So...I only own "Pet Sounds" because people was saying its a classic etc..and yes I agree it is a great album..however I knew that they have to have more great albums that go overlooked. They have quite the history as well and a long discography. I dont have alot of friends who are fans of theirs so I never get to hear much about em.

Off chance i heard clips of the Brian Wilson SMiLE album and thought it sounds okay...then come to find out...lo and behold there is a film coming out based on Wilson and the gang.

I decided to listen to Smiley Smile today...(of course on youtube)

[img:$uid]http://www.lyrics007.com/images/covers/0/8/0[/img:$uid]

WHAT A GREAT HIDDEN GEM!

Its def not an album you play in the car on a roadtrip; however its a private listen, that takes you on a journey through the forest just like the album cover. There are experimental things going on and sounds that made me do a double take (someone munching on chips in "Vegetables" and saying mmm... / the comedic lyrics in She's Going Bald and what sounds like a tape going out of whack in the middle).

Really a solid, quiet album that is quite melodic and warm.

Any Beach Boys albums you recommend?

paisleypark4 said:

dancerella said:

paisleypark4 said:

So...I only own "Pet Sounds" because people was saying its a classic etc..and yes I agree it is a great album..however I knew that they have to have more great albums that go overlooked. They have quite the history as well and a long discography. I dont have alot of friends who are fans of theirs so I never get to hear much about em.

Off chance i heard clips of the Brian Wilson SMiLE album and thought it sounds okay...then come to find out...lo and behold there is a film coming out based on Wilson and the gang.

I decided to listen to Smiley Smile today...(of course on youtube)

[img:$uid]http://www.lyrics007.com/images/covers/0/8/0[/img:$uid]

WHAT A GREAT HIDDEN GEM!

Its def not an album you play in the car on a roadtrip; however its a private listen, that takes you on a journey through the forest just like the album cover. There are experimental things going on and sounds that made me do a double take (someone munching on chips in "Vegetables" and saying mmm... / the comedic lyrics in She's Going Bald and what sounds like a tape going out of whack in the middle).

Really a solid, quiet album that is quite melodic and warm.

Any Beach Boys albums you recommend?

I honestly don't know anything about the Beach Boys but I may bee seeing the new movie about Brian Wilson tonight. I was wondering if anyone has seen it yet? I just love films about music/musicians.

let me know how it is. John Cusack is playing Wilson and I heard good things.

I am also learning about Beach Boys. I always looked them over...until I heard "You Still Believe In Me" and became very interested. There is a segment in the film about this song actually.

paisleypark4 said:

KingSausage said:

I hate to keep spamming this thread and all but for King Sausages problem of never really being able to get into the band and for the OP wanting recommendations, I was wondering if hearing an album in mono or stereo might have an effect on how we perceive the music. What I'm getting at is that Smile/Pet Sounds were recorded in mono initially. I remember listening to several different rips of Pet Sounds (all in mono) and being unable to get too into it because of how murky the mix sounded on my headphones. Once I just had it playing over speakers, I was much more comfortable with what I was hearing. Either this was from just getting into the album eventually, or that mono just sounds better on speakers. At anyrate, for Sausage, perhaps giving Smile or another album a go with a Stereo version would help? Or maybe it just isn't your cup of tea. Who knows

Nivivrus said:

I hate to keep spamming this thread and all but for King Sausages problem of never really being able to get into the band and for the OP wanting recommendations, I was wondering if hearing an album in mono or stereo might have an effect on how we perceive the music. What I'm getting at is that Smile/Pet Sounds were recorded in mono initially. I remember listening to several different rips of Pet Sounds (all in mono) and being unable to get too into it because of how murky the mix sounded on my headphones. Once I just had it playing over speakers, I was much more comfortable with what I was hearing. Either this was from just getting into the album eventually, or that mono just sounds better on speakers. At anyrate, for Sausage, perhaps giving Smile or another album a go with a Stereo version would help? Or maybe it just isn't your cup of tea. Who knows

Yeah, you're 100% right imo, I pretty much only listen to music on headphones and I was completely underwhelmed when I first heard the Pet Sounds mono mix, as you say it was really murky. I became a fan upon listening to the stereo version, obvs it's not how the music "originally" sounded, but it's a far greater headphone listening experience, it's a lot easier to "immerse" yourself in the music so to speak and just be enveloped by its beauty.

