Jump to content

Anyone else on here as excited to see "Smile"...


DashRipRock

Recommended Posts

I've heard Smile many hundred times before - but never in the last few years.. Though I remember a certain few things about the album itself, I can't remember all of it as was, and thus I'm going to have to go from the knowledge of Smile from other places around.

Unfortunately, I no longer own the version of Smile that I used to have on a copied CD, because I felt it was morally wrong. How stupid I was to do so, as, since other things have ruled my life, I do not recall most of the CD, save for the 1.10 version of Prayer at the beginning.

To me, Smile is an enigma. The assumption about the burning of the Smile tapes, started by the inclusion of the Fire suite (which can be heard, amongst others, on Walk On By and Rio Grande - and for which I stole a portion for something I wrote earlier in the year).

Some of the versions of the songs I've heard since (the version of Wonderful in D flat major, with the harpsichord) are some of the best material (and, it could be said, some of the most esoteric) within the whole of the Beach Boys collection.

But the only two people who really know about Smile to its full extent are the two main writers, Brian and Van Dyke, who lived through the high points, the low points, and the drugs. All of the drugs. And, for those drugged episodes which continued throughout Smiley Smile (particularly those which are visible on 'She's Going Bald'), we all feel we've shared through the magic of Smiley Smile.

We can all try it sometime. But ours is to share in, not create, the magic. Thankyou, Brian Douglas Wilson, for everything you've given to me and others.

Love and mercy

Matt

finally coming out later this year? No, it is not likely to be as it would have been in 66-67, but I am just thankful that Brian decided to finish it.

Any other "Smile" :: addicts on here?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Couple of things bud. I know someone from Clovis N.M., secondly what in the H.E. double are you talking about with; they are finally coming out? Please Mail me on the Clovis connection as I have a close and dear friend who is from there, and hopefully you might be friends as well?

Mainly thinking that you could have been more in depth with your question to allow people to have more of a chance of answering it than you vague question. Not really hacking on you, just and observation dude.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

When it comes to Brian Wilson, I can be so "in-depth" that it would turn everyone off. It was merely a simple question.

We will get in touch about your friend, as most everyone around here knows each other. As you know, Clovis has a rich musical history of it's own. The first songs by Roy Orbison, Waylon Jennings Buddy Knox, Bobby Fuller and a host of others were recorded here. Of course Clovis is best known for being where almost all of Buddy Holly's songs were recorded, as well as Jimmy Gilmer and the Fireballs.

In fact, the biggest selling single in the entire world in 1963 was recorded here - The Fireballs singing "Sugar Shack."

The last major hit to come out of the Norman Petty Studios here in Clovis was LeeAnn Rimes' first album and mega hit, "Blue."

As for "Smile," it is only the most legendary album never released. For the guy who put it down...thanks for the laugh. Opinions (and that is all yours was) are often like that.

I have every bootleg version of Smile that I know to exist, and I find much of it to be among the most amazing music ever produced. Funny, but when Brian recreated his masterpiece in front of European crowds earlier this year, the reviews that he got from some of the most esteemed critics around were overwhelmingly positive.

I think I'll take their word (and my own ears) over yours.

Hey GeeterMcgee, if you are interested in knowing more about "Smile," I can post several links here to 30-second clips from various songs. Let me know.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

"Crap" huh? A few rather notable people seem to disagree with you.

Paul McCartney

It was Pet Sounds that blew me out of the water. I love the album so much. I've just bought my kids each a copy of it for their education in life ... I figure no one is educated musically 'til they've heard that album ... I love the orchestra, the arrangements ... it may be going overboard to say it's the classic of the century ... but to me, it certainly is a total, classic record that is unbeatable in many ways ... I've often played Pet Sounds and cried.

I played it to John so much that it would be difficult for him to escape the influence ... it was the record of the time. The thing that really made me sit up and take notice was the bass lines ... and also, putting melodies in the bass line. That I think was probably the big influence that set me thinking when we recorded 'Pepper', it set me off on a period I had then for a couple of years of nearly always writing quite melodic bass lines.

"God Only Knows" is a big favorite of mine ... very emotional, always a bit of a choker for me, that one. On "You Still Believe In Me", I love that melody - that kills me ... that's my favorite, I think ... it's so beautiful right at the end ... comes surging back in these multi-colored harmonies ... sends shivers up my spine."

Neil Young

His music definitely affected mine - the harmonies. Of course I never played in a band that could sing like that. He's got the whole band retarding every once in awhile - he's got a feel for it and he's got everybody playing and it's not something you naturally do. It's something that he shows you where to lay back - where to slow down. You hear the band doing it just like it happens on the record - it's no accident. I love you, Brian. I'm there for you.

