Smile Revelations on Feel Flows?

[UK_Surf]

'Wake the World' delivered us the CIFOTM backing track, with the cheeky mobile-phone-acetate-grab snippet of a previously-unheard I'm in Great Shape backing track mix as an unannounced bonus (surely an audio first in an official release?). 

I've just bought the hi-res audio FF Surf's Up A Capella mix at 4.06. It's Carl on the lead in Part 1, and Brian is in Part 2 - an isolated double-tracked vocal, which is very cool to have. It's stunning, and a real aural and musical treat, especially the glorious CIFOTM tag. I tip my hats to mssr. Linett - this collection is going to be a mind-blower.

"Cool, Cool Water (Alternate 2019 Mix)" at 06:24.
Disc 4 track 10 gives us "Surf's Up (Brian Wilson Lead Vocal 2019 Mix)" at 4.10.
Disc 5 track 4 gives us "Surf's Up, Pt. 1 (1971 Remake Track With 1966 Brian Vocal)" at 1:40.

Any ideas or intel about how the two BW versions of SU will play out?

CCW might have some tasty treats in store for us...check out that running time! I remember reading Smile-era interviews about field recordings that Stephen Desper made for a Chamberlin (proton-sampler precursor to the Mellotron) 'water drip' set as being his first official gig for the BBs. I wonder if any of that is here (I'd bet *very* surprised if that survived)?

And any chance of another acetate revelation, or some other unexpected Easter Egg?

To me, Smile is the ultimate Longue Duree pop creation. Some of my favourite pieces remain the 20/20 Our Prayer and Cabinessence stereo versions, which to me are the definitive cuts. While I prefer to take Smiley Smile on its own terms, Fall Breaks is also, to my mind, the track most strongly connected to Smile (apart from H&V/GV) - the tag to Wind Chimes is also firmly in that category (moreso than the actual SS track in some ways!). Little Bird, Let the Wind Blow, and CCW, and some of the Friends-era instrumentals and outtakes also fit that group (totally respect the Way Too Long argument, though that never floated my boat quite as much as it should). A Desper engineered early-70s Smile could have been incredible. I'd love to hear any fantasy remix recreations incorporating the 'roll-your-own' treats dispensed on Feel Flows!

[sloopjohnb72]

That first track you mention is simply a new mix of Surf's Up as it was presented on The Smile Sessions, with Brian's lead vocal synced to the "First Movement" track.

The second one has been described by Alan Boyd here long ago - because Brian was unwilling to record a vocal on the First Movement track in 1971, Carl overdubbed the first part of his piano version with a bunch of session musicians in an attempt to copy Brian's First Movement arrangement. This didn't work out, and Brian still didn't want to sing it, so Carl just ended up doing the vocal.

[maggie]

'hile I prefer to take Smiley Smile on its own terms, Fall Breaks is also, to my mind, the track most strongly connected to Smile (apart from H&V/GV) - the tag to Wind Chimes is also firmly in that category (moreso than the actual SS track in some ways!). Little Bird, Let the Wind Blow, and CCW, and some of the Friends-era instrumentals and outtakes also fit that group (totally respect the Way Too Long argument, though that never floated my boat quite as much as it should). A Desper engineered early-70s Smile could have been incredible. I'd love to hear any fantasy remix recreations incorporating the 'roll-your-own' treats dispensed on Feel Flows!

I'm having a lot of trouble understanding what you're suggesting here. "Fall Breaks" is clearly "connected to Smile" in the sense that it's based on "Fire," "Little Bird" has a bit of "Child" in it, "Can't Wait Too Long" has bits of "Wind Chimes," and "Cool Cool Water" has various Smile pieces in it as well.

But to my knowledge "Let the Wind Blow" and the Friends stuff (e.g. "Diamond Head") have absolutely nothing to do with Smile at all. Brian didn't even compose most of "Diamond Head", I thought?

[hongkongcrowe]

I've always loved Diamond Head and wondered, who wrote it?  who plays on it?  what was the inspiration?  Just a groovy little tune.

