Was there any evidence "Wind Chimes" was Air?

[The Old Master Painter]

According to me, SMiLE was more complete in 1966 than in 1967.

[The Old Master Painter]

But it is also clear that Brian had enough material for an incredible album in early 67, just not the album that he initially envisioned.  His perfectionism finally worked against him-he just couldn't stop tinkering with already incredible tracks.  If he'd just moved on from Heroes, he could undoubtedly have gotten an album together by March-April.  The endless Heroes sessions in January (plus in my opinion needless tinkering with the gorgeous Wonderful) really hurt him.

And, you're absolutely right. Brian did have enough incredible material for an early 1967 release. Maybe he just felt (as you suggest, because of tinkering), he needed more time. Smiley Smile bought him more time.

Another thought on Brian using "Vegetables" and "Wind Chimes" on Smiley Smile. I'm not just saying this to bolster my argument (though I'm not really arguing with anybody ), but I always felt that, like "Good Vibrations", "Vegetables" and "Wind Chimes" were the most un-SMiLE-like songs, mainly because of the lyrics. In Vegetables" you have the lines "my tenny flew right off" and "...when you send us in your letter". And, as we know, Brian's inspiration for "Wind Chimes" wasn't some brilliant Van Dyke Parks' lyric; it was Brian staring at his wind chimes and deciding to write a song about them!

You can remove "Good Vibrations", ""Vegetables", and ""Wind Chimes", and still have a unified ten track SMiLE:

Side A
01  Our Prayer
02  Heroes And Villains (an album version different from the single, maybe including "Cantina" and other goodies)
03  Do You Like Worms
04  Holidays
05  Cabinessence

Side B
06  I'm In Great Shape/I Wanna Be Around/Workshop/Barnyard/The Old Master Painter/Fade
07  Wonderful (original version)
08  Look
09  Child Is Father Of The Man
10  Surf's Up

Here's my tracklisting on a "concept" album I'm working on. No Elements, just Americana and Spirituality.

Americana:

1. Chimes 1966 Intro/Our Prayer/Gee

This starts off the album with the early Heroes and Villains Intro..... The reason is because Smile all started with a flashback in a bookstore in 1965, and the 1966 Heroes Intro starts off the album just like that. Then we get an actual intro, an auditory replication of Brain's first LSD trip... then we go straight into Gee ala BWPS.

2. Heroes and Villains

The first trip is set up upon a Western setting, and tells a tale of how far apart the protagonist and his life had become, smiliar to how Brian became later on in Smile and his working relationship with The Beach Boys.

3. Do You Like Worms?

Also set in a western setting, based on a trip induced by a lava lamp which made obscure Worms shapes and had a slow pulsing rhythm. This also takes our journey towards Plymouth Rock, and highlights a focus on Native American spirituality.

4. Barnyard/He Gives Speeches/I'm In Great Shape

Ala BWPS, Barnyard is next, were Barnyard Billy (protagonist of Heroes) goes into farming and leads a new identity. Barnyard then segues into He Gives Speeches set in juxtapose to were Barnyard Billy is now, which then leads into Great Shape,

5. Cabin Essence

Cabin Essence sets the lamp which Mrs. O' Leary's Cow has to tumble and burn:

"Light the lamp and fire mellow"

6. 1967 Fire Intro/Mrs. O' Leary's Cow/I Wanna Be Around/Workshop

The firemen and Barnyard Billy rush to an already ablaze set off buildings, including Barnyard Billy's old Vega-Tables farm were he still stocks all his items, and the firemen try to put out the fire and rebuild Barnyard Billy's Vega-Table shop

7. Vega-Tables

Barnyard Billy is back selling Vega-Tables, and he lives happily ever after.


Spirituality:

1. Wonderful

(Veggies and Wonderful were rumoured A-sides and B-sides in 1967 anyways)

2. Look!/I Love to Say Dada/Holidays

The child learns how to look... Then the child learns how to speak, then his/her family goes on a holiday where he/she sees the world...

3. Wind Chimes

The child grows old, and discovers the wonders of Zen, tranquility, and a peaceful life, which he/she believes will lead him/her closer to a divine presence. This trip also occured during the worms trip, now set during an Eastern setting. Lava lamp = Wind chimes. At the end of said trip, Brian sees God, therefore the realization during Surf's Up.

4. Child Is The Father of The Man

The child sees the majesty of the earth, and how one should behold it.

