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Brian
Wilson
SMiLE
label: Nonesuch
released: 09.28.04
our score: 4.0 out of 5.0
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In late-1966,
Brian Wilson attempted to follow perhaps the great American
pop record, Pet Sounds, with what he felt could be the
greatest piece of music the world had ever seen. Soon after, his
band, the Beach Boys, released “Good Vibrations”,
arguably the greatest single of the rock era. A short time later,
“Heroes and Villains” appeared, and the world began
to stand up and take notice that Brian Wilson may have been speaking
the truth.
Then…nothing.
For months, music journals and magazines would insist that the
record, SMiLE, would be coming out soon, and that it
would not disappoint. Finally, in mid-1967, Capitol Records announced
that the album would be officially shelved. What followed for
the Beach Boys was a gradual, decline in creative development,
accompanied by a steep deterioration in commercial viability.
For their fans, initial disappointment grew into debate over how
great SMiLE would have been. And for Brian Wilson, the
end of SMiLE became the beginning of a severe decline
in mental and physical health, seemingly draining whatever was
left of one of the greatest American composers ever.
Fast forward
to 2004...the Beach Boys’ catalog is revered by many of
today’s greatest artists, Pet Sounds is one of
the highest regarded recordings of the 20th century, and Brian
Wilson has his life, and career, back on track, touring extensively
for the first time since the early 60’s. As for SMiLE,
no one really felt anything was left to say of the project just
a few months ago. Even Wilson’s closest friends felt that
the album would never exist beyond mere fragments. Until, with
the help of touring band leader Darian Sahanaj and original lyricist
Van Dyke Parks, Wilson was able to exorcise the negative connotations
of the period and complete the most famous rock album never released.
It is plausible
to conceive that any review of an album with such a back story
could not be entirely objective or reasonable. While such a scenario
is inherently true, it can also be argued that a work like SMiLE
must merely be heard to be understood. So I would implore anyone
on the fence to just go out and purchase (or burn) a copy of SMiLE
and listen to it over, and over, and over again. For that is the
only way to interpret the sounds Brian Wilson has created and
re-created. But for the sake of argument…
The most surprising
thing about this interpretation of SMiLE is how coherent
it is. Unlike the “feels” and incomplete passages
of the bootlegs, the songs Wilson has created finally seem fully-formed
and, in their new mini-cycles, thematically unified. The first
section, Americana, is a meditation on American colonialism
from its origins in Europe (“Heroes and Villains”),
through the Pilgrims landing at Plymouth Rock (“Roll Plymouth
Rock”), and ending with a description of Midwestern log
cabin living, the end of the frontier at Hawaii, and a psychological
study of the thoughts of Chinese laborers working on the western
railroad (“Cabin Essence”). Of this suite, “Cabin
Essence” impresses the most, as what once was a blurry,
sometimes incoherent jumble has been transformed into an intense,
and fun, psychedelic trip.
The second
section, entitled Cycle of Life, is much limper musically,
but lyrically fascinating. “Wonderful” tells a story
of virginal grace and innocence before slowly evolving into the
gorgeous “Surf’s Up”. It is in this passage
where you begin to notice a difference in Brian Wilson’s
vocal prowess. For a man his age, he sounds almost uplifting,
but its hard not to begin missing the rest of the Beach Boys,
considering the way they padded Pet Sounds vocally beyond compare.
However, in the case of “Surf’s Up”, Wilson’s
slightly-slurred voice-tone adds new life to Parks’ lyrics.
This literal story of a crumbling empire, and the realization
of its protagonist that change is imminent is now almost wistful
considering all Wilson has gone through since SMiLE was
originally aborted. The final coda, where the central character
comes to the epiphany of the joy inborn upon the child is breathtaking
and makes for a fitting centerpiece.
The final
and most famous section, The Elements, is the most impressive,
and frustrating. While holdovers like “Workshop” and
“Vega-Tables” stay remarkably true to their original
compositions, the revamped “On A Holiday” (formally
“Holidays”), and “In Blue Hawaii” (formally
“I Love To Say Da-Da”) fall a bit flat, especially
since they are sandwiched along with the twin peaks of “Wind
Chimes” and “Ms. O’Leary’s Cow”
(which finally sounds worthy of its legend). The only real clunker
to be found on this record, however, is saved for last. While
it hardly would make logical sense for the original version of
“Good Vibrations” to be placed within this brand-new
recording, the effect is still less than jarring that one of the
finest songs ever recorded needs to be revamped and re-worked
by its creator. Perhaps if the song had stayed true to its original
mix, rather than have its lyrics and instrumentation changed,
than the result may have come out more favorable. However, it
does not deter ultimately from the experience and wonderment that
Wilson has created. If anything, it only keeps the window for
debate open, even if this version is as close to definitive as
SMiLE will ever be.
If you have
never before listened to a bootleg of the Beach Boys version of
SMiLE, you should consider yourself lucky. Even with
all its faults, this new-recording is significantly better than
any bootleg compilation of SMiLE ever created. And for
those who have spent hours listening to snippets of Wilson’s
“modular” experiments, trying to figure out if “Bicycle
Rider” follows “Good Vibrations” or “Workshop”,
this new version actually will enhance the pleasure you get out
of your old SMiLE tapes. Hopefully, one day all the original
sessions will be released for the public to consume and study,
but let’s be thankful that Brian Wilson has finally been
able to defeat this large albatross of his professional career,
and that his creative spirit and adventurous ambition were able
to achieve their fruition, so the dream can continue.
10-Nov-2004
9:10 PM
If you
liked SMiLE...
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Tracklist:
1.
Our Prayer/Gee
2. Heroes and Villians
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/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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