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Smile - (piano version) (alterate vocal) ?

BuffaloBill87

BuffaloBill87

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Has anyone heard of the above on youtube?

It was done by "Remixed by Nick", I've not posted the link in fear of a ban but was curious if many people have heard this?

It is simply gorgeous. I'd love to know what y'all think.
 
SmoothGangsta said:
Yes it's a very nice version, Nick's stuff is great.
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I hadn't heard this take before so was blown away by the vocals!

Noticed it was put up around 3 years ago so I'm late to the party. Apologies also if it has already been posted on here.
 
If it is fan made did this nick play the piano then or how does this work?
I’m going to rename myself “clueless”

edit: I never heard it
 
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This 'Smile' piano version is definitely inferior to the official version of the song, because of 2 reasons.

Firstly, the 'Smile' piano version does not have Michael Jackson's whistling.

Without Michael Jackson's whistling, the song sounds incomplete.

Also that particular whistling has been described as one of the highlights not just of the 'Smile' song but also of the entire 'HIStory' album.

And secondly, the 'Smile' piano version as a more stripped down version, lacks those classical music elements of the official version which give the song a more dramatic and emotional feel.

Note also that the alternate vocals of the piano version mean nothing because after a while you will get used to them.
 
BuffaloBill87 said:
Has anyone heard of the above on youtube?

It was done by "Remixed by Nick", I've not posted the link in fear of a ban but was curious if many people have heard this?

It is simply gorgeous. I'd love to know what y'all think.
Click to expand...
Oh, this is interesting. Didn't know about this. I will have to check it out. Ages ago I listened to all the versions of Smile I could find. Nat King Cole and Seal have better orchestration than Michael but I think Michael's vocal performance is better. But there is also a version by Dave Gahan from Depeche Mode and that is piano only. I'm not keen of DG's voice or his performance of the song but his version works, overall, bc of the piano. And I always thought I'd love to hear a version with Michael and piano. So this is great.

filmandmusic said:
If it is fan made did this nick play the piano then or how does this work?
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I'm also confused.
 
mj_frenzy said:
This 'Smile' piano version is definitely inferior to the official version of the song, because of 2 reasons.

Firstly, the 'Smile' piano version does not have Michael Jackson's whistling.

Without Michael Jackson's whistling, the song sounds incomplete.

Also that particular whistling has been described as one of the highlights not just of the 'Smile' song but also of the entire 'HIStory' album.

And secondly, the 'Smile' piano version as a more stripped down version, lacks those classical music elements of the official version which give the song a more dramatic and emotional feel.

Note also that the alternate vocals of the piano version mean nothing because after a while you will get used to them.
Click to expand...
Hmm I disagree. They are both fantastic and that is down to the vocal.

There are some parts in the alternate that are superior to the released track.

I love hearing the voice all stripped back like this. The whistling part at the end is missing but I never thought it made the released version that much more special.

The vocals alone are just so good!
 
I'm not laughing with you @zinniabooklover but I have a way of visualizing people when I read their comments and in my head you looked very funny while pronouncing "fantasizing"

PS I have no clue if my attempt is any better than yours lol
 
zinniabooklover said:
Beats everything my imagination came up with. I'm still confused about the piano bit but I also don't care. This is what I've been fantasisisng (aargh,sp?) about for ... I don't even know for how long.

omg!!! 🥰
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Glad you enoyed it.

It is simply wonderful. The pinned comment on that video really hits home 😪

One evening in a classy jazz bar somewhere in an old town, not far from the sea, a 60 year old Michael Jackson fully recovered from addictions is playing piano. In the middle of it, a lovely young couple is dancing tenderly 😔
 
BuffaloBill87 said:
Glad you enoyed it.
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You have no idea. Literally for a couple of years I've been dreaming of this. Of course, if I'd bothered to search YT I'd have found it. I'm not much of an online person, lol.

Funnily enough, I've been singing Smile in my head all day today.

BuffaloBill87 said:
It is simply wonderful. The pinned comment on that video really hits home 😪
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Tomorrow I'll check this out. I am so happy with this. It is beyond.

