Brian Wilson's "Smile"

[Abstract]

So an official version is coming out in September. Anyone else excited?

I'll admit that I'm not a Brian Wilson fan. Not that he's not good, but that I'm too young to know much about him. Okay, he was a Beach Boy. I've liked them ever since I saw them on Full House. :D Many of their songs are amazing. However, I'm really really psyched about Brian Wilson's official release of "Smile", the Beach Boys album that never was.

I'm also tempted to get Pet Sounds. I should have bought it 2 years ago when they had the re-release out in the UK.

What does everyone think?

[vollspacken]

well, I love "Pet Sounds" and like to listen to the "Mojo Magazine version" of "Smile" once and awhile...

I hope Brian does not mess this up... most of the tracks just need a little remastering and some of the tracks are just fragments of tracks that were not used in the known/bootlegged edits (like "Bicycle Rider", a fragment from "Heroes & Villians"; or "Child Is Father to the Man", a fragment from "Surf's Up"...)

please Brian, DON'T MESS THIS UP!!! :) Keep it compact and on a high level (just like "Pet Sounds") and don't annoy us with all the one minute long fragments...

vSpacken

[maat]

"Smile" is so close to perfect as it is right now (the bootleg version) that Brian doesn't need to do anything to it. give it a pretty package and be done with it...

You really, really, really need to get Pet Sounds, as it is (in my opinion) the best Beach Boys album by far.

[lostinblue]

I too was thrilled to finally hear Smile as intended. Recently I read that in addition to the live shows he's performing the entire album, like the pet sounds tour, he has re-recorded the material. Not stitching the old material back together. Here's the blurb. http://pitchforkmedia.com/news/04-05/19.shtml
Chris

[vollspacken]

I too was thrilled to finally hear Smile as intended. Recently I read that in addition to the live shows he's performing the entire album, like the pet sounds tour, he has re-recorded the material. Not stitching the old material back together. Here's the blurb. http://pitchforkmedia.com/news/04-05/19.shtml
Chris

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO, My God, he will mess it all up...


aaaaaarrghhhhhhh!!!

vSpacken

[Redboy]

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO, My God, he will mess it all up...


aaaaaarrghhhhhhh!!!

vSpacken

My thoughts exactly. I was excited until I heard he had rerecorded the whole thing. Outstandingly bad idea.

[Sasha3]

[QUOTE=maat]"Smile" is so close to perfect as it is right now (the bootleg version) that Brian doesn't need to do anything to it. give it a pretty package and be done with it...

WOW! What boot! How can I get hold of it? I have been waiting for this for decades and hope Brian tours close to where I live.

[personatech]

My thoughts exactly. I was excited until I heard he had rerecorded the whole thing. Outstandingly bad idea.
If you've heard the Feb 2004 concerts (I dled my copy off the net), you'd realize that the Wondermints absolutely nail the Smile sessions tapes, even down to the woodmaking tools sounds. Given that the Smile tapes are 37 years old, incomplete, and in disrepair, I think rerecording Smile true to the spirit of the original sessions is the right thing to do. In fact, knowing BW's penchant for perfection it's probably the ONLY way Smile will see the light of day.

It might also preclude any Mike Love claims to the material...

[Doctor Q]

This has got to be one of the longest waits for an album ever.

A reviewer who heard it said it was great and worth the wait.

We'll see.

[monsquaz]

The bootleg of the original Smile was available at this URL (http://www.edenofflowers.com/mic/) in MP3 format for a while, but I missed it.