Bob Dylan

... Jesus, that ear. He should donate it to The Smithsonian.

Pete Townsend

I love Brian. There's not many people I would say that about. I think he's a truly, truly, truly great genius. I love him so much it's just terrible - I find it hard to live with.

Stevie Wonder

I've always been into harmonies, so I was inspired by that part of what they (the Beach Boys) were doing. It definetely influenced a generation of kids.

Eric Clapton

All of us, Ginger (Baker), Jack (Bruce), and I consider Pet Sounds to be one of the greatest pop LPs to ever be released. It encompasses everthing that's ever knocked me out and rolled it all into one. Brian Wilson is, without a doubt, a pop genius.

Elton John

Pet Sounds is a landmark album. For me to say that I was enthralled would be an understatement. I had never heard such magical sounds, so amazingly recorded. It undoubtedly changed the way that I, and countless others, approached recording. It is a timeless and amazing recording of incredible genius and beauty.

David Crosby

He was the most highly regarded pop musician in America, hands down. Everybody by that time had figured out who was writing and arranging it all. "In My Room" was the defining point for me. When I heard it, I thought "I give up - I can't do that - I'll never be able to do that."

Graham Nash

He was way advanced of what anybody was doing at that point. And I think the Beatles recognized that and I think every harmony group in the world recognized that there was some different thing going on - something very sophisticated.

Linda Ronsdadt

I don't think there's anyone his equal in popular music for this fifty years. They were really deep, profound emotions that came out of a lot of pain.

Phillip Glass

Pet Sounds became an instant classic when it first appeared. Listening to it today, it is, perhaps, easier to see why it was one of the defining moments of its time, along with the music of the Beatles, Pink Floyd and the Greatful Dead ... its willingness to abandon formula in favor of structural innovation, the introduction of classical elements in the arrangements, production concepts in terms of overall 'sound' which were novel at the time, all these elements give Pet Sounds a freshness that, thirty years later, is immediately there for the listener.

Leonard Bernstein

There is a new song, too complex to get all of first time around. It could come only out of the ferment that characterizes today's pop music scene. Brian Wilson, leader of the famous Beach Boys, and one of today's most important musicians, sings his own 'Surf's Up.'

Poetic, beautiful even in its obscurity, 'Surf's Up' is one aspect of new things happening in pop music today. As such, it is a symbol of the change many of these young musicians see in ourfuture.

Burt Bacharach

Pet Sounds is brilliant. Brian Wilson is one of the greatest innovators of my decade or any decade.

Tom Petty

I think I would put him up there with any composer - especially Pet Sounds. I don't think there is anything better that that, necessarily. I don't think you'd be out of line comparing him to Beethovan - to any composer. The word genius is used a lot with Brian. I don't know if he's a genius or not, but I know that music is probably as good as any music you can make.

Jimmy Webb

I don't think that the California Myth, the dream that a few of us touched, would have happened without Brian, and I don't think Brian would have happened without the dream. They're inseparable.

Van Dyke Parks

Music is Brian Wilson's best friend, lover, everything. On a one-to-one basis, it's the only thing that has never wronged him. It's when people, and gossip, and record companies came into play that things went askew. The music never betrayed him. And given Brian's vulnerable, exclusive nature, it's only natural that it's the central fact and concern in his life. He may forget a name or a contract, but he never forgets the music. It's a consequence of devotional thinking, and geniuses are prone to it.

Lindsey Buckingham

The first time I heard Pet Sounds, I have to admit that I did a little bit of knee-jerk in the same way probably the record company and some other people did because it wasn't as accessible as Brian's songwriting approach had been up to that time. I'm not sure I fully appreciated that until years later (when) I started making records myself.

George Martin

If there is one person that I have to select as a living genius of pop music, I would choose Brian Wilson. Without Pet Sounds, Sgt. Pepper wouldn't have happened... Pepper was an attempt to equal Pet Sounds.

Elvis Costello

Last summer, I heard "Don't Talk (Put Your Head On My Shoulder)" played on the cello. It sounded beautiful and sad, just as it does on Pet Sounds. So now you know, if all the record players in the world get broken tomorrow, these songs could be heard a hundred years from now.

John Cale, The Velvet Underground

What Brian came to mean was an ideal of innocence and naivety that went beyond teenage life and sprang fully developed songs. Adult and childlike at the same time. I thought how it was difficult for me not to believe everything he said. There was something genuine in every lyric. That can be a very heavy burden for a songwriter.

Billy Corgan, The Smashing Pumpkins

Brian Wilson the astronaut, peering down from the Heavens, cooly dreaming of California girls. An idealized pop utopia that widens the senses and soothes the ears. Lands the spaceship, finds nothing but disco and platform shoes and decided to take another trip around the moon for good measure and to search for the elusive lonely harmony. Landing back down for the millennium, our astronaut decided it's time. Time to stop and hear what he's brought back.

