| Smile | ||||
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| Studio album by Brian Wilson | ||||
| Released | September 28, 2004 | |||
| Recorded | April 13–17, 2004 Overdubs: May–June 2004 |
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| Genre | Psychedelic rock[1] Baroque pop Psychedelic pop Progressive rock[2] Acid rock[3] |
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| Length | 46:59 | |||
| Label | Nonesuch | |||
| Producer | Brian Wilson | |||
| Brian Wilson chronology | ||||
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Smile, sometimes typeset with the idiosyncratic partial capitalization SMiLE, or referred to as Brian Wilson Presents Smile is a solo album by Brian Wilson, with lyrics by Van Dyke Parks released on September 28, 2004 on CD and two-disc vinyl LP. Wilson, Parks and Darian Sahanaja completed the legendary unfinished album project, started in 1966 for Wilson's former band, The Beach Boys. It was released in September 2004 with back-up from members of his touring band, including three members of Wondermints.
Contents |
Work on what would have been the original Beach Boys version of Smile began in 1966, following the release of their album Pet Sounds, and based on the recording mode of their single "Good Vibrations". The original artwork and cover design was done by Frank J. Holmes.
It is a long-known fact that a combination of resistance from the other members of the band (especially Mike Love) and Capitol Records, technical recording difficulties (as many of Brian's ideas were so inventive and new that the technology hadn't been created yet to record his true vision), Brian's growing dissatisfaction (and increasing paranoia) with the project itself, led to the collapse of its sessions and his mental breakdown into severe depression, which went unchecked for decades.
Remnant recordings from the 1966-67 sessions have since surfaced on the occasional bootleg recordings and official Beach Boys greatest hits and rarities compilations, but only very few recordings were completed by the band and released on other albums between 1967 and 1971.
In interviews the album has been called by Brian a "teenage symphony to God," and is in the form of three suites.
The album was conceived as a musical journey across America from east to west, beginning at Plymouth Rock and ending in Hawaii, as well as traversing some of the great themes of American history and culture, including the impact of white settlement on Native Americans, the influence of the Spanish, the Wild West, and the opening up of the country by railroad and motorway. It seems chronological, moving from early America through the Victorian era and ending with the 1960s drug culture ("Mrs O'Leary's Cow") and the Hawaii of "In Blue Hawaii" which, in terms of American statehood (since 1959), was still a very new state when the album was still just a project.
The first section represents early Americana, from Plymouth Rock to the Old West, farmlands, the building of the railroad and new housing - it begins with "Our Prayer" which is coupled with a 1950s doo-wop song "Gee", including the lyrics "how I love my girl." This segues into "Heroes and Villains" which was conceived as the cornerstone of the entire album. The lyric "My children were raised, you know they suddenly rise, they started slow long ago, head to toe, healthy, wealthy and wise" ties in with the childhood/fatherhood theme of the second suite. "Roll Plymouth Rock" partly reprises the "Heroes and Villains" theme and features lyrics in Hawaiian, a theme that is returned to in the third suite. The easy-going "Barnyard" features band members mimicking farmyard animals. The clanging sound of metal evident on "Cabin Essence" is echoed in "Workshop" in the third suite.
Some of the themes of the second section are childhood and fatherhood, and it features some music box-style melodies. Of this section the most obvious is "Surf's Up," which has arcane, mysterious lyrics and considerable wordplay, which could represent youth slowly approaching adulthood, with all of their enthusiasms and eagerness.
