Anybody buying Brian Wilson's "Smile" cd?

[jazzkrow]

I've been following all the hysteria about the long anticipated release of Brian Wilson's legendary "Smile" cd-due out Sept. 28.

It's been lauded as brilliant, "Beatles quality", orchestral-THE Beach Boys/Wilson long lost masterpiece.

The buzz in the press has been strong and the prelim reviews have been raves-at least those that I've read.

I've been debating racing over to my local Tower to pick it up on its date of release as Tower has been having one day sales on hot new Releases.

Anyone else out there following suit??

[JSngry]

I will eventually.

Having heard some of the bootlegs of the original sessions and realizing that this is now 37 years later (which in the case of Brian Wilson is about 3 centuries for the rest of us...) dampens my desire to get it RIGHT NOW. But yeah, I'll be getting it.

If you're into the guy at any level beyond oldies radio fodder, how could you NOT?

[Big Al]

No, and I fail to see what all the fuss is/was about. This album is considered a masterpiece simply because of the direction Wilson was taking, because he’d just come off the grand-but-wildly-overrated Pet Sounds, and because Wilson was starting to be recognized as an artiste. Imagine the reaction if people had actually heard the damn thing! (Or, to quote a favorite book The 50 Worst Rock Records, “This is like getting credit for a paper you never turned in simply because you’ve been a good student!”) Frankly, I think Wilson’s smartest move, and one that has kept others’ perception of him as an unquestionable genius so high, is the fact that he didn’t release it. What snippets he did release reveal a man and a group so insular, so impressed with their level of artistry, and yet so out-of-touch with their fans, their sound, hell, even themselves, even the Beatles would’ve giggled.

No, I’m not one of those types who wished they’d never left their surfin’ image of fun fun fun and T-Birds. Brian Wilson was and is a fantastic songwriter, his production abilities are nothing short of majestic, and his vocal arrangements are nothing short of angelic. Especially in those late 60’s albums, you can tell very easily which songs were penned by Wilson and which ones weren’t. But for a time there, it seemed as if even he was believing the hype. Wanting to be an “artist” is fine; but when it comes at the expense of one’s own being, then the downward spiral begins. For Wilson, it continues to this day.

[JSngry]

the grand-but-wildly-overrated Pet Sounds

O..........................................................................

[doubleM]

There are some lovely tracks on Smile. Lucky for me, my brother is a HUGE BB fan, and has hooked me up w/ many a bootleg of this and other material. He went to the U.K. just to see Wilson and his troupe perform Smile (and of course some other songs). So Jeff, I would advise you to believe the hype, rather than the blanket dismissals.

[JSngry]

k........................

[David Williams]

This a recording of version of the album material by his current band, isn't it? Not the original tapes spliced together?

[J.A.W.]

This a recording of version of the album material by his current band, isn't it? Not the original tapes spliced together?

Yes, these are NEW recordings, not the originals!

[wesbed]

It's been lauded as brilliant, "Beatles quality", orchestral-THE Beach Boys/Wilson  long lost masterpiece.

I guarantee, as I type these words, today, that I will NEVER purchase this title.

[JSngry]

I think that Brian Wilson and Marvin Gaye have a lot in common.

[Adam]

Buut he is performing it live in Los Angeles on Sept. 26. I know at least one person flying from Colorado to see it.

Myself, I don't think I'll get it.

[Matthew]

I think that Brian Wilson and Marvin Gaye have a lot in common.

I often think that Wilson and later Lester Young have a lot in common. Both are/were dismissed easliy by many people, yet Wilson and Young produced some beautiful music in later life. Even their "failures" reveal facets of the human condition where, in their musics ugliness, they still reveal a truth about their lives, and on some level, our own lives. Sorry if this doesn't make any sense, but at times, music doesn't have to be "played right" to still have truth in it. Needless to say, I'll be getting this first day it comes out.

[Hoyt Clagwell]

Yes. Mine is pre-ordered.

Listening to various tracks and snippets of tracks available, I am really impressed with the fidelity to the original tracks and vocals, and with the way the whole thing flows together as an integrated piece of music. I think a lot of the familiar songs gain by being heard in context. The meoldies are gorgeous, the sound textures are unique, and Van Dyke Parks' lyrics are funny and evocative.

It's not the original- no one could really replicate the original Beach Boys' vocal blend and Brian's voice, while better than it's been in the past, isn't what it was circa 1967, but it's still worth hearing.

