Hoyt Clagwell

I've never really had that impression from listening to the '66-67 Smile tracks, only from what I've read. I think the original performances are fine. Of course the memories and vibe of the times were so disturbing to Brian that he couldn't go back there, and no Brian meant no Smile. Still, I don't hear what you're hearing. Actually Smiley Smile sounds more to me like what you're describing- (not a slam at that album, I love most of it). I think the success of the current Smile is in the completeness of it, the transitions between parts and the wholeness of the work. It sweeps from strength to strength. Being that so much of it is a reproduction of the earlier work, I believe that that wholeness must have been inherent in the original vision to some extent. The sympathetic band members and Van Dyke Parks allowed Brian to have faith in that vision again.

Most likely written by Stirling Silliphant. I have nothing really to add, I just like the name Stirling Silliphant.

Got mine yesterday. After playing it twice, it will be almost impossible for me to ever again hear these pieces as disconnected fragments, removed from their new context. It flows beautifully, and the songs support each other so well. This whole IS greater than the sum of its parts, and the parts were pretty damn near perfect to begin with. Brian is identified with "harmonies", vocal harmonies in particular, but what amazes me are his melodies. Take Cabinessence: the main melody in the verses is one gorgeous tune, the "boing-boing" background vocal are another, the banjo countermeolody is another. Tunes underneath tunes within tunes. Wonderful...I'm In Great Shape, (wish this was longer)... In Blue Hawaii...has there ever been a record more full of great tunes? This music can stand on its own, apart from its history and the biographical details of its creators and performers. It just is, and for that I'm very thankful.

The following URL has an excellent article on the recording process, or it did last time I checked. (It's a PDF file). http://citizenkeith.com/smile/smile.pdf (458 MB)

Judging from the Columbia 78s I have of the Krupa band of this era, this is tempting. A late swing era big band with a fair amount of bop influence- not the heavy, screechy kind of late swing, where it seems like the only new idea they had was to make the bands bigger and have the trumpets play higher- but stuff that genuinely swings.

Amen to that. Diamond Head is pretty cool, too.

I'd have to say that Wild Honey is my least favorite of the Smiley Smile- 20/20 stretch of albums, maybe because of the attempt at "soulful" vocals or the overuse of that flanged-out piano sound. Of course any album with Aren't You Glad, Let the Wind Blow, & Darlin' is still a pretty good album. I think if I had to pick a favorite of that group it would be Friends- almost everything on that is great. I've always thought that Transcendental Meditation is an extremely funny example of Brian's humor. Sunflower is kind of a mixed bag for me -from the the sublime This Whole World to that ridiculous Al Jardine bird song. And Surf's Up, which tends to get looked on as some kind of "comeback" album is pretty dismal- not much there except the title song, 'Til I Die, and maybe Feel Flows. Any album with that stupid feet song and Student Demonstration Time is a pretty bad album overall. Of course that's all the result of less and less Brian and more and more Mike Al & Bruce.

Well, like you were saying about The Beach Boys Love You, it's unique. Nothing else sounds like it, really, and besides the reworked Smile tracks it has "Little Pad" and "Fall Breaks and Back to Winter", which are two favorites of mine. In other words, I like it a lot. "Fall Breaks..." has quite a musical resemblence to the "Mrs O'Leary's Cow" part of Smile.

I agree, but those are some scary sounding wind chimes! The little chorale at the end is breathtakingly beautiful, though.

I think they should make the spines out of, like, broccoli, because that way they would ROT, and not only would they make a mess but they'd smell bad too. Copies that were kept in the freezer would go for big bucks on ebay in a few years.

It's funny, I have a similar history. Pretty much a jazz-head all through high school until about '76 when I started to hear Ramones, Nick Lowe, XTC, dB's Elvic C, Squeeze and others. Possibly part of it was that this was music I could more easily play considering my instrumental chops at the time, and music that relied more on production- I was then messing around with a 4-track TEAC tape recorder. I got back to jazz in the early 80s. I think my Brian Wilson ephinan-ical moment was when my younger sister was playing her copy of Endless Summer (which I was too "cool" for), and the stereo mix of "Dont Worry Baby" came on. I loved it- the melody, the minimalistic guitar solo, the intake of breath and gorgeous harmonies that directly follow the minimalistic guitar solo, and most of all the feeling of melancholy that pervaded what was, after all, kind of a silly song about a car race. After that, I was hooked.

Matter of taste I guess..The Beach Boys Love is one of the best BBs albums ever, a true work of somewhat cracked genius as far as I'm concerned.

Maybe when Mosaic does the Bobby Hutcherson box, they can ask the man himself.

Well.. I'm a bass player too so I figure I can get away with that comment. I've never popped any lungs, though.

Don't put the bass solo first.