Smiley Smile is one of my favorite Beach Boys albums, and while I love it's home-made charm, the album leaves me wanting more, it's so short and sparse. I also simlutaneously wanted the album to be more SMiLE-like (in length and specific songs/order) and less SMiLE-like (without any audio that is already on most SMiLE mixes or sounds out of place due to instrumentation).
So, I decided to add some SMiLE-outtakes that sounded Smiley smile-like to me to give the setlist a more SMiLE-like feel and also lengthen the album. I also moved "Gettin' Hungry" over to Wild Honey (more on that later) as I felt it fit much better on that album than on Smiley Smile.
"Our Prayer" is an early, overdub-less, far-from-perfect take from one of the sessions on the SMiLE box set, complete with Brian commentary.
"Heroes and Villains" is the live "Aloha from Hawaii" version, with crowd noise edited down and a few overdubs added to give it a cleaner sound. I think this works much better than the original H&V presented on the album, which sounds far too "wall of sound" to fit with Smiley Smile and is nearly identical to the version most SMiLE mixes have.
"Whistle In" is very similar to "Do You Like Worms?", which always goes after H&V on my mixes, so that is where Whistle In goes here. This is just the Smiley Smile stereo remaster
"Cabinessence" is, before anyone thinks I found something amazing, something I created, overlaying the organ from the first take of the water chant on Unsurpassed Masters with the isolated Cabinessence vocals from the Smile box set. For me this was more of just a fun side project that certainly fits sonically and I feel is a good representation of what Cabinessence may have sounded like had it been given the Smiley Smile treatment, but it may of course be simply removed.
"Wonderful" has an added instrumental intro, taken from the beautiful take on Unurpassed Masters, and the SS stereo remaster.
"She's Going Bald" stands in for "He Gives Speeches"; I don't usually include that song in my SMiLE mixes, but I felt the song went well here. This is the SS stereo remaster.
"Workshop" was a song I had never really thought about, but it fit the sound of Smiley-Smile very well, and adds another SMiLE song. This version uses an alternate isolated take of the organ part from Unsurpassed Masters with sparse "workshop session" sounds and vocals from the Smile box.
"Good Vibrations" is the studio take from "Aloha from Hawaii", as the original again was incredibly sonically out-of-place on the album, This take uses the classic baldwin organ and has the dreamy light vocals so prevalent on SS.
"Wind Chimes" begins the pseudo "The Elements Suite", using the SS stereo remaster.
"Vega-Tables" is the earth portion, as seems to be common consensus. This version takes out the original fade ("I know that You...") which is identical to most SMiLE mixes, and replaces it with isolated bass and piano and (I believe) Marilyn Rovell's brief vocals she recorded at some point, all from Unsurpassed Masters. It also adds all the vocals from "Mama Says" on Wild Honey in the same place the chant comes in on the SMiLE version.
"Fall Breaks and Back to Winter" represents the fire portion, Brian calling it a candle to "Mrs. O'Leary's Cow"'s massive flame. To make the track more similar to "MOC", I added a take of "Organ Waltz" (an early version of the "MOC" intro) from the Smile box to the beginning of this, as it fit well and added to the song's strangeness.
"All Day" is the unused piano portion from an early SMiLE session take of what would become "Love to Say Dada" and represents the water portion, along with Little Pad. I added isolated vocals from "Mission Pak" and the water chant from the Smile box and Unsurpassed Masters respectively.
"Little Pad" also represents the water portion and ends the Elements suite. This is the SS stereo remaster.
"With Me Tonight" is the penultimate track as I feel it is a lovely semi-closer to the album and doesn't really have a SMiLE equivalent. This is the SS stereo remaster.
"Surf's Up" is the 1967 Brian solo piano version and closes the album, as it does on my Smile mixes. I added the vocal snippet "I believe in Miracles" as background vocals when I noticed how bizarrely well they fit , along with some other isolated vocals throughout.
Comments appreciated. Enjoy!
By the sea that's where I'll build a pad