Musically, I think Smile, (and Pet Sounds, too), are beyond "beatles quality". To me Brian Wilson is probably the only true musical genius to be filed under rock 'n' roll. (well maybe Zappa...). Listen to some of the Pet Sounds Sessions box.

Maybe he's like...uh...Louis. Known to the public for the more superficial aspects of his art, revered by musicians for the true depths of his brilliance.

or not.

Edited September 16, 2004 by Hoyt Clagwell

[Big Al]

I wouldn't even wipe yr ass w/that fucking book, which is the creme-de-la-crap of know-nothing mewling disguised as musicology disguised as cultural history.

Yes, but it makes for great on-the-can reading. Very perceptive of you!

Look, that vocal cadenza at the end of “Please Make Me Wonder” is damn-near orgasmic. Brian Wilson would be a genius in my book (not the bathroom kind, either) even if the ONLY thing he did was “Caroline, No.” The fact that he could come downstairs and upstage his bandmates with a killer single like “Do It Again” proves that there’s still some life left.

BUT, any album that has at its centerpiece the mishmash that is “Heroes and Villains,” followed by “cute” little ditties like “Vegetables” deserves the scorn it has yet to receive from people who oughta know better.

I stand by what I say. The fact that Wilson’s been sitting on this for so long not only proves he’s a marketing genius as well as a musical genius, but also proves he knows his fans, not to mention the fawning literati, even more than I give him credit for.

Hey, if people are gonna fawn over an unfinished, unreleased, unheard so-called “masterpiece,” then I say get ready to be disappointed. Don’t say you weren’t warned.

[Dave James]

I'm sure I'll be getting this. Maybe not on the first day it's out, but certainly by year's end. I've heard a couple of the tunes before but, honestly, they haven't done much for me. "Surfs Up" was the most interesting of these in a haunting kind of way. I'm hoping the package taken as a whole will work better than the sum of the parts I've heard thusfar.

There was a fascinating two part article about "Smile" that appeared in successive Sunday issues (August 29th and September 5th) of the Portland Oregonian that is well worth seeking out if you have an interest in the history of and the story behind the release of this recording. Just the kind of thing that's wets your whistle in anticipation of its availability. Author's name is Peter Ames Carlin.

Personally, I side with the "Wilson as genius" camp. Even if all he'd ever done was "Pet Sounds", he'd be at the very top of my list. I can't even listen to "Caroline, No" without getting completely wrapped up in the emotion of that song. It is flat out and unequivocally gorgeous.

Having said that, some of the later Beach Boy efforts, when they were trying to somehow stay current, are barely listenable. But, even among that great wasteland of marginal music, there are occasional gems that remind you of why this band and Brian Wilson are so special.

Up over and out.

[Tjazz]

I have a boot of SMILE.

But I'm sure I'll pick the new release sometime.

[jazzkrow]

For some strange reason only the second page of this thread is posting on my computer-first page is mostly blank with with poster's avatars.....

Wierd!

[AfricaBrass]

I'm really excited about this cd.

I've had the Vigotone 2 cd bootleg forever and I know all the songs by heart.

I've been listening to a preview of the Smile cd at www.nonesuch.com and it sounds good to me.

I don't think this music is overrated at all.

[PHILLYQ]

I'm really excited about this cd.

I've had the Vigotone 2 cd bootleg forever and I know all the songs by heart.

I've been listening to a preview of the Smile cd at www.nonesuch.com and it sounds good to me.

I don't think this music is overrated at all.

AB,

Nice to hear from you- I hope everything is going well for you and you're settled into your new digs.

[AfricaBrass]

Thanks PHILLYQ!

It's been an interesting summer...

Actually, I'm going to be moving again in two weeks to Northern California (the wife HATES Reno and there aren't as many jobs in my field as I had hoped).

I'm just trying to scrounge up enough cash for the Miles Box and the Smile cd.

[wolff]

The vinyl edition will be available on Oct 12, for those so inclined. Cut by Kevin Gray, I believe(He did a stellar job on Sinatra's: September Of My Years for Rhino) . Rhino will be doing the vinyl, not Nonesuch.

It will be a 2LP set. Each suite will be put on its own side, and side 4 will be BONUS MATERIAL(instrumentals) - that WILL NOT BE released on compact disc.

Pre-order at Red Trumpet.

Edited September 17, 2004 by wolff

[JSngry]

Even the NYT is in on this debate!