[phencat]

As a long time Smile fanatic I, like many of you out there, await the albums release with both excitement and trepidation. The reviews of the live shows in England were very positive, which is encouraging, but there is such a myth built up about the music - with nearly 40 years of bootlegs and fan compilings - that actually having the "real" and finished Smile is a strange thing. I recently read what the "official" track line up will be - supposedly put out by Brian himself. Some of the titles are new - "Roll Plymouth Rock", which I am assuming is the new title for "Do You Like Worms" (which is a better title), "In Blue Hawaii", which I am assuming to be a new title for "Love To Say Da Da", but could be a new song altogether. So it is different from what we have all known and different from the images we've built in our heads about what this album would've been like. That could create disappointment - but I'm looking at this differently.
First - Smile has been completed by its originators - Brian and Van Dyke, the musicians and singers they've used are top notch, the themes of this "Symphony To God" (no longer "teenage") are as relevant now as they were in the mid-sixties, in fact they may be MORE relevant now - if you think about what's happening in the world and especially here in the USA. And Brian himself is now a living example of the cornerstone song from Smile, "Heroes And Villains." The song really is his biography in some ways.
So any way - I await the albums release with open heart, mind and ears.
I encourage the rest of you to do so as well. The very fact that this is happening is simply amazing. After all this time - did any of us really think it would come to pass? Wow!

Phencat ;)

[chalemi]

I have been listening to the newly recorded Heroes and Villains track for days now....It is truly amazing. SMiLE 2004 is going to be brilliant....

Here is what Im looking forward to:

Sept 28: record release
Oct 5: Showtime documentary
Oct 8: Concert at the Keswick


Ill be SMiLing for 11 days straight!

[zete]

The whole album is online (legally) and you can listen to it. It's at this site (http://www.smilethealbum.com). You have to register with a valid email, but then you can listen to the album.

It exceeds my expectations, much much better than I could have hoped! My favourite track is "In Blue Hawaii", although "Surf's Up" and "Heroes and Villains" are excellent. The two "Child" songs are perfect, nicely cascading one off the other. I can hardly wait for the concerts to begin!

Brian Wilson is a genius! And to have had to wait soooo looooong!

I've already ordered the album from Amazon. :)

[Doctor Q]

Wow! I wonder if it'll end up in the iTunes Music Store. Is it on a big music label or self-produced?

[monsquaz]

For the past two months, I've been listening to another bootleg I've found of the old Beach Boys version- an incomplete and very bare-bones one.

My dad picked up the new one yesterday. I've listened to it just now, and I'm impressed. I had my doubts as well when I first heard he would be redoing it entirely, but then I concluded Brian knew what he was doing (which he did), since it was his and Van Dyke's to begin with, and that it was not actually doubt of his ability to do the thing right, but nothing more than disappointment that it was not to be a finished product of the Beach Boys version.

At the same time I realized this was probably better than trying to restore the old one, because as personatech mentioned, the tapes were a wreck, and Mike would probably interfere. It's also good to start fresh rather than to make a simple rehash.

...Is it on a big music label or self-produced?
Big label. Nonesuch Records.

[3rdpath]

i picked up the record on wednesday and refused to listen to it until i had at least an hour of uninterupted time to really appreciate it. so thursday i took it out to the studio, put it on and just listened in disbelief to the beauty of this CD.

i'm so glad it didn't get released in 1967 because it was just too far ahead of it's time. i'd heard some of the bootleg and legitimately released material but truly i was unprepared for the power of this masterpiece...i don't know what else to call it. call me crazy but i was literally moved to tears twice while listening to it. each song is like a postcard of undiscovered americana. i agree with the liner notes that wilson was/is a genius on the level of george gershwin...and thats not a comparison i would've ever thought i'd make. "an american in paris" would conceptully/artisitically fit on this record.

certainly its not for everyone, but when i compare this to the latest Tears for Fears release, which is an unabashed homage to this time and style, i realise what a far higher level brian wilson( and van dyke parks) operate on. i must also mention that the recording is amazingly warm and the mix should be a reference point for every engineer.

whew, i'm done.... :D

[Abstract]

I still haven't picked this one up because of shipping delays to Australia. I ran to the store the day it was released, and didn't find it in any of the 4 stores near my home. Damn Australia. I'm sure everyone else has no trouble getting it. :mad:

And the Pet Sounds Live album I said I wanted to get 3 years ago.....well, I saw it for $10 and picked it up, and it's fantastic. I like his voice now. It sounds more sincere.

Anyway, I don't think I'll be crying over this one, but it should still be quite good.

