The Beach Boys vs. The Beatles note

I am pretty sick of fans and even journalists getting this wrong.

The jousting that went on between The Beatles and The Beach Boys in the mid 60's went like this, pretty much due to the shear chronological time frame of each album's release dates.


The Beatles - Rubber Soul
Recorded: June 17th; October 12th – November 11th, 1965
Released: December 3rd, 1965.


The Beach Boys - Pet Sounds

Recorded: July 12, 1965; November 1, 1965 – April 13, 1966
Released: May 16, 1966

Brian Wilson and the Beach Boys are so impressed by Rubber Soul they go ahead and create Pet Sounds (I imagine primarily in the period of time between November '65 and April of '66 since presumably hearing all of Rubber Soul in December).


The Beatles - Revolver

Recorded: April 6th - June 21st, 1966
Released: August 5th, 1966

The Beatles, after hearing The Beach Boys Pet Sounds in May of 1966, wrote and recorded much of this album which is seen as a reaction to it.


The Beach Boys - Good Vibrations (Single)

Recorded: February–September 1966
Released: October 10, 1966


After hearing The Beatles Revolver, The Beach Boys, or rather Brian Wilson specifically reacted so strongly with trying to top that album, he wrote and had the band go through an incredibly meticulous and expensive process to make this single song.

"The production of the song is reported to have spanned seventeen recording sessions at four different recording studios, and used over 90 hours of magnetic recording tape, with an eventual budget of $50,000."

Originally, Brian Wilson never intended this to be included on a full-length LP, but in the process of making the music for Smile, and also the reaction to The Beatles Revolver, it was then intended to be included on Smile.


The Beatles - Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band

Recorded December 6th, 1966 – April 21st 1967
Released: June 1st, 1967

The Beatles released this as a reaction to The Beach Boys Good Vibrations, but also a follow-up to Revolver.


The Beach Boys - Smile/The Smile Sessions

Recorded: May 11, 1966 – May 19, 1967
Except "Good Vibrations": recorded February 17 – September 1, 1966
Released: November 1, 2011

So if you're one of these people who thinks Pet Sounds or even Smile was part of the jousting from Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, take a look at the actual RELEASE DATES and you may realize you're off by 1 album.

However, based on the dates Smile/The Smile Sessions were actually RECORDED, Brian Wilson and The Beach Boys hadn't even heard Sgt Pepper's, because they finished recording for Smile a few weeks earlier in May.

The ole story goes is when Brian Wilson heard Revolver he freaked out so much he labored for all that time over what never got released until this year in The Smile Sessions. Then after completing work on that, he heard Sgt Pepper's and decided to give up. But it was REVOLVER not SGT PEPPER'S that inspired Smile. Sgt Pepper's was basically just salt in his already deep wound.

Capital Records to release The Beach Boys "Smile Sessions"?

story

In an interview with Examiner.com last week, Al Jardine let slip news that pop fans have been waiting to hear for over four decades. According to the guitarist, Capitol Records is planning to release The Beach Boys’ lost masterpiece, Smile, this summer. The album, which was intended to be the follow-up to the group’s magnum opus, Pet Sounds, was scuttled in late 1966 for a variety of reasons and has never been released to the public in its entirety. In 2004, Brian Wilson rerecorded the material as Brian Wilson Presents Smile, winning three Grammy nominations for his efforts. But until now, The Beach Boys’ version has remained on the shelf. Jardine, though, says that is all about to change.

“Capitol Records plans to issue a Beach Boys version of Smile sometime this summer to begin the celebration of The Beach Boys’ anniversary,” he said. “Smile is the Holy Grail for Beach Boys’ fans, so it will be good.”

He continued, “I don’t have many details on it, although we didn't do any new recording. I'm happy to see it finally come out. Brian’s changed his mind about releasing the material, but it was inevitable, wasn’t it?”

this would be great to have happen. Although as a friend of mine has said, Capital Records have been saying they were going to release these for decades. A bit like Chinese Democracy, but much longer.

If they do actually do come out, it'll be fun to hear them this way (compared to the bootlegs), and compare them to Brian Wilson's Smile from 2004.