Originally posted on October 13, 2004 in my old music review blog.

Artist: Brian Wilson
Album: Smile

http://www.brianwilson.com

What a phenomenal album! I'm probably going to write a bunch of stuff you could easily read on Amazon but there are several points with which I have to agree.

Back when Brian Wilson was first starting the SMiLE project, many people compared it with Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band in it's brilliance, innovation and spectacle. I can certainly hear the basis for that comparison in this release 37 years in the making. It is also a just comparison. Much like The Beatles at the time, The Beach Boys were pushing the envelope in capitalizing on multi-track recording, stereo production and other technological sound production advances. Brian Wilson, much like the John Lennon/Paul McCartney duo, was a songwriting/arranging genius. Pet Sounds was truly a breakthrough. If only the rest of The Beach Boys were open minded, we might have been talking to this day of the influence this album had on rock history. Unfortunately it was relegated to becoming the best album never made.

The sound smacks of the sixties. I won't deny it. But if you place yourself in the right frame of mind by considering what was being released and aired at the time, this album is indeed revolutionary. I am so glad it can finally get the attention it so truly deserves.

As it was from the start for The Beach Boys, Brian Wilson's vocal arrangements are incredible. His touring backup band performed on the album and it is quite uncanny how they capture the essence and very sound at times of The Beach Boys. As he demonstrated on Pet Sounds, Wilson also managed to organize lush landscapes and textures of layered musical instrument combinations that were and still are unheard of in rock. The chord progressions are masterful.

I also adore his use of recurring themes. Parts of songs appear in others, such as the slight return Roll Plymouth Rock makes in On a Holiday, Heroes and Villians makes in Wind Chimes or the swapping of parts between the two songs Song for the children and Child Is the Father of the Man. I was also taken aback by the sudden really heavy section (including distorted guitars!) in Mrs. O'Leary's Cow.

Wilson makes me proud to be a self taught musician. I could only aspire to be half as great and be fortunate enough if I achieved a quarter of the success he has enjoyed.

Ironically, there were times when his sound reminded me of Syd Barrett-era Pink Floyd, as well, such as the songs Song for the children and Child Is the Father of the Man. I find this fascinating because Smile would have been released at just about the same time as Pink Floyd's debut The Piper at the Gates of Dawn. I wonder if Wilson had an opportunity to hear much of what Barrett and crew were doing.

My suggestion if you are going to listen to this would be to get an early Beach Boys album and listen to it so you can establish the formula the rest of the band was trying to maintain when they shot down SMiLE. Then get yourself a copy of Pet Sounds so you can establish the progression Wilson was making toward this album with the Beach Boys. Then listen to Smile and truly appreciate it. I would further recommend watching the video "Brian Wilson: I Just Wasn't Made For These Times" before listening to Smile so you can get a better idea of the history behind this project that wasn't fully realized until 37 years later.