5. The Old Master Painter

The child sees God, which could only lead up to one thing

6. Surf's Up

Smile in one song. One man's quest for knowledge, conciousness, and spirituality fully accomplished.

7. You're Welcome

The amen Vosse was talking about. It really does make you SMiLE at the end.

[The Old Master Painter]

Diyble post

[mike moseley]

I think its possible the other Elements could have been the various chants/skits..?  Although underwhelming that would make sense - it could also maybe explain why he gave up..?  The mix of awesome, apocalyptic pieces with 'zany' comedy just didn't work - see 'woody woodpecker' backing in Surf's Up, the whacky whistle in the 'Heroes...' verses track (although the latter was humorously answering a Dylan track I think).

I'm not trying to say I'm definitely right - its merely a thought.

Unless there are two, three (minimum) session contracts missing, "The Elements" consisted of "Fire" and nothing else since 11/28/66. Knowing Brian's working methods for the preceding few years, that means at least two, three more tracking sessions. Add to that, say, six, seven vocal sessions, the sweetening, the mixing, the editing, the sequencing and the mastering... you're looking at another good two months work. In the 2000s, Brian said he needed another year to finish it. Carl et al may have thought Smile was finished and ready to go... they may have even been told that... but the available hard evidence contradicts that, and no amount of smoke & mirrors can make it read otherwise. If Smile was capable of being rush released by late April 1967, or again in late summer, then surely it would have been. As someone else noted, downthread, when Brian said something, he may have truly believed it at that moment in time. The next morning... that afternoon... an hour later... who knows ?

[filledeplage]

But it is also clear that Brian had enough material for an incredible album in early 67, just not the album that he initially envisioned.  His perfectionism finally worked against him-he just couldn't stop tinkering with already incredible tracks.  If he'd just moved on from Heroes, he could undoubtedly have gotten an album together by March-April.  The endless Heroes sessions in January (plus in my opinion needless tinkering with the gorgeous Wonderful) really hurt him.

For my money he could have made an album of Heroes and all its variants and I'd've been delirious. They're simply a parade of exquisity after exquisity and I can never get enough. This thread has prompted me recently to get all my SoT, TSS, PsychS, Archeology and other discs uploaded into one iTunes playlist and have them on repeat-shuffle … I'd become over-familiar with the material over years of incessant listening and consequently given it a wide berth for quite a while, so it's been an incredibly enjoyable indulgence. And it's amazing how many of the tunes have a root somewhere or other in that Heroes/Bicycle Rider theme, and how many more feature that ascending/descending Iron Horse/Fire sequence; and of course they're effectively conjoined by the H&V Intro piece… so many wonderful, recurring musical themes…

Ya, John Manning - your first sentence!  And, your second! 

[Andrew G. Doe]

I think its possible the other Elements could have been the various chants/skits..?  Although underwhelming that would make sense - it could also maybe explain why he gave up..?

Um... he described "Air" as a piano tune that they never finished, so... probably not. 

[Bicyclerider]

Micha,

Plus, besides the two hits, there is nothing "Commercial" about Smiley Smile at all. Brian's justification at that time does not hold water.

The big change to me wasn't just the move to the home studio - it was the conscious decision to record as a self contained group and not use outside/session musicians.  the June studio sessions before the home studio bear this out - Vegetables, Cool Cool Water, With Me Tonight - the Boys are the musicians with Brian leading everything.  Why this change?  I think there are multiple reasons:

1. The criticism of the live show on the road, particularly in Europe - the Boys being unable to reproduce their records on stage.

2. The Monkees brou-ha-ha over not playing on their records - they lost a lot of "cred" over this and as a result fired Kirshner and became a self-contained group for their next album, Headquarters.

3. Perhaps the dissension of the group over the material Brian was doing in the studio would be nullified by bringing them into the creative and production process.  And Brian could count on more support and less weight on his shoulders by sharing the production credit.

4. It's unclear to me if the lawsuit with Capitol had an effect on Brian's ability to book studio time - could Capitol, while engaged in the lawsuit, have been reluctant to pay for the ever spiraling costs of the Smile/BB next album ?  By eliminating studio musicians he cuts costs and then the move to the home studio, which was non-Union, cuts costs even more.

5. So the move to the home studio becomes the next logical step once the decision to use the group as the sole musicians on the album is made.

[guitarfool2002]

Micha,

Plus, besides the two hits, there is nothing "Commercial" about Smiley Smile at all. Brian's justification at that time does not hold water.

