SMILE!

[JSngry]

http://www.brianwilson.com/news/

[J.A.W.]

Thanks for posting this.

[Rooster_Ties]

on Nonesuch. Wouldn't have guessed that one in a million years.

(Or is there something obvious that I'm missing. Wouldn't be the first time, that's for sure!)

[Eric]

I see he also has a new one coming out in June ... a number of guests including Elton John, Clapton and McCartney.

I really, really liked Imagination, the last one he put out (~ 5 years ago). Not all of it was great, but some of it really was (Imagination, Lay Down Burden in particular).

Should be interesting, as I expect Smile will be. Hopefully the "studio magic" can smooth out some of the rough edges in his voice. Normally I am opposed to that sort of stuff, but hey, I won't be buying it for the lyrics ...

Edited May 20, 2004 by Eric

[Stefan Wood]

This should be really interesting. I am NOT a Beach Boys fan, not at all, but I have heard the lp "Smile" and found it creative and fascinating to listen to. More so than Pet Sounds.....

[Brandon Burke]

I read about this a few days ago and am something of a Smile nerd. I've got several mixes from varying master and "working" reels so you can imagine my surprize when I heard snippets of the UK Smile tour on NPR. These new performances sound remarkably close to the originals. I mean even "Ms. O'Leary's Cow" sounded the same. (That's the one with the sirens and the creepy John Cale/VU strings.)

I'm bummed that the version that's coming out is a new recording but, judging from what I heard of those UK shows, it should still sound pretty good. No Carl though....

Edited May 21, 2004 by Brandon Burke

[Eric]

I read about this a few days ago and am something of a Smile nerd.  I've got several mixes from varying master and "working" reels so you can imagine my surprize when I head snippets of the UK Smile tour on NPR.  These new performances sound remarkably close to the originals.  I mean even "Ms. O'Leary's Cow" sounded the same.  (That's the one with the sirens and the creepy John Cale/VU strings.) 

I still bummed that the version that's coming out is a new recording but, judging from what I heard of those UK shows, it should still sound pretty good.  No Carl though.... 

Yeah Brandon, I have mixed emotions about new versus old. You're right, with the old you get Carl and a better-sounding Brian. With the new, you should get the benefit of technology, which unless they totally f it up, should be a plus. I wonder if Brian will be able to summon the emotion that he did for Pet Sounds or if it will be more of a giddy/silly "happy to be alive" vibe.

Speaking of Pet Sounds, I may be in the minority, but I think it sounds like crap. I have the latest version (with both mono and stereo), but to me it sounds pretty cloudy and distant. Maybe it is supposed to, but it is just not to my taste. Great songs though.

Edited May 20, 2004 by Eric

[JSngry]

Eric, do you dig Phil Spector?

Edited May 20, 2004 by JSngry

[Eric]

Eric, do you dig Phil Spector?

Not particularly, although my listening is somewhat limited. I have read that is what Brian was going after on Pet Sounds. Maybe it is my expectation of what I want from the Beach Boys - a pure sonic delight - ear candy of the highest caliber. Or, given Brian's perception of his competition at the time - the Beatles, maybe something a little richer, yet less muddled, less "boxy". To me, Pet Sounds just sounds (relatively) lo-fi. In the context of that great Dap-Kings CD, that sound of course is perfect

So maybe that is the distinction - for r&b, classic soul, gritty rock - that sound works for me. But for pure pop - which is what I see this stuff as - I want to really hear all the sonic details.

[JSngry]

Fair enough.

Myself, I find the "unreal" sonic canvass of cats like Spector, Wilson, Joe Meek, etc. enhances the overall effect of their music (or more precisely, their music of that time - I personally think that LOVE YOU is a great album - totally nutso, but great nevertheless - and it's as pristine and detailed as you want it to be). The music wasn't "real", it was fantasy, and all that blurring of the detail adds to the effect, in my opinion. The case can certainly be made, though, that PET SOUNDS begins as fantasy and ends as cold, not-at-all-pretty reality, so the "wall of sound" biz either works for the listener as part of the overall poignancy of this most poignant song cycle (holding on to one last drop of innocence while at the same time bemaoaning the loss of it) or else it doesn't work becasue the production doesn't fit the material. I'm in the former camp, but not militantly so, not by a long shot.

There's also the matter of "sound for it's own sake" and the conceptual parallel between the Spector approach and what was going on in other avant-garde musics of the time, but I fear I've already exceeded my geekiness quota for the day, so fuggedaboutit!

