well done, Katie. Your thinking matches mine pretty well. Here's my review of Smile AI as found on Dae Lims channel: Well, 8 months have gone by and it is time for a more fulsome response. I could write a 10,000 word article on Dae Lims SMILE re-creation (and perhaps I will), but I'll try to be concise. I am one of the Smile "O.G.s"--that is, I was a Smile freak nearly 50 years ago. I consider myself one of the top 500 or so "experts" in the world (as are many of the people who have commented below). I made my first Smile mix tape in 1976. At the time I had never heard a Smile mix tape; I didn't even know it was a "thing"; I just wanted to make a coherent musical statement using the music that I loved. I had limited resources to work with--Smiley Smile, the "completed" versions of Surf's Up, Cabinessence, Cool, Cool Water and Our Prayer, as well as a couple of bootlegs. Fortunately today we have a wealth of source material. All of my mix tapes started with Our Prayer, then moved through Gee and Heroes & Villains. They always ended with Surf's Up. It turns out that many people had the same idea. I have always been astonished by the beauty and wonder of this music, and attracted by the "what if" aspect. None of us knows what Smile would've sounded like in a "final" version. Hell, Brian himself didn't know what he was going to do with it, so anyone who claims they "know" what a final version would have entailed is an idiot or a liar. Thus, any intelligent attempt to piece it together is valid. Much has been made of Dae Lims sequencing. It is not how I imagined it. An effort must be made to empty your mind of preconceived notions and receive the music as if it were brand new. In my view, this version of Smile, had it appeared in 1967, would be cited as the greatest album ever made! Yes, better than Pet Sounds and Pepper. I have listened all the way through dozens of times, and cannot finish it without tears in my eyes. In these 38 minutes, Dae Lims gives us a unique look at "what could have been". This project--conceived by Brian (with Van Dyke Parks) and recorded by Brian and The Beach Boys--with finishing touches by Dae Lims--stands as a monumental work of art. A longtime friend heard it and said he didn't care for it. "WTF?" was my response. He said, "it's not in the official order". I don't know if the "official" order he was referring to was the Beach Boys release of a few years ago or the 2004 Brian Wilson version. Again, there IS no official order, and BRIAN HIMSELF didn't know how he was going to finish it. An effort must be made to approach this honestly as if you were hearing it for the first time in 1967. This will not stop the "what would SMILE have been like" parlor game. Would Brian have included Good Vibrations? Would he have recorded additional instrumentation or vocals (almost certainly)? Would he have made a double album? The possibilities are endless and there will never be a definitive answer. There are so many nice touches that I can't list them without going off on a thousand tangents. The point is, Dae LIms has an uncommon degree of skill and taste. His A.I. voices are spot-on. He has a producer's knack for imagining what "should" be there. There are occasions where you can hear Dae singing, but generally the added voices are extremely realistic representations of Brian, Mike, Carl, Al and Dennis. my original review at the time of release 9 months ago: Good Lord this is gorgeous. Too many highlights to list, but I'll mention a couple, using examples from Surf's Up: the swelling chorus of voices at 36:42 and unexpected key change; the Brian falsetto @36:52; the Mike bass voice 37:05; the lonely tenor sax signature at 37:14; the growing discordant undercurrent at about 37:54 which gives way to the ending (which I won't give away--"follow the bouncing ball"). I am familiar with Rembrandt, Mozart, Martin Luther and the other greats of modern art and philosophy, but for me, this is the high water mark of Western Civilization. Do yourself a favor: pour a glass of wine, find a comfy chair, slip on some headphones, close your eyes and spend the next 38 minutes in a beautiful world. You won't want to come back! Don't cheat and forward to the end. Listen to it completely and be stunned
I love when the Pennsylvania accent creeps in. Anyway on back on topic but I’m glad you agree with a little bit with me. Let’s not forget he’s used a lot of his own vocals there too. And I’m always saying how emotional I get about Brian’s stuff…and I gotta say…when I heard the end of surfs up it just broke me in half. What Dae did is so intuitive. Just the same way no one has been able to recreate what Brian does after decades…I think Dae is a rare gem in the AI community…no one will be able to recreate what he does. Not just with smile, but with Let’s Put Our Hearts together, Sandy, Don’t forget the sun etc….its art.
As a fellow Smile mixer, I fully believe that Smile AI is the biggest leap forward we've had with AI generated vocals as an artistic statement. Can't wait to see what else is done with it, and I'm happy to see this album is still far from forgotten.
I hate to say it but same. I have some memories with BWPS I am still working through. Maybe I can listen to it one day without knowing all the behind-the-scenes drama with it.
![If you can't hear this then you're not an audiophile [See description for link to followup video]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/48PxwspDvrE/mqdefault.jpg)
Dae Lims Holy Man is really cool.
well done, Katie. Your thinking matches mine pretty well. Here's my review of Smile AI as found on Dae Lims channel:
Well, 8 months have gone by and it is time for a more fulsome response. I could write a 10,000 word article on Dae Lims SMILE re-creation (and perhaps I will), but I'll try to be concise.