The big change to me wasn't just the move to the home studio - it was the conscious decision to record as a self contained group and not use outside/session musicians.  the June studio sessions before the home studio bear this out - Vegetables, Cool Cool Water, With Me Tonight - the Boys are the musicians with Brian leading everything.  Why this change?  I think there are multiple reasons:

1. The criticism of the live show on the road, particularly in Europe - the Boys being unable to reproduce their records on stage.

2. The Monkees brou-ha-ha over not playing on their records - they lost a lot of "cred" over this and as a result fired Kirshner and became a self-contained group for their next album, Headquarters.

3. Perhaps the dissension of the group over the material Brian was doing in the studio would be nullified by bringing them into the creative and production process.  And Brian could count on more support and less weight on his shoulders by sharing the production credit.

4. It's unclear to me if the lawsuit with Capitol had an effect on Brian's ability to book studio time - could Capitol, while engaged in the lawsuit, have been reluctant to pay for the ever spiraling costs of the Smile/BB next album ?  By eliminating studio musicians he cuts costs and then the move to the home studio, which was non-Union, cuts costs even more.

5. So the move to the home studio becomes the next logical step once the decision to use the group as the sole musicians on the album is made.

These are good points. Very good points. Specific to this one:

1. The criticism of the live show on the road, particularly in Europe - the Boys being unable to reproduce their records on stage.


The criticisms of their stage sound were there after they played the Fall 66 tour, and included the criticism of their stage outfits, which Dennis apparently took very hard. There was an interview with Carl where he comes off as very defensive about the "puppets" claim suggesting the differences between hearing the records and hearing the live band, and rightfully so for him as the de facto leader of the touring band.

Forward to May 67, the criticisms were still there in the UK music press, perhaps even worse and more personally directed. Some of the concert reviews were harsh and again directed at the band's thin live sound. Mike in the Altham piece defends against that by mentioning the hassles with the UK musicians' union over adding extra musicians to the stage lineup, how they were not allowed to use the players they had contracted to play.

But, the critique was still centered around the stage sound of the group versus the records.

Factor in the group's return home, and all that happened in June 1967 into July...focused on the band's music and possible live shows. Monterey obviously didn't happen.

But: They did record Smiley Smile in between, as a self-contained band more or less, or with something of a recorded sound that the band members instrumentally could do on stage, in that stripped-down kind of setting. There was nothing requiring strings, horns, multiple percussion instruments as on Pet Sounds and Smile, etc.

In 1967 The Beatles turned down a very large follow-up offer to play Shea Stadium, the reason given beyond the obvious that they didn;t tour was because they could not reproduce their sound as of 1967 on stage.


To consider: Is it coincidence that the Beach Boys' first live shows since recording Smiley Smile (in Hawaii, August 1967) featured their band sound as of that moment in 1967? It was more or less the Smiley Smile sound being reproduced on stage, complete with the Baldwin organ that marked so much of Smiley's sessions, along with very sparse drumming, sometimes not more than a snare drum hitting the downbeats if that.

By recording something as they did the revised Heroes single, the Gettin Hungry single, and what would come out that September on the Smiley Smile album, the band on stage was able to sound like the records. It would solve that issue, it may remove some of the criticism that they had gotten even worse after the May 67 tour than in 66, and the audience would hear the band's sound as of that moment in the summer of 67 when Smiley was waiting to come out.

[filledeplage]

Micha,

Plus, besides the two hits, there is nothing "Commercial" about Smiley Smile at all. Brian's justification at that time does not hold water.

The big change to me wasn't just the move to the home studio - it was the conscious decision to record as a self contained group and not use outside/session musicians.  the June studio sessions before the home studio bear this out - Vegetables, Cool Cool Water, With Me Tonight - the Boys are the musicians with Brian leading everything.  Why this change?  I think there are multiple reasons:

1. The criticism of the live show on the road, particularly in Europe - the Boys being unable to reproduce their records on stage.

2. The Monkees brou-ha-ha over not playing on their records - they lost a lot of "cred" over this and as a result fired Kirshner and became a self-contained group for their next album, Headquarters.

3. Perhaps the dissension of the group over the material Brian was doing in the studio would be nullified by bringing them into the creative and production process.  And Brian could count on more support and less weight on his shoulders by sharing the production credit.

4. It's unclear to me if the lawsuit with Capitol had an effect on Brian's ability to book studio time - could Capitol, while engaged in the lawsuit, have been reluctant to pay for the ever spiraling costs of the Smile/BB next album ?  By eliminating studio musicians he cuts costs and then the move to the home studio, which was non-Union, cuts costs even more.

