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Author Topic: SMiLE Era Message  (Read 4346 times)
Bill Tobelman
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« on: June 16, 2018, 06:18:35 PM »

From the 12/24/1966 issue of Cash Box:

https://scontent.fbed1-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/35425239_10156323244975340_5896298757997199360_o.jpg?_nc_cat=0&_nc_eui2=AeFZF7lZ0EulzTaSYgyyahYNDRTlEr3z_rFPgs0g5ewgeSR-nyS_X0PxfmdUShwTVqDqIZ1DpxH2B1IPsiNnnZHD_o17jclgFb6SyxHArq5RAw&oh=47f5cddbba3ee7af2f5e4b8eb9236e17&oe=5BC3623B
« Last Edit: June 16, 2018, 06:41:24 PM by Bill Tobelman » Logged

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« Reply #1 on: June 16, 2018, 07:47:56 PM »

Fascinating!
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« Reply #2 on: June 17, 2018, 10:15:04 AM »

Amazing! Thanks Bill! Never saw that before...but it falls into line perfectly with the era. If only more people would open their eyes and see more of what was going on. This is yet more proof if people seeing items like this put it into the bigger context.

How did you find that? In several decades of going through all this stuff I never knew this existed, and have never seen it reproduced.

Did the researchers for the Smile Sessions box set miss this one too, or was the decision made not to include it? Cashbox was a pretty widely distributed industry mag...
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« Reply #3 on: June 17, 2018, 10:45:50 AM »

Just saw a pretty rough copy of this issue sold on Ebay a little over a month ago.
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« Reply #4 on: June 17, 2018, 11:27:25 AM »

Great find Bill!
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« Reply #5 on: June 17, 2018, 04:50:13 PM »

Here's where I found it.
https://www.americanradiohistory.com/Cash-Box-Magazine.htm
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« Reply #6 on: June 18, 2018, 10:25:19 AM »

Very interestesting.  Originally Smile was supposed to come out in December, but it became apparent that wasn't going to happen and it was pushed back to January ('It's sure to sell a million units . . . in January!").  So to remind the industry that Smile was coming but not for the holidays I presume was the rationale for this advert - but it's definitely enigmatic/cryptic,  not even mentioning  the album but referencing the song Vegetables (recorded in October in the early version).
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« Reply #7 on: June 18, 2018, 10:58:07 AM »

The focus has to be widened to see that this print ad is one of the trees which was part of a bigger forest at that time in the Smile saga.

Consider how far in advance such an ad had to be created and proofed in order to run in a December 24 issue. Just for discussion, assume at least a month in advance...and that may be too long, but that would have been relatively common. This places it to the mindset which existed around November/early December 1966.

Now collect and factor in all that we know existed in terms of projects, recordings, photo shoots, and all else that centered on a "vegetables" theme. Just a few out of that bunch:

- Brian's photoshoot done at a produce stand in front of vegetables.

- The photoshoot of Brian, Vosse, Anderle, and Brian's younger relative playing with tomatoes and such on a green hill, which ran in a magazine article penned by Brian on the theme of vegetables, with each person in the photo spread getting a vegetable nickname.

- The various articles, most notably Vosse's Teen Set piece, which described vegetables in use in the studio to help "set the mood", in this case a pool match played with celery and cherry tomatoes.

- The non-musical recording sessions, including the chant sessions on "Psychodelic Sounds" reels centered around vegetables (with Brian directing the conversations and chants toward vegetables at one point), and where the various segments like "I got a big bag of vegetables" came from. There was also a spoken-word session held with Brian, Vosse, and Hal Blaine where they talked free-form around trying to record various skits and improv scenarios surrounding vegetables.

- The musical recording sessions, which need no description since most of them have since been released officially and can be heard. The various parts surrounding a track about vegetables went through as many changes and revisions to put it second to only Heroes in terms of the amount of work done on that theme track.