[WillJC]

The credits for Diamond Head are on the record. It was a jam by the three studio musicians at Brian's encouragement, with Al Vescovo taking the lion's share of the copyright.

[guitarfool2002]

How was it determined how much writers' credit Al Vescovo received over the others? I've never heard that credits on Diamond Head were broken up into percentages giving some more than others.

The track has been discussed for years on this board, yes (do a search for it and a lot of cool discussions will come up), but the caliber of musicians on this track is something which gets underheralded in my opinion. Part of this may be due to the fact that a few names were mis-spelled in the credits and those mistakes were repeated for decades, and when people new to the history would try to look them up, the incorrect spelling would only show the credit for Diamond Head. Same with names like Jim Lockert...those errors were repeated in book after book, pressing after pressing.

Only pertinent to the track Diamond Head:

Besides being a studio bassist who appeared on a lot of Brian's productions for the Beach Boys, Lyle was also one of the best ukelele players in the world, and had recorded jazz albums with the ukelele which even he did not realize how influential they were in their own communities of uke players. His nickname was even "Ukelele Lyle", a take-off on a musician from the 20's and 30's named "Ukelele Ike". So when you hear that jazzy, very tightly played yet swinging uke on a Beach Boys record, that's Lyle Ritz, "Ukelele Lyle". And he's still considered one of the pioneers of the uke, one of the best of all time.

Al Vescovo was a steel guitar player working in LA in the 60's (and beyond). Al played lap steel guitar (aka Hawaiian guitar), pedal steel guitar, and was also a jazz guitarist on the regular 6-string standard guitar. What made him very busy in LA studios was that he could read standard notation for steel guitar (pedal and non pedal) when an arranger or composer would notate a specific part for a session. Reading standard notation on steel guitar was not a common thing, in fact the entire country world on pedal steel and lap steel prior was playing on numbers charts or chord charts with head arrangements. Many players did not sight read notation on those instruments, but Al did - Therefore he was one of the first-call players in LA.

So when Brian wanted "Hawaiian" sounding music, he contracted two of the finest players available to play that Diamond Head session.

It was a touch of generosity that Brian gave those musicians songwriting credit - That meant every time the son g got used, played, or bought, those session players received a paycheck. And that paycheck is beyond their musician's union cut from the session and future use-needledrop payments. Pretty cool.

And one participant got writing credit for banging around the springs inside a Fender reverb tank...the sound of "thunder" and crashing waves...and a sound which anyone who has played surf guitar since the 60's would recognize. I'd love to have received writing credit for kicking a Fender spring reverb.  

The session itself was not unlike what Brian had been doing in  1966 and '67, specifically sessions like the "Jazz" section of Good Vibrations where he recorded the studio musicians jamming on free jazz and be-bop ideas to create a chaotic effect, and which did not make any final edits of that song. But he revisited the same concept several times during Smile - Start with a feel or a concept in sound, and record the musicians playing their own interpretations of it. The way the "Fire" was extinguished at the end of that track came from a similar structure of recording these ideas.


And the Smile connection itself...Hawaii was a major theme of Smile, the influence of lounge and exotica was in Brian's music in 66-67, and the use of pure sound effects and discordant transitions and musical breaks was coming more from PS/Smile than anything previous. The song Diamond Head was a studio creation but who knows for how long he had the idea of doing a pastoral Hawaiian musical trip? Just because it was recorded a year later doesn't mean the roots couldn't have been in the Smile project.

And when "Brian Wilson Presents Smile" was being assembled, "Diamond Head" was on a working tracklist, along with other tracks that sounded like they *could* have been part of Smile. But of course Diamond Head did not make the final cut and was not included in the performances, although it could have fit perfectly both musically and conceptually and would have blown some minds.

[WillJC]

The copyright is broken down into Brian Wilson 20%, Al Vescovo 40%, Lyle Ritz 20% and Jim Ackley 20%. A poster on here had a correspondence with Al once, who said that he essentially made up the tune on the spot, and Brian was more into creating the sound effects (kicking the spring reverb tank, screwing around with the steel guitar through said reverb, swirling water in a washtub, banging a couple of rocks together).