The third section represents "The Elements Suite" that Brian had also mentioned. It begins with the partly waltz-like "I'm In Great Shape", which then features an upbeat vocal and gradually grows darker, which is reminiscent of the kind of score that would be used at moments of growing tension or drama in cartoons, such as those by Disney. Lyricist Parks has said that Brian has a "cartoon consciousness." "I Wanna Be Around" suggests the literal physical repair of a broken heart. "Vega-Tables" epitomizes an interest in health and fitness that Brian had at the time. The song, like several on the album, has a carefree, humorous quality. "Vega-Tables" also represents the 'Earth' theme of "The Elements", which is part of the third suite. "On A Holiday", originally an instrumental, has a reprise of the "Roll Plymouth Rock" lyric and a distinctly jaunty pirate theme with some nursery rhyme-style lyrics such as "And isn't that a moon for a milky way?" The song segues into "Wind Chimes," the "Air" part of the "Elements" with the line "Whisperin' winds send my wind chimes a-tinklin." This is followed by the "Fire" element, the Grammy-award winning "Mrs O'Leary's Cow", which has an almost ghost train/fun house kind of sound. The song is regarded as something of an expression of Brian use of psychedelic drugs at the time and the title refers to the suspected cause of the Great Chicago Fire, a cow that knocked over a lantern. The following song, "In Blue Hawaii" (the "Water" element), also makes reference to a cow, "Wholly Holy Cow!" The song acts as a soothing solution to the intense heat of the previous song: "I could really use a drop to drink, somewhere in a placid pool and sink."
The album's final track, the magnum opus "Good Vibrations" (which has been described as a "pocket symphony"), is undoubtedly the best known song on the album. However the SMiLE version was recorded with the original lyrics penned by "Pet Sounds" lyricist Tony Asher, rather than the later lyrics that appeared on the "Beach Boys" single, written by Mike Love. It also includes the previously excluded "Humm-Be-Numm" harmony section prior to the final refrain. "Good Vibrations" broadly goes through three distinct phases, as the album does, and makes full use of sounds from an Electro-Theremin, which until 1967 had previously been used mainly in horror films.
In subsequent interviews to promote the album, Brian has concentrated on the happy, humorous qualities of the music, which are evident. However, there is also a clear sense of melancholy in his voice and throughout the album, especially on "Old Master Painter"/"You Are My Sunshine" and "Surf's Up." The lyrics to "You Are My Sunshine" have been altered to past tense, adding a reflective somberness. The intensity of the chorus on "Cabin Essence" and of "Mrs O'Leary's Cow" show that the humor had become entwined with a dark, powerful, intensity, especially as evidenced by the famous stories surrounding the original creation of the abandoned 1960s album such as Brian Wilson's belief that he had caused a nearby building to burn down because he had created the 'Fire' instrumentation, which was recrecorded as 'Mrs O'Learys Cow' on the 2004 Smile album. Another famous story is that he sat in a sand pit to gain inspiration.
As portrayed in the 2004 Showtime cable network released documentary film Beautiful Dreamer: Brian Wilson and the Story of Smile: After many years of being asked about possibly completing the album (or even performing any of the songs from it) to mostly negative responses, Brian began to perform a few songs solo at his home studio. He decided in late 2003 to not only revisit and complete the entire album (from mostly memory), he shocked many of his peers and even his bandmates by deciding to perform it live in concert. The new version of the album and its performance was made whole by the addition of either lost or newly composed lyrics by Parks that filled the gaps left open by the original 1966-67 Beach Boys sessions.
A live performance of the newly-completed version of the album was performed by Brian along with his backing band, which included former Beach Boys guitarist Jeff Foskett, members of The Wondermints and percussionist Nelson Bragg, in a live performance at the Royal Festival Hall in London on February 20, 2004, 37 years after it was conceived. Among the people in attendance that first night was the producer for The Beatles George Martin and Beatle Paul McCartney. It was received with a standing ovation that lasted almost 5 minutes and Brian then invited a tearful lyricist Parks onstage. This show was followed by subsequent performances elsewhere in Britain.
As a majority of the original master tapes were only one- and two-minute fragments, Brian decided to re-record the entire album from scratch, but using the original scoring, which still gave it that "Beach Boys" sound. Recording of the new version began in April 2004 with his ten-piece touring band, augmented by a ten-piece string section and an acoustic bassist. The basic tracks were taped at Sunset Sound in just four days, with overdubbing and mixing continuing through April, May, and June.