[Doctor Q]

There is a show on the Showtime cable channel this week named Beautiful Dreamer: Brian Wilson and the Story of Smile (http://www.sho.com/site/schedules/product_page.do?episodeid=122799&seriesid=0). In my area, it's tonite at 9pm.
Feature-length documentary chronicling the most famous unreleased album in music history, "Smile," the legendary work of Beach Boys co-founder and composer, arranger and producer Brian Wilson, who is shown bringing the long-lost masterpiece to fruition decades after he halted its recording sessions.
This photo from the show really deserves to be in a write-your-own-caption contest!

http://www.sho.com/site/image-bin/moviemedia/pbig/122799_05.jpg

[3rdpath]

the showtime story of smile is wonderful. i always assumed that brian was doing much better because of his ability to tour and complete the smile sessions...boy was i wrong. poor guy just barely makes it thru each day, but you can really see just how cathartic his music is.

the first visuals of the vox rehearsals for smile are simply amazing...they just nail the harmonies.

btw, got my tix to brian's nov 2 smile show at the new disney hall...can't wait.

[Doctor Q]

btw, got my tix to brian's nov 2 smile show at the new disney hall...can't wait.I tried to get tickets for either November 2nd or 3rd. Both dates are sold out. :(

[Doctor Q]

btw, got my tix to brian's nov 2 smile show at the new disney hall...can't wait.I'm waiting to hear your full and complete report on the concert.

[3rdpath]

I'm waiting to hear your full and complete report on the concert.
i started to write a full report yesterday and my computer bombed...so after 3 hours of overpriced tech work, here goes:

first, the disney hall is amazing...great acoustics and not a bad seat in the house. our seats were behind the stage( we were lucky to get those...) but it actually gave us an up close view of the whole show. the band, all 10 of them, were amazing players/vocalists...the harmonies were pitch perfect and the blend was as good as the original beach boys.

the first part of the show was semi-acoustic with the band sitting together on chairs. brian's vox were excellent, all things considered, and his vox were sometimes doubled by one of the guitarists. the segue from semi-acoustic to full band was brilliant with some of the players singing while others moved to their stage positions where they, in turn, began playing and singing. so the sound just blossomed until the full band was rocking...so well done.

"god only knows" was absolutely outstanding. some of his between song banter was typical brian in it's weirdness. " this song is for my brothers carl and dennis, who have died"...they did a nice mix of old tunes( surfer girl, do it again, at the drive in) before breaking for intermission. intermission was interesting because everyone was on their cells asking " who got florida?, who got ohio?"...

the next segment of the show was " smile " and it was absolutely perfect. they did the record from start to finish and with the help of the swedish horns and strings...bringing the total number of musicians to 20, i think. you could tell everyone was having a blast including brian.

after "smile" they did an encore which included "barbara ann" and "help me rhonda", then another...then brian came out and did a very heartfelt version of " love and mercy". it was as emotionally moving of a moment as i've ever experienced at a concert...somehow he seemed to be singing to his brothers, to the troops lost in iraq and the many disappointed voters in attendence---all at the same time. sounds strange, but thats the power of music.

oh, before the show, van dyke parks got a standing ovation when he took his seat in the front row. ( may i digress for a moment and boast that i've actually been lucky enough to work with van dyke parks...he played on a song i co-wrote a few years back). by the end of the night he was actually up "twisting" to the music...which for VDP is pretty funny.

maybe this is more info than you wanted but it really was an amazing concert---and i've seen a bazillion of them. it somehow seemed like an historic moment...obviously not as historic as the london premiere...but historic none the less.

[Abstract]

You lucky lucky man. :eek:

[phencat]

Rumors are circulating about a ballet/play based on Brian Wilson's SMiLE, which is apparently currently in rehearsals and will be debuting on Broadway this Fall.

[Doctor Q]

Brian Wilson has another album coming, again for a September release.

The album will be called That Lucky Old Sun (http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003805206), with 11 new songs, and he'll be back on Capitol Records.

He'll be on tour June 28 through September 14.

[gloss]

Wow. Thread necro.

Not without good reason, I suppose.

[Doctor Q]

Wow. Thread necro.
I have a good memory for old threads! :) See discussion about old threads.