Smile?
Due to my workload the last few months, I had been waiting on hearing a recording of a concert from earlier this year... Even with that level of workload, I'm in shock I hadn't bothered to listen until tonight. I had a recording of Brian Wilson recording Smile!!! Yes, Brian Wilson of Beach Boys fame, performing probably the most famous "unfinished" album in history... live! I'm still in shock that my ears have been able to hear a finished version of this album... I heard Brian's version of how it was supposed to be, not an attempt I or another Brian Wilson fanatic created by editing together the scraps of recordings that have leaked out in the last 38 years.
38 years! This year is 38 years after the album was first supposed to be released! And this year Brian is not only touring with the album, he's going to release it! (though it does sound like it's largely re-recorded, but hey, I'll accept it)
As for the finished album, it's harder to judge. This doesn't grab me like Pet Sounds does, but then again, Pet Sounds did not grab me the first several times I heard it. Perhaps a large part of the reason I held off on listening for so long was I had a strong feeling that the album may not have been able to live up to the expectations one develops as they try to puzzle together all of the scraps to figure out what the 24 year old Brian intended. The finished version is definitely surprising. Many pieces came at me at times I did not expect, and every time I heard a new piece I was wonderfully surprised. Parts finally had lyrics where they never did before, and many pieces finally made some sense. Of course, I prefer some aspects of my own attempts at piecing the album together from scraps: Surf's Up really should have been the album closer. It is a much better ending than Good Vibrations.. but maybe that's just me having a bit of a preference for the knock-out endings for albums like Sgt. Pepper's unearthly ending with "A Day In The Life", or Abbey Road's coda "The End" (and the false endings in both cases) Though, even though Brian Wilson and the Beatles were constantly comparing themselves to each other, this comparison is probably unfair. Brian nearly always made a point of trying to end things on an optimistic note (Pet Sounds is an exception), and Good Vibrations is about as optimistic as it gets. Brian Wilson is not the Beatles. However, finally being able to hear a rough but finished version of Brian's other masterwork, even though he was basically on his own, he wasn't too far removed in terms of genius from the combined power of four or five of the greatest forces in popular music operating at their peak. In its finished form, it may not quite equal the sheer brilliance (I better end this post before I run out of superlative adjectives..) of Pet Sounds, it stands up quite well to that other album that Paul McCartney has called "necessary to anyone's musical education".
Would this album have changed the world had it actually been released in 1967? Probably not a lot. It was probably too weird even for the summer of love. The 15 minute song sequences are far more abstract in their material than what the Beatles attempted on Abbey Road, and far less obviously structured. The public had enough trouble following the Beach Boys to their more serious efforts like Pet Sounds. I doubt they would have known what to do with the album. Some would have been influenced greatly by this album, but probably about the same as were influenced by the legend of the album and the glimpses of its brilliance that Brian allowed the world from time to time.
Now to wait a few months for the rerecorded version to actually be released, and continue to compare my edit of the album against Brian's live version, and of course hope against hope that a boxed set comes out properly documenting Brian's original ill-fated attempt at the album.
Anyways, Brian, thank you, you've left a smile on my face tonight. (yes, I'll end this post on a cheesy note)
38 years! This year is 38 years after the album was first supposed to be released! And this year Brian is not only touring with the album, he's going to release it! (though it does sound like it's largely re-recorded, but hey, I'll accept it)
As for the finished album, it's harder to judge. This doesn't grab me like Pet Sounds does, but then again, Pet Sounds did not grab me the first several times I heard it. Perhaps a large part of the reason I held off on listening for so long was I had a strong feeling that the album may not have been able to live up to the expectations one develops as they try to puzzle together all of the scraps to figure out what the 24 year old Brian intended. The finished version is definitely surprising. Many pieces came at me at times I did not expect, and every time I heard a new piece I was wonderfully surprised. Parts finally had lyrics where they never did before, and many pieces finally made some sense. Of course, I prefer some aspects of my own attempts at piecing the album together from scraps: Surf's Up really should have been the album closer. It is a much better ending than Good Vibrations.. but maybe that's just me having a bit of a preference for the knock-out endings for albums like Sgt. Pepper's unearthly ending with "A Day In The Life", or Abbey Road's coda "The End" (and the false endings in both cases) Though, even though Brian Wilson and the Beatles were constantly comparing themselves to each other, this comparison is probably unfair. Brian nearly always made a point of trying to end things on an optimistic note (Pet Sounds is an exception), and Good Vibrations is about as optimistic as it gets. Brian Wilson is not the Beatles. However, finally being able to hear a rough but finished version of Brian's other masterwork, even though he was basically on his own, he wasn't too far removed in terms of genius from the combined power of four or five of the greatest forces in popular music operating at their peak. In its finished form, it may not quite equal the sheer brilliance (I better end this post before I run out of superlative adjectives..) of Pet Sounds, it stands up quite well to that other album that Paul McCartney has called "necessary to anyone's musical education".
Would this album have changed the world had it actually been released in 1967? Probably not a lot. It was probably too weird even for the summer of love. The 15 minute song sequences are far more abstract in their material than what the Beatles attempted on Abbey Road, and far less obviously structured. The public had enough trouble following the Beach Boys to their more serious efforts like Pet Sounds. I doubt they would have known what to do with the album. Some would have been influenced greatly by this album, but probably about the same as were influenced by the legend of the album and the glimpses of its brilliance that Brian allowed the world from time to time.
Now to wait a few months for the rerecorded version to actually be released, and continue to compare my edit of the album against Brian's live version, and of course hope against hope that a boxed set comes out properly documenting Brian's original ill-fated attempt at the album.
Anyways, Brian, thank you, you've left a smile on my face tonight. (yes, I'll end this post on a cheesy note)
posted by Jim Casaburi at
9:14 PM
