Writing and Recording
After the announcement that Smile was shelved in May 1967, the Beach Boys were still under pressure and contractual obligation to record and present an album to Capitol Records. From the several hours worth of material recorded from May 1966 to May 1967 only portions of the backing track for "Heroes and Villains", recorded in October 1966, and the coda for "Vegetables", recorded in April 1967, were sourced for Smiley Smile. In addition to this, "Good Vibrations", which had been recorded sporadically from May 24 to September 1, 1966, was placed on Smiley Smile in its original form, reportedly at Capitol's insistence to help bolster sales as it had been a no. 1 charting single, despite Brian's strenuous objections.. Beyond these examples, the large majority of Smiley Smile was recorded in a modular approach at Brian Wilson's home studio in Bel Air from June 3 to July 14, 1967.
The studio set up at Brian Wilson's house was, in its mid-1967 incarnation for Smiley Smile, in its infancy. Due to the sporadic nature at which Brian decided to produce the record at the house, there was little time to fully outfit the Bel Air residence as a proper equipped recording studio. The Beach Boys recorded the album using what was predominantly radio broadcasting equipment which was lacking many technical elements and effects found in conventional studios. This led to unconventional ways of achieving particular sounds at the home, such as a replacement for what would be achieved by an echo chamber. Jim Lockert, engineer for Smiley Smile recalled "Brian's swimming pool had a leak in it and was empty, so we put a microphone in the bottom of this damn near Olympic-size pool and the guys laid down inside the pool and sang so the sound would go down the wall of the concrete pool into the microphone – and that was part of the vocals on one of those songs", and has spoken out about other peculiarities of the sessions which include vocals being tracked in the shower. Due to this eclectic mix of recording paraphernalia and curious methods of tracking the sounds, Smiley Smile possesses a distinct signature sound.
Smiley Smile includes versions of several Wilson/Parks compositions originally intended for Smile. "She's Goin' Bald" borrows the verse melody from a Smile fragment known as "He Gives Speeches", "With Me Tonight" derives from a discarded movement of "Hereos and Villains", "Fall Breaks and Back to Winter" is an instrumental that has similarities to "The Elements: Fire", and "Wind Chimes", "Vegetables", and "Wonderful" were re-recorded with radically sparse new arrangements. The only remnant of Smile presented remotely like its original form was "Heroes and Villains", which went through numerous permutations before the selection of a shorter version included on Smiley Smile. "Little Pad", "Whistle In" and "Gettin' Hungry" were recorded and originated during the June to July sessions.
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