In The Aftermath of SMiLE's Collapse......

[MBE]

It's very simple, Brian didn't want to do Smile by the late spring of 1967

I respect you a lot. But I don't believe that.

believe it ... for whatever reason, he wasn't feeling it anymore.

Honest! Really it's not so complicated. It was an album he really wanted to do in 1966, but through 1967 it slowly became a chore and he eventually wanted to do other things. Nobody knew at the time that their domestic popularity would take a dive, that Brian's issues and drug problems would get so much worse, nor that Smile would become some sort of milestone hanging over them. Listening to Brian, Mike, and Bruce get interviewed in early 1968 by J. Marks they all felt good about the group and Brian went out of his way to say how much he enjoyed making Smiley. Why? As Brian put they had a good time making it without any of the previous pressure. The could apply to Wild Honey, Friends, Sunflower, or even TWGMTR. The best stuff Brian and the group have done together since 1966 is the stuff where there wasn't so much demand on them to be competitive with their peers. When they were trying to hard after to be commercial after 1966 we got things like 15 Big Ones, or L.A. Light where Brian just dropped out of it completely.

Watch the scene where he is talking with Melinda in IJWMFTT about how he got tired of trying to beat people and just wanted to make some "nice" music. That sums up his basic goal ever since, but especially what he was thinking during the late sixties and early seventies before insecurity began to plague his work. The biggest thing that Desper told me was different in Brian from when they worked together from 1967-71 and then again from 1979-80, is that during his first tenure Brian was much more confident in the studio, and as a singer, in his twenties than he was later. That didn't change with Smile, only his competitive streak was altered initially. Mentally his issues started years before Smile, and he was fairly functional most of the time until Murry died, or at least until cocaine became an issue during the So Tough sessions.

[Chocolate Shake Man]

It's very simple, Brian didn't want to do Smile by the late spring of 1967

I respect you a lot. But I don't believe that.

believe it ... for whatever reason, he wasn't feeling it anymore.

Honest! Really it's not so complicated. It was an album he really wanted to do in 1966, but through 1967 it slowly became a chore and he eventually wanted to do other things. Nobody knew at the time that their domestic popularity would take a dive, that Brian's issues and drug problems would get so much worse, nor that Smile would become some sort of milestone hanging over them. Listening to Brian, Mike, and Bruce get interviewed in early 1968 by J. Marks they all felt good about the group and Brian went out of his way to say how much he enjoyed making Smiley. Why? As Brian put they had a good time making it without any of the previous pressure. The could apply to Wild Honey, Friends, Sunflower, or even TWGMTR. The best stuff Brian and the group have done together since 1966 is the stuff where there wasn't so much demand on them to be competitive with their peers. When they were trying to hard after to be comercial after 1966 we got things like 15 Big Ones, or L.A. Light where Brian just dropped out of it completely.

Watch the scene where he is talking with Melinda in IJWMFTT about how he got tired of trying to beat people and just wanted to make some "nice" music. That sums up his basic goal ever since, but especially what he was thinking during the late sixties and early seventies before insecurity began to plauge his work. The biggest thing that Desper told me was differnt in Brian from when they worked together from 1967-71 and then again from 1979-80, is that during his first tenure Brian was much more confident in the studio, and as a singer, in his twenties than he was later. That didn't change with Smile, only his competitive streak was altered initally. Mentally his issues started years before Smile, and he was fairly functional most of the time until Murry died, or at least until cocaine became an issue during the So Tough sessions.

I don't really disagree with any of that. I take their word in 1968 that they, including Brian were happy with the direction they took. But I don't think that Brian's decision in the spring of 1967 was necessarily a happy one or one that was done out of pure desire. Even throughout 1967, Brian does work on some pieces that harken back to the more experimental far-out Smile era (Been Too Long, Water Chant, Cool Cool Water) and he doesn't release that stuff either. I think he was still hanging on to the idea of Smile. He could have easily put something like Our Prayer on Smile but he didn't and I think it's because it was still in play for him.

