The Dynamic Duo

Van Dyke's arrival changed everything, as Darian explains. "Another dynamic kicked in. Brian is very impressed with Van Dyke, and Van Dyke is equally impressed with Brian, so they played off each other, trying to top each other, turn each other on." Brian's confidence grew, and Van Dyke proved invaluable in boosting it when it wavered. Darian: "Part of Brian's insecurity was the fact that some of SMiLE was risky, you know... uncommercial. Take the 'Workshop' section, with all the power tools playing. Brian wasn't sure about including that, but Van Dyke said, 'We must have courage, my friend,' and so it went in."

In what Darian has subsequently described as this positive, collaborative "think tank", it wasn't long before Brian and Van Dyke were coming up with musical and lyrical ideas that would finish the incomplete parts of SMiLE. Darian describes his role during this part of the process as a 'secretary' and 'facilitator', responsible for keeping track of Brian and Van Dyke's new ideas, and ensuring that they could still be realised on stage.

With unbelievable speed, SMiLE was pulled together in Los Angeles at the end of last year. New lyrics were written for former instrumentals, and some tracks, such as 'Do You Like Worms?', were retitled. Best of all, the completed songs were strung together as three continuous pieces of music, with 'Good Vibrations' acting as a coda, an idea of Brian's that apparently harks back to a structure he had in mind for SMiLE in mid-1966. The music was kept in its original recorded key at all times, so to effect transitions between pieces in different keys, a handful of short orchestral segues were constructed in a collaborative effort between Brian, Darian, Van Dyke, and Wilson live band member Paul Mertens. Mertens also helped to score the orchestration for the second part of the song 'Surf's Up'. A 1966 version featuring Brian playing the song alone at the piano has survived, and a more produced instrumental track for the first section exists featuring percussion, basses and horns, but no similarly developed recording of the second section has ever been found. "I asked Brian what he remembered of it," says Darian, "and he said there were some strings, so we worked on that a little bit, and Van Dyke and Paul Mertens did some orchestrating."