Your personal SMiLE mix

[Jay]

I have a feeling that whatever unheard SMiLE tapes that may exist would probably be owned by some random person who just happened to be around Brian long enough to get an acetate or two. Danny Hutton, for example. Whoever still may own SMiLE tapes probably has forgotten that he or she ever owned them. I would imagine that there are tapes laying around somebody's garage or closet, not being thought of in 40 or more years.

[B-Rex]

Thanks to TheLazenby and BJL for clearing up some issues.  The funny thing is, I should have a couple of the items.  Perhaps they aren't named correctly on the downloads I have, er the downloads which I could be in possession of if I were such an unscrupulous character.

[Wrightfan]

OK, I've gone back and forth a lot but thanks to some of the members here, this is what I've come up with today:

Side 1:
1. Our Prayer
2. Heroes and Villains
3. The Old Master Painter/You are my Sunshine
4. Do you Like Worms?
5. Vega-Tables (I figured it would go well before Cabinessence. You get the old timey feel in Cabinessence. This is a "harvesting of the produce" song  )
6. Cabinessence

Total time: 14:30

Side 2:
1. Good Vibrations
2. Wonderful
3. Child is Father of the Man (The first 3 here are due to the conversations we in the "pregnant" thread. I think it makes a lot of sense without it being a "themed cycle.")
4. Wind Chimes (I mentioned how my CIFOTM mix ends with the chime. This is sorta the "dream sequence.)
5. The Elements (This is the "nightmare." Fire starts it and the water part while soothing with the "Dada" part ends with the chant which gives a drowning effect. I decided not to do air because Brian never completed it and I'm not convinced he completed earth either.)
6. Surf's Up (I think this song is a summary of the events of side 2. The lyrics are abstract but not as much as you may think. Diamond necklace recalls the jewelry mentioned in Wonderful for example.)

Total time: 18:30

Complete time for LP: 33 minutes, perfect for a 1967 LP.

[TheLazenby]

"Vegetables" WAS the Earth section.  Look at the booklet that was supposed to accompany the album... Vegetable is identified as the 'earth' section of The Elements.  How so many people miss this, I dunno.

[Wrightfan]

"Vegetables" WAS the Earth section.  Look at the booklet that was supposed to accompany the album... Vegetable is identified as the 'earth' section of The Elements.  How so many people miss this, I dunno.

Are you talking about the image where there's a cracked house with "Vega, Vega, Vega" near it?

Because if that's the case I guess Wind Chimes is in the elements too (since there's a window there.) In addition, Vega-Tables is a separate track on the temporary back cover that was drawn up. I think it MAY have been in the Elements at one point but Brian changed his mind (as he did with other things.)

[TheLazenby]

The version of the book I saw had a caption saying something like "Vega-Tables - The Elements" under it.

Anyways... I've always liked Ryan Guidry's version of the album; I've actually seen his tracklist around the 'net as the supposed 'real' 1967 line-up.  It's not really cohesive, but it does gather everything together in a presentable fashion:

SIDE ONE: Americana
01) Our Prayer
02) Heroes and Villains Part 1
03) Gee / Heroes and Villains Part 2
04) Barnyard
05) Do You Like Worms
06) The Old Master Painter / You Are My Sunshine
07) He Gives Speeches  [speed corrected]
08) Wonderful
09) Child Is Father Of The Man
10) Cabinessence
11) Bicycle Rider  [the instrumental H&V interlude]

SIDE TWO: Elemental
01) Good Vibrations  [Smiley Smile version]
02) Look
03) Vegetables
04) Holidays
05) Wind Chimes
06) Mrs. O'Leary's Cow
07) I Wanna Be Around / Friday Night
08) I Love To Say Da Da
09) Surf's Up

(And if you're wondering, those "sides" are *just* a bit too long to comprise a vinyl LP, coming in around 24 minutes each.)

[B-Rex]

Vegetables as earth never worked for me.  The elements were apparently supposed to be instrumental in nature.  Vegetables may have been the initial earth element  but Brian apparently decided to make non lyrical representations of the elements.  Singing about fire couldn't possibly approach the intensity of the actual fire element.  Vegatables did show up in Holmes' artwork as an element due to time constraints from the label but he had a different earth element which morphed into Fall Breaks.  Wind Chimes is also not an element as he had a piano piece which served as such but was never apparently finished and not present on tape.  Dada, which never really fit the bill as an element, has been stated under good authority to be the water element, doesn't really fit the bill either.  The water chant, aka Dada part 1, was the start of the element but was not finished during the smile sessions, and subsequently evolved into Cool, Cool Water, which is certainly not a true elemental track.  Brian had something else in mind.  The best possible candidate is Diamond Head, but that suffers as an element from having several different composers and not being recorded until 1968. 

