Smile

Performer: Brian Wilson (Pop)
Engineer: Mark Linett
Producer: Brian Wilson; Brian Wilson
Distributor: WEA (Distributor)

Notes: Personnel: Brian Wilson (vocals, keyboards); Brian Wilson ; Probyn Gregory (vocals, whistling, guitar, whistle, brass); Nelson Bragg (vocals, whistling, whistle, percussion); Jeffrey Foskett (vocals, guitar, hammer dulcimer); Scott Bennett (vocals, guitar, keyboards, percussion); Scott Bennett (vocals, guitar, keyboards); Darian Sahanaja (vocals, keyboards, percussion); Andreas Forsman (violin); Eric Holm (viola); Anna Landberg, Markus Sandlund (cello); Stockholm Strings 'N' Horns (strings, horns); Viktor Sand (flute, clarinet, saxophone); Bj�rn Samuelsson (trombone); Staffan Findin (bass trombone); Dave Stone (acoustic bass, acoustic bass guitar); Jim Hines (drums, percussion, sound effects, musical saw); Nick Walusko (vocals, guitar); Taylor Mills (vocals, sound effects); Paul Mertens (harmonica, woodwinds, saxophone, electronics); Bob Lizik (bass guitar). Audio Mixer: Mark Linett. Liner Note Author: David Leaf. Recording information: Sunset Sound, Hollywood, CA (04/13/2004-04/17/2004). Photographers: Melinda Jean Wilson; Guy Webster; Jasper Dailey. Unknown Contributor Roles: Jeffrey Foskett; Probyn Gregory. Arranger: Brian Wilson . The white whale of '60s record-making, the Beach Boys' aborted SMiLE album gradually gained a legend that not only inflated its rumored importance and complexity, but gave credence to an odd notion -- that completing it, then or ever, was impossible. In truth, SMiLE should have been released and forgotten, reissued and reappraised, and finally remastered for the digital era and ushered into the rock canon ever since Brian Wilson halted work on it in May 1967 (after an exhausting 85 recording sessions). Instead, it languished in the vaults and remained the perfect record -- perfect, of course, because it had never been finished. Reports that the recording of "Mrs. O'Leary's Cow" had caused a nearby building to burn down and whispers of "inappropriate music" gave it the character of a monster, one that cursed all those who approached it and claimed the heart and mind of its major participant. Wilson's love of "feels" -- short passages of cyclical music that could be overdubbed and rearranged countless times -- had made 1966's "Good Vibrations" the ultimate pocket symphony, but had also quickly spiralled into the instability that consumed him during its follow-up, "Heroes and Villains," projected to be the centerpiece of SMiLE. Happily, a new recording of SMiLE by Brian Wilson reveals the record as nothing more (or less) than a jaunty epic of psychedelic Americana, a rambling and discursive, playful and affectionate series of song cycles. Infectious and hummable, to be sure, and a remarkably unified, irresistible piece of pop music, but no musical watershed on par with Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band or Wilson's masterpiece, Pet Sounds. For the first time ever, the program for SMiLE was compiled, after Brian Wilson first listened to the original recordings with his musical midwife, Darian Sahanaja of the Wondermints (which has long functioned as Wilson's live backing band), and then worked them into a live show and album recording. The work that evolved divides into three sections: SMiLE begins with Americana, which takes the dream of continental expansion from the old Spanish town saga of "Heroes and Villains" to the landing at Plymouth Rock and, finally, the end of the frontier at Hawaii; it continues with a Cycle of Life that progresses from the virginal grace of "Wonderful" to the simultaneous peak and decline of the creative life on "Surf's Up"; and ends with an environmental cycle called The Elements, which includes "Vega-Tables," (Earth), "Wind Chimes" (Air), "Mrs. O'Leary's Cow" (Fire), and "In Blue Hawaii" (Water). Since Wilson himself was previously the most opposed to SMiLE appearing in any form, it's a considerable shock that this new recording justifies even half of the promise that fans had attached to it. Everything that Wilson and his band could control sounds nearly perfect. Every instrument, every note, and every intonation is nearly identical to the late-'60s tapes; one has to wonder whether vintage hand tools weren't acquired for "Workshop" and Paul McCartney wasn't flown in to add chewing noises to "Vega-Tables." (The players did, however, book time at one of Brian's old haunts, Sunset Sound, and utilized a '60s tube console to record their vocals.) No, the harmonies here aren't the Beach Boys' harmonies, and Brian's vocals aren't the vocals he was capable of 37 years ago, but they're excellent and (best of all) never distracting. Aside from the technical acumen on display, Wilson has also, amazingly, found a home -- the proper home -- for all of the brilliant instrumental snippets that lent the greatest part of the mystery to the unreleased SMiLE. Van Dyke Parks' new (or newly heard) lyrics fit into these compositions, and the work as a whole, like hand in glove. (The former instrumentals include "Barnyard"; "Holiday," which is here called "On a Holiday"; "Look," which is now "Song for Children"; and "I Love to Say Da-Da," which is now part of "In Blue Hawaii.") Most surprisingly, nearly all of this thematic unity was accomplished by merely reworking the original material already on tape, which proves that Wilson was never very far from finishing SMiLE in 1967. (It's very likely that the gulf was psychological; SMiLE had few supporters among Brian's closest friends and family.) Hopefully, Capitol is readying a SMiLE Sessions box set to release all of the vintage material, but it's clear that nothing they dig up from the vaults will be able to match the unity of this attractive recording. It's up to the standards of anyone who's ever scoured the bootlegs to create a SMiLE tape, and further, it beats them all, which is the highest compliment. So, if you've never been burdened with a friend's SMiLE tape before, count yourself lucky that Brian Wilson's is the first you'll hear. And if you have heard a few, prepare to listen to them much less religiously. ~ John Bush Between 1967 and 2004, the SMILE sessions were pretty much the Dead Sea Scrolls of pop music. Well documented as head Beach Boy Brian Wilson's answer to the Beatles' masterpiece SGT. PEPPER'S LONELY HEARTS CLUB BAND (which was itself largely an answer to the Beach Boys' PET SOUNDS), the tracks laid down in '67 for the projected SMILE album were the furthest afield anyone nominally operating under the pop/rock umbrella had ever ventured. Notoriously, intraband conflict (Mike Love, in particular, found the Wilson/Van Dyke Parks-penned conceptual work too far out) kept the record from being released. With several oceans' worth of water under the bridge, Wilson finally decided to finish the aborted project three-and-a-half decades later, adhering closely to the original blueprints. The results are as timelessly breathtaking as the original version must have been to the lucky few who first heard the initial tapes. With sterling support from his backing band the Wondermints, Wilson meticulously pieced together the conceptual, orchestral puzzle of SMILE into a rewarding, cohesive whole. Even decades down the line, it still sounds miles away from anything else in the world of popular music. A series of extended vignettes tied together with seamlessly arranged melodic latticework, SMILE is a masterpiece that incorporates the influences of gospel, ancient hymns, Charles Ives-style avant-garde experimentalism, barbershop-quartet harmony, Stephen Foster, and more, in a churning cauldron of lush Americana. Strings, harpsichord, and a wide palette of orchestral percussion are just as important as drums and guitars, though traces of the PET SOUNDS sonic stew can be heard here as well. A triumph of the will for Wilson and a victory for art and humanity, SMILE bears--among many other things--an extremely appropriate title.