[Dunderhead]

It's very simple, Brian didn't want to do Smile by the late spring of 1967

I respect you a lot. But I don't believe that.

believe it ... for whatever reason, he wasn't feeling it anymore.

Honest! Really it's not so complicated. It was an album he really wanted to do in 1966, but through 1967 it slowly became a chore and he eventually wanted to do other things. Nobody knew at the time that their domestic popularity would take a dive, that Brian's issues and drug problems would get so much worse, nor that Smile would become some sort of milestone hanging over them. Listening to Brian, Mike, and Bruce get interviewed in early 1968 by J. Marks they all felt good about the group and Brian went out of his way to say how much he enjoyed making Smiley. Why? As Brian put they had a good time making it without any of the previous pressure. The could apply to Wild Honey, Friends, Sunflower, or even TWGMTR. The best stuff Brian and the group have done together since 1966 is the stuff where there wasn't so much demand on them to be competitive with their peers. When they were trying to hard after to be comercial after 1966 we got things like 15 Big Ones, or L.A. Light where Brian just dropped out of it completely.

Watch the scene where he is talking with Melinda in IJWMFTT about how he got tired of trying to beat people and just wanted to make some "nice" music. That sums up his basic goal ever since, but especially what he was thinking during the late sixties and early seventies before insecurity began to plauge his work. The biggest thing that Desper told me was differnt in Brian from when they worked together from 1967-71 and then again from 1979-80, is that during his first tenure Brian was much more confident in the studio, and as a singer, in his twenties than he was later. That didn't change with Smile, only his competitive streak was altered initally. Mentally his issues started years before Smile, and he was fairly functional most of the time until Murry died, or at least until cocaine became an issue during the So Tough sessions.

Publish your damn book! 

[MBE]

It's very simple, Brian didn't want to do Smile by the late spring of 1967

I respect you a lot. But I don't believe that.

believe it ... for whatever reason, he wasn't feeling it anymore.

Honest! Really it's not so complicated. It was an album he really wanted to do in 1966, but through 1967 it slowly became a chore and he eventually wanted to do other things. Nobody knew at the time that their domestic popularity would take a dive, that Brian's issues and drug problems would get so much worse, nor that Smile would become some sort of milestone hanging over them. Listening to Brian, Mike, and Bruce get interviewed in early 1968 by J. Marks they all felt good about the group and Brian went out of his way to say how much he enjoyed making Smiley. Why? As Brian put they had a good time making it without any of the previous pressure. The could apply to Wild Honey, Friends, Sunflower, or even TWGMTR. The best stuff Brian and the group have done together since 1966 is the stuff where there wasn't so much demand on them to be competitive with their peers. When they were trying to hard after to be commercial after 1966 we got things like 15 Big Ones, or L.A. Light where Brian just dropped out of it completely.

Watch the scene where he is talking with Melinda in IJWMFTT about how he got tired of trying to beat people and just wanted to make some "nice" music. That sums up his basic goal ever since, but especially what he was thinking during the late sixties and early seventies before insecurity began to plague his work. The biggest thing that Desper told me was different in Brian from when they worked together from 1967-71 and then again from 1979-80, is that during his first tenure Brian was much more confident in the studio, and as a singer, in his twenties than he was later. That didn't change with Smile, only his competitive streak was altered initially. Mentally his issues started years before Smile, and he was fairly functional most of the time until Murry died, or at least until cocaine became an issue during the So Tough sessions.

I don't really disagree with any of that. I take their word in 1968 that they, including Brian were happy with the direction they took. But I don't think that Brian's decision in the spring of 1967 was necessarily a happy one or one that was done out of pure desire. Even throughout 1967, Brian does work on some pieces that harken back to the more experimental far-out Smile era (Been Too Long, Water Chant, Cool Cool Water) and he doesn't release that stuff either. I think he was still hanging on to the idea of Smile. He could have easily put something like Our Prayer on Smile but he didn't and I think it's because it was still in play for him.

