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Poll
Question: Which do you prefer?
Smiley Smile - 47 (40.2%)
Wild Honey - 70 (59.8%)
Total Voters: 106

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Author Topic: Twofer polls #4: Smiley Smile vs Wild Honey  (Read 35446 times)
MBE
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« Reply #25 on: July 19, 2012, 12:56:30 AM »

Wild Honey is much more solid, and it ranks as one of their very very best albums. I like the feel of it far more though Smiley has grown on me.
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shelter
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« Reply #26 on: July 19, 2012, 01:24:30 AM »

I think one of the interesting things about Wild Honey is that the rawer rock & soul songs make it a unique album in the Beach Boys' discography, totally unlike any other album they released before or since. There are however also clear links to their other late 60s/early 70s albums: Aren't You Glad, Country Air and I'd Love Just Once to See You would've fitted perfectly on Friends, Mama Says is very Smiley Smile-ish and Let the Wind Blow wouldn't have been out of place on side B of Surf's Up.
« Last Edit: July 19, 2012, 01:25:32 AM by shelter » Logged
Disney Boy (1985)
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« Reply #27 on: July 19, 2012, 02:37:57 AM »

I can't comprehend how any Beach Boys fan could not love these two albums?

The Smiley Smile/Wild Honey two-fer was the first BB album i ever bought (on a whim whilst in an independent record store, largely because i loved the cover!). I took it home, pressed play on my cd player, and an hour later the Beach Boys were my new favourite band, and have remained so ever since.

Smiley Smile is such a special record. I really don't understand the people here saying 'Yes it's strange, but...'. With me it's: 'It's strange and that's exactly what makes it so great!' I love it's dark, off-beat tone. It's the closet they ever came to a 'psychodelic barbershop quartet' album. The harmonies are stunning thoughout. I remember the first time i heard Vegetables, the melody just blew me away and i couldn't get enough of that fade! Fall Breaks... i loved on first listen. She's Goin' Bald is just a tremendous, insanely inventive two minutes - and people don't like this song? Whaaat? And this version of Wind Chimes is the best version in my opinion. Terrific album!

I also love Wild Honey - it's a fantastic R'n'B album! My favourite track is Here Comes The Night - that chiming piano line on the verse really gets me! - and Country Air, the harmonies to which are frankly breathtaking. Listen to the bass on Aren't You Glad - wow! And they wrote and recorded this entire album in a matter of weeks - that it was released just three months after Smiley, incredible! A great, solid album from start to finish.

So love 'em both, but voted for Smiley. Any dislike for them from BB fans baffles me! This is the good stuff folks - save your hate for KTSA, MIU, SIP! 
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Alan Smith
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« Reply #28 on: July 19, 2012, 03:03:44 AM »

Totally agree!!

Except went with Wild Honey, it nudges ahead by a 1/4 of a mm
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Nicko1234
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« Reply #29 on: July 19, 2012, 04:43:10 AM »

I voted for Wild Honey too. It is full of good, solid songwriting and it`s just a shame that Brian slightly underproduced it and there aren`t more group vocals.

I do agree with the earlier poster that if you take away the 2 singles then there isn`t that much left to get excited about on Smiley Smile . Gettin` Hungry is one of the only BB songs from the era that I genuinely dislike and I think that Vegetables is the most overrated song in the band`s arsenal.
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Disney Boy (1985)
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« Reply #30 on: July 19, 2012, 10:08:15 AM »

They're also two of the very best album covers the group ever had!
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Aegir
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« Reply #31 on: July 19, 2012, 01:43:29 PM »

These are two of my favorites, and the albums that really got me into the band. I like Wild Honey just a tiny bit more though.
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« Reply #32 on: July 19, 2012, 02:28:03 PM »

I don't know how anyone could list Fall Breaks as the worst song on the twofer. The stereo version blows my mind  Banana
Thinking about it again, I'd probably put it above Gettin' Hungry.  But I don't think it's that much of an insult.  I wouldn't there are any outright bad songs here, just slight.  I think I'd like it better if it was either heavier on the vocals (like Passing By on Friends) or the production less stripped down (pretty much all of Brian's mid-60's instrumentals).   Then again, out of all the Smile tracks I found Fire to be the least endearing so I guess it extends to this incarnation of it here.  I'll listen to it again, but I think the ranking is fair to my ears.
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LetHimRun
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« Reply #33 on: July 19, 2012, 03:40:27 PM »

Give me Wild Honey slightly over SS. Both are lo-fi, muddy masterpieces, but there's something about WH that gets me every time.
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Ron
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« Reply #34 on: July 19, 2012, 04:33:34 PM »

I love both albums, they both have excellent song material and an appealing atmosphere. Wild Honey wins for me though. It's slightly better as a whole. And although I like the Smiley Smile versions of Vegetables, Wind Chimes and Wonderful, they're also a bit painful to listen to because the Smile versions are so much better...

