Everybody knows everything about SMiLE, mainly that it was never finished. And, leave it alone. Brian signed off with it on Brian Wilson Presents Smile, and there's a box set of sessions and completed tracks, and that's how it should rest. End of. But people will be people, and the first thing we should have learned by now is that people don't care what we think, and mainly do what they want. And what they want is to get under the hood of SMiLE and resto-mod the fuck out of it.
SMiLE has been the subject of many fan recreations over the decades, none of which in any way affect the original recordings. It's not like throwing a pot of paint at an Old Master Painting, fundamentally damaging the original. There's no desecration, no disrespect. Deep thinkers who claim that all opinions are equal, and it's all subjective, should bear in mind that all versions of SMiLE are just that - someone's opinion, someone's point of view. Nobody's claiming a definitive "answer to the question". We don't have to agree with it. Nobody cares what we think. Welcome to the internet.
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| Dude |
The technology of music; playing, recording and reproduction, isn't a fixed thing. Every advance is part of the process, a pulse in the flux. And no advance is any more or less human or authentic than the last or the next. The microphone itself was seen as the devil's work on its introduction, so was the saxophone, the synthesizer. Drum machines were going to put drummers out of business! Home taping was going to kill music! CDs were going to kill vinyl!
Recently, sonic wizard Dae Lims (Smile A.D. backwards) boosted the SMiLE industry into an entirely new era with his AI recreation. Liberties were taken, opportunities grabbed with both hands. Across the world, jaws dropped, brows furrowed, and shoulders shrugged by the ones who never understood what the fuss was all about. Lofty opinions were voiced as to the moral rightness and the esthetic integrity of such an exercise. The snowflake-eared winced at the sonic anomalies they thought they heard. But the work was done - SMiLE was reborn, refreshed, awakened from its slumber. Old School mixing had taken SMiLE as far as it could, and Dae Lims' revelatory mix opens up Pandora's Box.
It's not perfect - he makes some questionable artistic decisions. Authenticity isn't the aim of his mix, so omitting Good Vibrations, the album's most famous ("iconic", even) song because there's a fan theory it was never going to be included is a bit bonkers. And he bolts on You're Welcome, a sonic sore thumb which fit nowhere. He omits Love To Say Dada/Cool, Cool Water - some of the album's most blissed-out vocals - because, well, reasons. That's what I think, and nobody cares, quite rightly. But his achievement is staggering. He's breathed life into the music. That incredible verse to Roll Plymouth Rock, the biggest "missing" from the album, is reconstructed from a chance studio fragment (although he doesn't credit it as such, strangely), and as beautiful a piece of music I've heard for decades. It's not a glimpse of what SMiLE could have been, but a panoramic view of what it is. And it is magnificent. The Sistine Chapel of pop. Only a lot more fun.
Dae Lims' mix is over at YewChewb, but if you want to hear my pimp-my-ride version (at a genuinely higher bitrate, sourced differently), the link's in the comments. Right now, it's the version I listen to, every single day, but I'm anticipating further developments with open ears and open heart. SMiLE, the perfect imperfection, was never finished - yet. And always will be. That's what makes it won, won, der wonderful.
Differences from Dae Lims' version, showing the depths of my madness:
ITEM! "Our Prayer" moved from intro (where it's over-familiar) to outro, serving as a calming out-breath after the rush of "Surf's Up", replacing "You're Welcome". It's the album's chill-out tent.
ITEM! "Good Vibrations" added, because DUH. And - for fuck's sake!
ITEM! "Cool Water/I Love To Say Dada" blended in to the mix with a butter knife. Bliss!
ITEM! The jaunty theme from "Holidays" sneakily snuck into the "Fire" section, because teh lulz, lol.
ITEM! "I'm With You Tonight" (SMiLE era recording) smoothed into "Vegetables" (where, according to some authorities, it was intended to fit), replacing some repetition. And a nice little tag added.
ITEM! The "you're under arrest" interjection cut from H&V, because I never liked it. It's badly acted and disruptive to no purpose. You love it! Because hahalol! I don't care!
ITEM! Various granular edits and smoothies throughout which will be noticed by nobody (I hope).
ITEM! A slew of repetitive nah-nah-nahs surgically excised from "I'm In Great Shape", and you won't even notice, you ungrateful bum.
ITEM! Dae Lim's own AI remix of Good Vibrations incorporated!
ITEM! Cabinessence extended to 5:48, using sections from The SMiLE Sessions too good to leave on the shelf. Dae Lim's version is unchanged at the core.
ITEM! The "hum-be-down" vocal section from The SMiLE Sessions inserted by keyhole surgery into Good Vibrations.
ITEM! Added head-fuckery to the Holidays section in Fire/Holidays/I Wanna Be Around, sourced from the Psychedelic Sounds tapes.
JUNE 4 ITEM! Finally, a fade to Good Vibrations I'm happy with. Now I can move on with what's left of my life.
LINK AT TAG END OF COMMENTS! Oboyoboyoboy! Some fun, huh, guys!
And a bonus album from the man who should be given all the money he wants and the time he needs in the Beach Boys vaults ... his skills and taste make him more than a virtual member of the band. This is the direction record labels (and artists) should be taking to re-invigorate (not replace!) their back catalog. We've had decades of buying remasters and remixes that have done nothing but reshuffle an existing hand - Dae Lims opens a whole new deck of cards. Are record companies and artists going to open up their recordings to Real Intelligence? It seems a no-brainer to me, and the market for re-selling using this approach is perhaps far greater than yet another ho-hum and basically ineffectual fader tweak by some studio Steve. "I have seen rock n' roll's future, and its name is Dae Lims ..."
(Links in comments)