Although, having said that, I DO think that the details of PET SOUNDS bear close scrutiny. There's some most interesting things going on in those tunes, a HUGE amount of detail that matters in a musical way in a fashion that few pop albums have ever contained, and you CAN hear it. But you gotta work at it, and since when was pop supposed to be work?

Still, at the end of the day, put me down in the "fine as is" camp for PS. The sonic whole of "I Guess I Just Wasn't Made For These Times" IS a big muddy mess, but that's what the song is about, so it works for me in that way.

If you want to hear the tracks by themselves, there's always the PS box, but in all honesty, that's for fanatics and scholars only. But I have it and dig it anyway.

[Chrome]

Speaking of being in the minority, I have to say I just don't get the big deal with the Beach Boys as far anything beyond the "ear candy" angle.

[JSngry]

It's White American Suburban Spiritual Music. The best of it anyway. Those of us who "get it" get it deeply, it seems. Those who don't, don't. No biggie, either way.

Are you in touch with your Inner American Suburban Whiteness? You gotta locate it and embrace it before you can truly let it go, ya'know! To be "more than", one must have a firm grasp on what one is to be more than. Brian transcended it by being it as much as it could be been. It's true!

(of course, if you're not white, American, and/or suburban, uh...never mind )

[Stefan Wood]

I thought White Suburban Spiritual Music were the Righteous Brothers, Jim Nabors and Tennesse Ernie Ford.

[RDK]

I dig the BB, but I've never quite "gotten" the appeal of Smile (or, rather, the variously compiled boots of the Smile material). "Heroes & Villains" is a cool tune, I like "Cabinessence," and "Good Vibrations" is a stone classic, but the rest of it's very hit-or-miss for me and a few tracks are almost unlistenable. Still, I'm very eager to hear what Brian finally puts together...

[Peter Johnson]

Jim, being a PS scholar of sorts, what do you think of the Stereo vs. Mono mixes of the record?

I love listening to the stereo mix on headphones--I feel like I'm able to hear a lot of isolated instrumental aspects of the piece that I don't hear in the mono mix.

But the stereo mix has a lot of dropouts, and if you're looking for the "wash of sound" experience, it seems like a lot is missing. As a result, if listening without headphones, I tend to prefer the mono mix.

Thoughts?

[JSngry]

The stereo mix is cool for study purposes, bit the mono is the "real" PET SOUNDS. No sense in pretending otherwise!

Just my opinion, of course.

[Brandon Burke]

The stereo mix is cool for study purposes, bit the mono is the "real" PET SOUNDS. No sense in pretending otherwise!

Just my opinion, of course.

Yeah, I think it would be hard to argue against that.

[Peter Johnson]

Clem--you're absolutely right re the Stones early records--people should definitely hear them in mono if they haven't already. Such sound...

[Chrome]

(of course, if you're not white, American, and/or suburban, uh...never mind )

Actually, you got me on all three ... but when I was growing up, we were all into Bruce Springsteen as the patron saint of disaffected suburban teens ... "Tramps like us, baby we were born to run!"

[Eric]

(of course, if you're not white, American, and/or suburban, uh...never mind          )

Actually, you got me on all three ... but when I was growing up, we were all into Bruce Springsteen as the patron saint of disaffected suburban teens ... "Tramps like us, baby we were born to run!"

OK, OK, I took the bait. Waaaay afield from the original topic, but could not resist posting the lyrics to my favorite Springsteen song, Thunder Road:

"The screen door slams, Mary's dress waves

Like a vision she dances across the porch as the radio plays

Roy Orbison singing for the lonely

Hey, that's me and I want you only

Don't turn me home again, I just can't face myself alone again

Don't run back inside, darling, you know just what I'm here for

So you're scared and you're thinking that maybe we ain't that young anymore

Show a little faith, there's magic in the night

You ain't a beauty but, hey, you're alright

Oh, and that's alright with me

You can hide 'neath your covers and study your pain

Make crosses from your lovers, throw roses in the rain

Waste your summer praying in vain

For a savior to rise from these streets

Well now, I ain't no hero, that's understood

All the redemption I can offer, girl, is beneath this dirty hood

With a chance to make it good somehow

Hey, what else can we do now?

