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The Beach Boys' album SMiLE is being released November 1st...
- Thread starter StuBurns
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Bloodbeard
Member
StuBurns said:
Hey, we are all entitled to our preferences, but only two incredible albums?
Pet Sounds
Sunflower
Friends
Shut Down Volume 2
Smile
Rival anything put out by the Beatles.
Vinyl pre-ordered. I can't believe I didn't know about this until today. Heroes & Villains remains a top 3 fav song of all-time for me. I'm hoping that 24x36 poster is fairly easy to obtain on its own. I don't want to pay for that box set, and sadly that poster is the only extra I really care about.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ot7vCQisW_4
Beach Boys youtube account just posted basically a trailer for the album.
Beach Boys youtube account just posted basically a trailer for the album.
Really looking forward to picking up at least the 2-CD set. I've been listening to bootleg versions the last year or two, after trying to get back into The Beach Boys. The tracks I've heard from the official release (Mojo 45 yellow vinyl, Heroes and Villians and Good Vibrations released online for free) have sounded excellent.
Great thanks, one of the cool things about the Purple Chick version of Smile is the Love lyrics version of GV is on there as a bonus track so people can pick which they prefer, I've not heard the Asher one for a while at this point.bsb said:
I was just thinking about that BBC4 interview I posted above, one thing they mentioned was an idea at the time for Smile to come out as a Brian Wilson solo record. Given the bands reaction to Pet Sounds and then Smile, it seems like it'd have been an ideal compromise. Caroline, No was released as a Brian Wilson single ahead of Pet Sounds, I wonder if it was a testing bed for the viable of name at the time.
The Albatross
Member
Bloodbeard said:
Sunflower and Shut Down Vol 2 really aren't good. Friends is good, but not great. And Smile never really came out. Smiley Smile, the collection of smile-era songs, has some good collections but nothing rivals the Beatles' great albums.
I've always favored the Beach Boys over the Beatles because I think there genius is undervalued, and they're the best vocally harmonic band in the history of pop music, but Pet Sounds is incredible and great, and nothing else quite ever comes close from the Beach Boys.
The Albatross
Member
Yeah, so I don't really think that Smile could be added as a 'best beach boys album,' because that collection of songs never really came out until about 30 years after half the members died, Brian got cooked, and when it was released... it was a bunch of cheesy overproduced fluff with twice-baked Brian Wilson doing his best post-1980s Art Garfunkel impression through all of the songs.
Smile would have been brilliant in 1967 or 1968. But when it was released in 2004 or 2005, which was supposed to be *THE* release, it was cheesy and lame... And now, I guess it's being released again?
Smile would have been brilliant in 1967 or 1968. But when it was released in 2004 or 2005, which was supposed to be *THE* release, it was cheesy and lame... And now, I guess it's being released again?
The Albatross said:
Sunflower's awesome.
Granted, they botched it and didn't put some of their best stuff on the album (i.e. Soulful Old Man Sunshine) but it's still great.
I don't think the Beach Boys Smile is cheesy at all, although I do think the Wilson version is. From the time he quit the road with the Beach Boys till his Smile break down he was an incline of ballooning genius. Wilson circa 2004 doesn't really interest me, his solo Smile is an interesting curiosity, but it's missing so much of what makes the Beach Boys version so stunning. I think the gulf in quality is colossal, despite it being the same song list.The Albatross said:
I think if it had been completed at the time it would have radically changed the production of pop music going forward.
Bloodbeard
Member
The Albatross said:
I think Shut Down Volume 2 is awesome, but I can see how some may not like it at all...save for Warmth of The Sun whose greatness cannot be denied.
But Sunflower is fucking impressive...
All I Wanna Do
It's About Time
Forever
At My Window
Lionheart1827
Member
StuBurns said:
I would love to get the big box without the vinyl for a lowered price but they dont offer it. I'd love to get it for all of the extra CDs included. I love shit like that. Still trying to decide :/
By the way, listening to the 71 version of Surf's Up, and godamn Al Jardine's voice during the "A Children's song, have you listened as they play?" lyric is so damn good. Masterful song.
butter_stick
Banned
It's leaked, fyi.
Dude:InsertNameHere said:
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=32154252&postcount=47
EDIT: Ah hell. It's gone up to $127.
Well, it was $106 bucks yesterday.
CoffeeJanitor
Member
Thought this was already released?
It was out, I don't know if it actually released or leaked, I know it's all been pulled from YouTube, but that could happen either way. I hadn't check it out till now though.CoffeeJanitor said:
EDIT: Looking at the five CD set more, it's odd Can't Wait Too Long is missing too, like With Me Tonight it's not actually a SMiLE sessions track, but if you're including one it seems odd to leave off the other.
It's work on a Smile song though, I don't believe With Me Tonight is a Smile song that just happened to never be recorded before the project was shelved, maybe it is though.thefro said:
Cool, Cool Water has vocal tracks which presumable they're using on Dada, hopefully Fall Breaks is on Fire too.
I've been looking around, I don't think it's leaked yet, unless I just don't know my way around the more nefarious corners of the internet, and I believe I do.
I did stumble on this though:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0162gml
It's an hour long interview with Brian about his career, including Smile of course, not heard it all yet, but it's interesting so far.