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/09/18/opinion/18sat3.html?th

Brian Wilson and the Significance of an Abandoned Masterpiece

By VERLYN KLINKENBORG

Published: September 18, 2004

Some readers, and I am one of them, prefer the version of "The Prelude" that Wordsworth finished in 1805 and laid aside to the version published soon after his death in 1850. "The Prelude" is an autobiographical poem, and a certain freshness and immediacy evaporated as Wordsworth revised the text. His is a case in which an early work of art comes to have greater authority than the artist, in later life, who made it. As a poet, the young Wordsworth overrules his older self.

And so it is with Brian Wilson, the singer and songwriter who made the Beach Boys what they were. In late September, he will release a record called "Smile," a reconstruction of a song cycle he abandoned 38 years ago. Earlier this year, Mr. Wilson and a backing band performed the songs from this new version of "Smile" to rave reviews on a tour of Europe. It was an act of courage for Mr. Wilson to confront this part of his musical legacy, written at a time when his artistic confidence and emotional stability had begun to shatter.

But the new recording of "Smile" - the entire reconstruction, in fact - poses a problem. Mr. Wilson's achievement as a musician is enormous in its own right and for what it allowed other musicians, including the Beatles, to do. He composed an extraordinary catalog of music, and he revolutionized the songwriter's use of the recording studio. He created two-minute masterpieces for the Beach Boys, as well as a succession of darker, more somber songs that redefined the possibilities of popular music and painfully evoked his own isolation and anxiety. But that Brian Wilson never made it out of the 1960's. I say that with regret, because I have loved his music for more than 40 years.

In an extremely chaotic but productive few months in 1966, Mr. Wilson laid the groundwork of an album he wanted to call "Smile." Some of its tracks eventually appeared in one form or another, including "Good Vibrations" and "Heroes and Villains." But the record collapsed even as he was collapsing. He had long since given up touring with the Beach Boys, and they had begun to question where his music was headed. The artistic success of the album "Pet Sounds" only increased the pressures on Mr. Wilson - to write new hits for the Beach Boys, to live up to the impossible reputation of his own genius and to face the difficulty of living with himself. His retreat from the world was well documented. His second comings have been, too.

But the "Smile" pieces that surfaced over the years - including most of the songs on this new album - were remarkable. Some, like "Good Vibrations," are immediately familiar to almost everyone. Others, like "Cabinessence" and "Vegetables," are not. The original versions are not timeless, and yet that's what engraves them permanently in my mind. They capture a moment in Mr. Wilson's musical evolution, a moment of great ambition and surpassing silliness. He has broken free of most of his restraints - the two-minute single, for instance - and that freedom is about to do him in.

And what still makes those songs matter, apart from their beauty, is the fact that they were sung by the Beach Boys. Mr. Wilson used mostly studio musicians when he was recording. He collaborated with a legendary lyricist, Van Dyke Parks. But even in 1966 he was still writing for the voices of the Beach Boys - his brothers, Dennis and Carl; his cousin, Mike Love; and Al Jardine. The timbre of those voices, singing together, is virtually a native American idiom. Critics often argue that the commercial appetite of the Beach Boys and their willingness to stick to a Top 40 formula held Brian Wilson back. But you could argue just as easily that they stuck with him until he came apart. They shared his naïve sense of humor. They sang what he taught them to sing. They gave his songs a vocal identity that is as instantly recognizable as the songs themselves.

Why does this matter? Dennis Wilson died in 1983. Carl Wilson died in 1998. The importance of what they, especially Carl, brought to the band has been swamped, and in some sense properly, by the legend of Brian Wilson. "Smile" was going to be a Beach Boys record, but it became a Brian Wilson record. His collaboration with Van Dyke Parks was heralded at the time as the union of two geniuses. But Mr. Parks's contribution - nonsensical lyrics - pales utterly compared with the contribution of Carl Wilson's voice alone.

Audiences have celebrated this new version of "Smile" as much for the survival of Brian Wilson - his recovery from years of mental and emotional illness - as for the music. Everyone loves a therapeutic tale. But these versions of long-familiar songs add nothing to what we have already heard. The new lyrics for "Good Vibrations" grate on my ears, as does the absence of those old essential voices. In the 80's and 90's, the Beach Boys, without Mr. Wilson, became a Beach Boys cover band. Now Brian Wilson, without the Beach Boys, has become a Brian Wilson cover band. The younger artist - the original art itself - still possesses greater authority.