5. So the move to the home studio becomes the next logical step once the decision to use the group as the sole musicians on the album is made.

These are good points. Very good points. Specific to this one:

1. The criticism of the live show on the road, particularly in Europe - the Boys being unable to reproduce their records on stage.


The criticisms of their stage sound were there after they played the Fall 66 tour, and included the criticism of their stage outfits, which Dennis apparently took very hard. There was an interview with Carl where he comes off as very defensive about the "puppets" claim suggesting the differences between hearing the records and hearing the live band, and rightfully so for him as the de facto leader of the touring band.

Forward to May 67, the criticisms were still there in the UK music press, perhaps even worse and more personally directed. Some of the concert reviews were harsh and again directed at the band's thin live sound. Mike in the Altham piece defends against that by mentioning the hassles with the UK musicians' union over adding extra musicians to the stage lineup, how they were not allowed to use the players they had contracted to play.

But, the critique was still centered around the stage sound of the group versus the records.

Factor in the group's return home, and all that happened in June 1967 into July...focused on the band's music and possible live shows. Monterey obviously didn't happen.

But: They did record Smiley Smile in between, as a self-contained band more or less, or with something of a recorded sound that the band members instrumentally could do on stage, in that stripped-down kind of setting. There was nothing requiring strings, horns, multiple percussion instruments as on Pet Sounds and Smile, etc.

In 1967 The Beatles turned down a very large follow-up offer to play Shea Stadium, the reason given beyond the obvious that they didn;t tour was because they could not reproduce their sound as of 1967 on stage.


To consider: Is it coincidence that the Beach Boys' first live shows since recording Smiley Smile (in Hawaii, August 1967) featured their band sound as of that moment in 1967? It was more or less the Smiley Smile sound being reproduced on stage, complete with the Baldwin organ that marked so much of Smiley's sessions, along with very sparse drumming, sometimes not more than a snare drum hitting the downbeats if that.

By recording something as they did the revised Heroes single, the Gettin Hungry single, and what would come out that September on the Smiley Smile album, the band on stage was able to sound like the records. It would solve that issue, it may remove some of the criticism that they had gotten even worse after the May 67 tour than in 66, and the audience would hear the band's sound as of that moment in the summer of 67 when Smiley was waiting to come out.

Let's not forget that the British Musicians Union would not permit the ancillary players (Igor +) on the "TIKH tour" May '67, to play.  Their role was to do exactly what was complained of. 

[Cam Mott]

How would this be that much of a concern though since they continued to perform songs like GV, WIBN, GOK, CG, SJB as the same 5 man group that had performed them before the home studio? I'm pretty sure they had planned to take extra musicians as early as the Fall 1966 tour but I think Mike said they decided against when all of the shows had already sold out anyway.  Also didn't Carl effectively say concert goers are dumb to expect their concerts to sound like the recordings.

Taylor explains how Grillo's solution to move to the home studio came to be: “But by mid-Winter 1966/7 the Beach Boys were running into a serious creative impasse. Brian Wilson, constantly harassed by the availability of the right studio---and for him ‘the right studio’ means which ever studio he needs on whim without notice—restricted by the touring needs of the Beach Boys, disturbed by legal complications with Capitol Records, confined by the conventional brevity of the pop single, and pressured by the need of competing with other groups, decided arbitrarily that making records was, for him, no longer a pleasure.”

[Emily]

How would this be that much of a concern though since they continued to perform songs like GV, WIBN, GOK, CG, SJB as the same 5 man group that had performed them before the home studio? I'm pretty sure they had planned to take extra musicians as early as the Fall 1966 tour but I think Mike said they decided against when all of the shows had already sold out anyway.  Also didn't Carl effectively say concert goer are dumb to expect their concerts to sound like the recordings.

Taylor explains how Grillo's solution to move to the home studio came to be: “But by mid-Winter 1966/7 the Beach Boys were running into a serious creative impasse. Brian Wilson, constantly harassed by the availability of the right studio---and for him ‘the right studio’ means which ever studio he needs on whim without notice—restricted by the touring needs of the Beach Boys, disturbed by legal complications with Capitol Records, confined by the conventional brevity of the pop single, and pressured by the need of competing with other groups, decided arbitrarily that making records was, for him, no longer a pleasure.”

That's a weird quote - it lists a bunch of reasons that BW was not enjoying recording, then says it was 'arbitrary' that he wasn't enjoying recording.
This is aside from your point, Cam, which I leave unmolested.

