First, this has nothing to do with the official set scheduled for release in November, so if you're looking for a leak, sorry, this isn't it.
Now...
We are only a few weeks away until the long-awaited official release of the Beach Boys' SMiLE. After years and years of fan mixes, I present to you my own mix. Perhaps the last pre-official SMiLE fan mix, I call this one "The Last Laugh Edition".
This version of SMiLE is unique for several reasons. First off, the purpose of this version is not an attempt to create what was "supposed" to have been released (if there ever was a firm confirmation), nor is it an attempt to recreate Brian Wilson's SMiLE or the upcoming Beach Boys recreation.
Simply put, I tried to put together the most enjoyable version I could, according to my own personal tastes. Here are the arbitrary rules I set for myself:
1) Conform to the 26 minutes (or less) per side of vinyl releases.
(*As excited as we are about the upcoming SMiLE release, they did not do this, and this alone negates it as being anything close to "what would have been" since there was never any intention of releasing it as a double album, let alone a three-sided album.)
2) Use stereo whenever possible. Most songs are in stereo, with small portions here and there in mono. The one exception is "On A Holiday", still available to us only in mono.
3) Use only Beach Boys recordings. (No bits of "Brian Wilson Presents SMiLE" included.)
4) Make it fun, interesting, and trippy/psychedelic, using the most complete bits that are currently out there.
This resulted in a unique mix of the album. The time constraint necessitated that I cut out some tracks that surely would have been included in a contemporary release; although I could have cut out "Heroes and Villains (Part Two)", I kept it simply because I like it, and because the tracks I left off seem to be in a much more unfinished state than the work done on the "Heroes and Villains" track(s).
Notably, I left off most of "Love To Say Dada" except for the "Water Chant" beginning portion, and I left off "Child Is Father Of The Man" and "I'm In Great Shape/I Wanna Be Around" entirely.
Some of this comes from other releases, and some of this was made specifically for this release. Sorry I don't remember where everything comes from. Here are a few things to look out for, unique to this mix:
* The intro and outro to "Heroes And Villains" is unheard in this form elsewhere.
* "Barnyard" fades into a noisy version of "George Fell Into His French Horn". Be warned: It gets loud!
* "Vega-Tables" has an intro unheard elsewhere.
* "Mrs. O'Leary's Cow" crossfades into a reprise of "Wind Chimes".
The whole thing clocks in at just under 48 minutes, not unheard of for a longer LP of the time. Compare to that year's Rolling Stones' release "Their Satanic Majesties Request" (44'01"), Country Joe & The Fish's "I Feel Like I'm Fixin' To Die" (44'56"), or the Velvet Underground's "Velvet Undergroudnand & Nico" (48'45").
If you think this version is a bit sacreligious, that's fine. You don't have to listen. You can also play around with it, as I have included some alternate playlists in .m3u file format: One is the official "Last Laugh" tracklisting, one is a "twelve track" version (i.e. it's only twelve tracks long and is closer to what, realistically, "would have been"), and one includes the three bonus tracks at the expense of some others, so that all the "usual suspects" are represented.
Enough talking. Here's the tracklist. Artwork included in the download:
Side A:
01. Our Prayer
02. Heroes & Villains (Part One)
03. Roll Plymouth Rock
04. Old Master Painter/You Are My Sunshine
05. Wonderful
06. He Gives Speeches
07. Cabin Essence
08. Heroes & Villains (Part Two)
09. Good Vibrations
Side B:
10. Barnyard/George Fell Into His French Horn
11. Vega-tables
12. On A Holiday
13. Wind Chimes
14. Water Chant
15. Mrs. O'Leary's Cow/Wind Chimes (Reprise)
16. Surf's Up
17. Look (Song For Children)
18. You're Welcome
So, enjoy this old-school version! It may be the last until we get the real deal...which, of course, will be followed by the inevitable new mixes based on the fancy-schmancy "SMiLE Sessions" boxed set that's coming out.
(One last note: This is "lossless" but some of the tracks are from lossy sources, I know. I converted all but the bonus tracks to flac anyway, to not degrade the quality further, and to prevent the annoying gaps between tracks inherent to mp3's. One day, when I have time, I'll remix this with all lossless sources, but with the boxed set on its way, well, I think I'll wait for now.)