Brian Wilson Presents SMiLE

[Mujan, 8@$+@Rc| of a Blue Wizard]

Again, it comes down to how Brian wants it presented. This is what he is happy with and is the official set of songs & sequence that he is happy with. For him it is complete. Like Alan & Mark said when the TSS was released, you have one disc that is Brian's version and the remaining discs to "Roll Your Own".

Agreed.

Beneath the painting of the Mona Lisa lie different strokes than what we see on the finished piece - Van Gogh struggled with this painting for over 12 years. During this time, I'm sure he added colors, changed colors, made the woman frown, smile, etc. I'm sure there are layers of paint from early versions hidden underneath the final version. I'm sure his ideas changed throughout the years. I'm sure the painting was shelved for periods of time. I'm sure he forgot about certain things he wanted to add to the painting in those 12 years. Point is, the final version he presented is the definitive version.

Brian is the visionary, creator of the Smile material. The artist himself released Smile to the world in 2004. Who are we to say it isn't "definitive"?

Not to be that guy, but Da Vinci painted that, not Van Gogh. You guys do make fair points tho. I think there are valid reasons to call BWPS definitive and valid reasons to question it. I choose to do the latter, I've stated my reasons for it in other threads, but I won't go in-depth and post them again here only because I don't feel like repeating myself and I don't think this is the proper place to do it.

In any case, I had a lot of fun "rolling my own" I love the boxset, and I can appreciate that Mark and Alan put a lot of work into it. But even disregarding the sequence, I thought the final "mixes" they went with for certain songs were pretty strange. Why the "woo-woos" in Worms? In BWPS they transitioned to the next song. In TSS it's an unnecessary addition we already heard from H&V. Why disregard Brian's test edit for Child to make a far inferior version? Why the distracting fly-ins on Look, Holidays and Dada? Maybe instead of a reconstruction, just another disc of sessions wouldve been better? There *was* a good chunk of material they left out, after all...

Thanks for the correction, definite brain fart

As for your thoughts on the definitive nature of BWPS, I respect your opinion on it. I think we all have points that can be taken into consideration.

As for TSS - My only true complaint about the box is the hour and 20 minutes of GV sessions....especially when the CIFOTM acetate edit got left off. I don't care much for the fly-ins, but I don't really listen to the first disc that much anyway.

I don't either. I heard it once, was bitterly disappointed by the direction they went with it, and sought to make a "better" (at least, as far as I'm concerned) version for myself and anyone else with similar misgivings about Disc 1.

I also agree Disc 5 was kinda lame. H&V deserved an entire disc because of all the sections and different versions and edits. GV did not. Listening to that disc was a complete waste of time, imo. Just the same couple riffs over and over again, with little variation. With Me Tonight, the fast version, many pieces of the other tracks, the majority of Psychedelic Sounds, the other two Jasper Dailey tracks, Smiley reworkings of the SMiLE tracks, Brian's test edits, and any surviving vocal sessions wouldve been far worthier inclusions. After say, 5 or 6 "best of GV sessions" tracks, we get the idea.

[Rocket]

Just downloaded this album to my phone.

I'm used to TSS, but so far really digging this, it feels like a complete Smile to me. The added orchestration is great. Yes, at times I do miss the signature Beach Boys blend, but I'll survive.

[KDS]

A historic album in that Brian finally completed Smile. 

However, I think with Smile the myth is greater than the reality. 

When it's good, it's really good.  (The suite of Wonderful / Song for Children / Child is the Father of the Man / Surf's Up is amazing). But there are some lulls (I'm sorry folks, I will never understand why Vegetables is so well liked).

Granted, it didn't come out for another seven years, but I prefer The Beach Boys Smile Sessions to the BW version.  No offense to Brian's band, it those BB harmonies can't be beat. 

I rated this one a high three. 

[kwebb]

The album ain't Smile, but to me the sequence most certainly is. I'm a bit of a newbie and I was first exposed to Smile (knowing absolutely nothing about it beforehand) through the 3971 edit - a superb stereo fanmix a friend had made that seamlessly merges the 60s material with the '04 - and this was before I'd listened to Pet Sounds or heard any Beach Boys beyond the classic surf stuff and GV. It absolutely blew my mind, so naturally the sequencing stuck.
I miss the days when I knew nothing about this wonderful album - kinda wish I'd just left it there. I've read the story so many times and heard so many different mixes now that Smile has sort of lost its mystique... Cry

For me, the idea that Smile can be mixed and edited in so many different ways adds to the mystique of it. I've been working on my own edit, and every time I think I'm done, I hear some new combination of H&V sections I didn't think of before, or I get the idea to move different tracks around. The idea that it can never be completely finished with the existing pieces adds to its greatness, in my opinion.

Also, the 3971 edit is pretty great.

[Lonely Summer]

>>Among those, the speaking part you mention, done by Nick Walusko of Wondermints, another guy who (like Taylor) has been with Brian since he began touring again.

So maybe the album would have been more accurately titled "Darian and The Wondermints Present a Tribute to Smile with Guest Vocalist Brian Wilson"?