Btw OP Smiley Smile is a great album, but it's also a very different experience from what remains of the Smile album proper as even the songs that are duplicated from Smile have radically different stripped down arrangements. I would recommend trying to track down a fan made stereo mix of the Beach Boys version of Smile on the internet, as the one released on the huge boxset in 2009 was mono and as discussed before I don't find that a particularly enjoyable listening experience.

Smiley Smile was basically made out of the then aborted Smile sessions and some other songs end up on other LP's too like 'Surfs Up' which turns up on...Surf's Up . Creatively 'Smile' would have been the catalyst for even more 'experimental' music from Brian in the future. There's an interesting article about 'the album here and how it basically crushed the spirit out of Brian, because the Beatles released Sgt Pepper and Mike Love wanted the Boys to stay with their classic Surf & cars based songs. Although 'Pet Sounds' was a hit, I personally think if he managed to get 'Smile' out before Pepper's, then music fans & music critics would be touting that as a classic instead.

There's a 5 CD version of 'Smile' with snippets/outtakes/fragments of songs. I think the 5th disc is just 'Good Vibrations' itself and I think Brian put a ton of work into that song. Personally 'Smile' is actually my favorite Beach Boy's album, 'Pet Sounds' is definitely a close 2nd though. As for 'Smiley Smile' I'm not a particular fan of that because I know the back story to it and how it's a decimated version of the original 'Smile' and that if Brian was allowed to create his vision for the album with Van Dyke Parks that would have been a big success. I was glad for Brian that he, Van Dyke & Darian Sahanaja of the Wondermints finally managed to finally finish 'Smile' in 2004. I highly recommend the 'Beautiful Dreamer' doc (think it's on Youtube) and the live concert too since it was the cumulation of them putting together the album after 38 years.

thetimefan said:

Smiley Smile was basically made out of the then aborted Smile sessions and some other songs end up on other LP's too like 'Surfs Up' which turns up on...Surf's Up . Creatively 'Smile' would have been the catalyst for even more 'experimental' music from Brian in the future. There's an interesting article about 'the album here and how it basically crushed the spirit out of Brian, because the Beatles released Sgt Pepper and Mike Love wanted the Boys to stay with their classic Surf & cars based songs. Although 'Pet Sounds' was a hit, I personally think if he managed to get 'Smile' out before Pepper's, then music fans & music critics would be touting that as a classic instead.

There's a 5 CD version of 'Smile' with snippets/outtakes/fragments of songs. I think the 5th disc is just 'Good Vibrations' itself and I think Brian put a ton of work into that song. Personally 'Smile' is actually my favorite Beach Boy's album, 'Pet Sounds' is definitely a close 2nd though. As for 'Smiley Smile' I'm not a particular fan of that because I know the back story to it and how it's a decimated version of the original 'Smile' and that if Brian was allowed to create his vision for the album with Van Dyke Parks that would have been a big success. I was glad for Brian that he, Van Dyke & Darian Sahanaja of the Wondermints finally managed to finally finish 'Smile' in 2004. I highly recommend the 'Beautiful Dreamer' doc (think it's on Youtube) and the live concert too since it was the cumulation of them putting together the album after 38 years.

You're right, and thanks for the article, the story of the album is really fascinating (particularly the spooky anecdotes about Ms O'Leary's Cow) and it's a huge shame that it never got released at the time. Still very glad to see that it finally got a release of sorts by Brian Wilson in 2004, although I have a feeling that that version probably would look very different from a finished Beach Boys version of the album, but I guess we'll never know the truth about that.

Thank for the replies. some very detailed history of the Smile album. i have a friendly orger who got me the album I cant wait to hear it. I downloaded "Barnyard" Brian Wilsons Smile and from the Smile Sessions and it sounds better than the demo for sure. His voice is a little older but it sounds more delivered appropriatley. Chile i dont know if I could listen to 5 CDs in variations of the same album if it isnt Prince, Janet or Mike. However I will give this a chance.

paisleypark4 said:

Thank for the replies. some very detailed history of the Smile album. i have a friendly orger who got me the album I cant wait to hear it. I downloaded "Barnyard" Brian Wilsons Smile and from the Smile Sessions and it sounds better than the demo for sure. His voice is a little older but it sounds more delivered appropriatley. Chile i dont know if I could listen to 5 CDs in variations of the same album if it isnt Prince, Janet or Mike. However I will give this a chance.

