Brian Wilson's SMiLE vs Beach Boys' 2011 SMiLE

Which do you version of SMiLE do you prefer and why?

 

I like both but for historical reasons will always like the Beach Boys version the best since it is derived from the 60s tapes. The Brian Wilson version is great as well as it doesn't surprise me that the 2011 Beach Boys reissue retained the same track order as the modern Brian Wilson Presents Smile CD album.

Since my first exposure to this material was from the disc 2 of the Good Vibes box set, I will always prefer the original mixes of this material.

 

Neither, both are essential.

 

I agree that both are essential. I like them both for different reasons. BWPS is a complete work from start to finish, while BB's Smile is (and will always be) a pieced together approximation of what might have been.

However, my own personal preference is that 2011 pieced together version and that's what I listen to most often. There is a certain vibe in those original tapes that is absent in BWPS.

 

Impossible to pick. BWPS was so important to me when it happened. The BB's version is legendary. I wouldn't want to be without either.

 

I liked the solo version. Until I heard Mark Linnets reconstruction. The group version unbelievable

Arguably the greatest album in pop history I.incredible

 

Can't choose.
BWPS is as a whole an incredible journey and performed with passion and respect for the original recordings, both in terms of instrumentation, production and engineering. That Brian was able to face his demons and create a complete version, was for over a quarter of a century, an impossible thought. The band plays well and Van Dyke, Brian Wilson and not least Darian, made a fantastic, personal and complete version of something that will forever be deemed as "unfinished" in some way or another.

However, as recordings and performance-wise, I prefer the originals, how unfinished they may be. The versions of 'H&V', 'Wonderful', 'Vegatables', 'Surf's Up', 'Wind Chimes', and 'Cabin Essence', are among the most beautiful and original music I have ever heard.

Again, I can't choose. For 'Awesome-ness', I prefer the originals. For 'Complete-ness', I prefer 'BWPS'.

 

Agree 100%.

 

I still really enjoy everything about Brian's 'SMile' project, and his tour at the time, but for me the Beach Boys release edges it. I love having the original studio recordings from the era, and the many different tracks so that we can study the compositions and how they were built.

 

Beach Boys

 

2004 SMILE is great but 2011 release has Beach Boys vocals and Brian 1967 vocals, therefore there is no comparison

 

BWPS is ultimately a sterile shadow of what the original intent was. On initial listens it seems so fantastic then I realize that the lilting vocals, the ghosty spook and the near out of tune jangle is absent. SMiLE was never meant to be some comic book happy. Its suppose to be sparkled with 3 am madness and the subtle sweet horror always humming in the background. BWPS doesnt capture that. All praise should be given to Brian for being brave enough to peak back at SMiLE and then to full gaze in order to do what he did on BWPS. But I dont think it *is* SMiLE.

Nor do I see the "suite" on SMiLE Sessions as SMiLE. The last part of the first disc and the total second disc are a gift though. And that is the only way at this point SMiLE will be as close to what it was to be. Make your own from the last part of the first disc, the second disc and boots. And even that will get you maybe 85% of the way done.

 

Live, BWPS was a miracle - not expecting much, I was mesmerized when I saw the live performance. Conceived as a three-part suite, it worked on every level, perfectly paced with each movement climaxing with one of Brian's best works. It was amazing to see Brian so animated and enthusiastic, and singing so strongly. The usually reserved Japanese audience was cheering at the end of each movement. The recording is a bit sterile; the passion and excitement of the live performance is missing in an effort to get things "just right" in the studio. That said, the music is strong, and it's certainly deserving of its exalted status.

The Beach Boys' Smile is "better" because frankly, Brian's voice was better in 1966. But for long time fans, it sounds a bit like a fan's mix tape, using BWPS as a map. If limited to just the single CD, I would vote for BWPS. But the full Smile Sessions box is the mother lode. And, the version with the windows that light up is probably the most overpriced box set of all time - still available on the Beach Boys' site at the original bargain price of $699.99!

 

Went with the BB's version, but would venture to say that without Brian's version coming first when it did, we would very possibly have never seen the BB's version.

 

Frankly, I don't consider fan mixes or so called "roll your own" re-creations of Smile material to be in good taste. One can do what they want with the music personally but it for damn sure will not replace the official released versions.

 

The track order is not EXACTLY the same on the two releases. I have to go with 2011 SMiLE because the original tapes were used. If Wilson had used all the original tapes and added to them in 2004 I would like his version better. Neither are bad though.

 

You're overlooking the Residents' $100,000 boxed set, apparently.

 

Why not? For years, fans had no choice but to try to reconstruct their own Smile using whatever sources were available. Given the modular nature of the original sessions, that do-it-yourself interactive fanmix aspect became integral to the Smile experience and one of the things that makes it so unique. I'm glad that Brian finally went back and made his peace with this music and BWPS is a triumph on its own terms, particularly as a live vehicle for presenting this music, but it was not the album that would have come out in 1967. I think that it was an understandable mistake to rework the original sessions so closely in the image of BWPS for the official 2011 release and it's only natural that fans would continue to play with the various pieces that were made available in the box set. I came up with my new own mix since then and I haven't gone back to the official approximation in a long time.

Naturally, I went with the original Beach Boys recordings here--the lovely group vocals, the amazing Wrecking Crew performances, Brian at the peak of his creative powers. There was just a haunted magic about those performances that was impossible to replicate decades later.

 

Read the the notes from Mark Linett and Alan Boyd. You'll read "Roll Your Own" many times. It is encourged to do so. They even asked to post those mixes and sequencings. It's been going on since the the late 70's. I think everyone involved is quite familiar and at peace with the fan-base doing so.

 

The official released versions are "roll your own" re-creations of Smile as well, because there is no authentic finished 1967 version.

 

The Beach Boys vocals from 1966/1967, led by Brian Wilson at his peak make it a winner by default.

 

I also like both, but prefer the Brian Wilson version because he was able to finish it and present it as a listening experience the way he wanted it. Also, there are a few new bits that add to the whole thing and beat some of the throw aways from the original Smile sessions. No matter how hard they try, the various attmpts to present the original Smile still sounds pieced together. Because it is.

 

It's weird, I really like the idea of Smile, but I don't really like any of the realizations. It still appears to me as a bunch of unfinished bits and pieces even in those two supposedly final statements. I wouldn't be surprised that we get a new Smile comes out every 10-15 years.

 

After years of near fanatacism in listening, I have to agree. Really it just will never be SMiLE.

 

Problem is, it was kind of pieced together by design. I think even if it had been 'finished' in 1967, it would've sounded that way. Had it been released, I think it would've been a moderate commercial success, at best. It would've been important as time went by, but aside from "Good Vibrations," I don't think it would've been able to attain a mass audience at that time. It would've been one of those albums, like Odyssey & Oracle or any Velvet Underground album that didn't do much at the time, but achieved a large cult audience years later.

Yes, the Beatles were stretching the boundaries of 'pop music' at the time, but they were still doing it within the confines of pop music. Most of Smile just threw that right out the window, and I'm not sure, even in 1967, that the average listener was ready for that.