It wasn't happy for any of them to have to make a tough decision like that I agree. Yet it didn't bring things to a halt like the myth says it did. Good point. Brian didn't give up modular recording, but perhaps it was as simple as feeling that those type of things didn't fit albums like Friends or Wild Honey. Certainly "Can't Wait Too Long" has the influence of Smile to it, but it also has some of the more funky soul oriented elements Brian was doing by the end of 1967. Brian told me that Stevie Wonder was a big influence on his music by that time actually. One of the things I also learned with my work is that Brian didn't at all mind using the stuff from Smile on 20/20 (in fact he helped finish it) so it's not that he didn't think he should hide experimental stuff away or was being forced to do so etc. Had the Beach Boys been as big here as they were in the U.K. in the late sixties, I'm almost certain that a lot of the legends around Smile would have never been created and the period would be seen with more clarity.

[MBE]

It's very simple, Brian didn't want to do Smile by the late spring of 1967

I respect you a lot. But I don't believe that.

believe it ... for whatever reason, he wasn't feeling it anymore.

Honest! Really it's not so complicated. It was an album he really wanted to do in 1966, but through 1967 it slowly became a chore and he eventually wanted to do other things. Nobody knew at the time that their domestic popularity would take a dive, that Brian's issues and drug problems would get so much worse, nor that Smile would become some sort of milestone hanging over them. Listening to Brian, Mike, and Bruce get interviewed in early 1968 by J. Marks they all felt good about the group and Brian went out of his way to say how much he enjoyed making Smiley. Why? As Brian put they had a good time making it without any of the previous pressure. The could apply to Wild Honey, Friends, Sunflower, or even TWGMTR. The best stuff Brian and the group have done together since 1966 is the stuff where there wasn't so much demand on them to be competitive with their peers. When they were trying to hard after to be commercial after 1966 we got things like 15 Big Ones, or L.A. Light where Brian just dropped out of it completely.

Watch the scene where he is talking with Melinda in IJWMFTT about how he got tired of trying to beat people and just wanted to make some "nice" music. That sums up his basic goal ever since, but especially what he was thinking during the late sixties and early seventies before insecurity began to plague his work. The biggest thing that Desper told me was different in Brian from when they worked together from 1967-71 and then again from 1979-80, is that during his first tenure Brian was much more confident in the studio, and as a singer, in his twenties than he was later. That didn't change with Smile, only his competitive streak was altered initially. Mentally his issues started years before Smile, and he was fairly functional most of the time until Murry died, or at least until cocaine became an issue during the So Tough sessions.

Publish your damn book! 

I am submitting it next week!

[Chocolate Shake Man]

It's very simple, Brian didn't want to do Smile by the late spring of 1967

I respect you a lot. But I don't believe that.

believe it ... for whatever reason, he wasn't feeling it anymore.

Honest! Really it's not so complicated. It was an album he really wanted to do in 1966, but through 1967 it slowly became a chore and he eventually wanted to do other things. Nobody knew at the time that their domestic popularity would take a dive, that Brian's issues and drug problems would get so much worse, nor that Smile would become some sort of milestone hanging over them. Listening to Brian, Mike, and Bruce get interviewed in early 1968 by J. Marks they all felt good about the group and Brian went out of his way to say how much he enjoyed making Smiley. Why? As Brian put they had a good time making it without any of the previous pressure. The could apply to Wild Honey, Friends, Sunflower, or even TWGMTR. The best stuff Brian and the group have done together since 1966 is the stuff where there wasn't so much demand on them to be competitive with their peers. When they were trying to hard after to be commercial after 1966 we got things like 15 Big Ones, or L.A. Light where Brian just dropped out of it completely.