BuffaloBill87 said:
One evening in a classy jazz bar somewhere in an old town, not far from the sea, a 60 year old Michael Jackson fully recovered from addictions is playing piano. In the middle of it, a lovely young couple is dancing tenderly 😔
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Oh, please don't. This is one of my dearest daydreams. If Michael had lived, if he had been at all interested in doing this kind of performance ...

Michael's voice and a piano. That is all that's needed.

Thank you for doing the thread and thanks to @filmandmusic for posting the vid. But mostly thank you to Michael for being so beautiful and so brilliant.
 
filmandmusic said:
I'm not laughing with you @zinniabooklover but I have a way of visualizing people when I read their comments and in my head you looked very funny while pronouncing "fantasizing"

PS I have no clue if my attempt is any better than yours lol
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oh, I know how to spell the wretched word but I'm all doolally with this version of Smile. My brain is shot to pieces - but in a good way. I've been dreaming of this for so long. Who knew this was already sitting on YT? Thank you so much for posting it. Tomorrow I'm gonna check out the comments.
 
zinniabooklover said:
Michael's voice and a piano. That is all that's all i needed.

Thank you for doing the thread and thanks to @filmandmusic for posting the vid. But mostly thank you to Michael for being so beautiful and so brilliant.
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Not to be that guy... but you should thank Nick* too, for his great mixing and mastering and for kindly releasing that alternate take :p
 
filmandmusic said:
If it is fan made did this nick play the piano then or how does this work?
I’m going to rename myself “clueless”

edit: I never heard it
Click to expand...

Nick is great, listen to all his stuff! Fan-made in the sense that the mix is not officially released. Nick mixed these himself from the original multitrack recordings of the song.
 
ZeconMusic said:
Nick is great, listen to all his stuff! Fan-made in the sense that the mix is not officially released. Nick mixed these himself from the original multitrack recordings of the song.
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Thanks, it is not often I come across multitrack remixes post 80s MJ!
This would actually be worthy of an official release, it is an entirely different version of smile, new music (or maybe just stripped I’m not sure) and new vocals.!
 
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mj_frenzy said:
Without Michael Jackson's whistling, the song sounds incomplete.
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I disagree. I actually prefer the song without the whistling at the end. There's a version online somewhere where that last part is removed and fades out after Michael is done singing that fits just right. Never liked the whistling ending to the song.
 
mj_frenzy said:
This 'Smile' piano version is definitely inferior to the official version of the song, because of 2 reasons.
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Definitely? That's a bold statement.

Anyway, I disagree. This version is not at all inferior to the album version, imo. It has a sort of mystical feel to it and yet also an immediacy that is perhaps missing from the orchestral version, it works really well, has its own beauty and has so much to offer.

mj_frenzy said:
Firstly, the 'Smile' piano version does not have Michael Jackson's whistling.
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It does not. And it's no loss. The whistling is lovely but is not essential, imo.

mj_frenzy said:
Without Michael Jackson's whistling, the song sounds incomplete.
Click to expand...
Sounds fine to me without the whistling.

mj_frenzy said:
Also that particular whistling has been described as one of the highlights not just of the 'Smile' song but also of the entire 'HIStory' album.
Click to expand...
But described by whom? It doesn't come close to being one of the highlights of HIStory for me, let alone a highlight of the song itself.

mj_frenzy said:
And secondly, the 'Smile' piano version as a more stripped down version, lacks those classical music elements of the official version which give the song a more dramatic and emotional feel.
Click to expand...
For some, maybe. For me, the emotional and dramatic feel is enhanced precisely bc there is so little between me and Michael's voice.

mj_frenzy said:
Note also that the alternate vocals of the piano version mean nothing because after a while you will get used to them.
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What does this even mean?

There are songs I've been listening to since I was three years old. They most certainly have not lost any meaning for me just bc I know them so well. On the contrary, the more you know a song, the more you can get out of it.
 
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I don't particularly like the sound of the piano but overall it sounds more intimate which I definitely encourage when you have a voice like MJ had. I never liked it when his voice was accompanied by a 1000 other sounds or buried in the mix. But most of all, what I love most about this "remix" is that it has for me unheard vocals.
 
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