracks

[P.J.]

The more I listen to Disc 1 the more I question the editor's decisions to blend the tracks where they do and not blend the tracks where they don't. I kind of wish they were more consistent on how they approached this matter. And by "blends" I mean serious overlapping of songs; editing/mixing them right on top of each other; say in contrast to the other songs with end with silence "leading" into the next song. The "echo" may overlap but not actual music.

Track Blends:
1. Barnyard > TOMP/YAMS
2. Workshop > Vega-Tables
3. Holidays > Wind Chimes

Why do them? They established that fades and clean intros would be used on this album (ex. Cabin Essence, Surf's Up, Heroes and Villains, Do You Like Worms) so why pick these three tracks to blend together?

Maybe I understand the first one. If you treat Barnyard/TOMP/YAMS/False Barnyard as one track it actually is very cool. Also BWPS treats Barnyard/TOMP/YAMS very much like one track. I kind of always wished they made it that way on the CD.

The latter two blends I can't get into. First, it causes major editing to the intros of both Vega-Tables and Wind Chimes. This is sin #1 since those two tracks are awesome starting with the verse vocals right out of the gate (much like Good Vibrations and Heroes and Villains). Second, if the editors were going to do this then why not Gee>Heroes and Villains and Wonderful>Song For Children and CIFOTM>Surf's Up and IIGS>IWBA as in BWPS??

Side note: Speaking of IIGS, why is its position changed? I thought it was going to be placed because of blending with other tracks. This is not even the case. If the only reason it has changed positions is because it was "discovered" that it was recorded during a Heroes and Villains sessions and must somehow be in the American suite, that is pretty weak. Especially since it is widely known that Heroes and Villains birthed many other sections elsewhere on the album (ex. Do A Lot, Fire Intro). Unless Brian said it belongs there... thats another thing.

Just some questions. I still love the quality oh so much!!!

[Iron Horse-Apples]

They established that fades and clean intros would be used on this album (ex. Cabin Essence, Surf's Up, Heroes and Villains, Do You Like Worms)

Nothing of the sort has been established. It's all conjecture with this album. Yes there were tags, which might or might not have been used as fades, but there are also sections, such as Barnyard / Sunshine, which do edit together really well. So all we really know is, is that there may have been fades, there may have been edits.

Certainly nothing has been established by "they"

[buddhahat]

Yeah Barnyard into OMP was one of the surprisingly cool edits for me. It sounds awful on Purple Chick so I hoped they wouldn't try it with this but I think it works perfectly.

[JohnMill]

The more I listen to Disc 1 the more I question the editor's decisions to blend the tracks where they do and not blend the tracks where they don't. I kind of wish they were more consistent on how they approached this matter. And by "blends" I mean serious overlapping of songs; editing/mixing them right on top of each other; say in contrast to the other songs with end with silence "leading" into the next song. The "echo" may overlap but not actual music.

Track Blends:
1. Barnyard > TOMP/YAMS
2. Workshop > Vega-Tables
3. Holidays > Wind Chimes

Why do them? They established that fades and clean intros would be used on this album (ex. Cabin Essence, Surf's Up, Heroes and Villains, Do You Like Worms) so why pick these three tracks to blend together?

Maybe I understand the first one. If you treat Barnyard/TOMP/YAMS/False Barnyard as one track it actually is very cool. Also BWPS treats Barnyard/TOMP/YAMS very much like one track. I kind of always wished they made it that way on the CD.

The latter two blends I can't get into. First, it causes major editing to the intros of both Vega-Tables and Wind Chimes. This is sin #1 since those two tracks are awesome starting with the verse vocals right out of the gate (much like Good Vibrations and Heroes and Villains). Second, if the editors were going to do this then why not Gee>Heroes and Villains and Wonderful>Song For Children and CIFOTM>Surf's Up and IIGS>IWBA as in BWPS??

Side note: Speaking of IIGS, why is its position changed? I thought it was going to be placed because of blending with other tracks. This is not even the case. If the only reason it has changed positions is because it was "discovered" that it was recorded during a Heroes and Villains sessions and must somehow be in the American suite, that is pretty weak. Especially since it is widely known that Heroes and Villains birthed many other sections elsewhere on the album (ex. Do A Lot, Fire Intro). Unless Brian said it belongs there... thats another thing.

