Discuss & Rate Beach Boys Songs Day by Day

Vega-tables. 3/5. It's okay.

 

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Today's song is Holiday:

 

My second favorite of the Smile songs that lack lead vocals (after Child). Probably because the main melodies are performed instrumentally and not left to the imagination. And all the melodies—the verses, the choruses, and the coda—are Brian Wilson at his best. It’s really a shame this one was not finished off with vocals. Seems very complete and well put together otherwise. I think it would have been a highlight of the album.

In this instrumental form, I get a little bit of penny-whistle overload, but I’m sure that would’ve been mixed down and more made more subtle under the voices. And I really dislike the effort on this version to force the whispering winds vocals onto the end—totally unnecessary and the sped up vocals don’t even sound good. That’s a shame because those vocals are outstanding in their original form. My Smile mix has Holidays play out instrumentally—I really love the ending as is. I then take the whispering winds vocals from the Sunshine Tomorrow set and put them at the end of Wind Chimes. Sounds great that way. 5/5

 

I like Holidays. I think it's an interesting track. I like the flutes. It really has an operatic Valkyrie type feel. I include it in my personal Smile because it seems to be a fully realized backing track rather than some scrap of random exploration. No proof he returned to it for vocal work. Seems to clearly be a discard. I wish someone could isolate Brian's singing when he's in the studio at the piano so we can figure out what his words are and hopefully get a clue. The tag turned into the Wind Chimes tag on Smiley, and Brian recycled a piece of this for the intro to "Happy Days" in 1998. Bizarre turn of events.

p.s. The fly-ins suck.

4/5

 

Holiday - 2/5

At least this instrumental is pretty much complete. But was a reject. For that reason it does not make my SMiLE. I place the "Tinkling Winds" at the start of Wind Chimes where it fits perfectly (or you can put it on the end of that track and it works well also).

I absolutely LOVE the Tinkling Winds, and give that section of music a 4/5.

 

I don't think it's the best BB instrumental, but it's not bad. 3/5. Yes, it needs work, but it could have been effective played before another tune.

 

Holidays is fun, good music, but I think it's an outtake and it's not on my SMiLE. Still it captures the spirit of the "album" in many ways. 4/5

 

I'll be the second. Like @Mr. D I've always found The Laughing Gravy/Jan & Dean version to sound "finished" or "produced" and ready for radio airplay.

 

Holidays. Whimsical piece of music but I usually don't include it in my SMiLE playlists. 2/5

 

"Holidays" - I'm going with a 3/5 on this one.

 

Vega-tables.. 5/5 Loved the Smiley Smile version, loved The Smile Sessions version. A very complete piece. I like how they didn't follow the BWPS template with this mix, though there are a couple cross fades that wouldn't have existed in 66/67.

Holidays.. 2/5 It's fun and I prefer it as an instrumental. Doesn't really fit on SMiLE.

 

Holidays:
Not really a fan of this one except the "whispering winds" tag. Neither in my comp. nor the cover tracklist. 2/5
"Whispering winds" tag: One of my favorite parts of Smile. Ties in beautifully with Wind Chimes, as has been mentioned. Seems like it would work perfectly as "air" in the Elements, even though I doubt that was ever the intent. 5/5.

 

Holidays is the best instrumental on SMiLE in my opinion. It's a jolly and nice little song, but it's somewhat very inspiring as well.

I'd go as far as giving it a 5/5.

 

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Today's song is Wind Chimes[SMiLE Sessions Ver.]:

 

People never seem to talk about "Wind Chimes" with the respect I think it deserves. I love it. 5/5. I prefer the SMiLE Sessions one (in stereo on vinyl and on Made in California) but I also like the Smiley Smile version and the earlier Good Vibrations version. But for me, this one is the definitive one.

 

Can't say I like the Smiley Smile version nearly as much as this one -- but this one gets a 5/5.

 

Wind Chimes - 5/5

Although I'm generally against messing with the tracks I like what they did with the songs ending.

 

Wind Chimes - the first verse is as beautiful as Wonderful, but the following riff doesn't live up to that. That riff works far better on Can't Wait Too Long. 3/5

By the way, I wish Wind Chimes were the B-side to GV. Completing another SMiLE track would have inspired and pushed Brian toward completion of SMiLE in my opinion.

 

I give it a 4/5. I like the Smiley Smile version better mainly due to the way the vocals were handled. In Smiley Smile they were appropriate to the rest of the track. In Smile they were too loud taking away from the atmosphere.

 

I like Smiley Smile version: it has a certain atmosphere and the bit at the end (not the Whispering Winds bit, which of course is sublime) but the "wind chime tinkling" part is genuinely weird.

But the SMiLE version to me is interesting. To me it suggests that the singer is lying in bed, listenint to windchimes, sad and melancholy; he drifts off to sleep. And the gentle breeze becomes a tornado. The music reminds me a little of the tornado sequence in the Wizard of Oz film, so I see the man as being himself blown by this gale-force wind, utterly terrified. And then there's the creepy calm in the eye of the storm; and it starts up again. I love it. I think it's underrated.

 

That's the trick isn't it? We know what the Fire was to be. What of the Air, Earth and Water? The Tinkling Winds certainly fit for Air. I am still convinced "Water Chant" was in Brian's mind and he just did not get to tracking it until the fall of 1967. What of Earth? Some think it was "Do You Like Worms?" I personally think that the Earth section was never conceived by Brian.

I currently put Fire/Water Chant together as a song into Good Vibrations. But it would not be crazy to sequence the following: Do You Like Worms?, The Elements: Fire/Water Chant/Tinkling Winds, Wind Chimes

 

Wind Chimes - 4/5

I love the SMiLE Sessions version. As mentioned above, I removed the "Tinkling Winds" from Holidays and meld it to this one. So I have the same transition, but the Tinkling Winds are just a part of "Wind Chimes". As I mentioned above, I am thinking about playing with moving the Tinkling Winds to The Elements, but it would still be the same transition.

 

SMiLE stereo question for you guys. I put together my version of SMiLE from the mono of course, because that was all that was available. Can any of you list sources for a stereo SMiLE? How close can one get? Is the Good Vibrations stereo extraction good enough to put on such a thing? Thanks!!