Track Listing

1. Our Prayer
2. Heroes and Villains
3. Roll Plymouth Rock
4. Barnyard
5. Old Master Painter / You Are My Sunshine
6. Cabin Essence
7. Wonderful
8. Song for Children
9. Child Is Father of the Man
10. Surf's Up
11. I'm In Great Shape
12. Workshop
13. Vega-Tables
14. On a Holiday
15. Wind Chimes
16. Mrs. O'Leary's Cow
17. In Blue Hawaii
18. Good Vibrations

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #10860 in Music
• Released on: 2004-09-27
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .35 pounds

Amazon.co.uk Review
There should be fanfares. Every contributor to pop's legacy should respectfully bow down in silent thanks that Smile has finally been officially released. It may not be the original album (the tragic deaths of Carl and Dennis Wilson, and perpetual legal wrangles ensure The Beach Boys remain steadfastly estranged from this re-recording, and each other), but that won't matter to fans who devoured bootlegs, worshipped the recycled Smile songs that appeared on later albums and obsessed over literature such as "Look! Listen! Smile! Vibrate!" or Andrew Doe and John Tobler's Definitive Beach Boys guide.

Imagine waiting 37 years for a train to the best theme park in the world. Finally, there you are, and despite the paint job, it still doesn't fail to delight. Well, that's what it is to listen to Smile. The ideas may seem far-out initially, but they soon reveal themselves as pop-art at its absolute zenith. Who can argue with the sublime "Cabinessence"? The majesty of "Surf's Up"? And (least of all) the jewel in the crown of pop music "Good Vibrations"? Modern music may have caught up, but Smile's joyous trundle through Americana will leave mouths open wide in wonder. The gripes over the absence of Beach Boy vocals, (particularly Carl Wilson and Mike Love) may be valid, but Wilson's band are respectful imitators, and this is the best Brian's sounded in years--his world-weary, poignant voice conveys Van Dyke Parks' impressionistic lyrics more maturely than his younger self.

It's impossible to give a definitive opinion, because it's something that everyone needs to hear, history or no history, and though it may not quite satisfy 37 years worth of anticipation, or stand up to the original version (this version shows Brian was so, so close to originally finishing it), it's unquestionably the album of the decade. --Thom Allott

Album Description
Smile is inarguably the most long awaited album in modern pop history. It's been more than 37 years since the title first appeared on a label release schedule, intended as the January, 1967 follow-up to the groundbreaking art-rock of the Beach Boys' Pet Sounds. But Smile never made its initial release date. Today, this album is not a mere reconstruction of past performances, but something entirely new, a serious summation of a project that has been gestating for nearly four decades.

CD Description
30 years in the making, this is the Beach Boys' legendary "lost" album, originally planned for release after their classic 'Pet Sounds' but scrapped amidst inter-band wrangling and frontman Wilson's deteriorating mental state. Now re-recorded note for note by Wilson with the aid of 21st Century studio technology, this is a glorious Technicolor epic and a worthy addition to the Beach Boys' canon.

Customer Reviews

After 37 years, Wilson�s masterpiece has finally arrived!
The most famous unfinished album of the rock era, SMiLe has long haunted rock fans with those unanswerable "What ifs?" Often thought of as the ultimate answer to the OTHER record of 1967, The Beatles' SGT PEPPER, SMiLe never quite made it to the store shelves. Wilson had a nervous breakdown, he was on too many drugs, the Beach Boys (in particular Mike Love) didn't want to do the record, and he was growing progressively paranoid. The collapse of the SMiLe sessions is well documented, and the record has entered into the rock canon as one of the most illusive albums ever.

Brian Wilson had developed some astonishing production techniques, and constructed the landmark single "Good Vibrations" out of an idealogy he called modular recording. He planned to follow up "Good Vibrations" with an entire album of suite songs in similar style, using Americana as its foundation. His plan was to construct a 'teenage symphony to God."