Besides Vescovo and Ritz, Jim Ackley's on Rock-Si-Chord, and Brian's got the percussionist gig alternating between some congas, a bongo, and a pair of claves. Fun image to picture.

It's a cool track. Makes you wish he could've produced a whole album of these guys jamming, on the provision that they're accompanied by more of Brian's left field sound effects.

[guitarfool2002]

Here's the post I wrote when Al passed away in 2011, hard to believe it's been almost 10 years:

http://smileysmile.net/board/index.php/topic,11721.0.html

For anyone interested in Al and his contributions to BB's tracks, just search his name on this board and you'll find some interesting info and discussions. Unfortunately a lot of the original links you may find no longer work.

He was a member of the steel guitar forum, and I still regret never reaching out to him personally but am glad some of us here did while he was still posting! It may have been after he passed away that I saw messages either from Al or someone associated with him where they said it seemed most of the fan questions he'd get were about working with Brian Wilson! And I've heard that from other session players too, it's a testament to what Brian did in the 60's how many people still want to know more from those musicians. Pretty cool legacy to have. For as many musicians who did realize something special was happening when they worked a Brian session, I think many got to see it later in life when they had similar experiences with fans singling out those sessions over hundreds of others they worked.

[guitarfool2002]

Not to turn this into a "Diamond Head" discussion, but for those players and people who record who want a simulation of those Fender reverb springs being kicked and knocked around to create those thunder sounds on Diamond Head, the Danelectro company added one of the coolest features I've seen on a pedal...well, cool if you're into that kind of music and sound...with their "Spring King" reverb pedal.

If you stepped on that rubber "kick pad" on the bottom left, you'd get that crashing/rumbling sound without having to kick or whack an actual Fender reverb tank or an old Fender tube amp with reverb springs:



Whoever designed that into the pedal deserved an award of some kind. 

[hongkongcrowe]

Thank you guitarfool2002 for such an informative post - I didn't know anything about the history of this tune.  I agree, an album of Diamond Head music from Brian Wilson would have been incredible.  Thanks again.

[UK_Surf]

'hile I prefer to take Smiley Smile on its own terms, Fall Breaks is also, to my mind, the track most strongly connected to Smile (apart from H&V/GV) - the tag to Wind Chimes is also firmly in that category (moreso than the actual SS track in some ways!). Little Bird, Let the Wind Blow, and CCW, and some of the Friends-era instrumentals and outtakes also fit that group (totally respect the Way Too Long argument, though that never floated my boat quite as much as it should). A Desper engineered early-70s Smile could have been incredible. I'd love to hear any fantasy remix recreations incorporating the 'roll-your-own' treats dispensed on Feel Flows!

I'm having a lot of trouble understanding what you're suggesting here. "Fall Breaks" is clearly "connected to Smile" in the sense that it's based on "Fire," "Little Bird" has a bit of "Child" in it, "Can't Wait Too Long" has bits of "Wind Chimes," and "Cool Cool Water" has various Smile pieces in it as well.

But to my knowledge "Let the Wind Blow" and the Friends stuff (e.g. "Diamond Head") have absolutely nothing to do with Smile at all. Brian didn't even compose most of "Diamond Head", I thought?

Let the Wind Blow was, for a while, thought to be connected to the lost 'air' movement of The Elements. Diamond head was simply a groovy instrumental that was rumoured to be an element hold-over, and Unititled was unveiled on the old Smile Shop board, and there was a lot of speculation that it was also related to air/elements. So, this folds in some Smile lore in late-90s/early00s fan boards as well as actual compositional or session links.

The thought experiment went something like, 'OK, it's 1970 and the BBs have to deliver Smile to Capitol. How do they do it?'  Answer: patching together stuff they had in their vaults and record some leads over it. I recall some very fascinating discussions about that, and some great ideas for mixes.