Just some questions. I still love the quality oh so much!!!

I don't like the blends for the purely selfish reason that when I want to listen to one of those blended tracks as a standalone I get that bleeding over aspect.  It's not a real biggie though all things considered.  It's kind of like someone else mentioned it would have been nice if they separated the sessions and the masters on discs 2-5.  It would've been nice but it's not really anything to get down about.

As far as IIGS goes, I remember reading early on that Linett and Boyd made this edit for a very specific reason.  I can't recall the reason or whether or not Brian was involved in the decision but my feeling is that IIGS is now properly placed within the framework of the the three suites.  Furthermore my feeling is that the reason it was originally placed as part of the third suite for BWPS is because it worked well leading off the third suite from a performance perspective.  This was something that obviously was not applicable to the compiling of the music for "The Smile Sessions".

[P.J.]

They established that fades and clean intros would be used on this album (ex. Cabin Essence, Surf's Up, Heroes and Villains, Do You Like Worms)

Nothing of the sort has been established. It's all conjecture with this album. Yes there were tags, which might or might not have been used as fades, but there are also sections, such as Barnyard / Sunshine, which do edit together really well. So all we really know is, is that there may have been fades, there may have been edits.

Certainly nothing has been established by "they"

What I mean by "established" is that in the context of the assembled album on Disc 1 "they" the producers/editors/Brian decided that fades and clean intros would be used where as on the BWPS versions they had blends.

Also, I have totally selfish reasons myself for not liking the blended intros... for my own mix I will have to use the GV Box Set "Wind Chimes" and "Vegetables".  

[puni puni]

i'm sure that these decision were made with a four-track system in mind

i don't think crossfading was as feasible as you think it was in 1967

ex:
track 1 workshop noises => percussion
track 2 bass / piano
track 3 vocals
track 4 vocals

track 1 holidays instruments => wind chimes
track 2 holidays instruments => wind chimes
track 3 vocals
track 4 vocals

[Jason]

They established that fades and clean intros would be used on this album (ex. Cabin Essence, Surf's Up, Heroes and Villains, Do You Like Worms)

Nothing of the sort has been established. It's all conjecture with this album. Yes there were tags, which might or might not have been used as fades, but there are also sections, such as Barnyard / Sunshine, which do edit together really well. So all we really know is, is that there may have been fades, there may have been edits.

Certainly nothing has been established by "they"

What I mean by "established" is that in the context of the assembled album on Disc 1 "they" the producers/editors/Brian decided that fades and clean intros would be used where as on the BWPS versions they had blends.

Also, I have totally selfish reasons myself for not liking the blended intros... for my own mix I will have to use the GV Box Set "Wind Chimes" and "Vegetables".  

Wind Chimes and Vega-Tables on side four of the vinyl are non-blended intros.

[Iron Horse-Apples]

i'm sure that these decision were made with a four-track system in mind

i don't think crossfading was as feasible as you think it was in 1967

ex:
track 1 workshop noises => percussion
track 2 bass / piano
track 3 vocals
track 4 vocals

track 1 holidays instruments => wind chimes
track 2 holidays instruments => wind chimes
track 3 vocals
track 4 vocals

Hard edits were the order of the day back in 66' 67'.

Cross fades would have been possible though by having two separate tape machines with the two mono mixdowns going into a third machine. It would have to be manually synched though (by hitting play)

[P.J.]

They established that fades and clean intros would be used on this album (ex. Cabin Essence, Surf's Up, Heroes and Villains, Do You Like Worms)

Nothing of the sort has been established. It's all conjecture with this album. Yes there were tags, which might or might not have been used as fades, but there are also sections, such as Barnyard / Sunshine, which do edit together really well. So all we really know is, is that there may have been fades, there may have been edits.

Certainly nothing has been established by "they"

What I mean by "established" is that in the context of the assembled album on Disc 1 "they" the producers/editors/Brian decided that fades and clean intros would be used where as on the BWPS versions they had blends.

Also, I have totally selfish reasons myself for not liking the blended intros... for my own mix I will have to use the GV Box Set "Wind Chimes" and "Vegetables".  

Wind Chimes and Vega-Tables on side four of the vinyl are non-blended intros.

Really?! Wow, I assumed that the vinyl was the same mix as disc 1. Now, I need to get to my parents right quick! To the record player!!