Watch the scene where he is talking with Melinda in IJWMFTT about how he got tired of trying to beat people and just wanted to make some "nice" music. That sums up his basic goal ever since, but especially what he was thinking during the late sixties and early seventies before insecurity began to plague his work. The biggest thing that Desper told me was different in Brian from when they worked together from 1967-71 and then again from 1979-80, is that during his first tenure Brian was much more confident in the studio, and as a singer, in his twenties than he was later. That didn't change with Smile, only his competitive streak was altered initially. Mentally his issues started years before Smile, and he was fairly functional most of the time until Murry died, or at least until cocaine became an issue during the So Tough sessions.

I don't really disagree with any of that. I take their word in 1968 that they, including Brian were happy with the direction they took. But I don't think that Brian's decision in the spring of 1967 was necessarily a happy one or one that was done out of pure desire. Even throughout 1967, Brian does work on some pieces that harken back to the more experimental far-out Smile era (Been Too Long, Water Chant, Cool Cool Water) and he doesn't release that stuff either. I think he was still hanging on to the idea of Smile. He could have easily put something like Our Prayer on Smile but he didn't and I think it's because it was still in play for him.

It wasn't happy for any of them to have to make a tough decision like that I agree. Yet it didn't bring things to a halt like the myth says it did. Good point. Brian didn't give up modular recording, but perhaps it was as simple as feeling that those type of things didn't fit albums like Friends or Wild Honey. Certainly "Can't Wait Too Long" has the influence of Smile to it, but it also has some of the more funky soul oriented elements Brian was doing by the end of 1967. Brian told me that Stevie Wonder was a big influence on his music by that time actually. One of the things I also learned with my work is that Brian didn't at all mind using the stuff from Smile on 20/20 (in fact he helped finish it) so it's not that he didn't think he should hide experimental stuff away or was being forced to do so etc. Had the Beach Boys been as big here as they were in the U.K. in the late sixties, I'm almost certain that a lot of the legends around Smile would have never been created and the period would be seen with more clarity.

Agreed! Thanks again for your writing. 

[MBE]

No problem at all!

[adamghost]

I can totally see why the simplicity of just sitting the band down and banging out semi-live versions in a couple of weeks seemed a much more attractive prospect. 

And, I think that's exactly what happened. However....

I can't help but think, at that precise moment, when Brian decided to do that - Smiley Smile-ize the tracks if you will - is when Brian took his first step backwards, artistically speaking. Yes, some people see great art in Smiley Smile, and I respect those opinions. I don't agree, though.

I'm not criticizing Brian, blasting him, or second-guessing him. I just think at that moment in time, he gave up in a lot of ways - physically, mentally, and spiritually. And, he was never really the same again. Or, I should say his music was never the same again. One can't deny the occasional flashes of brilliance in subsequent efforts, and, yes, there were some. But, in my opinion, just one man's opinion, there just seemed to be gradual decline.

I don't want to oversimplify it, but if you used a graph to track Brian's "performance", I would probably peak it at SMiLE and start a gradual decline the moment he decided on Smiley Smile.

Haven't always been in total agreement with you SJS, but I believe that I am here.  I think this is spot on.

[Lonely Summer]

No problem at all!

I am really looking forward to your book. I also recall an interview segment in the Endless Summer tv series that the guys did in 1989 where Brian is talking about how how competetive the early BB's songs were, and he says 'lately I've had a bit of a headache about competition" then he quotes Landy as saying "but everything is competition". Brian goes on to say that 'lately I've been laying back a bit, being a bit cooler about things". And I think that does sum up his attitude post-Smile...no competing with the Beatles or Spector or whoever, just making some nice music to cool out by.

[MBE]

No problem at all!

I am really looking forward to your book. I also recall an interview segment in the Endless Summer tv series that the guys did in 1989 where Brian is talking about how how competetive the early BB's songs were, and he says 'lately I've had a bit of a headache about competition" then he quotes Landy as saying "but everything is competition". Brian goes on to say that 'lately I've been laying back a bit, being a bit cooler about things". And I think that does sum up his attitude post-Smile...no competing with the Beatles or Spector or whoever, just making some nice music to cool out by.

Thank you. Yeah I remember the segement and I think that's how Brian makes music best since Smile.

