The Smile Sessions MONO - a disaster for the Beach Boys' Legacy

[Outtasight!]

Treat SMiLE with the respect it deserves, big speakers, no distractions, eyes closed! If you listen to music this good on an I-pod - you are inhabited by satan!

[Cabinessenceking]

Treat SMiLE with the respect it deserves, big speakers, no distractions, eyes closed! If you listen to music this good on an I-pod - you are inhabited by satan!

haha maybe!

I'm just obsessive and I've probably listened to this record way to many times...
I know of no other albums which have become such jigsaw puzzles like this, It really is intriguing ^^

[Curtis Leon]

I don't agree with Smile in mono being a "disaster", but I think the argument that the entire album must be all in stereo or nothing for consistency's sake isn't really fair.  Many of the early stereo albums released by the group had some tracks in mono, and if the post-'65 albums had stereo releases this trend would have continued.  I personally wish the box had included stereo mixes of all the tracks that allowed it.

Just about every track that could without some trickery has a stereo mix on the box. The only major things I can think of that don't are Wonderful (which wouldn't have a proper lead ala Cabin Essence) and Do You Like Worms (which is practically an instrumental with some early backing vocals, and already had a stereo mix on the GV box, same as Love to Say Da Da).

Also, in regards to your last point - Today, Summer Days, Pet Sounds, Smiley Smile and Wild Honey were all released exclusively in mono. Every album preceding and proceeding SMiLE were entirely mono. It's not exactly rocket science to think that SMiLE might've been the same had released.

[hypehat]

Who?

You! Are you so appalled by the decision to release the album in mono that you refuse to listen to it?

[Paulos]

Let me put it to you this way. As much as it was good for BB's legacy to release Pet Sounds in stereo, equally it hurt their legacy to release Smile in mono. You can say that it's unfair, unjust but just look at the reactions out there. It's obvious.

Whose reactions, yours and cablegeddons? Out where? What the hell are you talking about? Did mono touch you as a child and now you are scared of it?

[Dr. Tim]

Not picking on younger listeners at all.  My point is: not much anyone in the earbud age cares about stereo vs. mono PERIOD.  I am skeptical about the "sea" of complaints about how mono mixes suck donkey dick. I would love URL's to these boards saying "it's MONO! Therefore it blows!! I will have none of it!"  Also someone else beat me to it: most dance/pop records since 2000 or so are modified mono anyway: most everything important centered or doubled side-to-side, with stereo reverb, capable of being played througfh one speaker.  Only bands and DJ's who care bother with cross-channel and surround sounds in their records and stage shows (i.e., Wilco, Flaming Lips, Mogwai, Porcupine Tree).

[Tristero]

I personally like the mono and stereo (and 5.1 where available) mixes of The Beach Boys catalogue. I would love more stereo and surround mixes, but Ithe technology for a full, commercially-releasable stereo mix of SMiLe is some years away.

Solution: listen to fan mixes, the available stereo mixes (the ones on the vinyl are superlative) and BWPS. I agree with the others that anyone who is going to listen to SMiLe regardless of their age will have to meet it on its own terms. It is just that kind of work.

I would love stereo and 5.1 mixes of SMiLe, Smiley Smile, and Wild Honey...

I agree.  I would certainly welcome as many variants as possible with this stuff and while I understand and endorse their reasoning for doing disc 1 in mono, I still would have liked it if they'd included the stereo mixes wherever possible.  I don't have vinyl capability, so I can't enjoy Side 4 currently.

But I do think anyone who's interested in this kind of music (given its vintage) should be able to deal with mono.  It's all the rage with the hip kids these days!

[FatherOfTheMan Sr101]

I'm 15, all my albums are released in both Mono and Stereo.

Nuff' Said.

[Ebb and Flow]

Just about every track that could without some trickery has a stereo mix on the box. The only major things I can think of that don't are Wonderful (which wouldn't have a proper lead ala Cabin Essence) and Do You Like Worms (which is practically an instrumental with some early backing vocals, and already had a stereo mix on the GV box, same as Love to Say Da Da).

Tracks that could have had a stereo mix included as a bonus: Do You Like Worms (which did not have a stereo mix on the GV box), Barnyard, Mrs. O'Leary's Cow (Which is frustratingly not pieced together in stereo), Love To Say Da Da.  I might be forgetting a few.  Also, it's not too hard to extract the lead from Cabin Essence if they were to go in that direction.

Also, in regards to your last point - Today, Summer Days, Pet Sounds, Smiley Smile and Wild Honey were all released exclusively in mono. Every album preceding and proceeding SMiLE were entirely mono. It's not exactly rocket science to think that SMiLE might've been the same had released.

