Smile

Performer: Brian Wilson (Pop)
Producer: Brian Wilson
Distributor: WEA (Distributor)

Notes: Personnel: Brian Wilson (vocals, keyboards); Jeffrey Foskett (vocals, guitar, hammer dulcimer); Probyn Gregory (vocals, guitar, whistle, brass); Scott Bennett (vocals, guitar, keyboards, percussion); Nick Walusko (vocals, guitar); Nelson Bragg (vocals, whistle, percussion); Darian Sahanaja (vocals, keyboards, percussion); Taylor Mills (vocals, sound effects); Stockholm Strings 'N' Horns (strings, horns); Paul Mertens (harmonica, woodwinds, saxophone); Dave Stone (acoustic bass guitar); Bob Lizik (bass guitar); Jim Hines (drums, percussion, sound effects, musical saw). Liner Note Author: David Leaf. Recording information: Sunset Sound, Hollywood, California (04/13/2004 - 04/17/2004). 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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