Nothing is as it seems in the scheme of SMiLE.

[Wrightfan]

The version of the book I saw had a caption saying something like "Vega-Tables - The Elements" under it.

Ah, I know what you're referring to. That's weird since the back does have Vega-Tables as a separate track.

SMiLE once again is fucking with us 

[TheLazenby]

I'm perfectly content accepting "Vega-Tables" as Earth, "Wind Chimes" as Air, "Mrs. O'Leary's Cow" as Fire (duh), and "I Love To Say Da Da" as Water.

That just leaves "Holidays", which doesn't seem to fit the theme (kinda Water?), but it does work in that line up....  I dunno, I think Brian's 2004 vision of 'The Elements' works fine.

[Sheriff John Stone]

With all the recent threads and talk about SMiLE lead songs, movements, "Heroes And Villains" sections, song lists, etc. - has anybody made any changes and would anybody like to share their latest mix?

[Jay]

What is it with you and SMiLE mixes?   

[Sheriff John Stone]

What is it with you and SMiLE mixes?   

It's an obsession. When Brian scrapped SMiLE, it's spirit entered my soul and it's trying to get out. ah wah wah ho wah

[Mahalo]

Vegetables as earth never worked for me.  The elements were apparently supposed to be instrumental in nature.  Vegetables may have been the initial earth element  but Brian apparently decided to make non lyrical representations of the elements.  Singing about fire couldn't possibly approach the intensity of the actual fire element.  Vegatables did show up in Holmes' artwork as an element due to time constraints from the label but he had a different earth element which morphed into Fall Breaks.  Wind Chimes is also not an element as he had a piano piece which served as such but was never apparently finished and not present on tape.  Dada, which never really fit the bill as an element, has been stated under good authority to be the water element, doesn't really fit the bill either.  The water chant, aka Dada part 1, was the start of the element but was not finished during the smile sessions, and subsequently evolved into Cool, Cool Water, which is certainly not a true elemental track.  Brian had something else in mind.  The best possible candidate is Diamond Head, but that suffers as an element from having several different composers and not being recorded until 1968. 

Nothing is as it seems in the scheme of SMiLE.

FINALLY SOMEONE AGREES WITH ME ABOUT FALL BREAKS!!!

[Reverend Rock]

What a fun thread!  I haven't been to this site in ages, and wondered if I could even still log in.  Fortunately, I found that I can.  

I have a couple of fan mixes I've done.  They're not anything that out of the ordinary.

The mixes I've seen listed make me think I might like to do some more monkeying around with the collection of SMiLE sessions I have and see what I can come up with.

I'll post one of my two fan mixes quickly for you.  It contains the most fully realized stuff I could find (lots of it from either Mok's SMiLE or Fast Eddie's 2004 Reconstruction).  There's also a few things I edited together myself (using soundforge software).  

I call it "REVEREND ROCK'S ULTIMATE SMILE"
 
PART ONE (fairly polished stuff)
1.  Our Prayer (from Mok)
2.  Heroes and Villians Complete (my own creation, using sections from the remixed stereo version of the single and Odeon SMiLE--over ten minutes)
3.  Do You Like Worms (from Mok)
4.  The Old Master Painter/You Are My Sunshine
5.  He Gives Speeches
6.  Wonderful (Good Vibrations box set version)
7.  Child Is Father Of The Man (my own specialized edit using about three diffferent sessions)
8.  Good Vibrations (from Mok--with an edit of the hum-de-hum section from Fast Eddie)

PART TWO (rougher sessions)
9.  Barnyard (from Fast Eddie)
10.  I'm In Great Shape (from Fast Eddie)
11.  George Fell Into His French Horn (excerpts edited from Vigotone)
12.  With Me Tonight (from Odeon)