[UK_Surf]

Not to turn this into a "Diamond Head" discussion, but for those players and people who record who want a simulation of those Fender reverb springs being kicked and knocked around to create those thunder sounds on Diamond Head, the Danelectro company added one of the coolest features I've seen on a pedal...well, cool if you're into that kind of music and sound...with their "Spring King" reverb pedal.

If you stepped on that rubber "kick pad" on the bottom left, you'd get that crashing/rumbling sound without having to kick or whack an actual Fender reverb tank or an old Fender tube amp with reverb springs:



Whoever designed that into the pedal deserved an award of some kind. 

I *love* the Dano spring king! I wish I'd never sold mine...what a brilliant piece of kit! That said, a well-aimed boot at the ol' verb tank does the same job (though not with such nuance). I like what you're saying about the Hawaii connection re: DH. I mean, I don't think anyone pressed that Smile associations too hard, but it's difficult to overlook its Smile-esque vibe and motifs on the track (sfx, laid back instrumental, slide etc).
 

[RONDEMON]

Where did you purchase the hi-res Surf's Up acapella??

[Don Malcolm]

"Diamond Head" always strikes me as one of Brian's "afterthoughts" about SMiLE as filtered through its more laid-back counterpart SMILEY SMILE. It's as if he was looking for ways to keep the spirit of that effort alive, even if it manifested itself in peripheral ways. "Can't Wait Too Long" was another one of those afterthoughts, but it seems to have become too closely aligned to the SMiLE mode of composition (having been first worked on during the WILD HONEY sessions and containing the bass lick from the SMiLE version of "Wind Chimes"), and thus seems to have turned into some kind of "pressure point" in terms of production, which probably explains why it was ultimately abandoned.

"Diamond Head" was a kind of back-door glimpse of that world, safely removed from the full-on production style, and since Brian was appropriating/channeling the track in tandem with Al Vescovo, it was a nice way to sneak some "pictorial" music (augmented by those sound effects!) back onto an LP.

Doesn't FRIENDS really seem like an attempt to have a two-sided "cover the waterfront" LP, with the more conventional tunes on the first side (with "Passing By" operating as a variant of earlier LPs with instrumentals as side closers), with the second side reserved for experiments and the first tracks by Dennis? Seems like a totally conscious decision by Brian to organize it that way...do we have a sense of how that process played out at the time?

[guitarfool2002]

Not to turn this into a "Diamond Head" discussion, but for those players and people who record who want a simulation of those Fender reverb springs being kicked and knocked around to create those thunder sounds on Diamond Head, the Danelectro company added one of the coolest features I've seen on a pedal...well, cool if you're into that kind of music and sound...with their "Spring King" reverb pedal.

If you stepped on that rubber "kick pad" on the bottom left, you'd get that crashing/rumbling sound without having to kick or whack an actual Fender reverb tank or an old Fender tube amp with reverb springs:



Whoever designed that into the pedal deserved an award of some kind. 

I *love* the Dano spring king! I wish I'd never sold mine...what a brilliant piece of kit! That said, a well-aimed boot at the ol' verb tank does the same job (though not with such nuance). I like what you're saying about the Hawaii connection re: DH. I mean, I don't think anyone pressed that Smile associations too hard, but it's difficult to overlook its Smile-esque vibe and motifs on the track (sfx, laid back instrumental, slide etc).
 

Yes, Danelectro at this time and in the years just after made some absolutely *killer* pedals and guitars! The Spring King gave people a great version of the classic reverb tanks without having to spend a fortune on an actual Fender tank, original or reissue, and you could actually put this on a pedalboard and gig with it without having to worry about damaging an expensive Fender box. A friend and fellow guitarist hipped me to Danelectro early on when he bought the Danelectro "Reel Echo" tape delay pedal almost immediately when it came out, and I was bowled over by it. Sound, quality of build, etc. A great tape delay pedal which was affordable at the time like the Spring King. Now they're selling for twice what they cost originally on the used market.

