From The Smile Shop

Tones (also called "Tune X")

Sessions

March 3, 1967

3/3: AFM contract, for artist Carl Wilson, employer Brother Records, authorized by Brian Wilson, with William Hinsche as leader and musician, Diane Rovell as contractor, plus an 8-piece string section. Engineered by Armin Steiner at Sound Recorders. No master number. Title: "Tones"

What I find interesting is that the AFM sheet for the first session (March 3rd) lists the artist as "Carl Wilson" and the employer as "Brother Records". Documentation for all subsequent sessions lists the artist as "The Beach Boys" and the employer as "Capitol Records". Makes me think it started as a Carl solo vehicle and was quickly diverted to the Beach Boys, possibly for use in a revamped "SMiLE" lineup. I would tend to think that first session was produced by Carl, since he can be heard doing the count-in at the beginning. Is there some evidence that Brian produced it?

At one time, it was thought the title "Tones" may have originated with the writing on a tape box (which typically will have "test tones" at various frequencies logged on the lid), however AFM contracts and Capitol worksheets for the first few sessions clearly identify the song as "Tones", while one worksheet says "Tune X (Tones)", and the final AFM contract says "Tones (Part #3)". The recordings we have in circulation seem to be "Part #1", as the instrumentation used most closely resembles that on the AFM contract for the first session. -- Craig Slowinski

Carl and Dennis each produced a track with studio musicians during the Smile sessions. Whether this was a conscious effort to make the "late" Smile more of a group effort than a solo Brian project or if it was simply for them to test their own production mettle is unknown. The project number for the track sent to Capitol was 31-5526 – Smile´s project number. The mysterious Tune X (Tones) session has been confirmed to be Carl´s Tones. -- Lou Shenk, A SMiLE Primer

Tones. March 1967. Carl's production, probably his composition as well, although I have not heard that confirmed. It's a string-driven tune (violas and cellos I would guess?), mid-tempo, with some nice chord changes in the last part of the verses leading to the chorus, and a snazzy slide guitar overdub on the final chorus/fade. The drums also kick in at the same time as the guitar. It's very similar to that string-laden "Goat" track (can't remember which one - there are more than one) from the High Llamas' "Gideon Gaye" album. Of course the real kicker was the crystal-clear sound quality. The frustrating part though is that prior to the final chorus, you can hear a lapse in sound quality, and a sharp click, as though someone turned a knob or something. I never could figure out what could have caused that - maybe someone was adjusting levels prior to the overdub of the guitar/drums? Who knows. But anyway, that little glitch is in the recording that has circled the 'net; alas, it was also in the recording played for us at the Convention. -- Peter Beyer, Convention -- Busy Doin' Something -- Rare Songs

March 13, 1967

3/13: Capitol worksheet, for artist The Beach Boys. Vocal session by 5 artists. At Sound Recorders. Master # 57321, Project # 31-5526 (same Project # as the "SMiLE" album). Title: Tones

Looking at the documentation, the Capitol worksheet for the March 13th vocal session has the location as Sound Recorders (not Western as Badman indicates), and the March 31st tracking session as "Sound Recording Studio", which is more likely Sound Recorders than Sunset Sound, I would think, since there were so many sessions being held by the Beach Boys at Sound Recorders around this time (probably because it, like Columbia, had an 8-track deck). Also, despite the fact that Badman says the April 11th session was canceled according to the Union log, there is no such notation on the AFM contract for that session. He might have been referring to a different document, but there are other AFM sheets that do bear a "session canceled" notation, whereas this one does not. -- Craig Slowinski

March 15, 1967

Instrumental overdubbing onto the March 3rd recording.

3/15: AFM contract, for artist The Beach Boys, employer Capitol Records. Leader is Diane Rovell. No authorized signature. Tracking session with three musicians: Carol Kaye, Bill Pitman, and Lyle Ritz, at Western Recorders, with Chuck Britz engineering. Master # 57321. Title: "Tones" -- Craig Slowinski

March 31, 1967

3/31: Capitol worksheet, for artist The Beach Boys. Leader and musician Hal Blaine, contractor D. Rovell. 8 musicians total (it does say "excluding contractor", so Diane would not be one of the 8). Other musicians named: Gene Estes, Jim Gordon. Location: Sound Recorders. Master # 57400, Project # 31-5526. Title: Tune X (Tones)

The documentation I have for the March 31st session is a Capitol worksheet indicating 8 musicians were employed, three of whom are named: Hal Blaine, Gene Estes, and Jim Gordon (one of the 8 may have been contractor Diane Rovell and another may have been engineer Armin Steiner, leaving 3 unidentified).

If all of the info regarding Van Dyke's involvement is from the Badman book, it may be erroneous. If there are other sources, it may be valid info, so by all means let us know. But comparing the documentation I have with what Badman writes, a have a sneaking suspicion that he's getting his info from an old description of the "Holiday" session tape, because when that first appeared on the collector's circuit, it was misidentified as "Tones". That session tape revealed that Dennis, Van Dyke, and Gene Estes were all playing on the track, but it turned out to be "Holiday". A description of that tape by Brad Elliott was published in one or more of the fanzines in the early '80s. Brad also came up with info on the canceled sessions of March 28th, 29th, and 30th in his time line of "SMiLE" sessions, published in ESQ in May 1988, but he didn't say what song was supposed to be recorded...I think maybe Badman just assumed it was "Tune X", because that's what was finally recorded on March 31st. However there's no indication that I'm aware of that Van was supposed to be involved in those sessions. Likewise, I think maybe Badman assumed Brian was the producer of these sessions because that's what Brad originally assumed (in his original article on the "SMiLE" sessions, published in "Add Some Music" early in 1984), and because Brian was the producer of the "Holiday" session that many thought was "Tones/Tune X" until sometime in the early '90s.

It does seem odd that the March 31st session would be given a different master number than the other "Tones" sessions, but that could simply be a mistake (whoever assigned it didn't realize there was already a master number assigned for this song). I don't know why the Capitol worksheet for that session would say "Tune X (Tones)" if this was simply a reference to test tones, since none of the other Capitol worksheets over the years mention "tones". The fact that they had a song called "Tones" in production at the time seems to weigh in favor of the March 31st session being for the song "Tones", but why they put that title in parentheses following "Tune X" here and nowhere else is a good question. Since the April 11th session is for "Part #3", I would think Part 2 would've been recorded at either the March 15th or 31st session...or possibly both, meaning the first attempt was rejected, and it was tracked again. HOWEVER, there's also the possibility that the March 15th session was merely for overdubbing onto the March 3rd track (although the AFM contract says "tracking", not "sweetening", as would normally be the case for an overdub session... still, since only three musicians were employed on March 15th, all of them guitar or bass players, the likelihood of an overdub session is greater, I would think). This would leave March 31st as the tracking date for Part 2 of the song. -- Craig Slowinski

April 11, 1967

4/11: AFM contract, for artist The Beach Boys, employer Capitol Records, with William Pitman as leader and musician. No authorized signature. Tracking session with five musicians (Pitman, Ronald Benson, Frank Capp, Jim Gordon, and Lyle Ritz), plus engineer Chuck Britz and contractor Diane Rovell. Location: Western Recorders. Master # 57321. Title: Tones (Part #3) -- Craig Slowinski