PART THREE (An Attempt at "Elements")
13.  Vege-Tables (from ragmajesty--oh this is a nice one, with some of the "Vegetables Arguments" mixed into the track)
14.  Look (from Mok, I think)
15.  Holidays (an edit of two different takes I have in my collection--can't recall sources)
16.  Whispering Winds (from Smiley Smile--I brought up the volume considerably)
17.  Windchimes (from ragmajesty)
18.  "Elements Suite" (Spanish Guitar Theme/Water Chant/Bag Of Tricks/Heroes And Villains Intro/Mrs. O'Leary's Cow--edited from various sources)
19.   I Wanna Be Around/Workshop
20.   I Love To Say Dada

PART FOUR (The Great SMiLE Classics)
21.  Cabinessence
22.  Surf's Up (my own edit using Mok and the 1971 single--for the coda--as sources)

PART FIVE (Scraps from the Cutting Room Floor)
23.  You're Welcome
24.  Vege-Tables Edit (from Mok)
25.  Wonderful (combining "Wonderful Insert" with "Rock With Me Henry")
26.  Can't Wait Too Long (from Odeon)
  

[Sheriff John Stone]

What a fun thread!  I haven't been to this site in ages, and wondered if I could even still log in.  Fortunately, I found that I can.  

I have a couple of fan mixes I've done.  They're not anything that out of the ordinary.

The mixes I've seen listed make me think I might like to do some more monkeying around with the collection of SMiLE sessions I have and see what I can come up with.

I'll post one of my two fan mixes quickly for you.  It contains the most fully realized stuff I could find (lots of it from either Mok's SMiLE or Fast Eddie's 2004 Reconstruction).  There's also a few things I edited together myself (using soundforge software).  

I call it "REVEREND ROCK'S ULTIMATE SMILE"
 
PART ONE (fairly polished stuff)
1.  Our Prayer (from Mok)
2.  Heroes and Villians Complete (my own creation, using sections from the remixed stereo version of the single and Odeon SMiLE--over ten minutes)
3.  Do You Like Worms (from Mok)
4.  The Old Master Painter/You Are My Sunshine
5.  He Gives Speeches
6.  Wonderful (Good Vibrations box set version)
7.  Child Is Father Of The Man (my own specialized edit using about three diffferent sessions)
8.  Good Vibrations (from Mok--with an edit of the hum-de-hum section from Fast Eddie)

PART TWO (rougher sessions)
9.  Barnyard (from Fast Eddie)
10.  I'm In Great Shape (from Fast Eddie)
11.  George Fell Into His French Horn (excerpts edited from Vigotone)
12.  With Me Tonight (from Odeon)

PART THREE (An Attempt at "Elements")
13.  Vege-Tables (from ragmajesty--oh this is a nice one, with some of the "Vegetables Arguments" mixed into the track)
14.  Look (from Mok, I think)
15.  Holidays (an edit of two different takes I have in my collection--can't recall sources)
16.  Whispering Winds (from Smiley Smile--I brought up the volume considerably)
17.  Windchimes (from ragmajesty)
18.  "Elements Suite" (Spanish Guitar Theme/Water Chant/Bag Of Tricks/Heroes And Villains Intro/Mrs. O'Leary's Cow--edited from various sources)
19.   I Wanna Be Around/Workshop
20.   I Love To Say Dada

PART FOUR (The Great SMiLE Classics)
21.  Cabinessence
22.  Surf's Up (my own edit using Mok and the 1971 single--for the coda--as sources)

PART FIVE (Scraps from the Cutting Room Floor)
23.  You're Welcome
24.  Vege-Tables Edit (from Mok)
25.  Wonderful (combining "Wonderful Insert" with "Rock With Me Henry")
26.  Can't Wait Too Long (from Odeon)
  

Cool mix. I look forward to seing your other one, too.
 

[Reverend Rock]

Over the past weekend, I tried to come up with an "LP length" SMiLE mix, and it was frustrating.  I have a theory that's a big part of the reason Brian couldn't finish it in the 60s.  There was too much great stuff for one album.  Capitol was not about to swing for a double album, and I really don't think the idea of expanding it ever occured to Brian.  The CD age is perfect for a work like SMiLE.  What exists in the 2004 completion is something close to three LP sides of fabulous music.  I'm a huge fan of BWPS, and I feel it is quite definitive.

All the same, I love the 60s sessions, and I still listen to them as much as I ever did (along with the BWPS CD, DVD, and the 2/24/04 London boot--I love it all, really).  But to try to boil this all down to a listenable half-hour of music is--at least so far--just beyond me.  I have to give up too much that I love.