I agree, although I think Wild Honey is easily better, not just slightly better Smiley  Smiley Smile at this point is almost a novelty album because of the SMiLE material being released (several times over) since the album came out. 
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David Kennedy
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« Reply #35 on: July 20, 2012, 04:45:52 PM »

I absolutely love both albums and with Smiley Smile it has such a unique sound I almost wish they would have remixed GV and H&V for the album to really make it fit with the theme of the album. Sacrilegious I know...but since GV and H&V were already released as singles I think it would have been awesome to have alternate versions on the album like the H&V live London version. Any thoughts?
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Bubba Ho-Tep
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« Reply #36 on: July 20, 2012, 09:22:51 PM »

Smiley
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Jukka
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« Reply #37 on: July 20, 2012, 09:58:17 PM »

I absolutely love both albums and with Smiley Smile it has such a unique sound I almost wish they would have remixed GV and H&V for the album to really make it fit with the theme of the album. Sacrilegious I know...but since GV and H&V were already released as singles I think it would have been awesome to have alternate versions on the album like the H&V live London version. Any thoughts?

I agree 100%. They really don't fit. They should have re-recorded them as Smiley Smile -type Baldwin-heavy accapella versions (especially GV), just to make them fit the general mood. I can only imagine what Capitol would have thought of replacing the albums only hit single with stoned giggling version. Anyway, they should have done it.
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Disney Boy (1985)
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« Reply #38 on: July 21, 2012, 12:08:56 AM »

Well to me Heroes and Villains in it's single form is so stripped back compared to what was originally intended that i think it fits ok on Smiley. Though i agree re Good Vibrations - it may be one of the greatest productions in the entire history of music, but it sticks out on Smiley like a sore thumb and a laidback doo-wop version would've been better!
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« Reply #39 on: July 21, 2012, 01:00:08 AM »

I intially liked SS more when I first bought the twofer but these days prefer WH. Both albums have their faults, it must be said. They each contain a bad track or two and the production on both is just plain bad.
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Disney Boy (1985)
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« Reply #40 on: July 21, 2012, 11:02:15 AM »

I intially liked SS more when I first bought the twofer but these days prefer WH. Both albums have their faults, it must be said. They each contain a bad track or two and the production on both is just plain bad.

I disagree. The production on Smiley is perfect. Had it been produced in the same way Brian produced, say, Pet Sounds it wouldn't work at all. It's produced in a way that keeps the vocals and the organ centre-stage and that's exactly as it should be.
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Mr. Cohen
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« Reply #41 on: July 21, 2012, 11:23:50 AM »

Smiley Smile. It's an incredibly flawed album with moments of pure, raw, unadulterated genius. Wild Honey is a solid, quality album with genius lurking beneath the surface, bubbling.
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Jim V.
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« Reply #42 on: July 21, 2012, 01:31:48 PM »

Without GV and HV, Smiley is nothing.

Whoa. Without GV and HV would be even better than it already is! Without them it would be more unified album.

Smiley Smile for me...I don't really care for Wild Honey. Never have.  I like Darlin' and a couple others off there, but as a whole, it sounds forced and sloppy at the same time to me.

Smiley is so quirky and odd that it warrants the repeated listens, imo.

Wild Honey, forced?!? No way. It sounds totally organic to me. Honestly, it sounds like probably the group's most laid back album. It sounds like Brian was still "in the zone" as far as writing great material, but instead of spending a long time on every track, they just did it nice and easy, and out came a chill, fun album.
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sockittome
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« Reply #43 on: July 21, 2012, 01:52:43 PM »

I intially liked SS more when I first bought the twofer but these days prefer WH. Both albums have their faults, it must be said. They each contain a bad track or two and the production on both is just plain bad.