Rolling Stone (p.94) - 5 stars out of 5 - "[With] brief bridge melodies, youthful harmonies more precise and uplifting now...and an enthralling profusion of instrumental colors. Trombone, timpani, theremin and tenor sax brush by and disappear; a banjo shows its head; strings vibe around..." Rolling Stone (p.153) - Included in Rolling Stone's Top 50 Records Of 2004 - "[It] ranks in symphonic beauty, goofy humor and spiritual loveliness with the Beach Boys' greatest achievements." Spin (p.67) - Ranked #10 in Spin's "40 Best Albums of the Year" - "The meaty songs you know and the link tracks you don't give simple humanity the complex orchestrations humans deserve." Entertainment Weekly (p.73) - "With a new melodic idea occurring every 45 seconds on average, it's a gorgeous trip back to a time when anything seemed possible..." - Grade: A Uncut (p.98) - 5 stars out of 5 - "[M]uch of it harks back, both lyrically and musically, to the past....SMILE is likely to remain a unique and unlikely moment of retrieval, restoration and renaissance." Uncut (p.74) - Ranked #1 in Uncut's "Best New Albums of 2004" - "SMILE combines arcane and obtuse lyrical imagery, complex harmonising and densely compacted layers of instrumentation to quite awesome effect." Mojo (Publisher) (p.62) - Ranked #37 in Mojo's "100 Modern Classics" -- "SMILE now exists in tangible form, beautifully played, sung and produced." Mojo (Publisher) (p.98) - 4 stars out of 5 - "[T]here is a remarkable consistency about SMILE's complex tapestry of delights....This legendarily fragmented work now possesses a unity to rival that of PET SOUNDS."

As leader of the Beach Boys, Brian Wilson was largely responsible for their revered 1966 album, PET SOUNDS. His subsequent two-decade-long submersion in drugs, mental problems, and controversial psychotherapy has become the stuff of legend, but he cleaned up and returned to recording in 1988 with a steady stream of albums that combined his flawless melodic sensibility with a restlessly experimental vibe. In 2004 he finally released the legendary album SMILE, whose initial production fell apart in 1967 as Wilson's excesses and mental illness took their toll. Since then he's been performing live regularly (often with daughter Carnie Wilson on backing vocals) and has assumed his rightful place as one of the grand old masters of pure pop perfection.

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