I could never get into Brian Wilson's Smile myself. Like you said, his voice sounds older and he doesn't have access to his higher vocal range anymore. It really doesn't help that the instrumentation uses a lot of synthisized sounds from when they were on tour for the album. Though I guess that album has it's benefits as well, like actually being mixed in stereo.

As for the Smile Sessions, since it was never officially released in stereo, I've had to track down some fan made mixes, of which there are plenty. The best one seems to be called the Purple Chick mix and it isn't that hard to get a hold of anymore. That could be worth your while. For the parts that couldn't be mixed on it's own, the creator used the Brian Wilson solo versions to augment the recording. It actually sounds pretty seamless.

Yea, there's a lot of fan-mixes of 'Smile'. I think they've been made with the 5 disc Smile Sessions boxset, where you can essentially mix your own 'Smile'. Some stuff like from the Unsurpassed Masters is probably used too. I think a fan-mix which follows BW's 2004 version is the best idea, since each song seques well into the other. There's also like extended 'fragments' like the end of Heroes & Villians and then 'Roll Plymouth Rock', although they wouldn't, in theory, exist since they aren't part of the 'Smile' sessions set. IIRC other stuff was recorded but I think some master(s) got wiped, makes you wonder if any other song(s)/demo(s)/song fragment(s) would have existed if all the tapes were around.

The movie "Love & Mercy" is excellent!

I love The Beach Boys. They defined the American sound for awhile. Their harmonies are timeless and legendary.

BTW - if there's any artist/band that Prince might not be able to cover, it's The Beach Boys. Although I would LOVE to see him take a stab at it!

.

[Edited 6/19/15 9:37am]

RodeoSchro said:

The movie "Love & Mercy" is excellent!

I love The Beach Boys. They defined the American sound for awhile. Their harmonies are timeless and legendary.

BTW - if there's any artist/band that Prince might not be able to cover, it's The Beach Boys. Although I would LOVE to see him take a stab at it!

.

[Edited 6/19/15 9:37am]

I had that exact thought a few days ago! I'd love for Prince to try and do something in that vein. Hell, it doesn't even need to be Pet Sounds or Smile he'd be covering. Gimme him covering some of the surf stuff, that'll be fun!

Nivivrus said:

RodeoSchro said:

The movie "Love & Mercy" is excellent!

I love The Beach Boys. They defined the American sound for awhile. Their harmonies are timeless and legendary.

BTW - if there's any artist/band that Prince might not be able to cover, it's The Beach Boys. Although I would LOVE to see him take a stab at it!

.

[Edited 6/19/15 9:37am]

I had that exact thought a few days ago! I'd love for Prince to try and do something in that vein. Hell, it doesn't even need to be Pet Sounds or Smile he'd be covering. Gimme him covering some of the surf stuff, that'll be fun!

Yeah! Can you imagine him doing all the harmonies on something like "I Get Around" or "Fun Fun Fun"? I think that would be awesome!

You want a hidden gem from the Beach Boys? Check out the album Sunflower. Nobody ever talks about that album but I'd argue that it's their best.

https://www.youtube.com/w...FgvCNUOp1g

Yea, the 'Friends' LP is under rated too. One of my fave BB's albums apart from Smile & Pet Sounds is 'Wild Honey'. Carl goes for a more R&B style vocal for that album plus it includes 'Darlin' & the cover of Stevie's "I Was Made to Love Her". I strongly recommend Beach Boys fans to get the 2fer1 reissues, I think I have all of them apart from MIU/Light Album (which for some reason is deleted) and they include bonus tracks too. Only BB albums I'm missing apart from the aforementioned one are the deleted/out of print ones 'Still Crusin' and 'Stars and Stripes vol 1' where country singers cover their songs and the boys singing backing.