Brian Wilson - SMiLE

Smile is inarguably the most long-awaited album in modern pop history. It's been more than 37 years since the title first appeared on a label release schedule, intended as the January 1967 follow-up to the groundbreaking art-rock of the Beach Boys' Pet Sounds. But Smile never made its initial release date. Today, this album is not a mere reconstruction of past performances, but something entirely new, a serious summation of a project that has been gestating for nearly four decades. Album Description

Confusing and inconsistent

I'd heard that this was one of those missing gems of musical history,so I had to check it out and was mostly confused. I may have even given the album a higher rating than it deserves because my reaction was not angry, but like I was missing something given all the hype. Its not that I would call it bad, it just wasn't all that fun and catchy as pop music, nor did it have any seeming depth as serious experimental music. It just lurched from song to song and lurched within songs. The false endings and sudden restarting of Heroes and Villains became tiresome. And was this supposed to be Rock and roll? Because it came to sound like some sort of experiment with older American music forms Randy Newman might make, but then not release for sale. I'm not the greatest Beach Boys fan, but I'd give Wilson an honest chance.

I think the high marks, as easy as it would be to make catty remarks about them, are superfans who may have other areas of more sensible taste, but are blinded by their love of Wilson in a whole context and mistake the way this album inflames their nostalgia for great accomplishment by the album itself. Maybe it is just one of those controversial taste dividing lines between otherwise agreeable persons. In any case, borrow this before you buy it, otherwise you will be thinking about what you could have done with that $15 for a LONG time to come. July 16, 2008

Experiencing a whole new world

I bought this album in the fall of '04 because I liked the Beach Boys and I saw that Good Vibrations was on this CD. I was only vaguely aware of Brian Wilson's involvement with them and at the time I mostly associated him with the song Brian Wilson by The Bare Naked Ladies. It sounds pretty crazy to me now, but I had just never heard much about the Beach Boys and Brian beyond most of their surfer songs and Lennon and McCartney's fondness towards Pet Sounds. Needless to say, I had no idea what I was in for when I listened to this. I had put it in my car stereo immediately upon leaving the store and initially thought I had made a mistake. It wasn't like anything I had ever heard before. Then, almost surreally, there started to be sounds of doo-wop or 'oldies' rock that I really like and then I was totally taken away by the music. It was almost organic, in that the music felt so fresh and alive and blended so seemlessly from one song to the next. I couldn't believe what I was hearing and afterwards was almost obsessed with learning everything I could about Wilson and SMiLE. I found out I was far from the only one who was moved by the music this way.

I consider it an honor that I got to buy this final completed album when it came out and experience it like I did. Also, as a side note, when I was listening to Good Vibrations at the end of the album basking in what I had just heard, I thought I was in familiar territory and then there was an extra section of chanting during the part of the song where it gets quiet that wasn't in the original release of the song, and it was so perfect and unexpected and it really did make me smile listening to it. I'll never forget that. June 24, 2008

Fabulous!

David Crosby was right when he said that Brian Wilson's song writing was quite beyond what was in Vogue in the '60's among the Rock and Roll artists.....that he used chords no one dared to use... and i would simply agree...his harmonies and melodies are so unique and sublime!...and in this recording...one finds such a diverse set of songs that are just simply fabulous!...to me, Brian Wilson represents what a true musician should be...artistry, talent and daring individualism, always bringing something new to the fore...what a Troubadour indeed! January 18, 2008

Brilliant. Timeless. Period.

SMiLE is hands-down a beautiful piece of work from beginning to end. I am 28 and an avid collector of all styles of music from old school hip-hop to rock in its various forms to jazz/r&b/blues/funk. etc. This album is an absolute delight to listen to.

I wasn't around in 1967 to anticipate the original would-be release of this record. In fact I had never even heard of the project until its release in 2004. I had studied music enough to understand the importance of Pet Sounds and Good Vibrations, so I could appreciate the amibtion of Wilson's direction. But plain and simple, this record could be considered a masterpiece during any era of pop/rock history. It's just fun to listen to and manages to take you away from everything. It really is worlds away from anything I had heard before.

Don't listen to the naysayers who feel this album doesn't live up to some expectation created by self-righteous music critics in the late sixties. This is just bizarre, atmospheric fun and has cemented Brian Wilson in my personal list of musical geniuses. January 2, 2008

Complex pop masterpiece and instant classic

Beach Boys' mastermind Brian Wilson originally conceived and recorded an album to be known as "Smile" in 1966-67. "Smile" (1967) was the Beach Boys' follow up to the lushly-orchestrated melancholy "Pet Sounds." "Smile" (1967) was never finished or released. Wilson's 2004 solo album is a complete recreation. He and co-writer Van Dyke Parks collaborated on both words and arrangements.

I've heard few albums this good.

Americana, household ephemera, marching riffs, stabs at vaudeville humor, jazz, bluegrass, horns, slide whistles and other exotic and novelty instruments. Overpowering multi-part harmonies and lush musical arrangements. Variety in the song writing and arrangements, yet with a cohesiveness. Cross fades. "Fire": violins depict the siren swirl of a tortured soul like a Van Gogh sound painting. December 11, 2007

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