Bizarre 1967-1973 mixing choices
I love the Beach Boys' middle years, but there's some really bizarre mixing choices in this era that have me scratching my head. Does anyone have any additional insight about the recording processes during this era?
Going chronologically:
I know that Smiley Smile through CATP were recorded primarily in Brian Wilson's home studio. I feel like Smiley Smile is the only one that benefits from this muddy recording sound.
Friends and Wild Honey have incredibly dense production not dissimilar to Pet Sounds, but some of their shining moments are completely lost in the mix.
There's some beautiful remixes of Friends on YouTube that really demonstrate how dense the production was before it was buried in the mix. Just listen to the strings on this remixed Wake the World.
20/20 is also affected pretty badly by the initial mix. Compare the officially released Be With Me to the 2022 instrumental.
Sunflower and Surf's Up are some of the best albums by the Beach Boys, and they have a unique sound helmed by Stephen Desper. Some of the murkiness from those mixes works really well. I think the second side of Surf's Up sounds awesome, and the murky mix really complements the songs. The first side doesn't work as well because the songs themselves are considerably lighter in tone.
Anyways, you're free to disagree with me, but I do think that it's pretty interesting that the bands' production sounds so clear and pristine up until 1966, and then it kind of falls apart for a while. I'm sure a ton of it has to do with Brian Wilson stepping away from production, but the sound loss seems significant. I'd kill for them to remix Wild Honey-Holland and reduce some of the hiss and mud. I know Feel Flows tried to remix Sunflower and Surf's Up, but they sound even worse. The Sail On Sailor remix isn't better than the original Holland release, either.