Smile (The Beach Boys album)

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Smile

Official planned LP cover with artwork by Frank Holmes. Other

versions included a "duophonic stereo" banner on top.

Studio album partially recorded by The Beach Boys

Recorded February 17, 1966–May 18, 1967

Studio CBS Columbia Square, Gold Star Studios, Sunset Sound

Recorders,United Western Studios, and misc. California

locales

 Psychedelic rock[1][2]
Genre
 art pop[3]

 experimental rock[4]

 folk rock[5]

 avant-garde[6]

 Americana[2]

Length Unknown (see below)

Label Brother/Capitol (projected)

Producer Brian Wilson

 The Beach Boys recording chronology

Pet Sounds Smile Smiley Smile

(1966) (1966–1967) (1967)

Smile (occasionally typeset as SMiLE) was a projected album by the Beach Boys intended to
follow their eleventh studio album Pet Sounds. After the Beach Boys' main songwriter Brian
Wilson abandoned large portions of music recorded between 1966 and 1967, the group
recorded and released the dramatically minimized Smiley Smile album in its place. Some of the
original Smile tracks eventually found their way onto subsequent Beach
Boys studio and compilation albums. As more fans learned of the project's origins, details of its
recordings acquired considerable mystique, and it became famous as one of pop music's
legendary milestones.
Working with lyricist Van Dyke Parks, Smile was composed as a multi-thematic concept album,
existing today in its unfinished and fragmented state as an unordered series of abstract
musical vignettes. Its genesis came during the recording of Pet Sounds, when Wilson began
recording a new single: "Good Vibrations". The track was created by an unprecedented
recording technique: over 90 hours of tape was recorded, spliced, and reduced into a three-
minute pop song. It quickly became the band's biggest international hit yet; Smile was intended
to be produced in a similar fashion. Wilson touted the album "a teenage symphony to God,"
incorporating a diverse range of music styles including psychedelic, doo-wop, barbershop
singing, ragtime, yodeling, early American folk, classical music, and avant-garde explorations
into noise and musical acoustics.
The album's collapse has been attributed to several factors: internal resistance towards the
project; legal battles with Capitol Records; the prolonged formation of Brother Records;
technical difficulties with recording; Carl Wilson's draft battle; and Brian Wilson's
escalating substance abuse, mental health issues, and creative dissatisfaction. Following the
release of Smiley Smile, many attempts were made to complete the original Smile without
Brian's involvement. It was in the 1980s when bootlegged tracks fromSmile began circulating
widely among record collectors, inspiring others to assemble their own version using what
surviving recordings were available.
As a solo artist, Brian reinterpreted the project for concert performances in 2004, and then
followed up with the studio album Brian Wilson Presents Smile. Although he had virtually
completed the work, Brian clarified that his 2004 arrangement differed substantially from how
he had first conceptualized the album during the 1960s.[7] On October 31, 2011, The Smile
Sessions was released containing an approximation of what the Beach Boys'
completed Smile might have sounded like while using the track list of Brian Wilson Presents
Smile as a template. It received universal acclaim.[8] In 2012, the compilation was ranked
number 381 in Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time list.[9] In 2013, it won the Best
Historical Album award at the 55th Grammy Awards.[10]

Background[edit]
In May 1966, the Beach Boys released their eleventh studio album, Pet Sounds, a project
largely conceived and directed by bandleader and principal songwriter Brian Wilson. He
intended the album as a unified collection of art pieces which belong together yet could stand
alone.[11] While the album met with an enthusiastic reception in the United Kingdom, its
commercial performance in the United States was lower than expected, selling several
hundred thousand units fewer than the group's previous releases, which dispirited Wilson, who
had considered the album a highly personal work.[12] Its stylistic shift had alienated some fans,
containing an expanded palette of orchestral timbres and somber lyrics which record
label Capitol found difficulty in marketing. Wilson was then beginning to be questioned by the
group over their new direction and his creative aspirations.[13]Meanwhile, without the group's
approval, Capitol issued a rushed greatest hits compilation to follow Pet Sounds, Best of The
Beach Boys. It was quickly certified gold by the RIAA, cementing a demand for material in the
Beach Boys' earlier style.[12] The group's commercial momentum was reclaimed after
completing a new single, "Good Vibrations", initially a Pet Sounds outtake recorded in the early
months of 1966, then revised continuously over the summer. It was finally released in October,
and became an international number one hit.

