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.

I voted a three-way tie Groucho-Harpo-Chico. No matter how talented they were seperately, they did their best work together as a team, playing off each other in various combinations. Zeppo was supposed to be the funniest one in real life.

I've never actually heard that Bethlehem Ko-Ko, but I have heard a few ill-advised Duke remakes in my time, (usually they feature Cat Anderson), so I'll take your word for it. The one article just reminded me of the other... Anyway, that's why we have records. Put the 1940 Ko-Ko on- instant redemption!

They're long OOP, and to my knowledge have never been re- released in any format, except for 5 tracks on a 1988 Bluebird CD called "The RCA Victor Jazz Workshop: The Arrangers", which also includes tracks by Hal McKusick (Gill Evans and George Russell pieces), and Johnny Carisi. Just look on ebay and used record stores, I guess. I have the Lps and the CD and could probably cassette them for you if you'd like. These are wonderful records. I wish Mosaic could do a Select on them or someone would do something. They deserve to be in print. There was a recreation of the Rod Levitt Orchestra at some Vermont jazz festival just last night (9/17). Unfortunately, I don't live in Vermont.

re Mr. Klikenborg's article: It's hard to take seriously a writer who finds Van Dyke Parks' lyrics "nonsensical". A little obscure at times, maybe, but they make sense to me, at least. I agree about the "new" lyrics to Good Vibrations, though actually they're the "old" lyrics written by Tony Asher during the Pet Sounds days. The familiar Mike Love lyrics were rewrites. Maybe Brian used Asher's lyrics becuase "Mike Love" and "Good Vibrations" seem so diametriacally opposed. While I would never argue that the "new" Smile is in any way a replacement for the pieces of the old one, it does replicate the old one pretty closely, while finishing and adding parts that were unfinished, and placing familiar parts in context. If I want to hear Good Vibrations or Cabinessence or Heroes and Villains, I'm going to pull out the 1960s versions. If I want to hear the whole of smile I'll expect I'll be pulling out the new one. The value lies in the completion not in the remaking. Many of the older tracks like Cabinessence, Surf's Up, & Vegatables in their official released versions were futzed around with by the other Beach Boys, who I think had no more "authority" to do that than Brian and Van Dyke Parks have to remake or "finish" smile. It's not really a good analogy to compare literature (Wordsworth) which is basically a solitary creative occupation with "pop" music, which almost always involves some dregree of collaboration, in this case between composer, lyricist, performers and technicians. Like Monk should never have performed Monk's Mood again because Shihib Sahab wasn't available. There's an essay by Andre Hodeir called "Why did Duke Ellington "remake" his Masterpiece?" which bemoans Duke's 1956 recording of Ko-Ko in comparing it to the 1940 original: ...meant to put the reader on his guard against the enticements of a once glorous name which now represents only an endless succession of mistakes. This was the most ghastly mistake of all for nothing can ever redeem it". Kind of the same deal, without the typical French understatement. I guess artists have the "authority" to do whaterever they wants to their stuff, and listeners have the "authority" to prefer whichever version they prefer.

Yes. Mine is pre-ordered. Listening to various tracks and snippets of tracks available, I am really impressed with the fidelity to the original tracks and vocals, and with the way the whole thing flows together as an integrated piece of music. I think a lot of the familiar songs gain by being heard in context. The meoldies are gorgeous, the sound textures are unique, and Van Dyke Parks' lyrics are funny and evocative. It's not the original- no one could really replicate the original Beach Boys' vocal blend and Brian's voice, while better than it's been in the past, isn't what it was circa 1967, but it's still worth hearing. Musically, I think Smile, (and Pet Sounds, too), are beyond "beatles quality". To me Brian Wilson is probably the only true musical genius to be filed under rock 'n' roll. (well maybe Zappa...). Listen to some of the Pet Sounds Sessions box. Maybe he's like...uh...Louis. Known to the public for the more superficial aspects of his art, revered by musicians for the true depths of his brilliance. or not.

The song "Rejoyce", written by Grace on the Airplane's "After Bathing at Baxter's" was supposedly inspired by Sketches of Spain. I've often wondered if she did the arrangement herself or what- it's really pretty good. She may have had more talent than she actually bothered to use. The end of "Touch Me' may have been inspired by Ajax, but I'm afraid the dirt was stronger after all.