So my other SMiLE CD mix is a pretty full CD like the one I just posted.  But the difference is, I went for the most un-doctored SMiLE tracks I could find.  I also include several tracks from post-SMiLE-era BB albums that contain SMiLE material.  Also, I have kept the contents of this CD in the running order of BWPS, with a number of tracks that did not become part of BWPS also included where I think they work best.

So here's the playlist.  I simply call it "REVEREND ROCK'S SMiLE"

1.  Our Prayer (Good Vibrations Box Set)
2.  Heroes and Villains (cantina version--Good Vibrations Box Set)
3.  Heroes and Villains Sections (same source--I cut off "False Barnyard" and faded it, because I've already heard it anyway on the previous track.)
4.  Do You Like Worms (Good Vibrations Box Set--I edited the ending so that it ends with the little trilling keyboard bit, like on BWPS)
5.  Barnyard (Brian's piano demo from Odeon followed by the well-known track with animal sounds, from a Japanese boot I don't know much about)
6.  The Old Master Painter/You Are My Sunshine (mp3 download collection)
7.  Cabinessense (Odeon)
8.  He Gives Speeches (same Japanese SMiLE boot as "Barnyard")
9.  Wonderful (Good Vibrations Box Set)
10.  Look (same Japanese source as "Barnyard")
11.  Child Is Father Of The Man (same source as above)
12.  Child Is Father Of The Man (mp3 download collection--these are two very different sessions)
13.  Surf's Up (Odeon)
14.  I'm In Great Shape (Brian's piano demo from Odeon followed by the very rare piano/saxophone version from one of my boots)
15.  I Wanna Be Around/Workshop (Odeon)
16.  Vege-Tables (Good Vibrations Box Set)
17.  Holidays (Mok's SMiLE)
18.  Windchimes (Mok's SMiLE--used this version because I like the touch of reverb that softens the abrupt tape edit before the big finish--my one concession to something more than "rough originals" in this collection)
19.  Spanish Guitar Theme (mp3 download collection)
20.  Bag of Tricks/Mrs. O'Leary's Cow (Mok's SMiLE)
21.  Water Chant (same Japanese source as above)
22.  I Love To Say Da Da (Good Vibrations Box Set)
23.  Good Vibrations (I call this "Reverend Rock's Extended Version"--it combines the original single mix with some of my favorite sessions material from the Good Vibrations Box Set, along with the faster "hum-de-dum" section from one of my boots, and clocks in at a little over 7 minutes)

"BONUS TRACKS" (The post-SMiLE Hangover Sessions)

24.  Heroes and Villains (stereo remix of single version from Beach Boys Classics album)
25.  Mama Says (from Wild Honey album)
26.  Little Bird (from Friends album--there are snippets of "Child Is The Father Of The Man" on the backing track towards the end)
27.  Cool, Cool Water (from Sunflower album)
28.  Surf's Up (from Surf's Up album)

[Reverend Rock]

OK SMiLE mixers...I'm back to report on my latest project.

I decided, after reading in another thread about some master-tape discoveries, that I would finally attempt an LP length SMiLE fan mix.  I established a few criteria to begin with, and after thinking about it a few days, these were the parameters I set for myself.

1.  "Heroes And Villains" must include "I'm In Great Shape", "Barnyard", "The Old Master Painter", and "You Are My Sunshine".

2.  "Good Vibrations" must be a part of the playlist (as I'm sure Capitol Records would have absolutely demanded of any finished '67 version of SMiLE).

3.  The playlist must include every title listed on the back of the SMiLE sleeves that were printed up in '67.

4.  While some tracks would certainly include "modular" segues connecting sections (and some of those tracks would most likely be "medleys" of two or more titles), nevertheless each actual track must be set apart to itself with a band of silence, in keeping with both Van Dyke Parks' and Brian Wilson's known recollections of how the album was planned in '66-'67.  

5.  Most importantly, it all must "flow" well as an album, and clock in at under 40 minutes, with each side coming in at no more than 20 minutes max (all of these timings would be acceptible--if just a little on the  long side--in 1967).

So, here's what I came up with.  I call it:

REVEREND ROCK'S LP-LENGTH VERSION OF "SMiLE '67"

"Side One"

1.  Prayer (or "Intro")

2.  Heroes And Villains (Feb. 67 mix)/I'm In Great Shape/Barnyard/The Old Master Painter/You Are My Sunshine
(with "Heroes And Villains Intro" at the beginning as well as a "reprise" of H&V utilizing the slow vocal tag and "False Barnyard"--included but not listed)

3. Do You Like Worms

4. Cabinessence
(These opening four selections more-or-less constitute an "Americana" suite, if one wants to hear it that way.)