Sheryl Crow

Brian, keep creating, keep going. I know from where you sit on the stage you could probably absorb maybe a tenth of how people were feeling out there - you have no idea. People were so in the palm of your hands.

Don Was

In the fall of 1989, I was working with a band who turned me on to the bootlegged recordings of Brian Wilson's legendary, aborted Smile sessions. Like a musical burning bush, these tapes awakened me to a higher consciousness in record making. I was amazed that one, single human could dream up this unprecedented and radically advanced approach to rock 'n roll.

I was really stunned when I met him several months later. Far from the catatonic drug burn-out the tabloids loved to depict, the guy I got to know was lucid and happening. When we started to mess around in the studio, it became clear that he was capable of making a record every bit as complex and beautiful as Pet Sounds whenever he felt like it. How could a talent so great be so misunderstood and under appreciated?

My personal favorite is "Caroline No," his paean to lost innocence. I hear the weary voice of a man who's been hurled through the emotional wringer and yet, one can plainly discern the youthful sweetness, optimism and goodness that characterizes Brian's soul. It's that dichotomy that makes him one of the most enigmatic and endearing characters of these times.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

You're talking about 'Smile', not 'Pet Sounds.'

You should know why it was never released. If it WAS a great album to Brian's blessing, then it would of been released.

My favourite band will always be 'The Beatles' and yet, they wrote lots of crap. Live with it - Brian was no more of a genius than John & Paul. You actually remind me of David Leaf (I believe that's his name - wrote a lot about the Beach Boys). Anyway, this guy has nothing negative to say about any of Brian's compositions. Gosh, Brian wrote fillers, crap, etc., just like the Beatles and yet this writer would say it's brilliant.

Nothing is etched in rock unless verfied by the original source.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Play nice guys.

This is an interesting one for me, since I've never been able to wrap my head around The Beach Boys. For a minute, let's go back to the basics to make sure I've got this right:

Brian Wilson started using drugs around 1965, created Pet Sounds, which is considered one of the most innovative and brilliant albums of all time, and went to work on Smile, which was going to be his masterpiece. The drugs took their toll and he became quite deranged, yet the genius was still there. The other Beach Boys toured while he worked on the album with his buddy, Van Dyke Parks, the only guy he would collaborate with at the time. Smile went unfinished, with some songs ending up on the album Smiley Smile (including "Good Vibrations"?). About a year ago, Wilson decided to finally finish the album. He and some troops went through the old tapes and completed the album. He played Smile on a recent tour of England, where people seem to care a lot more about it, and also put vinegar on their fries instead of ketchup. Some people think it is a heartbreaking work of staggering genius, while others think it's mush.

Am I close? Also, is the completed album available?

I haven't used many Graemlins lately, so here we go :shades:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

To answer your questions Carl...

Brian Wilson WAS the Beach Boys, and the contemporary artist the Beatles respected the most at the time.

In 1964, Brian Wilson succumbed to the stress of overworking and decided he could no longer tour with the Beach Boys. From then on he would dedicate all of his energies to writing and producing the band's records, which ultimately led to 'Pet Sounds' and 'Smile.'

The only song on 'Smiley-Smile' that was in the form Brian had imagined and written it for the 'Smile' album, was the single 'Good Vibrations'...albeit in a slightly shorter version.

The album was essentially finished several times....with each time, Brian deciding to change or rerecord various sections. His record company even printed several thousand record jackets (complete with the final song listing) during one of his aborted "finishes."

The project was scrapped because Brian's life essentially became scrap...amid mental illness, drug abuse and a total lack of confidence brought on by that combination. He remained in this state (and in bed - as popularized by the brilliant song "Brian Wilson" by the Bare Naked Ladies) for almost 20 years...balooning to over 300 lbs. for a time.

He told what few people he would talk to that he "had destroyed" most of the Smile masters and that it would never be finished. This was not true...in fact, they all still existed. When he finally was able to listen to them last year, he realized that it was the greatest music that he ever made - and decided to finish it.

By "finish it," that means to update some of the themes, rewrite some of the lyrics, and modernize the sound.

You got it mostly right Carl, so well done!

In it's best possible (to me) version, the upcoming release would have this new version of Smile, accompanied by the best original version that he could couple together from the old master tapes. That won't be happening, though.

Honestly Carl, do yourself a favor and go to that link I provided up above and see for yourself. Listen to it in the context of 1966 and I think it will blow your mind.

I will settle down. :angel:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Please sign in to comment

You will be able to leave a comment after signing in



Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...