[Hoyt Clagwell]

re Mr. Klikenborg's article:

It's hard to take seriously a writer who finds Van Dyke Parks' lyrics "nonsensical". A little obscure at times, maybe, but they make sense to me, at least. I agree about the "new" lyrics to Good Vibrations, though actually they're the "old" lyrics written by Tony Asher during the Pet Sounds days. The familiar Mike Love lyrics were rewrites. Maybe Brian used Asher's lyrics becuase "Mike Love" and "Good Vibrations" seem so diametriacally opposed.

While I would never argue that the "new" Smile is in any way a replacement for the pieces of the old one, it does replicate the old one pretty closely, while finishing and adding parts that were unfinished, and placing familiar parts in context. If I want to hear Good Vibrations or Cabinessence or Heroes and Villains, I'm going to pull out the 1960s versions. If I want to hear the whole of smile I'll expect I'll be pulling out the new one. The value lies in the completion not in the remaking.

Many of the older tracks like Cabinessence, Surf's Up, & Vegatables in their official released versions were futzed around with by the other Beach Boys, who I think had no more "authority" to do that than Brian and Van Dyke Parks have to remake or "finish" smile. It's not really a good analogy to compare literature (Wordsworth) which is basically a solitary creative occupation with "pop" music, which almost always involves some dregree of collaboration, in this case between composer, lyricist, performers and technicians. Like Monk should never have performed Monk's Mood again because Shihib Sahab wasn't available.

There's an essay by Andre Hodeir called "Why did Duke Ellington "remake" his Masterpiece?" which bemoans Duke's 1956 recording of Ko-Ko in comparing it to the 1940 original: ...meant to put the reader on his guard against the enticements of a once glorous name which now represents only an endless succession of mistakes. This was the most ghastly mistake of all for nothing can ever redeem it". Kind of the same deal, without the typical French understatement.

I guess artists have the "authority" to do whaterever they wants to their stuff, and listeners have the "authority" to prefer whichever version they prefer.

[JSngry]

re Mr. Klikenborg's article:

It's hard to take seriously a writer who finds Van Dyke Parks' lyrics "nonsensical". A little obscure at times, maybe, but they make sense to me, at least. I agree about the "new" lyrics to Good Vibrations, though actually they're the "old" lyrics written by Tony Asher during the Pet Sounds days. The familiar Mike Love lyrics were rewrites. Maybe Brian used Asher's lyrics becuase "Mike Love" and "Good Vibrations" seem so diametriacally opposed.

While I would never argue that the "new" Smile is in any way a replacement for the pieces of the old one, it does replicate the old one pretty closely, while finishing and adding parts that were unfinished, and placing familiar parts in context. If I want to hear Good Vibrations or Cabinessence or Heroes and Villains, I'm going to pull out the 1960s versions. If I want to hear the whole of smile I'll expect I'll be pulling out the new one. The value lies in the completion not in the remaking.

Many of the older tracks like Cabinessence, Surf's Up, & Vegatables in their official released versions were futzed around with by the other Beach Boys, who I think had no more "authority" to do that than Brian and Van Dyke Parks have to remake or "finish" smile. It's not really a good analogy to compare literature (Wordsworth) which is basically a solitary creative occupation with "pop" music, which almost always involves some dregree of collaboration, in this case between composer, lyricist, performers and technicians. Like Monk should never have performed Monk's Mood again because Shihib Sahab wasn't available.

There's an essay by Andre Hodeir called "Why did Duke Ellington "remake" his Masterpiece?" which bemoans Duke's 1956 recording of Ko-Ko in comparing it to the 1940 original: ...meant to put the reader on his guard against the enticements of a once glorous name which now represents only an endless succession of mistakes. This was the most ghastly mistake of all for nothing can ever redeem it". Kind of the same deal, without the typical French understatement.

I guess artists have the "authority" to do whaterever they wants to their stuff, and listeners have the "authority" to prefer whichever version they prefer.

I totally agree with you on everything except for the Hodier thing. That Bethlehem "KoKo" is pretty ill-advised, I think. But just because Hodier was right about that one thing doesn't make him right about anything else.

[Hoyt Clagwell]

I totally agree with you on everything except for the Hodier thing. That Bethlehem "KoKo" is pretty ill-advised, I think. But just because Hodier was right about that one thing doesn't make him right about anything else.

I've never actually heard that Bethlehem Ko-Ko, but I have heard a few ill-advised Duke remakes in my time, (usually they feature Cat Anderson), so I'll take your word for it. The one article just reminded me of the other...

Anyway, that's why we have records. Put the 1940 Ko-Ko on- instant redemption!