5. He Gives Speeches/Wonderful
(I've always heard these as companion pieces.  "Wonderful" is the Good Vibrations box set version, with a faded ending.  Did a pitch correction on "Speeches" so that the two songs are now in the same key--the melodic/thematic/lyrical connections between these two pieces are astounding.)

"Side Two"

1.  Good Vibrations
(The single--no tricks)

2. Vege-Tables/Child Is Father Of The Man
(I base this "medley" on the fact that takes of both "Vege-Tables" and "Child..." included the "bop bop bop bop, du-du du du-du du" section, so it's conceivable that Brian envisioned them as two parts of the same piece at some point, and I happen to like them together quite a bit.)

3. Windchimes (Air)
(A version from the 60s sessions that includes the instrumental part made famous in BWPS--courtesy of "ragmajesty's SMiLE" fan mix.)

4. The Elements (Water/Earth/Fire)
["Windchimes" has already been snuck into the proceedings to take care of "Air".  The remaining elements are represented as follows:  Water by "Water Chant" (with water sounds added), Earth by "Bag of Tricks" (with farm animal sounds added), and Fire by "Mrs. O'Leary's Cow" (with the sound of crackling flames added)--all of the sound effects courtesy of "ragmajesty's SMiLE" fan mix, yet again.]

5. Surf's Up
(A special version I've concocted using a couple of boot sources and the "Child..." coda from the '71 recording)

It all clocks in at around 38 minutes, and each "side" is of an acceptible length as well.  All in all, it totally passes my test for an enjoyable listening experience that I think would have certainly blown some minds had it been released in '67.

Regrets?  Plenty!  No "Look".  No "Holidays".  No "Da Da".  Not enough "Heroes And Villains Sessions"...but lots of stuff would have to have been sacrificed to make a SMiLE album that could have been released in '67, so I took a true "no mercy" approach.  In spite of everything, this came out really nice, I think.

SOME NOTES ON TRACKING

I thought very much about a satisfying tracking order, because that to me is the most consistant weakness in the SMiLE mixes I've heard.  I felt like there is enough historical evidence that a true "Americana Suite" was planned, so I tried to come up with that to take up most of "Side One".  It made sense to me to follow SMiLE 2004's pattern by breaking up the "Americana Suite" to introduce the "sexual/life-cycle" theme with "He Gives Speeches/Wonderful".  Ending "Side One" with a tender ballad was something I thought would be really nice as well.  "Good Vibrations" kicking off "Side Two" is something there is very strong historical precedent for (since that's exactly what happens on Smiley Smile), and it also continues the "sexual/life-cycle" theme.

While many would question putting "Vege-Tables" into the middle of all this "sexual/life-cycle" stuff, I still contend that it was something Brian must have strongly considered doing, based on the aforementioned "bop bop" link that might have connected "Vege-Tables" to "Child Is Father Of The Man".  Since food is essential to life, there is also a clear lyrical/thematic connection that can be drawn.

Ending "The Elements" with Fire is something that not everyone would agree with, but to me it is just so very effective to have the Fire music be the last thing one hears before a song which features the phrase "collumnated ruins domino"!

I have always believed that any 1967 release of SMiLE would have ended with "Surf's Up".  It's just too much of a show-stopper to work anywhere else, in my opinion.  The thing that was hardest for me to accept about SMiLE 2004 was having "Surf's Up" in the middle--but I'm fine with it at this point.  

[The Song Of The Grange]

Reverend Rock, I dig your scientific approach. You have come to some similar conclusions as I have. I am always on the fence about whether to include Look and Holidays in the mix because of lack of evidence for their inclusion. (Look did have a vocal session, so I really am on the fence on that one). I think you were right to keep Da Da off the mix, since it is pretty removed from the original Smile concept. I have moved away from the 3 movement concept. I have come to believe that all the songs belong to the same cloth. Surf's Up is the corner stone of all of it, since it links in with the childhood theme while also drawing the Americana theme to a conclusion, and arguably links with the Elements theme as well. The middle movement of the 2004 Smile bothers me, because Surf's Up is so much more than just a song linked with Wonderful. So I have been spreading the three "movement/concepts" over the whole 2 sided LP. I've shaved it down to about an hour, but it could easily be cut back more to fit on a 1967 era LP. I can't help sharing my own most recent version.

