If you could change Smile...

[Aegir]

Something hit me just last night maybe.. is Brian singing "Fresh clean air around my head, mornings tumble out of bed" in I'm In Great Shape? It sounds like he comes in on the eggs and grits line; I think it would be great if he sang the whole thing.. I love the original version so much better and I think I finally found out why.

[I. Spaceman]

Taylor sings Fresh Clean Air...
Scott sing Morning Tumble...

Brian sings it on the original piano demo only.

[Chris D.]

As far as a western theme of the wild west, Nah it is there in fragments sort of but not thematically

Heroes and Villains, Roll Plymouth Rock, On a Holiday, Cabinessence, Surf's Up, Old Master Painter/You Were My Sunshine...a few fragments.  A very western wild west theme.

[the captain]

Something hit me just last night maybe.. is Brian singing "Fresh clean air around my head...

Those notes are long gone for Mr. Wilson...

[Aegir]

That hasn't stopped him before!

[Jim McShane]

Taylor sings Fresh Clean Air...
Scott sing Morning Tumble...

Brian sings it on the original piano demo only.

It's no big thing, but I think its actually Jeff and Taylor doubling that "Fresh clean air" part. Watching the DVD I was surprised by the number of parts that are doubled or tripled.

[Jim McShane]

I only wish the audio release would have been (or would become) available on hi-resolution DVD-A or SACD. The vinyl is great, but I don't play it often so it'll stay in pristine shape.

Musically, I like it all! I really liked the harmonizing on the Tribute video with Vince Gill, David Crosby, Jimmy Webb and Jeff all singing the "a children's song" line at the end of Surf's Up. I'd love to have heard that with BW and band on the recording.

I like the Asher lyrics for GV - the single version with Mike's lyrics are fine too - the Asher lyrics give the Smile track a diferent feel that seems more appropriate to me.

[TV Forces]

I agree that “Time To Get Alone” and “Diamond Head” seem a little out of place on Smile, but maybe Brian didn’t intend them in the arrangements and with the lyrics we know today.

Does anyone really think if you asked Brian today, he would even remember having an instrumental called "Diamond Head"?  He didn't even remember doing "White Christmas" on the 1964 Christmas album for crying out loud.

[TV Forces]

About him saying that “Child” was before “Surfs Up” he might as well have just been referring to the finished version.

This was before there was a finished version.  Darian was playing him pieces of music he had on his laptop to help Brian sequence SMiLE.

[Day Tripper]

 I don't like Van Dyke Parks new lyrics in Blue Hawaii. Where Brian Sings, "is it hot in hell or is it me? It really is a mystery. If I die before I wake",  etc. When I first heard the original bootleg version I envisioned Brian as this Psychedelic Shaman creating this mantra. The new lyrics kind of kill that mood for me.  I don't think this section calls for lyrics although Brian may have wanted lyrics for it back in 1967. I love the lyrics to Surf's Up.  Van Dyke and Brian were smoking hash back then and were in a certain mind set then that I'm not sure that could be recreated 37 years later. Also, as much as I dislike Mike, I think his lyrics flow better on Good Vibrations than Tony Ashers do. I wonder what kind of lyrics Van Dyke could have written to Good Vibrations?

[jazzfascist]

I agree that “Time To Get Alone” and “Diamond Head” seem a little out of place on Smile, but maybe Brian didn’t intend them in the arrangements and with the lyrics we know today.

Does anyone really think if you asked Brian today, he would even remember having an instrumental called "Diamond Head"?  He didn't even remember doing "White Christmas" on the 1964 Christmas album for crying out loud.

He has a reputation for remembering the strangest things and if it was something close to his heart, I guess it would be a possibility. If you don't believe in that, why do you believe he remembers how "Smile" flowed?

Quote from: jazzfascist on January 25, 2006, 12:06:26 PM
About him saying that “Child” was before “Surfs Up” he might as well have just been referring to the finished version.

This was before there was a finished version.  Darian was playing him pieces of music he had on his laptop to help Brian sequence SMiLE.

Isn't that staged, it doesn't look like Brian's home. It also sounds like he's asking Darian "Is that before "Surf's Up"? and Darian answers something like "Yeah, it has that kind of vibe".