Except roll down the window and let the wind blow back your hair

Well, the night's busting open, these two lanes will take us anywhere

We got one last chance to make it real

To trade in these wings on some wheels

Climb in back, heaven's waiting on down the tracks

Oh oh, come take my hand

We're riding out tonight to case the promised land

Oh oh oh oh, Thunder Road

Oh, Thunder Road, oh, Thunder Road

Lying out there like a killer in the sun

Hey, I know it's late, we can make it if we run

Oh oh oh oh, Thunder Road

Sit tight, take hold, Thunder Road

Well, I got this guitar and I learned how to make it talk

And my car's out back if you're ready to take that long walk

From your front porch to my front seat

The door's open but the ride ain't free

And I know you're lonely for words that I ain't spoken

But tonight we'll be free, all the promises'll be broken

There were ghosts in the eyes of all the boys you sent away

They haunt this dusty beach road in the skeleton frames of burned-out Chevrolets

They scream your name at night in the street

Your graduation gown lies in rags at their feet

And in the lonely cool before dawn

You hear their engines rolling on

But when you get to the porch, they're gone on the wind

So Mary, climb in

It's a town full of losers, I'm pulling out of here to win"

Patron saint indeed!!!

[JSngry]

(of course, if you're not white, American, and/or suburban, uh...never mind          )

Actually, you got me on all three ... but when I was growing up, we were all into Bruce Springsteen as the patron saint of disaffected suburban teens ... "Tramps like us, baby we were born to run!"

Well, there you have it. "Brian Wilson" and "disaffected" are antonyms. Which is really curious when you ponder the dysfuntional, abusive household he grew up in, as well as all the bullshit (a lot of it self-imposed, admittedly) over the years.

I guess the thing that I empathize with in him (and in the spirit that I feel in his best music) is a refusal to let darkness totally overtake. Sure, I can get REAL dark sometimes, and I'm no stranger to disaffection. But those are both places and things that I end up at/with. It's not where I start from, never. Nor is it what I cling to as my defining elements. It's real, and I don't run from it, but there comes a time when you just have to let all the bullshit go and bask in the joy, whether it seems to have your name on it or not. To me, that's what Brian's best work is all about - not letting the darkness overtake the joy. If the darkness gets insane, so does the joy. Some people cry when things get too painful. Brian just adds another layer of voices and lets them fly away. Both ways work for me as long as they get you to the other side.

There's fun fun fun to be had in life whether or not daddy takes the T-Bird away. This is a transcendant truth for the duration of one's life, not an inane teen anthem.

This I do believe.

[JSngry]

jim made some interesting points that i'm not sure i agree with in that i believe brian is a bit darker than that... that sometimes there isn't soooo much joy & brian let's you know it... in other words, there is joy in creation but following b. from "smile" to "beach boys love you," say, you know that joy am a hard to travel.

Sure, I agree with that. A thing like "Until I Die" is pretty damn haunting, and I've gone on record as nominating "Caroline, No" as the saddest song ever written. And "For Once In My Life" But I still feel that underneath all the sadness and despair is a BELIEF in the joy, even when it cannoit be found, a refusal to go all the way over into a disbelief that there is joy to be had somewhere, somehow. Some call it hopelessly naive, but I find it inspirational, and not out of line with my own feelings. A fuckin' cock-eyed optimist, I am!

As for "Forever Changes", I assume you mean the Love album. I'm embarassed to say that I've hear OF it for decades, but have not knowingly heard it in full. The time will come, for sure.

[theteach]

I'm late to the party, but Brian Wilson's Smile release in 2004 is amazing. I really loved all the bootleg versions that compilers created over the years, but I do not understand how people can say the original recordings are better than the finished 2004 release. I think when you listen to this album, you have to treat it as a release in 1967, not 2004. 75% of Smile was completed already by Wilson and although the original recordings are very raw, the key concepts and cornerstones of the album already existed. The 2004 release was all about adding depth and texture to the concepts.

With that said, I can't say enough about Smile. It truly is an avant-garde album for pop in 1967. I love the themes of innocence/shattered innocence; there are so many themes I take away something different with every listen. And I also think the album beats Pets Sounds. Hands down, greatest concept album of that era.

Ok I'll stop now.

Lou

Edited June 22, 2010 by theteach

[danasgoodstuff]

Much prefer PT which sounds fine to me. The reconstructed Smile is mere ear candy, IMHO YMMV etc.

[Teasing the Korean]

What's PT?