Van Dyke Parks circa 1967. Besides providing the majority of Smile's lyrics and thematic
direction,[14][15] he also participated in sessions as an instrumentalist.[16]
Crucial to the inception and creation of Smile was Wilson's meeting with burgeoning
songwriter Van Dyke Parks in February 1966. They had been introduced to each other by
mutual friends David Crosby and Terry Melcher, and Parks would often visit Wilson's home
while he was working on Pet Sounds.[16] Prior to their meeting, Parks was gaining notoriety as a
session musician, briefly performing live as a member of Frank Zappa's Mothers of Invention,
and writing Cole Porter-inspired songs for acts such as Harper's Bizarre, Bobby Vee,Jackie
DeShannon, and the West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band while working behind the scenes
with various other Los Angeles-based artists.[17] When Wilson took notice of Parks' unique
manner of speaking, he asked him if he could write lyrics for "Good Vibrations". Parks declined
for the reason that he thought there was nothing he could add to the track.[18] Wilson invited
Parks to write lyrics for the new album in the second quarter of 1966 when the project was
provisionally called Dumb Angel.[19] This time Parks agreed and the two quickly formed a close
and fruitful working relationship.
In preparation for the writing and recording of the album, Wilson purchased about two
thousand dollars' worth of marijuana andhashish.[20] In addition, Wilson famously installed
a hotboxing tent in his home and relocated a grand piano to a sandbox in his living
room.[21][22] Between April and September 1966, Wilson and Parks spent many "all night
sessions" co-writing a number of songs in the sandbox.[23][nb 1] A coterie eventually formed
around Wilson for most of the Smile sessions, which along with Parks included
acquaintancesDerek Taylor, Paul Williams, Loren Schwartz, Danny Hutton, Jules Siegel, David
Anderle, Michael Vosse, and Paul Jay Robbins.[24][25]According to unnamed participants, "If you
came up to the house and introduced something new to Brian's thought processes–astrology,
a different way to think about the relationship of Russia to China, anything at all–if all of a
sudden he was into that, it would find its way into the music. You could hear a bit and say, 'I
know where that feeling came from.'"[20] Wilson, already an avid reader of literature, continued
to indulge himself in works ranging from the I Ching and Subud philosophy, tracts on astrology,
detailed charts of the stars and planets, various topics of mysticism, The Little Prince, the
novels of Hermann Hesse, works by Kahlil Gibran, Rod McKuen, and Walter Benton's This is
My Beloved.[26][27] In a reported meeting at Wilson's home between him and novelist Thomas
Pynchon—a fan of Pet Sounds—the two were so intimidated by each other that "neither of
them really said a word all night long."[28]
In October 1966 interviews, Wilson stated that the Beach Boys' next project was to be "a
teenage symphony to God,"[29][30] and that, "It will be as much an improvement over [Pet]
Sounds as that was over Summer Days."[31] The project was to have been an album-length
suite of songs that were both thematically and musically linked, recorded using the unusual
sounds and innovative production techniques that had contributed to the success of "Good
Vibrations", and written as an outlet for all of Brian's intellectual occupations at the
time.[32] The Smile project held an especially grandiose importance among its participants, as
David Anderle recalls, "Smile was going to be a monument. That's the way we talked about it,
as a monument."[21] Several months after the project's collapse, a memoir written by Jules
Siegel was published in an article for Cheetah magazine entitled "Goodbye Surfing, Hello
God!". Many of the project's subsequent myths and legends would later derive from this single
article.[33][34]