Do to drugs, pressure from Capitol, his own quickly deteriorating mental condition, and the antagonism the Beach Boys directed to the project, by the summer of 1967 Brian Wilson abandoned SMiLe, seemingly permanently. Whenever asked about it in ensuing years, Wilson would have nothing to do with it, saying SMiLe was inapproriate music.

As the years passed, SMiLe's fame grew to mythic proportions, becoming the Holy Grail of the rock canon. Many of the sessions leaked out over the years, and several SMiLe songs found their way onto Beach Boy LPs during the late 1960s and 1970s. Wilson became increasingly withdrawn, and from what I've read of him became very bizarre. SMiLe was written off as the greatest album never released, and Wilson's ultimate masterpiece. The 1966-67 sessions have been heavily bootlegged, and there have been several bootleg and fan reconstructions of the project.

The myth of SMiLe embodied the fragile creative spirit. As long as SMiLe stayed in the vaults as an unfinished album, it would always remain as an perfect record. So it came as quite a shock when, after a successful tour of PET SOUNDS, in 2004 Brian Wilson decided to reconstruct the project and release it. Understandably, many people were filled with trepidation. After all, Wilson is 62, and his voice isn't what it use to be. And, ultimately, what if the album just isn't that good?

Thankfully, these fears can be laid to rest. Not only does SMiLe come off as a wonderfully brilliant album, the project now has cohesion that the 66-67 sessions were lacking. Now SMiLe sounds like a completed work.

I haven't listened to a lot of the 66-67 sessions, but what I have heard sounds remarkably mimicked here. There are some questions the official SMiLe just begs, going back to the earlier tapes: judging from Wilson's intent here, you can only assume, listening to the old sessions, that SMiLe was never that far from completion when Wilson abandoned it. The music sounds remarkably close to the original sessions.

But for all that can be said of the original sessions, the fact remains Wilson completed the album in 2004. There is no 1967 SMiLe. This is the only official SMiLe we have.

And what a wonderful set of music. Fulfilling all the promises set out in the landmark single "Good Vibrations," SMiLe builds on Wilson's modular techniques and creates an astonishingly original, daring, and beautiful artistic breakthrough. Though impossible to know, had SMiLe been released in 1967, I think it would have been as critically praised as SGT PEPPER. SMiLe is a lot messier, and almost operatic in its three suites.

While SGT PEPPER was quasi-concept at best (I believe PEPPER's concept was more psychological than having to do with the music itself), SMiLe is fully enchanted with Americana, and builds its core around America. SMiLe is very much an American artistic statement. While PEPPER covered more of a musical history, SMiLe takes America and its history as its principal inspiration. The Elemental Suite is great. ("Mrs. O'Leary's Cow" gave me chills the first time I heard it; if there's a song giving off incredibly strange vibrations that one definitely is). The inclusion of "Good Vibrations" on the end doesn't really fit in the elemental Suite. I feel there are two ends to this album. "Blue Hawaii," the end to the Suite. Then "Good Vibrations" is like a bonus cut. Originally, Capitol wanted "Good Vibrations" on the album in the 1960s and Wilson wanted to leave it off, but he caved (which is why the original cover art prominently displays the song). It is little surprise he included a new rendition here (with the original Asher lyrics!)

Ultimately, has it been worth the wait? Undoubtedly. SMiLe is ultimately more eclectic and satisfying than PET SOUNDS, or even SGT PEPPER for that matter. While you're listening to SMiLe, it's like you're listening to an entirely different, more ruthlessly inventive musical era, and in many ways the album sounds like a time capsule. In many ways it's much more startling in 2004 than it would have been in 1967. Popular music was evolving incredibly fast in those days. Now, in a market dominated by bland, faceless pop, SMiLe is all the more revelatory in its pure genius, illustrating what artists can accomplish when they don't bend to commercial woes.

There was much concern over Wilson's voice. Many people feared his voice just couldn't handle the material anymore. You can certainly tell Wilson's voice has changed from his angelic highs, but that makes SMiLe all the more endearing. Even though Wilson's 62, and his voice has become rather earth-bound, the 2004 SMiLe is an amazing tribute to the restless, creative spirit of man. His determination shines through in his voice. Even though age has gotten to Brian Wilson, he still sounds fantastic. His voice always reminds us that, despite all his personal demons, Brian Wilson made the music of a lifetime.