It doesn't have the "kick pad", but I have a Boss '63 Fender Reverb pedal on my pedalboard, and it's one of my absolute favorites. I rarely buy pedals new, but when I saw this one was coming out I actually placed an advance order for it so I'd get it right away in case it was a limited run, I didn't know. As soon as it arrived, I plugged it in, dialed in the 666 setting, and BOOM! That was the sound I had wanted for years. Now they no longer make it, and the used market prices are obscene, but it's on my pedalboard and is not coming off any time soon. 


I've always heard a "Smile" vibe in Diamond Head, I think it has both that pastoral quality and enough quirks of Brian's to sound like it could have been a Smile origin, as well as Brian using top-flight studio players to bring the track to life. I have to think Brian even in '68 may never have wanted to leave that system he had going in 1966 and make music strictly with the other Beach Boys involved as studio players, because the studio pros could come up with different ideas on the spot and make magic happen going solely on imagination and direction from a producer. I love Diamond Head, I do think it's a magical track that exists solely as an album cut.

[guitarfool2002]

"Diamond Head" always strikes me as one of Brian's "afterthoughts" about SMiLE as filtered through its more laid-back counterpart SMILEY SMILE. It's as if he was looking for ways to keep the spirit of that effort alive, even if it manifested itself in peripheral ways. "Can't Wait Too Long" was another one of those afterthoughts, but it seems to have become too closely aligned to the SMiLE mode of composition (having been first worked on during the WILD HONEY sessions and containing the bass lick from the SMiLE version of "Wind Chimes"), and thus seems to have turned into some kind of "pressure point" in terms of production, which probably explains why it was ultimately abandoned.

"Diamond Head" was a kind of back-door glimpse of that world, safely removed from the full-on production style, and since Brian was appropriating/channeling the track in tandem with Al Vescovo, it was a nice way to sneak some "pictorial" music (augmented by those sound effects!) back onto an LP.

Doesn't FRIENDS really seem like an attempt to have a two-sided "cover the waterfront" LP, with the more conventional tunes on the first side (with "Passing By" operating as a variant of earlier LPs with instrumentals as side closers), with the second side reserved for experiments and the first tracks by Dennis? Seems like a totally conscious decision by Brian to organize it that way...do we have a sense of how that process played out at the time?

I have to agree with your takes on this Don, even though "afterthought" may be too strong of a word to describe those types of tracks. If you listen to Brian's work from, say, September 1967 up to the Friends album, he had tracks that were clearly designated for The Beach Boys and it sounds like he also had a handful of tracks that were more for him, eventual purpose perhaps unknown until it showed itself. Can't Wait Too Long, Cool Cool Water, Time To Get Alone, Diamond Head, that solo version of Surf's Up from late '67...he wasn't recording that way randomly. It feels like perhaps if he was convinced or eventually convinced himself that the Smile music was not "appropriate" for The Beach Boys, he was perhaps trying to separate what he was still jazzed about doing with composition and recording dating back to Smile from what he needed to do for The Beach Boys, namely make hit records for them.

It's pretty fascinating to look at Brian's recordings and compositions from Fall '67 into '68 through that lens, whether or not it was really how it was playing out.

And I tie that into a track which will be on the Feel Flows set, Take A Load Off Your Feet. It's a cute tune, a bouncy novelty trip. But listen to the production, and you'll hear the more whimsical and even bizarre sonic touches from Smile and even Smiley Smile. The track always sat a little off-kilter for me because of that reason. If the Smile and Smiley Smile music was too bizarre or inappropriate for the Beach Boys, why the hell were the same sounds showing up 4 years later on a Beach Boys album on a new song? Never mind remaking and revisiting old Smile tracks and ideas on other albums before this one. If the music originally wasn't suitable for the Beach Boys to present to their fans and some in the band let that fact be known in '67, they sure got a lot of mileage out of cherry-picking those tracks and using some of the same production ideas a few years later.