- A pretty arcane one to consider, but there were attempts that included what sound like straight needle-drops from acetates that saw Brian testing out various sequences and order of the segments for Vegetables, the song.

- Now also count the number of references made in any number of interviews around the time of or about Smile which reference healthy eating, health food, health in general...it was a very prominent theme in the mindset from this specific era.

Ok...then factor in all of the musical work done on a track called Vegetables, consider it was perhaps the most prominent example of a single song besides Heroes and after Good Vibrations that was getting the cut-and-paste treatment in terms of recording in sections which were ostensibly interchangeable (some would say modular), with the idea being to follow GV's template and edit them together in a tight, flowing sequence of segments. Again, even though there were other Smile segments that got similar treatments, that number is nowhere near what was done on Heroes and on Vegetables.

It almost suggests and proves without much doubt (as if the press reports citing this were not enough) that Vegetables was going to be a single, at least in the planning stages.

Thus, we get an ad like this...very much in keeping with the hip/psych mentality that was bubbling under among the more hip ad agencies and creative directors at said agencies in 1966, where the subliminal and psychological elements were emphasized over the traditional selling of any given project or product...also seen in full force on the Smile front and back covers...and it places the vegetables theme directly if not perfectly in line with the plans that were on the table for the band and for the Smile-era projects (including Brother Records) when this ad was created and submitted for publication.

It all fits perfectly.

And having seen this yesterday for the first time courtesy of Bill finding it, I have to wonder how an ad which encapsulates so much of one important facet of the Smile era plans and activities managed to slip past several decades of research, digging, and publication surrounding various Smile era official releases.

It's pretty mind-blowing.

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« Reply #8 on: June 18, 2018, 11:10:30 AM »

Great writeup GF. Makes me wonder what else is floating around out there.

It also reminds me of how shocked I was when I first got my hands on 'Look Listen Vibrate Smile' - I couldn't believe just how many news articles, ads, and blurbs about Smile there were in such a small time period in '66/'67. This new find makes me want that book to get an update.

Thanks, Bill! Always great to see your posts here.
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« Reply #9 on: June 18, 2018, 11:21:37 AM »

There's no doubt that "health food" and vegetables was a recurring theme during the Smile sessions as you so ably document.  But of all the occurrences you mention, which were before this ad was placed?  Vegetables wasn't reworked in the modular style, as would be appropriate for a single following Good Vibrations, until April 67, which was also when Derek Taylor announced Vegetables was to be the new single and Heroes would be delayed.

Cornucopia version:  Oct 17 most likely
Vegetables chants:  Nov 11
Vegetable skits with Hal Blaine:  Nov 16.

If you're right about the timeline for preparing and placing the ad, this ad would most likely have been prepared and submitted in the middle or end of November giving 4 - 6 weeks for photography, preparation of the ad, submission before printing deadlines, etc.  That's right after the Vegetable skits.  Coincidence?  Probably not, right?  Could the vegetables skits have been for a possible radio ad to coincide with the Cashbox one?  Could Brian have been thinking about changing the single to Vegetables in November?  If so, he did no work on the song but instead held two tracking sessions for Heroes and at least four vocal sessions in December in an attempt to finish the song.  Was he thinking about putting the cornucopia Vegetables on the flip side of Heroes?  Or was this Brian's cheeky way of introducing or previewing the health food theme of Smile to the public in advance of the album which he still expected to be finished in January?
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« Reply #10 on: June 18, 2018, 11:24:44 AM »

Interesting side note:

In that same issue of Cashbox, there is a print ad from Verve records promoting the Velvet Underground, and prominently listing Andy Warhol's involvement. It is considered the first ad that ever appeared for VU...and fans of that band consider that issue pretty important just as Smile fans would consider the various ads that ran featuring the Frank Holmes Smile cover. Suitable for framing as they say...if you want to take the page out of the magazine for display.

So that issue of Cashbox was known and sought out by collectors and fans of another band...and the fact a Smile ad (more or less that's what this was...) appeared in the same issue kind of got lost in the mix.

