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Posted December 30, 1998 14:27:36
As far as the stage of life of H&V, I think at the time I saw it as a transition from wild youth to settled adulthood, but you're right it doesn't fit too well. Re. Holidays/Tones, no one knows if it would have been a part of SMiLE.
That continous theory is probably baloney too, I don't think even Priore claims it was Brian's intention, it was just his suggestion for compiling a personal SMiLE tape. Brian was the product of a 45 rpm single centered music industry and no one has any evidence that SMiLE was to be anything but a conventionally mastered album with 12 separated individual tracks.
I think you'll find that baloney is high on the list of ingredients in SMiLology, some of it ground by me.
Posted December 30, 1998 00:28:28
When I've tried compiling SMiLE tapes I put H&V on first, as to my mind it can function as an overture, telling the 'story' of the album in miniature, before the album proper starts with Our Prayer.
That line-up happens to be mine (I think) and it is a total load of baloney, as is Dom Priore's or anyone else's. As far as I have ever seen, neither Brian or Van have ever said anything to suggest what the sequence would be or what the unifying concept was or whether there ever was a unifying concept. Some, including me, see "child is father of the man" as a recurring theme. If you are new to the board, you just missed Stan Shantar's excellent series on this idea.