[MyDrKnowsItKeepsMeCalm]

Brian and band played Diamond Head live in 2019 and it was dazzling... I really heard it as never before. So many cool little moments and textures and touches.

[Don Malcolm]

[snip]

And I tie that into a track which will be on the Feel Flows set, Take A Load Off Your Feet. It's a cute tune, a bouncy novelty trip. But listen to the production, and you'll hear the more whimsical and even bizarre sonic touches from Smile and even Smiley Smile. The track always sat a little off-kilter for me because of that reason. If the Smile and Smiley Smile music was too bizarre or inappropriate for the Beach Boys, why the hell were the same sounds showing up 4 years later on a Beach Boys album on a new song? Never mind remaking and revisiting old Smile tracks and ideas on other albums before this one. If the music originally wasn't suitable for the Beach Boys to present to their fans and some in the band let that fact be known in '67, they sure got a lot of mileage out of cherry-picking those tracks and using some of the same production ideas a few years later.

That's a big bingo, GF. My guess would be that Carl sensed that the SMiLE material had value both aesthetically and commercially, and he may have recognized that for the purposes of the group it was necessary to keep that work grounded as something the Beach Boys were doing, even though there had been a great deal of resistance to it. The mysterious memo in the fall of '67 about a ten-track SMiLE LP surfacing after SMiLEY could have been the first play in a ploy to keep that music ensconced within the group, which might have played out behind the scenes in '68 as Brian's attempt to straddle two worlds--as you put it, creating viable commercial material for the group and "growing his own brand"--became increasingly difficult to navigate.

Carl seems to have been the prime mover to get "Cabinessence" and "Our Prayer" on 20/20, and that decision may have pushed Brian further away from the music, since his "beachhead" as a separate artistic entity was being boxed in (something that began with the Redwood incident). All of which fits in with Carl/Dennis dragging Brian kicking/screaming into the effort to finish "Surf's Up" in '71, as it had been determined (and not without a large dollop of truth in it) that "milking the myth of SMiLE" was the way to overcome the nagging commercial doldrums that had not abated despite the release of SUNFLOWER.

As for "Take A Load Off Your Feet," it was one of several songs that had odd or less straightforward sound effects and offbeat interludes during the time frame. IIRC a version of it was on an early SUNFLOWER lineup, yes/no? There was certain level of acceptance for those things in the time frame--remember the "alarm clock middle-8" in "I Just Got My Pay", and the deliberate major-to-minor chord distortions in Daryl Dragon's piano part on "Don't Go Near the Water." And "Cool, Cool Water," the grand finale of SUNFLOWER, also partakes of that approach, which sealed the deal for the final track lineup for the LP with the company brass.

[UK_Surf]

Where did you purchase the hi-res Surf's Up acapella??

On Qobuz. I think HDTracks has it too....

[guitarfool2002]

[snip]

And I tie that into a track which will be on the Feel Flows set, Take A Load Off Your Feet. It's a cute tune, a bouncy novelty trip. But listen to the production, and you'll hear the more whimsical and even bizarre sonic touches from Smile and even Smiley Smile. The track always sat a little off-kilter for me because of that reason. If the Smile and Smiley Smile music was too bizarre or inappropriate for the Beach Boys, why the hell were the same sounds showing up 4 years later on a Beach Boys album on a new song? Never mind remaking and revisiting old Smile tracks and ideas on other albums before this one. If the music originally wasn't suitable for the Beach Boys to present to their fans and some in the band let that fact be known in '67, they sure got a lot of mileage out of cherry-picking those tracks and using some of the same production ideas a few years later.

That's a big bingo, GF. My guess would be that Carl sensed that the SMiLE material had value both aesthetically and commercially, and he may have recognized that for the purposes of the group it was necessary to keep that work grounded as something the Beach Boys were doing, even though there had been a great deal of resistance to it. The mysterious memo in the fall of '67 about a ten-track SMiLE LP surfacing after SMiLEY could have been the first play in a ploy to keep that music ensconced within the group, which might have played out behind the scenes in '68 as Brian's attempt to straddle two worlds--as you put it, creating viable commercial material for the group and "growing his own brand"--became increasingly difficult to navigate.

