Brian Wilson presents SMiLE (2004)

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Between 1967 and 2004, the SMILE sessions were pretty much the Dead Sea Scrolls of pop music. Well documented as head Beach Boy Brian Wilson's answer to the Beatles' masterpiece SGT. PEPPER'S LONELY HEARTS CLUB BAND (which was itself largely an answer to the Beach Boys' PET SOUNDS), the tracks laid down in '67 for the projected SMILE album were the furthest afield anyone nominally operating under the pop/rock umbrella had ever ventured. Notoriously, intraband conflict (Mike Love, in particular, found the Wilson/Van Dyke Parks-penned conceptual work too far out) kept the record from being released. With several oceans' worth of water under the bridge, Wilson finally decided to finish the aborted project three-and-a-half decades later, adhering closely to the original blueprints. The results are as timelessly breathtaking as the original version must have been to the lucky few who first heard the initial tapes. With sterling support from his backing band the Wondermints, Wilson meticulously pieced together the conceptual, orchestral puzzle of SMILE into a rewarding, cohesive whole. Even decades down the line, it still sounds miles away from anything else in the world of popular music. A series of extended vignettes tied together with seamlessly arranged melodic latticework, SMILE is a masterpiece that incorporates the influences of gospel, ancient hymns, Charles Ives-style avant-garde experimentalism, barbershop-quartet harmony, Stephen Foster, and more, in a churning cauldron of lush Americana. Strings, harpsichord, and a wide palette of orchestral percussion are just as important as drums and guitars, though traces of the PET SOUNDS sonic stew can be heard here as well. A triumph of the will for Wilson and a victory for art and humanity, SMILE bears -- among many other things -- an extremely appropriate title. Collaborator Van Dyke Parks's impressionistic, often mischievous lyrics conjure a collage of arcane 19th-century Americana that's equal parts artful ellipse and aloof nostalgia. But wed to Wilson's innovative composition and recording techniques (echoing beat author William Burroughs's fabled cut 'n' paste methodology and exemplified by the modular "Good Vibrations"), the resulting semisuite confections challenge the boundaries of both song and album form, but with an insouciant charm that's as different from Pet Sounds as that landmark was from "I Get Around". Turns out those hypothetical comparisons to Sgt. Pepper's weren't so far off the mark. ~ Jerry McCulley, amazon

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Tracklist:

01. Our Prayer/Gee
02. Heroes And Villians
03. Roll Plymouth Rock
04. Barnyard
05. Old Master Painter/You Are My Sunshine
06. Cabin Essence
07. Wonderful
08. Song For Children
09. Child Is Father Of The Man
10. Surf's Up
11. I'm In Great Shape/I Wanna Be Around/Workshop
12. Vega-Tables
13. On A Holiday
14. Wind Chimes
15. Mrs. O'Leary's Cow
16. In Blue Hawaii
17. Good Vibrations

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The Greatest Album That Never Was finally is. The Beach Boys' uncompleted 1967 album Smile has remained the elusive touchstone of Brian Wilson's brilliant, star-crossed career for decades. Artistic Holy Grail and troubling professional Waterloo for Wilson, a tantalizing prism of unfulfilled promise to his loyal cadre of fans, its story has become pop music's Rashomon. Finally completed via spring 2004 recordings with his stellar, longtime touring band (none of the original '60s sessions were used, though they've been recreated here with often stunning authenticity), it's arguably as alien to contemporary pop as it might have seemed in its intended '67 context--even to ears freshly primed by the glories of Pet Sounds.

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• Brian Wilson - vocals, keyboards
• Dave Stone - acoustic bass guitar
• Paul Mertens - harmonica, woodwinds, saxophone
• Scott Bennett - vocals, guitar, keyboards, percussion
• Darian Sahanaja - vocals, keyboards, percussion
• Probyn Gregory - vocals, guitar, whistle, brass
• Jim Hines - drums, percussion, sound effects, musical saw
• Jeffrey Foskett - vocals, guitar, hammer dulcimer
• Nelson Bragg - vocals, whistle, percussion
• Nick Walusko - vocals, guitar
• Bob Lizik - bass guitar
• Taylor Mills - vocals, sound effects

Release Date: September 28, 2004
Label: Nonesuch Records
Catalog No.: 79846-2