Brian Wilson's Secret Bedroom Tapes - LA Weekly 1-30-14

[PetSmile]

I'm really saying that an entire disk dedicated to Good Vibrations seems rather wasteful. I meant to say that some of the unreleased post-Smile material, like Cows in the Pasture (had some of the Wrecking Crew on it) should be released. As for 'Smile', listen to some of the Disk 2-5 sessions to see how suitable stereo is for Smile. Since Pet Sounds has been getting so much attention for its 50th Anniversary, Smile (Disk 1) should have a 2017 anniversary reissue likewise. They ought to remix the TSS Good Vibrations; it's not as clear sonically as the 40th anniversary version of Good Vibrations.

[debonbon]

Smile was always going to be in mono and that's how it should be, as Brian intended.

[PetSmile]

.

[HeyJude]

A lot of people would barely listen to Pet Sounds if it was only in drab, limited mono.  I know that's difficult for previous generations to accept, but it's true.

I think that's a pretty gross exaggeration. I would imagine some younger folks listening to stuff on Spotify might not even know what a "mono" versus "stereo" mix is.

It's not like "Help Me Rhonda" or "Good Vibrations" have dropped off the face of the Earth because they were only available in mono.

Certainly, stereo remixes give an extra marketing opportunity, and whatever radio programmers left playing BB songs will often snag the stereo remixes for their playlists. Some stuff gets a lot more breathing room via stereo remixes (the vocals on Pet Sounds is one obvious example), while other stuff sounds murky and muddy on the multitracks (the backing track to H&V, "Do You Like Worms", etc.) and a stereo remix won't bring a ton of extra clarity.

But "Smile" is such a niche (a LARGE niche, but a relative niche) item, it's not as if there's a bunch of people out there that would have *for sure* purchased the 5-disc boxed set, but decided against it because they heard the "album" iteration was in mono.