Post by Deleted on Jan 4, 2019 17:22:17 GMT -5
9.
I knocked off a point because admittedly there ARE weak moments and tracks where literally nothing happens--Life Boat being maybe the best example. But overall I think this is a great collection of experimental ideas Brian was playing around with, which gives an invaluable insight into what he had planned for SMiLE (and perhaps other albums.) I think this bootleg is perhaps the single most underappreciated collection in the entire BB's canon, though I understand that's an unpopular opinion. I understand something like this is NOT everyone's cup of tea and I don't hold it against them. However, to say that there's nothing of interest here is, I think, not giving it a fair chance. In the first place, I would say certain tracks like Undersea Chant, Breathing and Basketball sounds are genuinely cool and fun to listen to on their own merits. I get a kick out of the Vegetable Fight as well.
The tracks on this boot can be roughly divided into the following categories: Comedy sketches, chants, and audio collages. The comedy sketches mostly involve the scenario of someone being shrunken down and "falling into" some kind of instrument. Then there's a persistent motif of arguments (during one track Brian tries to get the guys to fight and then make up, in addition to the Veggie Fight). There's a few, like Smog, Taxi Cabber and Ice Cream Man which don't fit into any group. The chants can be divided into those which involve the elements and those which don't. And the audio collages are pretty much unclassifiable by design.
The instruments and fight sketches eventually culminated in the George Fell Into His French Horn and Veggie Fight skits, both of which were professionally recorded. The latter is included in full on this boot, however the former unfortunately is not. Still, listening to the 22 minute Vegetable Argument with Michael Vosse and Hal Blaine, you see Brian totally in control. He's not stoned, he's not goofing off, he's not stalling nor is he wasting time. He knows exactly what he wants to get on tape and he runs his players through it again and again until they get it right, just the same as when he's recording music. Not that there isn't levity and humor going on behind the scenes of course, but all the same. If one tracks down the George Fell session tape, you'll hear the same dedication and persistence going on there.
It's not 100% certain but there's good reason to believe that these comedy segments would find their way unto SMiLE in some form. We already have spoken word humor present on SMiLE: "You're Under Arrest!", the All Day sessions where Brian is heard saying "we're gonna have a lot of talking in the pauses" and finally the humorous East/West Indies lyric of Worms. There's also hidden easter eggs like the Truck Driving Man and scrapped Reconnected Telephones spoken word pieces for Cabin Essence. I don't think it's a stretch to consider the highlights of the Argument would be mixed into Vega-Tables somehow, or perhaps that George Fell would be an intro to ("wait 'till they hear the next track!") or hidden track at the end of, Surf's Up. We have quotes of Brian at the time saying humor was a big part of SMiLE, and comedy sketches he professionally recorded which tie in with the music. I'd say that's proof there was something going on here beyond just stoned goofing off, which these recordings are often sadly dismissed as.
There would later be chanting worked into SMiLE and Smiley Smile, and that in an indisputable fact. The original cut of Vegetables had no chorus, yet post-Psychedelic Sounds, we see it get rerecorded with the Mama Says Chant as a stand-in for one. Several Smiley tracks, most notably Whistle In, comprise of chanting as well. Then there's the Water Chant, recorded post-SMiLE. It was obviously a musical idea that was on Brian's mind a lot at the time. The Beach Boys were away in Europe at the time Psychedelic Sounds was recorded. It seems to me Brian was trying out some rough ideas with whoever was available to see what worked and what didn't. Then after the ideas were more refined, he'd go and record them professionally with the Wrecking Crew and Beach Boys.
For me personally, the most fascinating insight that this bootleg offers is the look at the other three elements. Along with Frank Holmes' illustrations, Psychedelic Sounds is perhaps the most compelling evidence that Vegetables was Earth at least at one point. Furthermore, we get two very atmospheric recordings which in my humble opinion, are the best stand-ins for Water and Air that we have. Those are the Undersea Chant and Breathing, respectively. The former is Brian and company making a series of ocean and fish noises such that you really feel like you're on the sea floor. It sounds like a stupid idea on paper, but once you listen, you can feel the magic. Breathing is a series of rhythmic well, breaths, increasing in intensity and finally climaxing in laughter. Now, maybe these two aren't elements. Maybe they were just Brian testing out offshoot ideas, trying to inspire what the "real" water and air would be. In any case, they're the closest things we have to the real thing. They come far closer to the power of Fire to illicit the feeling of their respective elements than Wind Chimes or Dada, that's for damn sure. When you consider Vosse talking about the health aspect of Elements in the Fusion article, then it becomes even more compelling. After all, air as it relates to human health IS breathing, and there are various chants about swimming strokes in addition to Undersea Chant.
Regarding the sound collages, like Bob Gordon's real trip and Basketball sounds, I just think that's Brian playing around with different audio techniques that might sound trippy and revolutionary on the album (or future albums). The latter example is another example of his obsession with health and fitness. I think of these as Brian's version of Carnival of Light, or Revolution 9. And I think we see some of these ideas at play on the SMiLE sessions proper as well. There's the tape explosions in Im in Great Shape and Heroes and Villains. The tape edit experiment on the verses of Heroes one can hear on Disc 2 of the sessions. There are more examples I'm sure, if I were to listen to the middle 3 discs of the boxset, but you get the idea.
For me personally, I'm also partial to Smog and Taxi Cabber. Where, if and how those fit in is somewhat less certain but I like them and prefer to use them on my own SMiLE mixes. This is where things get speculative, but I see the Elements as part of the Americana tracks. Mrs. O'Leary's Fire was the working title for Fire. Worms talks about destroying the church of the Indians (Nature) and the trains of Cabin Essence give off smog and the Grand Coulee dam plugs up the water. I think a big part of the Americana "suite" or side would be about how White man's America had abused/destroyed the elements. Smog might have been a part of that, and if you use Breathing for Air as I do, the highlights fit nicely in the pause between the breathing and laughing of that track. Worms and Cabin Essence both reference a lot of different forms of transportation between them--Ocean Liners, Bikes, Trains, Trucks--so why not add a Taxi in the mix? One of the most popular narratives about SMiLE is that it was a journey across America...well...here we have a couple of stoners doing just that. Why not use it? It's the perfect subversion of expectations too. Just like the cartoony cover of the album destroys our notions of what a symphony to God ought to be, our vision of this grandiose odyssey over the country is actually represented by a group of stoners in a taxi. Call me crazy, and I admit this paragraph at least is just my speculation, but I think it all fits nicely.
So...that's about it. Criminally overlooked window into Brian's mind during his creative peak. That's all there is to it. I think there's plenty of evidence what was in this bootleg grew to influence SMiLE and Smiley Smile. I believe those that would dismiss that notion are trying to downplay the humorous and offbeat side of SMiLE for whatever reason. I think dismissing this material outright because it was recorded with Brian's stoner friends is an attempt to whitewash history and has done a great disservice to understanding what the finished album was supposed to be (at least during that crucial November '66 through January '67 window just before it all changed and/or fell apart.)