well, i just gave "smile" a listen.

[iron mitchell]

hmm... i dunno. i'm definitely a little disappointed, but i sorta expected that considering i've been listening to (and worshipping) "smiley smile" on a very regular basis since i bought it in high school. i guess this one just sounds so unnecessarily overproduced and almost plastic, compared to the old recordings, because of it (along with some of the underwhelming vocal performances).
i still like it a lot. there are some definite improvements... "windchimes", "mrs o'leary's cow", and several other tracks are perfect. no complaints at all about them, but my main problem lies in the fact that "heroes and villians" and "good vibrations" were already perfect. they should have just kept the old versions.
everyone should definitely check this out. it's not quite as incredible as we dreamed it'd be, but it's a hell of a lot better than just about everything else, regardless.