Educate me on Smile from The Beach Boys

This. My own-rolled SMiLE is the greatest album ever made. The official 2011….is pretty good though. Just wish it were in stereo.

 

You need both.

Listen to Brian's "completed" version to understand how it all fits together.

Then go to the Smile Sessions to hear how great it could have been.

 

We cant see the results of the poll if we didnt vote.

 

Well it matters to me! BWPS is a complete finished work, the first released fruit of a 37 year journey, whether you like it or not. I don't want "a fascinating window into Brian's fragile psyche" - I've read, heard and watched enough stuff in my life about drug induced burn-outs - there's more to life and I JUST want great music. That's not too much to ask.

 

The 2011 Super Deluxe Box Set with 5 CDs also includes a copy of the Album on Vinyl, which is selling for a lot of money separately these days, so if someone also plays Vinyl and can still find the Super Deluxe Box Set for a decent price then is worth it, if one wants to dive deeper into all of the recordings on 5 CDs.

I first bought the the 2004 BWPS on CD that I saw in a Used CD Store after watching the Love and Mercy Movie about 5-6 years ago, which I liked and also bought the 2 DVD Set with the Concert that is good to watch once in awhile. Then I bought the Vinyl for BWPS from a Seller here in the Classifieds. BWPS does use a younger group of musicians, but I think they are good for his completed vision of this project. As mentioned though, BW’s Voice is long gone, but expected at that age.

Soon after buying the BWPS on CD, I saw the Mini Box Set for the 2011 Beach Boys Smile at a Barnes and Noble and bought it, which then lead me to buying the Super Deluxe Box, as was new to The Beach Boys Music, and while buying Pet Sounds(DCC & AF Mastered by Our Host and the MoFi Hybrid SACD to get the Stereo Version), I liked Smile more overall. I still have not yet bought the the Original Smiley Smile though, as was not sure is needed for me to own it.

 

The individual songs that are finished (Our Prayer, Heroes And Villains, Wonderful, Good Vibrations, Cabin Essence, Vega-tables, Wind Chimes, Mrs O’Leary’s Cow, Surf’s Up…) are so much better in the original Beach Boys versions, though. I also prefer unfinished songs like “Do You Like Worms” “Look”, “Child Is Father to the Man” and “Holidays” to the finished versions.

It’s not just that the vocals are 10,000 times better. There’s just a certain magical atmosphere amd spirit that can’t be replicated.

But the snippets and fragments work very well on BWPS and dont quite on the 2011.

 

It's important to know this, because Brian didn't put the finished product together - it was mostly done by Darian Sahanaja , his keyboard player. He played the same game you mention, working with the puzzle pieces, putting them in some order. Then Brian got energized about it.

But it remains the only official "complete" version we'll ever have.

 

Prime and "finished" Smile:

Prayer (20/20)
Heroes and Villains (Smiley Smile)
Vegetables (GV Boxset)
Wonderful (GV Boxset)
Cabinessence (20/20)
Good Vibrations (Smiley Smile)
Wind Chimes (GV Boxset)
Surf's Up (Surf's Up)

This is the gold. After that, it's diminishing returns territory.

 

I spent the latter half of the 90s in thrall to the Beach Boys, and I had an absolute fascination with the Smile tracks that appeared on other albums and the Good Vibrations box set. However, my enthusiasm had cooled by the time BWPS came out and I didn’t really connect with it. The craftsmanship was admirable but I felt like it was missing something and Brian’s voice, whilst well-preservee, had lost that yearning quality that was key to so many of the Beach Boys’ songs. I’m not proud, but I probably played the same year’s Gettin’ In Over My Head more (it even contains a VDP co-write, which is schmaltzy as heck in comparison to the Smile songs but still gets me every time).

Come 2011, I was tempted to sit the Smile Sessions out but I bought the 2cd set and found it served the songs much better. Now, it’s the only one I go back to. Not often, admittedly, but I’ll maybe listen to it once or twice a year with headphones. That’s the one I’d go for.

 

Looks like you've already gotten tons of good advice, so I'll just add: there are literally thousands of Smile fanmixes, made both before and since the 2011 Smile Sessions box came out. (In a way, even BWPS is a bit of a fanmix!). I tend to listen to one of these instead of going for the first disc of Smile Sessions, honestly.

I've seen a few good fanmixes recommended upthread. I'd also add the great fanmixes done by soniclovenoize, which attempt to create both a Smile '67 as well as recreating the BWPS mix using vintage BBs material and mixes.

Albums That Never Were: The Beach Boys - SMiLE (upgrade)

 

Yeah I think the five disc set is probably not the one to go for unless you’re already a big fan. The two disc, or even the one-disc that was released in the EU would be better.