Side 1:
1. Prayer/You're Welcome (I fade up You're Welcome after Prayer ends. I put some of the crazy tape echo laughter from the Smile skits over the top of You're Welcome)

2. Heroes & Villains (This is always in flux, especially with all the new info on the board. My current one is 7:51 and works both the cantina version and the 45 single version into the song. I don't know if I will ever settle on a mix of H&V,)

3. Wonderful (enter the childhood theme. I use the Smiley Smile version as a guide for editing the box set version, splicing in the H&V/Bicycle Rider theme after the 2nd verse, then ending with a bit of the "Rock With Me Henry" version. I see Wonderful as being about childhood, lost innocence and a metaphor for America at the same time--looking forward towards Surf's Up)

4. Do You Like Worms (Bicycle Rider theme is back, as is the history theme)

5. I'm In Great Shape/Barnyard/Old Master Painter (These three go together really well. I'm In Great Shape has the sax part and You Are My Sunshine ends with the sax part. Also, the Sunshine sax part fits perfectly over the top of some of the outtakes for False Barnyard theme, which sounds a lot like Barnyard.  So they all blend well. As an added bonus, I took the snippet of Mike singing Old Master Painter in between takes on a Pet Sounds session and blended it in over the Old Master Painter music at the right moment--works really well)

6. Vega-Tables (This ends side one.  My version is 10 minutes and I really took liberties since there is so much material to work with. I start with the Cornucopia version, blend it into the box set version with some extra laughter over the top, and into some of the Vegie chants.  I also put a little Child is Father of the Man in there, because there seems to be a bit of evidence that the piano/vox version of Child was in Vegetables for a moment.

Side 2:
1. Good Vibrations (Always seems like a good side 2 starter, and there is a good chance it would have been. At the end of GV I fade up a little of Look, which seems to be the cousin of GV and was recorded at the same time)

2. Child Is Father Of The Man (I use the structure of the 2004 Smile as a guide, and I use the 2004 verses to make it more of a listenable song and not a fragment)

3. Cabin Essence (Americana theme returns. One of the big moments of Smile. It stands alone)

4. Wind Chimes (I have Wind Chimes leading into the Elements but not a part of it. I have begun to think that the key to understanding the Elements is the Fire recordings and "I Wanna Be Around/Friday Night" which apparently was meant to follow fire. I think the Elements would have been a stand alone instrumental piece.)

5. The Elements (Right now it is 10 minutes. I open with Fire because the tape sessions call it "The Elements part 1". I don't use the "fire intro" because I think evidence shows that this was recorded for H&V and was recorded after Fire was scrapped. Including the intro on the front of Fire seems to be a David Leaf invention. But I do use the chimes version of the intro, so I am kind of having it both ways. After Mrs. O'Leary's Cow I go into I Wanna Be Around/Friday Night, which is the rebuilding after the fire. Then I go into the earth section, which I have grafted about of the "row, row, row" backing track to the Vegetables version of Do A Lot, then I throw in some Fall Breaks with the Swedish Frog chant over the top, then bird noises, and into the "bird" version of Da Da ((yes I know I said Da Da wasn't part of Smile, but the Elements has lots of gaps and unknowns)). Then I throw in some wind chimes to echo back to the song wind chimes, and then I have lots of recordings of wind, which I have laid over the spooky moaning horn experiments on the George Fell into His French Horn recordings, after this I go into water, which is made out of the end section section of Holidays with lots of water sounds laid on top--which is what Brian may have been planning when he had all those water recordings made. I use the Smile era water recordings of the hose with echo that is on that one boot, along with a bunch of other water noises put through the tape delay effect.

6. Surf's Up (This ends it all by tying it all back together--the wave of the water from the end of The Elements leads into the song, and then the lyrics tie together all the threads of the album very well. I end, as Vosse suggested in 1969, with a snippet from Prayer to close things out.)

[OneEar/OneEye]

I did a mix a while back with the challenge (self imposed) that I had to stick to the infamous list given to Capitol and that I could shuffle within sides (i.e first 6 songs, second 6 songs), but could not take a track from one grouping of 6 and put it in the other (and vice versa).   It came out pretty workable from my point of view, though surely blasphemous to some I would suppose.  