[filledeplage]

I always thought he just gave up and Smiley smile was a Passive agressive thing  by him,,

Yeah, it can be viewed as his "fine, here's your album" to Capitol, that's an easy one, but I wouldn't say it's the definitive answer. On top of all the existing information, they must have been pressuring him like crazy. The blame can't be placed on Capitol really - they were just doing what any label does - there should be product as scheduled to satisfy markets and make green. They were being held at the (love and) mercy of Brian - imagine the suits sweating in the tower. I don't know if Brian ever thought of them, I suspect he did but his attempts at completing the album were still stunted by too much of everything. Too many fragments, different sections, and also complicated by the prehistoric way of editing done in '67. And there there was the fact that Brian was always coming up with new ideas (pipe dreams, some of them), and focusing on too many ideas at once, leaving many incomplete thoughts to just sit. He probably realised all of this, and the "screw it, let's do it this way (Smiley Smile)" was probably more of an idea to take the pressure off himself rather than the Capitol execs.

And, still, this has to be brought up every so often, the session tapes of Smiley Smile show Brian to be totally in control and aware of what he wants. It's the same producer of Pet Sounds and SMiLE, but just leading his team in a different direction.

Yeah, I mean there were other pressures too - like the pressure to be relevant at a time when there were so many new things being done. It's hard to appear relevant when you're not actually releasing anything. Also, the time was really ticking to capitalize on the overwhelming success of Good Vibrations. In fact, by the time Smiley Smile came out, that time had surely passed anyway. But that huge success was a major opportunity for Brian to increase and maybe change his audience somewhat but in order for that to happen, he would have had to put out something. In some ways, I think the success of Good Vibrations did a real number on him and helped create even larger hurdles for Brian to jump over with Smile.

Yes, first, "Relevance" during that era was critical, with the USA at war, and the Band directly feeling that impact.  Absolutely.  The new buzz word before political correctness or it was the forerunner/precursor concept of same.

Second, a song named "Winchester Cathedral" was the song of the year.  1966! Go figure that one out. Not Good Vibrations.

Third, SMiLE was likely more a "box set" before it was ever conceptualized in terms of marketing.  Could it have been even a double album, with the time limits?  Would an hour have been enough?  Would the record company allow it? Sure, it is boiled down to the sessions, now, but how could it have been released in that era, as it was ahead of its' time on so many levels.

Someone asked about Bernstein and the solo of Brian doing Surfs Up.  April, 1967.  About six months post GV and six months pre Smiley.  

[Catbirdman]

Publish your damn book! 

I am submitting it next week!

YES!!!! This, more than anything save Made In California is the BB-related product I am anticipating most eagerly!

Separate topic: there are a lot of good points being made in this thread, but there are a number of times where it reads to me like people view Smiley Smile as a radical departue from the modular approach, and just a simplistic tossed-off "live" run through of the songs. But most all the the Smiley tracks were also recorded in modular fashion. Maybe I'm being pedantic, but people seem to forget this all the time. A substantial handful of the Wild Honey tracks were recorded that way too.

[Matt Bielewicz]

Weeeeellll... I agree, and I disagree. It depends whether you consider 'modular' to mean simply 'composed of short sections, or modules, edited together' or whether you think it means songs 'kit-built' from just a couple of modular components repeated and edited together, mixed differently each time. Smiley Smile has some of the latter, and some of the former, but of the tracks with the latter structure, most of them are SMiLE-era recordings. Of the newly recorded tracks, many of them are made from short sections edited together, but the pieces often aren't repeated. I tend to think of modular recording as a method by which you record say, four pieces: an intro (A), a verse (B), a chorus (C) maybe a bridge (D) and perhaps an outro  (E), then you put different overdubs on each section, do a few different mixes of each section, and then cut them together in an order ABCBCDBCE, or just ABCDE and you're done. You get some tracks on Smiley Smile like this (but they're certainly not all like this), and there are more on Wild Honey (Darlin', A Thing Or Two, Here Comes The Night, maybe How She Boogalooed It).