Søren

[JRauch]

Of course it´s staged. It was filmed in a studio, with camera and lights everywhere. Very obvious faked. I think it just should give the viewer an idea how they worked on the sequence.

[Day Tripper]

 I have a bootleg from Smile where the song Wind Chimes doesn't have a set instrumental part. there is a part where at the end of the verse where he says "Wind Chimes" there are muliple voices that repeat the words 'Wind Chimes" except its really close harmonies (Not a chord) like you would hear if you hit all the pipes on a wind chimes where all the notes are produced. I always thought that was genius - having voices simulate wind chimes. I guess it was just an experiment but I thought it sounded cool.

[JRauch]

You just reminded me on another thing I would change: the layered-piano-section in "Wind Chimes" should go on longer.

[smackdaddy]

I agree that “Time To Get Alone” and “Diamond Head” seem a little out of place on Smile, but maybe Brian didn’t intend them in the arrangements and with the lyrics we know today.

Does anyone really think if you asked Brian today, he would even remember having an instrumental called "Diamond Head"?  He didn't even remember doing "White Christmas" on the 1964 Christmas album for crying out loud.

I think there's a big difference in his likelihood of remembering a cover song done during a highly prolific period and an instrumental sound collage thought up during an inactive period, yes.

[Jason]

Change Smile?! CHANGE SMILE?!?!?!?!

BLASPHEMY!

[Aegir]

I thought Diamond Head was just a jam, anyway.. isn't that why the session musicians were given composer credits?

[jazzfascist]

I have a bootleg from Smile where the song Wind Chimes doesn't have a set instrumental part. there is a part where at the end of the verse where he says "Wind Chimes" there are muliple voices that repeat the words 'Wind Chimes" except its really close harmonies (Not a chord) like you would hear if you hit all the pipes on a wind chimes where all the notes are produced. I always thought that was genius - having voices simulate wind chimes. I guess it was just an experiment but I thought it sounded cool.

I think if you listen to the marimbas on the old version, they are also supposed to sound like windchimes in the breeze likewise the the tinkling pianos. That's an effect that's a little lost in the new version, because the marimbas are played a little more heavyhanded than on the old version. But I think that's a general trait on Smile, that he wanted the music to more concretely illustrate the stuff, that they were singing about. Just like the ideas he had of using sounds of water and like the hammers and drills on  "Workshop Song"

Søren

[jazzfascist]

I thought Diamond Head was just a jam, anyway.. isn't that why the session musicians were given composer credits?

So did I, but somebody has also said that part of it originated from the Smile era.

Søren

[Ron]

I agree that “Time To Get Alone” and “Diamond Head” seem a little out of place on Smile, but maybe Brian didn’t intend them in the arrangements and with the lyrics we know today.

Does anyone really think if you asked Brian today, he would even remember having an instrumental called "Diamond Head"?  He didn't even remember doing "White Christmas" on the 1964 Christmas album for crying out loud.

He has a reputation for remembering the strangest things and if it was something close to his heart, I guess it would be a possibility. If you don't believe in that, why do you believe he remembers how "Smile" flowed?

Yeah, he did an interview on XM radio a few weeks ago, and the interviewer asked him some obscure stuff about songs from the 60's, and Brian not only remembered the songs, he could play them on piano and sing the melodies.  And I'm not talking about big hits, it was strange stuff like early Danny Hutton songs and things I'd never heard of... and I've been listening to 60's music daily for all of my 27 years

[Reverend Joshua Sloane]

I honestly don't buy into that whole thing about him forgetting tons of songs.

[I. Spaceman]

He is a very contradictory sort. He did say to Darian "WE DID THAT?!" upon hearing Do You Like Worms. But then again, he was able to spontaneously play nearly all his Sunflower contributions on the piano during the Lost Hotel jam.

[Jason]

I think the "WE DID THAT?!" thing was a joke on the part of BW.

[I. Spaceman]

Seems pretty straightforward to me, but I can dig that.

[Jason]

Brian's no dummy. He remembers EVERYTHING. Why do you think he held such a grudge against Smile for so many years? He remembers everything, that man. He's a wizard (no, not THAT wizard!).