keep in mind that there were a ton of other sections of good vibrations too, since the song was recorded over and over again in a zillion different studios. so its possible that people just assumed it was one of the many cast-off sections. GV was one of the only Smile songs that had a definitively finished version released at the time so i guess people didnt consider messing with it so much. None of the other alternate segments recorded for GV are usually used in fan mixes. At least not ones that I’ve heard. As opposed to Heroes and Villains which is almost completely reinvented with every alternate version I hear (I’ve even seen multiple nearly side-length versions!)

there was supposed to be a whole elements suite but after recording Fire freaked Brian out the rest of the suite was abandoned.

Brian’s death has been inspiring me to revisit lots of Beach Boys and Brian stuff. Been going through the Feel Flows: The Sunflower & Surf’s Up Sessions anthology in the last couple days.