I’m different from you in that I barely bothered with stuff like Purple Chick or whatever it was called. Just never got into that much.

I remember Derrick complaining that “the mystery was destroyed” when we finally got Brian Wilson Presents SMiLE and The SMiLE Sessions but I don’t really think that’s the case, with one big caveat: if there’s a thorn in the side of the “big mystery,” it’s that the majority of highlights from the album all got released on actual Beach Boys albums. It was the smaller tracks everyone found “mysterious.” “Holiday” you can take, regardless of whether it has the pirate rap in it…though to me, the weakest link was always “Barnyard.” Just never found like anything that was terribly finished. “In Blue Hawaii” is indeed the most improved track.

And didn’t everyone’s made-up tracklisting for the bootlegs always have “Surf’s Up” at the end anyway? And no “Good Vibrations”? Or did they have “Good Vibrations,” and if they did, did they have a version with the extra chant session? Ehm? Armf? Moof?

Okay, won’t be bothering with The Wondermints. So much for that mystery. Kinda like when I listened to Jay Bennett’s pre-Wilco band and hated them.

I may go a few years without listening to the album anymore. I listened to BWPS for 10 years after 2004 and then put it aside for along time, except for “Good Vibrations.” And I’ve listened to the Sessions enough, too. I’m kinda _SMiLE_d out, really.