Re: The Beach Boys: The Smile Sessions - 2011
 

I'm looking forward to hearing this. My only fear is not liking the mono vs. the stereo cuts from the box set.

edit: Just listened to this on Spotify. Damn. Awesome. This is one of the very few pieces of work that I will just put all versions on my iPod. Box set stereo, Brian's 2004 solo release and eventually this stuff in mono.

Re: The Beach Boys: The Smile Sessions - 2011
 

You can listen to it here: http://music.aol.com/new-releases-full-cds/#/3

I'm sure I'll breakdown sometime and pull the trigger to get this.

Re: The Beach Boys: The Smile Sessions - 2011
 

Man, I really wanted that big box but the tracklisting on CD's 3-5 is just exhausting. I can't imagine I'd ever listen to all that more than once. But that 3D cover is really cool looking. The two disc version comes with a small amount of swag though....a little SMiLE button and a fold up poster.

The sound on this thing is really good. I almost forgot that CD's could sound decent if they weren't brickwalled. I miss the days when music was mastered to be listened to & not just heard.

Re: The Beach Boys: The Smile Sessions - 2011
 

For those who didn't want to buy the giant box set, all five discs are available to listen to on Spotify.

Re: The Beach Boys: The Smile Sessions - 2011
 

I bought the 2-disc. Been listening to it. Never really heard it before. It is so freaking good! I like it way better than Pet Sounds. I'm tripping out by it sounds both of it's time and also thoroughly modern. It's arrangements are so complex (though not overly so) that it's hard to tell that it's in mono and not stereo.

Re: The Beach Boys: The Smile Sessions - 2011
 

It's definitely better than Pet Sounds. I even like it more than Sgt. Pepper.

Re: The Beach Boys: The Smile Sessions - 2011
 

Saw the big box at BB, and boy is it an eye catcher. Just couldnt pull the string to get it, I know alot of it would only be listened to once. I didnt purchase the regular, still undecided about the big box.

Re: The Beach Boys: The Smile Sessions - 2011
 

For all intents and purposes, this is a new Beach Boys album, therefore it is eligible for The Billboard Top 200 Album Chart. Wouldn't it be cool if it debuted at No.1, or even in the Top 10? The last Beach Boys album to go to No.1 was a hits collection called Endless Summer in 1974.

Re: The Beach Boys: The Smile Sessions - 2011
 

I picked up the 2 disc CD version and really enjoy it. I decided to go ahead and pick up the Brian Wilson presents Smile so I could compare the two versions.

Re: The Beach Boys: The Smile Sessions - 2011
 

They actually changed the rules a couple years ago to allow catalog titles to re-chart- I think during the Michael Jackson sales boom after his death. Granted, this album applies either way. I don't see it happening though, a lot of the big box stores like Target and Wal-Mart didn't get it in my area, and the Best Buys had at most a couple of copies on hand. But wouldn't it be nice? ;)

Re: The Beach Boys: The Smile Sessions - 2011
 

Nice enough - it debuted on the Billboard Top 200 Album Chart at No.27.

I can live with that - at least it's a new Beach Boys album in the Top 40, amongst endless turd entries of the 21st Century.

Re: The Beach Boys: The Smile Sessions - 2011
 

I did spend some time this weekend listening to Smile on Spotify. I ended up enjoying it far more than I thought I would! Definitely gonna pick up the 2CD version when I can.


Although I still dont like Pet Sounds...

Re: The Beach Boys: The Smile Sessions - 2011
 

Really? What's not to like?

Re: The Beach Boys: The Smile Sessions - 2011
 

Other than the classic cuts Wouldn't it Be Nice and God Only Knows I just don't hear any timeless songs on the album. Certainly not to the point where it should be considered one of the best albums ever made. The rest are nice songs alright but every time I try to really get into the album it leaves me cold.

Re: The Beach Boys: The Smile Sessions - 2011
 

Groundbreaking, often breathtaking production values. Mostly forgettable songs. It's an album to appreciate, not love. Although I do love "God Only Knows", as probably most people do off that album.

Re: The Beach Boys: The Smile Sessions - 2011
 

Really? No love for: You Still Believe in Me? That's Not Me? Don't Talk (Put Your Head on My Shoulder)? I'm Waiting for the Day? I Just Wasn't Made for These Times? Caroline, No?

Re: The Beach Boys: The Smile Sessions - 2011
 

Nope, and I've tried. Just leaves me cold. (but I don't want to derail the "SmiLe" discussion any further. I also realize I'm in the vast minority when it comes to Pet Sounds. One of those things I just have to accept as "not for me".)


EDIT: To be fair, compared to their SMASH! SURFIN! FUN! NOSTALGIA! BEACH! LAME! hits, everything on Pet Sounds and Smile is fucking SUPERB.

Re: The Beach Boys: The Smile Sessions - 2011
 

What would be the one reason (out of many, I'm sure) that these songs and album were shelved, and instead released Smiley Smile?

I mean, I understand about Brian Wilson's breakdown. I understand their problems with Murry Wilson. I understand about the drugs and dissension. But they DID release an album, and, by many, it was considered a colossal failure.