[guitarfool2002]

He writes "restricted by the touring needs of the Beach Boys", what were those restrictions?

[Cam Mott]

How would this be that much of a concern though since they continued to perform songs like GV, WIBN, GOK, CG, SJB as the same 5 man group that had performed them before the home studio? I'm pretty sure they had planned to take extra musicians as early as the Fall 1966 tour but I think Mike said they decided against when all of the shows had already sold out anyway.  Also didn't Carl effectively say concert goer are dumb to expect their concerts to sound like the recordings.

Taylor explains how Grillo's solution to move to the home studio came to be: “But by mid-Winter 1966/7 the Beach Boys were running into a serious creative impasse. Brian Wilson, constantly harassed by the availability of the right studio---and for him ‘the right studio’ means which ever studio he needs on whim without notice—restricted by the touring needs of the Beach Boys, disturbed by legal complications with Capitol Records, confined by the conventional brevity of the pop single, and pressured by the need of competing with other groups, decided arbitrarily that making records was, for him, no longer a pleasure.”

That's a weird quote - it lists a bunch of reasons that BW was not enjoying recording, then says it was 'arbitrary' that he wasn't enjoying recording.
This is aside from your point, Cam, which I leave unmolested.

Perhaps in the sense of "based on or determined by individual preference or convenience rather than by necessity or the intrinsic nature of something."

[Cam Mott]

He writes "restricted by the touring needs of the Beach Boys", what were those restrictions?

In the context and sense that it is grammatically connected to ", constantly harassed by the availability of the right studio---and for him ‘the right studio’ means which ever studio he needs on whim without notice--restricted by the touring needs of the Beach Boys,".

In other words the availability of the right studio on a whim without notice was restricted by the touring.

[guitarfool2002]

The studio availability issues were addressed by others too, in a context of Brian maybe wanting to book studios very late at night when inspiration struck but that not being possible for more practical reasons - The Beatles began to run into that too when they'd want to record very late into the night, into the early morning at Abbey Road dating back to the Pepper album, and the EMI studio staff simply not being able to go days on end with little or no sleep, and also have to work their other scheduled sessions from the morning to evening. They did it up to a point, but what the Beatles wanted in terms of availability to record almost on demand, usually late at night, was not always available. It was the same with Brian - If he got an idea and wanted to go in at, say, 1 a.m. to start a session, it wasn't always available or practical for those involved in the studio process for hire to be available on call with other obligations.

This was also when the whole nature of how artists recorded began to shift as well. It was still handled for the most part on a "normal" block scheduling situation, say a schedule where a band would come in from 2pm to 6pm and record. It was the shift to the studio as a creative tool that the Beatles were doing at Abbey Road in 66/67 and which Brian was doing in LA that changed up some of the old ways of doing things. If the creativity was flowing, these artists didn't want to be told their session ended at 9pm and they had to clear out.

That was yet another paradigm of the record business that began to change at precisely this moment in time, 1966/67. A pop band or artist up to that point would simply not "camp out" in a specific studio for weeks until the album was done, though that later became almost standard practice. The only example into 1967 I can think of was The Monkees blocking out a specific RCA studio room for several weeks to record Headquarters on their own terms, but they were the Monkees and Screen Gems backed them up.

The original plans of Brother Records back to '66 included owning a recording studio facility, it just took them a little longer to get there than was originally, I think, hoped would happen.

But those "restrictions" - If it were limited to an issue with the band being on the road, they had already recorded Pet Sounds, Good Vibrations, and even other singles and albums while working within the same framework, to great success. Brian would cut the tracks, get the vocals ready, the band would come in off the road, cut their tracks, and it would become a single or album.

Could other restrictions have included what the band could or could not reproduce from their records on stage with their touring lineup? I think it's no accident that the only show they played in the summer of '67 sounded like the music they were recording at that exact time. If they began to bristle at even more pointed criticism of their live sound after yet another European tour, they could solve that by moving toward a studio sound on their records that could be reproduced on stage without a lot of auxiliary musicians or parts.

[Andrew G. Doe]

Taylor explains how Grillo's solution to move to the home studio came to be: “But by mid-Winter 1966/7 the Beach Boys were running into a serious creative impasse. Brian Wilson, constantly harassed by the availability of the right studio---and for him ‘the right studio’ means which ever studio he needs on whim without notice—restricted by the touring needs of the Beach Boys, disturbed by legal complications with Capitol Records, confined by the conventional brevity of the pop single, and pressured by the need of competing with other groups, decided arbitrarily that making records was, for him, no longer a pleasure.”