Surf's Up (man at the opera, etc.)
Do You Like Worms (the "trip" begins)
Heroes And Villains
Cabin Essence
Wind Chimes
Good Vibrations

Wonderful
I'm In Great Shape
Vega-Tables
The Elements
The Old Master Painter
Child Is Father Of The Man (the "trip" resolves with this meditation)

[Reverend Rock]

To Song of the Grange--

I like a lot of your ideas as well, such as putting "I Wanna Be Around/Workshop" at the end of "Elements" and closing with a reprise of "Prayer".  I'm tempted to try them, but really, I think I'm through "smiling around" for awhile at this point.  I am finding this LP-length mix I've done a total joy to listen to, actually.

I think it's interesting that people have tracking problems with SMiLE 2004.  In my readings of SMiLE lore over the years, the one thing that seems to be consistant is that Brian could never settle on the song order because the material presented so many possibilities that were equally appealing.  Having produced a number of custom albums myself over the years, I know exactly how that can be.

For myself, over the years, I had decided (as if my opinion mattered) that certain SMiLE tracks were indispensible, and found it very frustrating that those tracks simply couldn't fit together on a conventional mid 60s LP format.   When I read that Brian had completed a performing version of SMiLE (no one knew for sure that there'd be a recording just yet), I was very apprehensive about the track order.  But once I learned how it was done, I was delighted.  Everything I considered indispensible was there, with only the exception of "He Gives Speeches" (which, since it exists on Smiley Smile as "She's Goin' Bald", really didn't bother me with its absence).  

Since Brian never was able to resolve the tracking delimma in the 60s, I've always felt that we can accept the 2004 tracking order as definitive.  For me, this is doubly true seeing that Van Dyke Parks and Brian Wilson both "own" that tracking order.   You really can't get more authoritative than that, in my opinion.  

So my search for a passable "SMiLE '67" is not born out of any sense of disappointment with SMiLE 2004.  I am just about as happy as I could be with it.  I love it immensely.

By the way, I've revised my above notes a good bit, and you might find some of my additional commentary interesting.

[armona]

5. The Elements (Right now it is 10 minutes. I open with Fire because the tape sessions call it "The Elements part 1". I don't use the "fire intro" because I think evidence shows that this was recorded for H&V and was recorded after Fire was scrapped. Including the intro on the front of Fire seems to be a David Leaf invention. But I do use the chimes version of the intro, so I am kind of having it both ways. After Mrs. O'Leary's Cow I go into I Wanna Be Around/Friday Night, which is the rebuilding after the fire. Then I go into the earth section, which I have grafted about of the "row, row, row" backing track to the Vegetables version of Do A Lot, then I throw in some Fall Breaks with the Swedish Frog chant over the top, then bird noises, and into the "bird" version of Da Da ((yes I know I said Da Da wasn't part of Smile, but the Elements has lots of gaps and unknowns)). Then I throw in some wind chimes to echo back to the song wind chimes, and then I have lots of recordings of wind, which I have laid over the spooky moaning horn experiments on the George Fell into His French Horn recordings, after this I go into water, which is made out of the end section section of Holidays with lots of water sounds laid on top--which is what Brian may have been planning when he had all those water recordings made. I use the Smile era water recordings of the hose with echo that is on that one boot, along with a bunch of other water noises put through the tape delay effect.

I like your fun version of the elements! Although I've pretty much left "fire" and the 'water chant" as is, just for fun, I've liked following those with the "earthy" Swedish frog vocals on top of "vegetables fade", which kind of has the same drone as the water chant, then ending with the whispering winds tag for the air section.

[Camus]

My Smile mix goes like this:


SIDE ONE:

Your Welcome
Heroes and Villains Part One
Do You Like Worms?
Surf's Up
I'm In Great Shape/Barnyard/Old Master Painter/You Are My Sunshine
With Me Tonight/Do A Lot
Heroes and Villains Part Two
Wonderful
Look
Cabin Essence
Holidays


SIDE TWO:

Our Prayer
Good Vibrations
The Elements Part One (Fire)
The Elements Part Two (Earth)
The Elements Part Three (Wind)
The Elements Part Four (Water)
Diamond Head
He Gives Speeches
Child is Father of the Man
Love To Say Da Da
Can't Wait Too Long


I know that Diamond Head is not part of Smile, but it fits so well and wasn't Smile supposed to be partly a journey from Plymouth Rock to Diamond Head?  I've never been sure about Can't Wait Too Long, but again, it fits very well.  I'm not really going for purity here, what I can gather is that Smile was and is fluid.