On September 28, 2004, Brian Wilson released his newly recorded studio version to critical praise, and it is the greatest-scored album based on Metacritic's estimations of various critics reviews. For the new version Brian, Wondermints leader Darian Sahanaja, woodwind player/string arranger Paul Mertens, and lyricist Parks based their arrangements on the original, unreleased Beach Boys tapes to give it a coherent and fresh, updated sound. Although originally Brian included the song "Good Vibrations" on the original album's track listing at Capitol Record's insistence, a new version of the song featuring "Pet Sounds" collaborator Tony Asher's original lyrics were used rather than the later Mike Love lyrics as the closing track of the album.
The "new" album was followed by two U.S. tours, with its featured stop in New York's Carnegie Hall; a combination of the two shows were broadcasted on NPR's Creators at Carnegie series. The concert series also went to Australia and New Zealand, as well as many countries throughout Europe.
The Showtime cable network released a documentary film about the history of and the re-creation of the album known as Beautiful Dreamer: Brian Wilson and the Story of Smile in the fall of 2004. A DVD of a live version of the new Smile (shot in an L.A. studio) was released in May 2005, which also features the documentary as an extra.
In 2005, the album won graphic artist Mark London and Rhino Records the 2005 ALEX award for Best Vinyl Package.
All songs written by Brian Wilson and Van Dyke Parks, except where noted.
The first of these tracks appeared on the second-edition CD release of Smile; all of them constitute side four of the vinyl release.
| Professional ratings | |
|---|---|
| Aggregate scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Metacritic | 97[4] |
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Pitchfork Media | (9.0/10.0)[5] |
| Tiny Mix Tapes | |
| Drowned in Sound | [6] |
| Allmusic | [7] |
| Robert Christgau | A+[8] |
| Rolling Stone | [9] |
Smile received high critical acclaim from music critics, earning a 97 on Metacritic,[4] making it tied as the fourth highest rated album on the website, behind Pinkerton by Weezer, London Calling by The Clash and Exile On Main Street by The Rolling Stones. Rolling Stone gave the album five out of five and said, "Smile is beautiful and funny, goofily grand."[10] Robert Christgau, who was skeptical of the album back in the 1960s, was also impressed: "I considered the legend of Smile hot air back then, this re-creation proves he had plenty more to make of it."[11] Cokemachineglow writer Scott Reid praised the album for surpassing hype, "Defying most all fan fears, not to mention several laws of logic and nature, SMiLE has arrived as incredible and ground-breaking a record as any of us could have hoped."[12] Pitchfork Media awarded the album 9.0 out of 10[13] and later named it fifth best album of 2004[14] and the 25th best album released between 2000 and 2004.[15] John Bush of Allmusic commented that Smile was "a remarkably unified, irresistible piece of pop music", yet decreed that it was "no musical watershed on par with Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band or Wilson's masterpiece, Pet Sounds".[16]
The album also received multiple nominations for the 2004 Grammy Awards, including Best Pop Vocal Album[17] and Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical (for Mark Linett).[18][19] The album won one Grammy, in the category of Best Rock Instrumental Performance (for "Mrs. O'Leary's Cow," the same track which had caused Wilson such mental anguish at the end of the original recording sessions).[20]
In December 2009, Rolling Stone placed Smile at number 88 on their list of the decade's 100 best albums.
One person not pleased with the ultimate release of Smile was Beach Boy Mike Love, who sued Brian Wilson in 2005 over it, claiming that Wilson's re-recording of songs originally recorded by the Beach Boys caused millions of dollars in damages to a partnership between himself and Wilson.[21] However, Love's lawsuit was thrown out of court in 2007 by a federal judge, who determined that no such partnership existed between Love and Wilson at the time of the re-recordings and that none had existed for decades.[22]
Smile opened at #13 in the US for a chart stay of 17 weeks. It reached #7 in the UK, going gold (100,000).
Three singles were released to promote the album:
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