I disagree. The production on Smiley is perfect. Had it been produced in the same way Brian produced, say, Pet Sounds it wouldn't work at all. It's produced in a way that keeps the vocals and the organ centre-stage and that's exactly as it should be.

Putting good production on Smiley would be like putting high dollar siding on a run down shack!
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« Reply #44 on: July 21, 2012, 06:56:16 PM »

Without GV and HV, Smiley is nothing.

Whoa. Without GV and HV would be even better than it already is! Without them it would be more unified album.

Smiley Smile for me...I don't really care for Wild Honey. Never have.  I like Darlin' and a couple others off there, but as a whole, it sounds forced and sloppy at the same time to me.

Smiley is so quirky and odd that it warrants the repeated listens, imo.

Wild Honey, forced?!? No way. It sounds totally organic to me. Honestly, it sounds like probably the group's most laid back album. It sounds like Brian was still "in the zone" as far as writing great material, but instead of spending a long time on every track, they just did it nice and easy, and out came a chill, fun album.

More laid back than Friends? Can't say I agree with you there.
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« Reply #45 on: July 23, 2012, 09:22:40 PM »

Very tough choice. There are probably no two records in the BB's history that are so diametrically opposite from one another, even though both are (mostly) dominated by Brian's keyboards. In my youth it would have been SS all the way, in a kind of fealty to the aborted grandeur of SMILE. Today, however, it's WH by a nose, as I find myself won over by the sheer exuberance of the songs and the flowering of Carl as the official "go-to" guy for lead vocals. This is the record where he proves he can do everything, and that's a significant event in the band's history.
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« Reply #46 on: July 24, 2012, 05:14:11 AM »

Wild Honey is much more solid and fluid album. Smiley Smile is spoiled by that terrible Wind Chimes, that terrible Wonderful (oxymoron alert) and Fall Breaks And Back To Winter. I guess you could also add Getting Hungry for another lame track. The inclusion of Good Vibrations and Heroes And Villains does not boost the album's credibility, they feel just so out of place.

Wild Honey just powers from the get go with the rocking title track, the fantastic Aren't You Glad, the beautiful Country Air, the almighty Darlin', the cleverly cheeky I'd Love Just Once To See You and the rocking How She Boogalooed. The only thing that spoils Wild Honey is the inclusion of Mama Says.
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« Reply #47 on: July 24, 2012, 05:47:50 AM »

Smiley Smile is spoiled by that terrible Wind Chimes, that terrible Wonderful (oxymoron alert) and Fall Breaks And Back To Winter.

Three of my favorites tracks from Smiley Smile.  These polls are just further proof that if you ask 100 Beach Boys fans to list their top 20 Beach Boys songs, you'll get 100 different answers.
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Disney Boy (1985)
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« Reply #48 on: July 25, 2012, 12:01:00 AM »

Wild Honey is much more solid and fluid album. Smiley Smile is spoiled by that terrible Wind Chimes, that terrible Wonderful (oxymoron alert) and Fall Breaks And Back To Winter. I guess you could also add Getting Hungry for another lame track. The inclusion of Good Vibrations and Heroes And Villains does not boost the album's credibility, they feel just so out of place.

Wild Honey just powers from the get go with the rocking title track, the fantastic Aren't You Glad, the beautiful Country Air, the almighty Darlin', the cleverly cheeky I'd Love Just Once To See You and the rocking How She Boogalooed. The only thing that spoils Wild Honey is the inclusion of Mama Says.

As always i find myself amazed at the dislike for a certain song that i've always absolutely sodding loved? On the Sunflower/Surf's Up thread it was Got To Know The Woman (again, what's not to love about that song?) and here it's Gettin' Hungry. A few people now have slated it, despite the fact that it's an absolute blast - tremendous pounding organ and wild singing from Brian! Is it just me or do some people here seem to dislike any song where the BB's actually start to rock (there's also lots of critism for (the excellent) All I Want To Do for instance)?

(Oh, and the Smiley version of Wind Chimes is the best!)
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« Reply #49 on: July 25, 2012, 01:23:57 AM »

Smiley gets ranked as one of the Worst Albums Ever in this blog:

http://theworstalbumsever.tumblr.com/post/27786986220/the-beach-boys-smiley-smile-released-september
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