Doesn't stack up: the first documented session at the home "studio" was June 11th 1967 - hardly mid-winter. As for "restricted by the touring needs...", Grillo - who, let it be remembered, completely confused the financially catastrophic Maharishi tour with the preceding tour that was mildly affected by the assassination of MLK - may be similarly misremembering much later in 1967/8, when the home studio was also an integral part of the band's touring rig: thus, if they were on tour and Brian was struck by the muse... no studio at home.

[Cam Mott]

Taylor explains how Grillo's solution to move to the home studio came to be: “But by mid-Winter 1966/7 the Beach Boys were running into a serious creative impasse. Brian Wilson, constantly harassed by the availability of the right studio---and for him ‘the right studio’ means which ever studio he needs on whim without notice—restricted by the touring needs of the Beach Boys, disturbed by legal complications with Capitol Records, confined by the conventional brevity of the pop single, and pressured by the need of competing with other groups, decided arbitrarily that making records was, for him, no longer a pleasure.”

Doesn't stack up: the first documented session at the home "studio" was June 11th 1967 - hardly mid-winter. As for "restricted by the touring needs...", Grillo - who, let it be remembered, completely confused the financially catastrophic Maharishi tour with the preceding tour that was mildly affected by the assassination of MLK - may be similarly misremembering much later in 1967/8, when the home studio was also an integral part of the band's touring rig: thus, if they were on tour and Brian was struck by the muse... no studio at home.

In July 1967 Taylor says Mid-Winter 66/67 is when they began to have the problems that in May 1967 Nick Grillo was solving suggesting a home studio.

[Andrew G. Doe]

From January to May 1967, Brian recorded at Columbia, Western, Sound Recorders and Gold Star a total of 49 times, with a further five scheduled sessions cancelled. Does that look like problems getting studio time to you, or someone unhappy with commercial facilities ?

[Cam Mott]

From January to May 1967, the Brian recorded at Columbia, Western, Sound Recorders and Gold Star a total of 49 times, with a further five scheduled sessions cancelled. Does that look like problems getting studio time ?

If he wasn't able to use them "on a whim without notice" I guess it was, according to Anderle and Taylor.

[Andrew G. Doe]

Well, and what would they know, huh ? Have they studied the subject in minute detail as we have ? So, they were there. Means nothing. 

[Cam Mott]

Well, and what would they know, huh ? Have they studied the subject in minute detail as we have ? So, they were there. Means nothing. 

True dat. 

[The Shift]

They weren't fans they were just involvees.

[Bicyclerider]

From January to May 1967, the Brian recorded at Columbia, Western, Sound Recorders and Gold Star a total of 49 times, with a further five scheduled sessions cancelled. Does that look like problems getting studio time ?

If he wasn't able to use them "on a whim without notice" I guess it was, according to Anderle and Taylor.

He couldn't record on a whim at the home studio either - was Jim Lockert staying at the house so that he could get up and engineer at a moment's notice?  Would the other Beach Boys get up at midnight and go to the house to record after a phone call?  the latter probably did happen occasionally, but more likely there would be a set time to show up and then recording would go on for as long Brian was up for it.

I still think the main change was the Beach boys doing it all instead of the studio musicians - hence the credit "produced by the Beach Boys" not in the sense of record producer production, but literally produced or a product of the Beach Boys, and not  a product of Brian and studio musicians.  "Puppets" no longer.

[Ian]

We've covered this topic many times and as has been brought up before it was also Brian's issues.  As we've discussed he'd become a fanatical perfectionist so smiley smiles looseness has to strike one as Brian kind of just giving up control to a degree.  Also he was bred to be a fanatical competitor so a single that hit 15 and an album that didn't do well just combined to send him into a real funk.  He came back for friends and again for sunflower to a degree but I think he came to view the beach boys as a failure by his impossible standards. He sure takes that point of view in his 1973 interviews on radio and in print. The beach boys weren't a big success on the charts and to Brian that was crucial

[guitarfool2002]

"Puppets" no longer.

It also may have addressed two main points of criticism coming from the press after the May 67 tour in one fell swoop. Not only were the Beach Boys playing the music on their albums, the credit "Produced by The Beach Boys" would suggest they're no longer puppets, and as shown by the only concert they would give between May and the fall of 67, they could also play on stage and sound like they did on their most recent record. I'm sure at various times that criticism had to sting the band pretty hard and compromises made could serve to alleviate any issues related to that.