It's an interesting contrast of New York versus LA at the end of '66 going into '67, and what kind of innovation was happening almost as separate musical entities on opposite coasts of the US. Pretty amazing stuff, especially considering how big of an influence both the VU and Smile would become on new generations of musicians decades later.
« Last Edit: June 18, 2018, 11:25:21 AM by guitarfool2002 » Logged

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« Reply #11 on: June 18, 2018, 11:35:01 AM »

There's no doubt that "health food" and vegetables was a recurring theme during the Smile sessions as you so ably document.  But of all the occurrences you mention, which were before this ad was placed?  Vegetables wasn't reworked in the modular style, as would be appropriate for a single following Good Vibrations, until April 67, which was also when Derek Taylor announced Vegetables was to be the new single and Heroes would be delayed.

Cornucopia version:  Oct 17 most likely
Vegetables chants:  Nov 11
Vegetable skits with Hal Blaine:  Nov 16.

If you're right about the timeline for preparing and placing the ad, this ad would most likely have been prepared and submitted in the middle or end of November giving 4 - 6 weeks for photography, preparation of the ad, submission before printing deadlines, etc.  That's right after the Vegetable skits.  Coincidence?  Probably not, right?  Could the vegetables skits have been for a possible radio ad to coincide with the Cashbox one?  Could Brian have been thinking about changing the single to Vegetables in November?  If so, he did no work on the song but instead held two tracking sessions for Heroes and at least four vocal sessions in December in an attempt to finish the song.  Was he thinking about putting the cornucopia Vegetables on the flip side of Heroes?  Or was this Brian's cheeky way of introducing or previewing the health food theme of Smile to the public in advance of the album which he still expected to be finished in January?

I do think the ad's content was subliminal, as in a tease for what was in the works. Especially when we factor in the other articles that appeared around the same time, specifically the one I mentioned that Brian wrote (rather cryptically) on the vegetables theme. It falls right into line with what was considered a new wave of advertising and marketing, some would even call it guerilla marketing...where subliminal hints are dropped randomly versus the old-school method of simply highlighting the product that was offered for sale.

It falls right into line with how some ad agencies were thinking and breaking the mold in 1966. In that way, giving Beach Boys fans the imagery of a bag of vegetables...it would get the ball rolling and place that in the fans' subconscious when the actual products were made available.

I think the January activity was focused primarily on Heroes because that was the single which was by then overdue. But we already know that.

I have a thought that this ad would have pointed toward either *another* single release for the band in the form of Vegetables as an A side, or it also may be hinting more toward the Brother Records activities which were being planned when this ad would have been created. And among those was reported to be a health album.

As far as an audio promotional thing, as the Hawthorne release showed us with that fantasy Vegetables promo ad, it could have been done. However, I still have to wonder what *else* all of the multimedia activity being done on a vegetables theme was going to become.

I think there were more plans surrounding this vegetables theme than ever got realized, or else it got swept up in all the delays regarding Heroes and the other usual factors.

This ad would seem to back that up.
« Last Edit: June 18, 2018, 11:36:30 AM by guitarfool2002 » Logged

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« Reply #12 on: June 18, 2018, 01:18:00 PM »

Someone posted on Facebook that they have this ad, and claim it was designed by Dean Torrence. Weigh accordingly; vintage BB ads are not my precise area of hardcore expertise.
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« Reply #13 on: July 19, 2018, 02:40:29 PM »

I personally like how 'Health' is written in all blue which suggests water as in "Cool, Cool, Water," "Da Da," and "In Blue Hawaii" (you get the idea) and Brian's water filled elements experience as told to Paul Williams of Crawdaddy by David Anderle. I guess one could also include Curtis Springer's Zzyzx mineral springs as a possible water connection as that connects with the vegetables idea as well. In my view symbolic meaning was 'IN' at the time.

If Dean Torrence designed this ad he was definitely taking directions from Brian IMHO.
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