Obviously the songs existed, because the album is here now, and it wasn't "just re-recorded" to fill in the empty spaces. If the songs already existed, why shelve it? Why go through the trouble of recording a different album with substandard songs?

I'm not mistaken, am I, by saying people like the SmiLe songs better than the Smiley Smile songs?

Re: The Beach Boys: The Smile Sessions - 2011
 

Brian Wilson was so traumatized in the wake of the Smile sessions that he found it impossible to even listen to the songs from those sessions. Smiley Smile suffered from the band's internal issues, as well as the weight of expectations (at the time the Beach Boys were in a contest with The Beatles, and everyone was expecting them to release something that would top Sgt. Pepper). And doing an A/B comparison, the Smile versions knock the Smiley Smile versions of the same songs out of the water.

That being said I've always loved the cover art of Smiley Smile (as well as Surf's Up a few years later).

Re: The Beach Boys: The Smile Sessions - 2011
 

I couldn't find out the personnel for these songs on the internet.

Did Brian Wilson use the same studio session musicians he used on Pet Sounds? For example, did he use Hal Blaine again as a drummer instead of Dennis Wilson?

Re: The Beach Boys: The Smile Sessions - 2011
 

From what I can gather the argument over whether this was or was not the kind of music the band should be making was driving a wedge that threatened to break up the whole band. Brain was in the studio making great stuff, that's widely loved and revered today (except by Hockeyboy), but the band was touring without him and fans were still going wild for Surfin' USA and Fun, Fun, Fun. At the time it seemed to some people (inside and outside of the band) that if you release a wild concept album you are just going to baffle the established fans and it won’t win you any new fans.

If Lance Bass, at the height of Nsync’s popularity recorded OK Computer it would be a scary and problematic thing. The rest of the Nsync guys would be like "yeah this is mind blowingly good, but our fans are 14 year old girls and this is going to be too wild for them, and the legions of people out there who would recognize the brilliance of this aren't going to buy the album or come to a concert because they only know us for our clean cut boy-band girl-friendly pop."

The truth is, with 20/20 hindsight, they should have just released Smile. It probably would have been more of a Their Satanic Majesties Request than a Sgt. Pepper, but it wouldn't have made much of a difference. The zeitgeist and the music scene changed so much in 67-68 that when it was all over several things happened:

1. The BB were nowhere near as popular as they had been
2. The touring portion of their careers saw them almost instantly become a legacy act touring on nostalgia for the hits (especially in Europe and Asia)
3. Despite the conflict over this record their new music became increasingly esoteric, non-mainstream, non-hit-oriented, and experimental anyway

So anyway, to put it simply, the music was so internally devisive that they decided to just put it away. But what is odd is that they didn't totally put it away. 3 Smile songs show up on Smiley Smile and more Smile songs would end up on subsequent albums over the next 15 years.

Re: The Beach Boys: The Smile Sessions - 2011
 

In 2004, when Brian Wilson released "Brian Wilson's SMiLe," did he do it that way because he needed authorization to use the songs that were already in the can?

What changed between 2004 and now that they could release SMiLe?

Re: The Beach Boys: The Smile Sessions - 2011
 

Yes, most of the songs were finished but they were not pieced together and that was a big part of why it was abandoned. Brian had the breakdown and couldn't emotionally handle the project anymore and no one else was going to edit the pieces together. Also, I don't think anyone really knew how the pieces were supposed to go together anyway. Mike Love’s attitude towards the project, Brian and Van Dyke Parks was a big factor in the project being abandoned.

If I'm not mistaken all of the previous Beach Boys albums were produced by Brian solely, Smiley Smile was produced by "The Beach Boys." Brian kind of took a backseat at this time. The "Smile" songs that ended up on Smiley Smile were stripped-down simpler versions of the earlier recordings done with more participation of the entire band.

In 2003-04 Brian had a change of heart about the project. There was enough distance and I think he felt comfortable with going back to the material. He also knew that it was time. I'm not exactly sure why he and his new band decided to re-record the entire album but I'm guessing it made it easier to just start from scratch and keep track of the whole thing from the beginning.

With the 2004 record they had a template of how the record was "supposed" to be. The 2004 album was the model they used to piece together the official Smile album.

Re: The Beach Boys: The Smile Sessions - 2011
 

Is this ever going to be available at a good price?

Re: The Beach Boys: The Smile Sessions - 2011
 

Showtime released a documentary called Beautiful Dreamer: Brian Wilson and the Story of Smile. Brian Wilson actually went back and forth on the idea of remaking the album. The band told a story of how at one point the power went off in the studio before he got there. The rest of the band were freaking out and hoping he didn't find out because he would take it as a sign not to make the album. There was also a scene or two where he was just like fuck it and walked out.

If I got anything out of the documentary it was that the album never would have gotten made if not for the band. More specifically one guy. I can't remember his name but he basically took care of everything and worked with Brian on arranging all of the musical segments.

I also realized that Brian Wilson is certifiably insane.