H&V part one is the alternative version from the Wild Honey twofer (the Cantina version).  H&V part two is my own mix using the oh gee, a few of the heroes and villains sections (the acapella one and one of the more upbeat ones) along with the bicycle rider theme (the instrumental version, not the section from Do You Like Worms) and H&V chorus, ending the same was as the 2004 H&V, though at the end of prelude to fade is the solo trombone H&V riff.  Surf's Up uses the purple chick mix as the basis, though I added Carl's harmony line for 'canvas the town and brush the backdrop' from the album version (there's a vocal only mix doing the rounds) and the full harmonies for the domino part of columnated ruins.  I'm in Great Shape, I synched the piano demo to the Smile backing track, same with Barnyard.  With me Tonight/Do A Lot use the Smile recordings of these songs, and Do A Lot is taken from the Heroes and Villains sessions, not the one recorded for Vegetables.  I also use an early take of the Fire intro (similar to Bag of tricks) in this section.  The elements is pretty much straight, though I do use the Vegetables radio promo (You can't have these vegetables, I spent a lot of time on the weekend growing these) to start the earth section.  Child is Father of the Man uses several takes edited together.

It's very hard to describe the various sections, the main point to this mix was to try and create a narrative to flow through the entire piece, the most obvious one being the idea of a bicycle rider going from Plymouth Rock to Diamond Head.  Each song or section is part of the journey, which is why Surf's Up is soon in the mix.  I've always felt Surf's Up was about an old decadent East Coast city, which seemed the perfect starting place for the journey.  Also, I spent a lot of time checking tempos and keys of the various sections, looking for clues as to how they fit together.  Our Prayer for example has never seemed like it was supposed to be followed by H&V, whereas Your Welcome is in exactly the same key.  Our Prayer seems to work the best in front of Good Vibrations (being major/minor of the same key).  Nearly all sections run into each other or cross fade between, giving each 'side' a seamless run.

Of course, I feel bound to say this is all hypothetical and what I would do if I had a stack of Smile bootlegs of course

[Music Machine]

"You guys feelin' the acid yet?" (clip from session talk)

I made a Smile mix I was happy with for a long time but with the new official release I feel like making some more Smile compilations. I want to make one lengthy one (Smile as a double album) and one concise one (Smile as a 1966 30 to 45 minute long album) and I was wondering what bootlegs could I find the "Feel the acid" soundbite on.

[hypehat]

It's from the Prayer session

EDIT:

Does anyone else prefer the 'throw it to the wall and see what sticks' approach to mix making? Just made a somewhat barmy sequence out of Project Smile chunks which goes....

1. Smile Promo (faded in, so it starts at 'Smile is the name...')
2. Prayer session excerpts (Just 'This is the intro/then Carl going 'Brian, direct ok?' and then a deep breath)
3. Prayer
4. The Cantina (A nice little overture of Western themes, sounds real pretty coming from Prayer, and Mike gets the first lead on Smile!)
5. Gee (Standard)
6. Western Theme, with the caveat that instead of the regular trombone at the end, I went for the one with strings.
7. Heroes & Villains, going off the Humble Harv demo - So we have the verse and acapella break (Alternate versions), then I'm In Great Shape, the tape explosion going into Barnyard (Both Purple Chick, cos of vocals), YOU'RE UNDER ARREST, La-la verse, then a tape-whirr to for My Children Were Raised, at 3 score and 5, Soul Made Beautiful, then the arrangement they use at the start of the False Barnyard session, because I prefer it, and fade.....

And i should really go to bed now 

[Music Machine]

Thanks for giving me the track title to look for. I've been wanting to sample that line for a few years now. Using Audacity to amplify certain parts to make them more audible and shifting around bits of dialogue I now have this 17 second bit that I'll use to start my longer 2011 mix of Smile;

"This could be considered a track."
"Not really, we don't wanna do that."
"But it's beautifu-"
"This is a little intro y'know...to the album."
"You're gonna get the one shot at it."
"The door's okay."
"You want all of us, now?"
"Get balance on the sound."
"You guys feeling the Acid yet?"
"I feel great!"
"Let's go."

And then into the 20/20 version of Our Prayer.