Old School non-Ai scissor-and-paste artwork ©False Memory Foam Department Of Art Dept.
A SUBTLY TWEAKED NEW VERSION is linked at the end of this piece, tagged with the above swell cover design.
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.
The key point that many are missing is that 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, as the applause rang out. 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 damage was done - SMiLE was reinvented, 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 several 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 bat-shit crazy. And he bolts on You're Welcome, a sonic sore thumb which fits nowhere. His running order is all over the place, his titles are sometimes not the best, and 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 if you want to hear my version of his version, the link's below. Right now, it's the version I listen to, 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.
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).
Leaving aside the contentious issue of "authenticity", this is the definitive, best, most enjoyable, and complete (thanks to Dae Lims' creativity) version of SMiLE! currently available. Until the next one, anyway.
(PS that's the link, up there, the word Smile!)