I did stumble on this though:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0162gml
It's an hour long interview with Brian about his career, including Smile of course, not heard it all yet, but it's interesting so far.
Bloodbeard
Member
It ain't literature, it's pop music.
StuBurns said:
GV/H&V wasn't a leak - there was a competition on a web site to make a music video for either of those songs and both were provided as free MP3 downloads. Official competition backed by Capitol.
Competition finished on the 15 Sept
http://tongal.com/project/Smile
butter_stick
Banned
It was on the popular audiophile music torrent sites when I posted.
In glorious 256 AAC >_<
In glorious 256 AAC >_<
I'm pretty disappointed in the record. It's not at all edited like the Wilson album is, and Smile would have originally been. It has horrible fades between tracks, the new running order is worse and the end of Vega-Tables is a fucking mess. I don't understand what the point of presenting the tracks 'in order' but still not editing them accordingly is exactly. It's some painful middleground between an album and random bootlegs.
For the last six years for me there has been a definitive version of Smile, the Purple Chick bootleg, and now there's not. That bootleg is a much nicer listening experience, but this new version has far better audio quality. Not only is this version not as good, it actually hurts my opinion of the one I do love. All in all a pretty stunning let down for me. A small mercy is I've only ordered the two disc boxset, if I'd spend £120 on this I'd be really pissed.
For the last six years for me there has been a definitive version of Smile, the Purple Chick bootleg, and now there's not. That bootleg is a much nicer listening experience, but this new version has far better audio quality. Not only is this version not as good, it actually hurts my opinion of the one I do love. All in all a pretty stunning let down for me. A small mercy is I've only ordered the two disc boxset, if I'd spend £120 on this I'd be really pissed.
StuBurns said:
Eek, I love the Purple Chick bootleg, and was hoping this would be as seamless as that with better sound quality and elements that never leaked from the studio sessions.
I think we could end up with some amazing new bootlegs based on the material on all 5 CD's, but disappointing.
Will see if I can get the two-disc at Best Buy today (there was a rumor that it was there already).
Lionheart1827
Member
StuBurns said:
Well, I bet somebody will merge this new release with the Purple Chick version and everything will be gravy. Give it time.
BTW, has anyone heard "A Postcard from California" solo album by Al Jardine?
"The album contains contributions from fellow Beach Boys Brian Wilson, Carl Wilson, Bruce Johnston, David Marks, and Mike Love."
To be honest I made that post about fifteen minutes after I'd finished listening to it, I listened PCs Smile after and the lower quality actually didn't bother me at all. I'd love to see someone take on BWs structure with the new sources, but ultimately PCs is still an incredible album, and I'll be satisfied with that if we never get the middle ground. I'm still looking forward to getting the album so I can check out the box and stuff, looks nifty.
I've never heard Al Jardine's album, heard one by Bruce Johnston though, not terrible at all. Dennis' was the best solo album for a beach boy to me though.
EDIT: His album came out last year, with Carl Wilson on it. Creepy.
I've never heard Al Jardine's album, heard one by Bruce Johnston though, not terrible at all. Dennis' was the best solo album for a beach boy to me though.
EDIT: His album came out last year, with Carl Wilson on it. Creepy.
It's odd, Cabin Essence is one of the more benign SMiLE tracks lyrically.
Although it's easy to shit on Love as the anti-artist, and he was, but I could kind of see why he'd be concerned, Brian's dalliance into 'artistic' lyrics so far had only hurt the band's popularity. And those songs still came out on Smiley Smile to stunned market indifference. VDP made his own solo album, one of the most costly ever, and one of the best, and it too bombed. Love was right.
As for that specific lyric, I've always wondered if it's "the crow cries 'uncover the corn fields'", or "the crow cries, uncover the corn fields". If the crow is talking, it could be a play on scarecrows, as the last verse alludes to a romantic encounter in the field, it could be mocking public acts of lust. That'd seem a little coarse for the Beach Boys though. It's more likely the comma I imagine.
Thinking about it, the track should really be much later in the running order, Grand Coulee is in Washington.
Although it's easy to shit on Love as the anti-artist, and he was, but I could kind of see why he'd be concerned, Brian's dalliance into 'artistic' lyrics so far had only hurt the band's popularity. And those songs still came out on Smiley Smile to stunned market indifference. VDP made his own solo album, one of the most costly ever, and one of the best, and it too bombed. Love was right.
As for that specific lyric, I've always wondered if it's "the crow cries 'uncover the corn fields'", or "the crow cries, uncover the corn fields". If the crow is talking, it could be a play on scarecrows, as the last verse alludes to a romantic encounter in the field, it could be mocking public acts of lust. That'd seem a little coarse for the Beach Boys though. It's more likely the comma I imagine.
Thinking about it, the track should really be much later in the running order, Grand Coulee is in Washington.
My two disc box has arrived, it's an impressive package really, the printing is great. If I cared about using the CDs as one would traditionally I'd probably recommend getting the standard CD jewel case version, but I like the package, it feels very lighthearted, as the original cover implied. Although I've been listening to versions of it for years, and have listened to this specific version twice already, it does feel nice to finally hold a copy of Smile, it's been a long time coming for me, I imagine for the people who've waited forty five years it must be really great.
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