I am one of the Smile "O.G.s"--that is, I was a Smile freak nearly 50 years ago. I consider myself one of the top 500 or so "experts" in the world (as are many of the people who have commented below). I made my first Smile mix tape in 1976. At the time I had never heard a Smile mix tape; I didn't even know it was a "thing"; I just wanted to make a coherent musical statement using the music that I loved. I had limited resources to work with--Smiley Smile, the "completed" versions of Surf's Up, Cabinessence, Cool, Cool Water and Our Prayer, as well as a couple of bootlegs. Fortunately today we have a wealth of source material. All of my mix tapes started with Our Prayer, then moved through Gee and Heroes & Villains. They always ended with Surf's Up. It turns out that many people had the same idea.
I have always been astonished by the beauty and wonder of this music, and attracted by the "what if" aspect. None of us knows what Smile would've sounded like in a "final" version. Hell, Brian himself didn't know what he was going to do with it, so anyone who claims they "know" what a final version would have entailed is an idiot or a liar. Thus, any intelligent attempt to piece it together is valid. Much has been made of Dae Lims sequencing. It is not how I imagined it. An effort must be made to empty your mind of preconceived notions and receive the music as if it were brand new. In my view, this version of Smile, had it appeared in 1967, would be cited as the greatest album ever made! Yes, better than Pet Sounds and Pepper. I have listened all the way through dozens of times, and cannot finish it without tears in my eyes. In these 38 minutes, Dae Lims gives us a unique look at "what could have been". This project--conceived by Brian (with Van Dyke Parks) and recorded by Brian and The Beach Boys--with finishing touches by Dae Lims--stands as a monumental work of art.
A longtime friend heard it and said he didn't care for it. "WTF?" was my response. He said, "it's not in the official order". I don't know if the "official" order he was referring to was the Beach Boys release of a few years ago or the 2004 Brian Wilson version. Again, there IS no official order, and BRIAN HIMSELF didn't know how he was going to finish it. An effort must be made to approach this honestly as if you were hearing it for the first time in 1967.
This will not stop the "what would SMILE have been like" parlor game. Would Brian have included Good Vibrations? Would he have recorded additional instrumentation or vocals (almost certainly)? Would he have made a double album? The possibilities are endless and there will never be a definitive answer.
There are so many nice touches that I can't list them without going off on a thousand tangents. The point is, Dae LIms has an uncommon degree of skill and taste. His A.I. voices are spot-on. He has a producer's knack for imagining what "should" be there. There are occasions where you can hear Dae singing, but generally the added voices are extremely realistic representations of Brian, Mike, Carl, Al and Dennis.
my original review at the time of release 9 months ago: Good Lord this is gorgeous. Too many highlights to list, but I'll mention a couple, using examples from Surf's Up: the swelling chorus of voices at 36:42 and unexpected key change; the Brian falsetto @36:52; the Mike bass voice 37:05; the lonely tenor sax signature at 37:14; the growing discordant undercurrent at about 37:54 which gives way to the ending (which I won't give away--"follow the bouncing ball"). I am familiar with Rembrandt, Mozart, Martin Luther and the other greats of modern art and philosophy, but for me, this is the high water mark of Western Civilization.
Do yourself a favor: pour a glass of wine, find a comfy chair, slip on some headphones, close your eyes and spend the next 38 minutes in a beautiful world. You won't want to come back! Don't cheat and forward to the end. Listen to it completely and be stunned
Great review, and thank you for watching!
I love when the Pennsylvania accent creeps in.
Anyway on back on topic but I’m glad you agree with a little bit with me. Let’s not forget he’s used a lot of his own vocals there too.
And I’m always saying how emotional I get about Brian’s stuff…and I gotta say…when I heard the end of surfs up it just broke me in half. What Dae did is so intuitive. Just the same way no one has been able to recreate what Brian does after decades…I think Dae is a rare gem in the AI community…no one will be able to recreate what he does. Not just with smile, but with Let’s Put Our Hearts together, Sandy, Don’t forget the sun etc….its art.
His walk on by / are you there is also brilliant. Haha, yes, I'm a PA girl for life 😅
As a fellow Smile mixer, I fully believe that Smile AI is the biggest leap forward we've had with AI generated vocals as an artistic statement. Can't wait to see what else is done with it, and I'm happy to see this album is still far from forgotten.
I agree and thank you very much for watching!
SMiLE AI is my alltime favorite SMiLE fanmix!
I would say my 2nd favorite is Project Smile. I learned a lot from that!
I think I have listened to it more than The Smile Sessions or BWPS
I hate to say it but same. I have some memories with BWPS I am still working through. Maybe I can listen to it one day without knowing all the behind-the-scenes drama with it.