The SMiLE leftovers on Smiley are indeed composed of modular, complex sections. The re-records for Smiley are sometimes pieces edited together, but there's a lot more longer live or near-live sections amongst those pieces, they don't always repeat and the arrangements on most of them are far simpler than on the SMiLE sections. You can tell from the recording dates that cutting them didn't take long, and they were finished up, edited together and overdubbed pretty quickly to completion. So work did proceed much faster than on SMiLE. And you could argue that cutting some of the tracks in basic sections and editing them together made things even faster - there was no need to work at getting complete through-played takes of a three-minute song done coherently, they just had to bash out a 40-second verse section and a 25-second chorus, maybe a bridge and a different intro, copy the repeat sections a couple of times and edit them together, and the song was done. Repeat that over a couple of weeks and you have Smiley Smile pretty fast. And indeed, they did!

Going track by track:

H&V, obviously, was recorded modularly, as the Smiley version used some of the basic pieces from the SMiLE sessions.

Vegetables was recorded in pieces, but again, most of the later sections are parts which had already been recorded at SMiLE sessions, and the main first part of the track, which supplies much of the body of the Smiley version, was cut live.

Fall Breaks - I'm not sure about this one, if it's one long through-performed piece or repeated sections edited together. Anyone know?

She's Going Bald — I'll give you that it's in pieces edited together, but the parts are all quite simple with just basic instrumentation (mostly piano and bass on the latter sections) and a couple of vocal overdubs. And as in Vegetables, the main body of the song is one longer section played through in a live or near live way.

Little Pad — Granted, this is pretty damn modular. It's a couple of pieces with basic, stripped-down instrumentation and vocals, mixed differently a couple of times and then edited together, with a comedy live section edited on the front. But aren't the results great? No-one else hums quite like that...!

Good Vibrations — Again, granted, there is none more modular track in the Beach Boys recording history. But then, this wasn't recorded for Smiley Smile, of course.

With Me Tonight — This, structurally, is like Little Pad, pretty modular: a couple of sections mixed differently and spliced, with an acapella intro attached on the front (wasn't that first section a SMiLE-era recording, or was that disproved? I can't remember). Again, that's not to denigrate the track, which is beautifully played and sung, and must have taken quite some effort.

Wind Chimes — This is structurally very like Vegetables, with a long through performed section at the start supplying most of the song, and then a few very short spliced sections on the end to complete it. The parts don't repeat. The first part shows the essence of pragmatism, that new 'awww, just get it done and out' mentality of Brian's, moving, as David Anderle and Paul Williams said a few months afterwards, 'like a tank through wheat' on to the next thing. As we hear on the Sea Of Tunes bootleg, the Boys overdub vocals mostly live, but completely mess up the harmonies before the bridge. Rather than painstakingly re-record as he might have done on Pet Sounds or SMiLE, Brian just mixes them out on that part, ups the organ, and overdubs some spacey delayed dischordant harmonica to plaster over that section, then cuts to something else.

Wonderful — this is very *un*modular; although the finished mix sounds like the 'Hey Baba Ruba...' bridge was spliced in, SOT 18 showed that it was actually just a through-performed piano performance by Brian that was then overdubbed with vocals, organ, glockenspiel and harmonica to finish it off. And the end part of the track is very minimal, with really just the piano and the voices.

Whistle In — well, it's in two edited pieces, the intro and the rest, but nothing repeats and it can't have taken very long to record. Another one exemplifying a 'get it finished and out' mentality.

[Summertime Blooz]

I can totally see why the simplicity of just sitting the band down and banging out semi-live versions in a couple of weeks seemed a much more attractive prospect. 

And, I think that's exactly what happened. However....

I can't help but think, at that precise moment, when Brian decided to do that - Smiley Smile-ize the tracks if you will - is when Brian took his first step backwards, artistically speaking. Yes, some people see great art in Smiley Smile, and I respect those opinions. I don't agree, though.