 

Listen to these recordings in this particular order:

1. The Smile Sessions (Disc 1 / Tracks 1-19)
2. Brian Wilson presents Smile
3. Smiley Smile
4. The Smile Sessions (rest of Disc 1 + Discs 1-5)

I know that’s very deep, but it’s completely worth it

P.S. You also could watch the BWPS concert on DVD after listening to all that stuff.

 

Just found the SMILE sessions on Spotify Premium. Sounds great!

 

Also, if you haven't already, it's essential to learn the story of Smile, which is one of the most fascinating and complex musical stories anywhere. Until 2011, no doubt the most famous unreleased album in recorded music history!

 

If you're interested in fan mixes, etc. there is this old thread:

SMiLE releases, fan mixes, boots etc. Your fav?

 

The history enhances, but the music stands on its own. All you really need to know is that it was never quite finished. It was discovering songs from SMiLE on Youbtube videos in 2007 they converted me from a casual fan who was more or less satisfied with the Sounds Of Summer comp to a complete nut.

The deep knowledge of the history came along afterwards.

 

I think it’s important to keep in mind that, while BWPS & the Smile Sessions may reflect Brian’s intentions for Smile, neither represent the Smile that might have actually seen release in 60s.

First, it’s 47 minutes long - twice the running time of most Beach Boys releases and 11 minutes longer than Pet Sounds. But an LP can hold 47 minutes… if you divide it in the middle. The problem is, Smile is three suites, and no two complete suites will fit comfortably onto one side of a record. So the middle suite must be split, right around Child Is Father to the Man or Surf’s Up, which is an awkward place to split the suite. He couldn’t have cut one of the suites because the promo materials and printed jackets already listed song titles from each of the suites. I suspect that was stressful for Brian back in 1967. When BWPS was released, it was on three sides of a double album.

I quite dislike the thin mono sound of the Smile Sessions, but it has the original performances with Beach Boys’ original vocals. BWPS sounds better, but it suffers from obvious use of synthesizers, and the vocals can’t really compare to The Beach Boys. I guess I’d choose the Smile Sessions if I had to have only one?

 

What in the Brian version was newly written? I'm not a deep Smile scholar, but aside from a few lines of new Van Dyke Parks lyrics, there's nothing in BWPS that isn't in the original Smile sessions IIRC, including the interstitial pieces (i.e. the little transitions that quote bits of "Heroes and Villains"). Even the new Van Dyke lyrics are sung to existing instrumental melodies in the original tracks.

 

True, the parts are relatively small, but they're very important. The parts that matter to me are:

-- The verse lyric and melody on "Roll Plymouth Rock," which finally turns this fascinating sketch into a real song;

-- The vocals on "Holiday" which turns it into something really delightful;

and most importantly: The short reflective vocal before "Good Vibrations," which subtly refers to Brian's struggles in the intervening years and pulls the whole emotionality of the piece together.


Also, the way it's assembled gives BWPS a load of context that was never there before. Suddenly it's warm, humorous, incredibly poignant in the Life Cycle section, and more.

 

You listen to both, of course. They’re both wonderful.

 

Won, won, won, wonderful.

 

Deffo not ‘Brain Wilson Presents…’

Listen to the ‘sessions ‘ cd.

 

SMiLE is perhaps the most mythical album ever recorded or at least proposed. I cast another vote for the BB’s SMiLE Sessions release. If for nothing else, this was Brian’s original vision, only the BB’s could pull it off. I bought BWPS when it came out and played it extensively until the Sessions piece was released. I don’t believe I’ve played BWPS since then. Honestly, for a complete picture, it’s ok to have both.

 

I picked up the 2-CD version of Smile Sessions and that's quite enough for me. Some of the stuff is great, like Brian's demo of "Surf's Up," but a lot of it is rambling bits and pieces. Which, apparently, is how the whole album was recorded, so I can see why the other Beach Boys found the project frustrating.

I bought Pet Sounds a while back to see what the fuss was about (although I was familiar with the singles), and I bought the Smile Sessions because of the album's outsize reputation. Neither are among my all-time favorites, but I have to say I like Smile better. (I also have the Wilson solo version from 2004, and I agree with the comments about Brian's voice being past its prime by that point.)

In terms of whether the 2004 solo or 2011 reconstructed band version is closer to what Brian intended - I don't think he knew what he intended. His mental health was very precarious at the time, and I'm not convinced he ever had a coherent, fully-realized idea of where the project would end up. Otherwise he'd have recorded whole songs instead of little fragments that had to be stitched together afterwards. Both released versions are scrapbooks rather than portraits.