Carl seems to have been the prime mover to get "Cabinessence" and "Our Prayer" on 20/20, and that decision may have pushed Brian further away from the music, since his "beachhead" as a separate artistic entity was being boxed in (something that began with the Redwood incident). All of which fits in with Carl/Dennis dragging Brian kicking/screaming into the effort to finish "Surf's Up" in '71, as it had been determined (and not without a large dollop of truth in it) that "milking the myth of SMiLE" was the way to overcome the nagging commercial doldrums that had not abated despite the release of SUNFLOWER.

As for "Take A Load Off Your Feet," it was one of several songs that had odd or less straightforward sound effects and offbeat interludes during the time frame. IIRC a version of it was on an early SUNFLOWER lineup, yes/no? There was certain level of acceptance for those things in the time frame--remember the "alarm clock middle-8" in "I Just Got My Pay", and the deliberate major-to-minor chord distortions in Daryl Dragon's piano part on "Don't Go Near the Water." And "Cool, Cool Water," the grand finale of SUNFLOWER, also partakes of that approach, which sealed the deal for the final track lineup for the LP with the company brass.

I agree Don, there are also quotes out there extending into the 70's and beyond where the band "dangled the Smile music like a carrot" in front of record labels when they were negotiating deals, like the label could get the band but they were holding this amazing ace up their sleeve that would be unveiled for the right bidder. Sure, it's showbiz 101, but for me at least,  it all comes back to the original scene back in 1966 and 67 when it all could have come out fresh but was deemed "inappropriate". It's hard to rectify all of that especially when the band started dangling little mini carrots of Smile here and there and it seemed like a random attempt to fill space that put the music out of context and made it even less "appropriate" without that context. Great music, yes, but not as great as it could have been after they portioned it up into slices rather than sequencing something cohesive. The impact of a simply amazing track like Cabinessence got dulled considerably when they stuck it on 20/20 with absolutely no context.

And Brian pretty much revealed in his own words that there was a struggle between the kind of music he wanted to make and what the Beach Boys needed in the Don Was doc:

Relevant quotes to consider from the Don Was documentary:

Brian:
"I had a great big, a great problem with the Beach Boys. And I wanted to do my kind of music and they wanted to do their kind of music. So it was a tug of war, I felt like I was getting pulled to pieces. Like two...inner turmoil that's struggling, with the see-saw, kind of teeter totter kind of thing, you know? Where I was being pulled all around, you know? And I just about, I fell to pieces."

"When I was younger I was a real competitor, then as I got older I said is it worth the bull, the bullshit, you know, to compete like that? And I said, nah, for awhile there I said I just said hey I'm gonna coast, I'm gonna make real nice music, nothing competitive, right?"

Marilyn:
"He had a real hard time with the guys, after Pet Sounds and after Smile. Because he felt guilty that he got all the attention, and he was the one who was called the genius. And, you know, he knew, he felt that the guys really resented that, and I think they did. I think it was very hard for them to understand why is Brian Wilson singled out. But anybody with a brain would know why."

"Well he would slowly just stay in the bedroom and let the guys record in the studio, since the Beach Boys paid for the studio. And it just became more and more that he would just stay in bed, didn't want to go down, and, you know, 'let them do their thing, let them do their thing'. And it was very tough for him because he thought that they all hated him. I think it was like, 'OK you assholes, you know, you wanna...you think you can do as good as me, or whatever? Like, go ahead. So you can do it, you do it. You think it's so easy? You do it.'"

"And I don't think Brian really ever came back. I don't think he ever had the need, I mean...he was just torn down, he really was. They slowly tore him down. I hate to say it, but they did."

For all the speculation and guessing and parsing of words as to the issues surrounding 1967 and subsequent years, it's hard not to take Brian's quote above as direct and honest as it sounds. He wanted to do a certain kind of music, the Beach Boys wanted something else. And he was stuck in the middle.