I'm not criticizing Brian, blasting him, or second-guessing him. I just think at that moment in time, he gave up in a lot of ways - physically, mentally, and spiritually. And, he was never really the same again. Or, I should say his music was never the same again. One can't deny the occasional flashes of brilliance in subsequent efforts, and, yes, there were some. But, in my opinion, just one man's opinion, there just seemed to be gradual decline.

I don't want to oversimplify it, but if you used a graph to track Brian's "performance", I would probably peak it at SMiLE and start a gradual decline the moment he decided on Smiley Smile.

Exactly. And so, the legend of Brian Wilson and SMiLE was born.

[Sam_BFC]

I can totally see why the simplicity of just sitting the band down and banging out semi-live versions in a couple of weeks seemed a much more attractive prospect. 

And, I think that's exactly what happened. However....

I can't help but think, at that precise moment, when Brian decided to do that - Smiley Smile-ize the tracks if you will - is when Brian took his first step backwards, artistically speaking. Yes, some people see great art in Smiley Smile, and I respect those opinions. I don't agree, though.

I'm not criticizing Brian, blasting him, or second-guessing him. I just think at that moment in time, he gave up in a lot of ways - physically, mentally, and spiritually. And, he was never really the same again. Or, I should say his music was never the same again. One can't deny the occasional flashes of brilliance in subsequent efforts, and, yes, there were some. But, in my opinion, just one man's opinion, there just seemed to be gradual decline.

I don't want to oversimplify it, but if you used a graph to track Brian's "performance", I would probably peak it at SMiLE and start a gradual decline the moment he decided on Smiley Smile.

Exactly. And so, the legend of Brian Wilson and SMiLE was born.

I always assumed this was a pretty widely held point of view 

[mr_oleary]

I also seem to remember Brian saying in an interview at the Hollywood Bowl that he used to always try and one-up himself but became scared of what would happen if he kept doing that.  Seems like Smiley Smile is right around the time he made that decision.

[MBE]

Publish your damn book! 

I am submitting it next week!

YES!!!! This, more than anything save Made In California is the BB-related product I am anticipating most eagerly!

Separate topic: there are a lot of good points being made in this thread, but there are a number of times where it reads to me like people view Smiley Smile as a radical departue from the modular approach, and just a simplistic tossed-off "live" run through of the songs. But most all the the Smiley tracks were also recorded in modular fashion. Maybe I'm being pedantic, but people seem to forget this all the time. A substantial handful of the Wild Honey tracks were recorded that way too.

Thank you for that. I tried to convey how much buzz is on here about the book and I hope that will make the difference.

[Sheriff John Stone]

I can totally see why the simplicity of just sitting the band down and banging out semi-live versions in a couple of weeks seemed a much more attractive prospect. 

And, I think that's exactly what happened. However....

I can't help but think, at that precise moment, when Brian decided to do that - Smiley Smile-ize the tracks if you will - is when Brian took his first step backwards, artistically speaking. Yes, some people see great art in Smiley Smile, and I respect those opinions. I don't agree, though.

I'm not criticizing Brian, blasting him, or second-guessing him. I just think at that moment in time, he gave up in a lot of ways - physically, mentally, and spiritually. And, he was never really the same again. Or, I should say his music was never the same again. One can't deny the occasional flashes of brilliance in subsequent efforts, and, yes, there were some. But, in my opinion, just one man's opinion, there just seemed to be gradual decline.

I don't want to oversimplify it, but if you used a graph to track Brian's "performance", I would probably peak it at SMiLE and start a gradual decline the moment he decided on Smiley Smile.

Exactly. And so, the legend of Brian Wilson and SMiLE was born.

I always assumed this was a pretty widely held point of view 

On this board, there are those (several?) who would push the point of decline past Wild Honey and Friends, maybe even past Sunflower. And, hey, if that's what they believe, no problem. I usually look at Smiley Smile. 