And that's all we can ask, and much more than we deserve, of anyone.

Smile
The CD flopped through the letterbox, and got put to one side till later in the day. Busy lifestyle and all that! Later in the evening, I sneaked through to the kitchen to have a quick listen (mostly all I manage these days is a snatched few tracks in the car). Within 5 minutes I was sucked into a musical world I haven't experienced since, well I can't remember when, if ever. I sat tranfixed right through the album. "Whats that rubbish you've been buying now?" asked the wife later on. Next day on a car jouney, she sat silent as it played right though, and agreed, this is an astonishing album. The objective stuff has been well said above, all I want to add is this - For me, this album lifts me up gently to a higher place, and holds me there for about half an hour, before gently bringing me down again. It is a timeless classic. You want to drop your blood pressure back to a level you never thought you'd see again? Try this, it works. Just keep it in your head thoughout the day.
Columnated Ruins Domino!

Smile - The Masterpiece
Those of us fortunate enough to see Brian Wilson perform smile at the Royal
Festival Hall will already know and no doubt agree with most of what I'm
about to say.
Smile, originally supposed to be released in 1967 is probably the most
famous
of all unreleased albums. Composed and produced by Brian Wilson, the sole
genius behind all of the Beach Boys music before 1967, Smile was intended as
the big follow up to Pet Sounds which at the time didn't do so well in the
States but picked up a huge following here in the UK where the Beach Boys
over took the Beatles in popularity for a time.
The Beatles then struck back with Sgt Pepper, heralded as the greatest album
of all time, shifting the Beatles into even higher stardom and creating an
enormous amount of pressure for an already seriously troubled Brian.
Most people at the time heard that Smile's failure was a result of Brian's
breakdown after hearing Sgt Pepper. It's true he had a breakdown (more a
slow retreat from reality over the previous years as oppose to a sudden
cracking!) but it wasn't a result of hearing Sgt Pepper that caused it.
The Culmination of writing music for nearly 12 albums in 5 or 6 years, an
incredibly abusive father, and Brian's inability to cope with the pressure
of dealing with the record company and the other Beach Boys jealousy and
demands drove him into paranoid schizophrenia and an eventual total retreat
from the world for nearly 20 years.
Those few lucky enough to hear the original tapes of Smile have always
described it as an incredible musical journey exploring areas of music that
no other musician had come close to creating. And most would agree after
hearing it performed live that this music really is something special.
Brian's voice isn't what it used to be, but the fact this man is still alive
after everything he went through, still relatively coherent is enough to
impress most Beach Boys fans.
The new version of the album has been recorded with Brian's current backing
band, The Wondermints. A group of incredibly talented singers and musicians
who give Brian the support and confidence that he would've needed at the
time he wrote Smile but never received from the Beach Boys.
Brian himself mentioned to his wife after first hearing the Wondermints
perform the Smile song 'Surfs Up' in '96, that if he had them as his backing
band at the time he wrote it, it would have gotten released then and there.
So, 37 years later Brian finally decided it was time for the world to hear
smile as he originally intended it. Having gone through the original Smile
tapes with his companion lyricist Van Dyke Parks, who wrote the Smile
lyrics. Brian and Van Dyke organised the songs into an arrangement that
could be performed successfully live, unleashing this truly wonderful
arrangement on the world (well, the UK at least) earlier this year.
Brian on a number of occasions, even recently said that he would never
release Smile as an album but the incredible success the Smile Tour
generated coupled no doubt with the support he's received from his family,
the band and us fans has convinced the time is right for Smile.
I have no doubt in my mind about how brilliant this album will be, Brian's
already proved with 3 successful solo albums that he still has the gift.
Now, he has the chance to really prove it to us..........My only sadness
with this release is that if only he had released it back then, it most
likely would have rightfully overtaken anything the Beatles were producing
at the time and beyond and given Brian the musical credit that he deserves
far more then any other artist in history.
Surfs Up................