My point was that if Smile WERE to have a stereo version included as a bonus, the idea that it has to be all in stereo or nothing is kind of a strange requirement for a group that often released stereo albums with several tracks in mono.

[Mooger Fooger]

Smile in Mono a disaster? B U L L

I have never in my whole 25 years in the broadcast industry ever heard anyone negatively critique a release because it was mono (apart from this thread and one idiot on Amazon who was seen by the mass response as an idiot). For things like the Spector release a few years back, and the mono Beatles CDs and - gasp - the recently released Smile set, the mono master has been celebrated not despised.

What next? Crying a river because the mastering sequence went AAD instead of DDD???

[hypehat]

I agree.  I would certainly welcome as many variants as possible with this stuff and while I understand and endorse their reasoning for doing disc 1 in mono, I still would have liked it if they'd included the stereo mixes wherever possible.  I don't have vinyl capability, so I can't enjoy Side 4 currently.

But I do think anyone who's interested in this kind of music (given its vintage) should be able to deal with mono.  It's all the rage with the hip kids these days!

What with the internet, you can find Side 4 pretty easily.

And everything that could be mixed in true stereo has been throughout the box.

[Zach95]

Someone ought to close this thread.  Back in November we already debated this endlessly, this topic has been completely examined and re-examined hundreds of times.  Obviously it's not a disaster. End of story.

[Melt Away]

Well, I'm 21 and honestly just having the smile sessions released is nice. Being picky about mono accomplishes nothing as it was how Brian envisioned it. Let the music speak for itself, mono or stereo.

[cablegeddon]

Let me put it to you this way. As much as it was good for BB's legacy to release Pet Sounds in stereo, equally it hurt their legacy to release Smile in mono. You can say that it's unfair, unjust but just look at the reactions out there. It's obvious.

Whose reactions, yours and cablegeddons? Out where? What the hell are you talking about? Did mono touch you as a child and now you are scared of it?

I'm getting outta here Duke.

[Heysaboda]

Let the music speak for itself, mono or stereo.

This says it all.

"Move along people, nothing to see here." -- Frank Drebin

[runnersdialzero]

*sigh*

I hate you guys.

[BananaLouie]

Being picky about mono accomplishes nothing as it was how Brian envisioned it.

I agree, Brian and virtually all other musicians of the era envisioned and recorded in mono not to mention the fact that AM radio stations would have preferred the sound of mono for any songs that they played, especially when promoting a new single. For the most part bands in the sixties intended that their music be heard in mono rather than stereo which was a newer technology at that time.

[runnersdialzero]

Treat SMiLE with the respect it deserves, big speakers, no distractions, eyes closed! If you listen to music this good on an I-pod - you are inhabited by satan!

Man. Listening to music while biking is keen as f*ck. It's almost, maybe THE only thing in this world I love unconditionally, and I miss it dearly now that it's been taken away from me temporarily. Don't tell me I'm wrong because I'm listening to something that I've applied minimal compression to.

[Iron Horse-Apples]

Treat SMiLE with the respect it deserves, big speakers, no distractions, eyes closed! If you listen to music this good on an I-pod - you are inhabited by satan!

Man. Listening to music while biking is keen as f*ck. It's almost, maybe THE only thing in this world I love unconditionally, and I miss it dearly now that it's been taken away from me temporarily. Don't tell me I'm wrong because I'm listening to something that I've applied minimal compression to.

Was your bike stolen?

Personally I've been put off cycling and listening to music since a friends teenage daughter was killed by a lorry reversing onto a cycle path, which she probably would have heard had she not had her ipod on.

Seriously, be careful man.  I'd miss your posts.

[Ron]

Let me put it to you this way. As much as it was good for BB's legacy to release Pet Sounds in stereo, equally it hurt their legacy to release Smile in mono. You can say that it's unfair, unjust but just look at the reactions out there. It's obvious.

Whose reactions, yours and cablegeddons? Out where? What the hell are you talking about? Did mono touch you as a child and now you are scared of it?

Man you must be really out of touch with the younguns.  They're picketing downtown here in Charlotte.  They call it the "Occupy Capitol Records" Movement, everybody's up in arms about this damn box set being in MONO.  It's all I've heard about since last fall when it came out. 

[Paulos]

Let me put it to you this way. As much as it was good for BB's legacy to release Pet Sounds in stereo, equally it hurt their legacy to release Smile in mono. You can say that it's unfair, unjust but just look at the reactions out there. It's obvious.

Whose reactions, yours and cablegeddons? Out where? What the hell are you talking about? Did mono touch you as a child and now you are scared of it?

Man you must be really out of touch with the younguns.  They're picketing downtown here in Charlotte.  They call it the "Occupy Capitol Records" Movement, everybody's up in arms about this damn box set being in MONO.  It's all I've heard about since last fall when it came out. 

Ron, you're alright!