[Jukka]

I'd date the beginning of Brian's decline as a cultural force and relevant pop producer right at the beginning of Smiley Smile sessions. But as a musician? No way! In my opinion, he just kept getting better after that. He started his decline sometime after Sunflower. Maybe after recording 'Til I Die, even.

[sockittome]

Ok, then....next question....

Since it's been established that the SMiLE tracks were not in any form to use for Smiley, why were Wind Chimes, Wonderful, and Veggies regurgitated recycled into what they became on Smiley?  Wouldn't it have made more sense to record all new songs (except for GV and H&V, of course)?  That way, if the implication is correct that SMiLE was still being considered for possible release even after Smiley, there would have been no duplicate versions of songs.

You can't tell me that the Boys couldn't come up with three additional tunes at the drop of a hat.

[Chocolate Shake Man]

Ok, then....next question....

Since it's been established that the SMiLE tracks were not in any form to use for Smiley, why were Wind Chimes, Wonderful, and Veggies regurgitated recycled into what they became on Smiley?  Wouldn't it have made more sense to record all new songs (except for GV and H&V, of course)?  That way, if the implication is correct that SMiLE was still being considered for possible release even after Smiley, there would have been no duplicate versions of songs.

Like Help Me Rhonda and Be True to Your School?

[I. Spaceman]

Ok, then....next question....

Since it's been established that the SMiLE tracks were not in any form to use for Smiley, why were Wind Chimes, Wonderful, and Veggies regurgitated recycled into what they became on Smiley?  Wouldn't it have made more sense to record all new songs (except for GV and H&V, of course)?  That way, if the implication is correct that SMiLE was still being considered for possible release even after Smiley, there would have been no duplicate versions of songs.

Like Help Me Rhonda and Be True to Your School?

Nice one.

[sockittome]

Ok, then....next question....

Since it's been established that the SMiLE tracks were not in any form to use for Smiley, why were Wind Chimes, Wonderful, and Veggies regurgitated recycled into what they became on Smiley?  Wouldn't it have made more sense to record all new songs (except for GV and H&V, of course)?  That way, if the implication is correct that SMiLE was still being considered for possible release even after Smiley, there would have been no duplicate versions of songs.

Like Help Me Rhonda and Be True to Your School?

That's one song on one album each.  Not three (four if you count Heroes and Villains).

[Chocolate Shake Man]

Ok, then....next question....

Since it's been established that the SMiLE tracks were not in any form to use for Smiley, why were Wind Chimes, Wonderful, and Veggies regurgitated recycled into what they became on Smiley?  Wouldn't it have made more sense to record all new songs (except for GV and H&V, of course)?  That way, if the implication is correct that SMiLE was still being considered for possible release even after Smiley, there would have been no duplicate versions of songs.

Like Help Me Rhonda and Be True to Your School?

That's one song on one album each.  Not three (four if you count Heroes and Villains).

Nevertheless, there's precedence of Brian releasing different versions of songs and these were more desperate times. Brian had already composed some new tracks for Smiley (Fall Breaks, Little Pad, Gettin' Hungry) but time was tight, a product needed to be released, and Brian simply wasn't fit to write a whole new album's worth of material in that time. And so he cut his losses, came up with a radical new angle for the material he had, and went with it, and managed to use virtually none of the material produced during the Smile sessions - and what little material he did use was from a very liminal period.

[Jukka]

Do we know what the boys said about the radical shift in style? Mike was against Smile, they say, but he had no problem with Smiley? Whoa.

I'd presume the more commercially minded members of the band would have called a time out when Brian presented them with Smiley Smile -type of music. Maybe even pushed for the completion of Smile instead, on the double?

I just can't understand it. They had a problem with Smile but no problem with Smiley Smile? Either the guys were more avant garde than given credit, or they just gave up and were desperate for anything. I dunno. But they had almost complete masterpiece ready, and that would have been a good time to support Brian and his Smile. Better late than never?

But no. "Hey, good thing you scrapped that ego music, now let's hum along creepy Baldwin backings." I just don't follow these guys.