Recording and production[edit]

Fifty hours of tape was amassed from a ten-month-long course of album recording sessions.
The contents range from musical, spoken word, sound effects, to role playing.[35]Music sessions
occurred mainly at Hollywood recording studios United Western Recorders, Gold Star
Studios, Sunset Sound Recorders and CBS Columbia Square. Oftentimes,Chuck
Britz and Larry Levine assisted Brian with engineering, who produced every session, while
most instrumentation was played by the Wrecking Crew. The vocal sessions forSmile were
usually done at CBS Columbia, which had the only 8-track audio recorder available amongst
the major recording studios at the time.[citation needed]
Work on what would have been the core album track "Good Vibrations" begun in February
1966 during the Pet Sounds era. Three months later in May, an early tracking of "Heroes and
Villains" was attempted. The Smile sessions officially begun on August 3, 1966 with "Wind
Chimes", and from then on, Wilson lead a long and complex series of sessions—approximately
50 overall, discounting the 17 sessions needed for "Good Vibrations"—that continued in
earnest until April 14, 1967. After a final backing track session designated for "Love to Say
Dada" on May 18, 1967, Smile was abandoned for good.[nb 2]
[Brian] wanted to do an album of music built from sound effects...chords spliced together through a whole LP.
He had incredible fantasies. He wanted to put everything down on disc, and when he realized he couldn't, he
shifted to, "I wanna make films." That was a step easier to capturing more. If you couldn't get a sound from a
carrot, you could show a carrot. He would really liked to have made music that was a carrot.
—Tom Nolan, Rolling Stone, October 1971[20]
Various surreal comedy skits were recorded during the sessions as part of a "Psycodelic [sic]
Sounds" series.[nb 3] An unused skit was also recorded by Brian with session drummer Hal
Blaine to promote a then-proposed "Vega-Tables" single release.
Similar experimental recording sessions were devoted to an adventurous sound collage portion
of the album.[nb 4] For "The Elements", Brian instructed others to travel around with a Nagra tape
recorder and record the different variations of water sounds that they could find, as Vosse
recounts, "I'd come by to see him every day, and he'd listen to my tapes and talk about them. I
was just fascinated that he would hear things every once in a while and his ears would prick up
and he'd go back and listen again. And I had no idea what he was listening for!"[36]
Other methods of tape manipulation used on Smile included varispeed.[37] Although stereo
recording was increasingly popular, Brian always made his final mixes in mono, as did rival
producer Phil Spector. Wilson did so for several reasons—he personally felt that mono mixing
provided more sonic control over what the listener heard, minimizing the vagaries of speaker
placement and sound system quality. It was also motivated by the knowledge that pop radio
broadcast in mono, and most domestic and car radios and record players were monophonic.
Modular approach[edit]

Example of a late 1960s 4-track reel-to-reel

The Smile sessions were intentionally limited to recording short interchangeable fragments
also referred to as "modules".[35] With "Good Vibrations", Wilson further expanded his modular
approach to recording, experimenting with compiling the finished track by editing together the
numerous sections from multiple versions recorded at the lengthy tracking sessions.[nb 5] Instead
of taping each backing track as a more-or-less complete performance—as had been the model
for previous Beach Boys recordings—he split the arrangement into sections, recording multiple
takes of each section and developing and changing the arrangements and the production as
the sessions proceeded. He sometimes recorded the same section at several different studios,
to exploit the unique sonic characteristics or special effects available in each. Then, he
selected the best performances of each section and edited these together to create a
composite which combined the best features of production and performance. This meant that
each section of the song was presented in its own distinct sonic envelope, rather than the
homogeneous production sound of a conventional "one take" studio recording. The cut-
up structure and heavily edited production style of Smile was unique for its time in mainstream
popular music,[38][39][40]and to assemble an entire album from short musical fragments was a
relatively bold undertaking.[41]
We did things in sections. There might just be a few bars of music, or a verse, or a particular groove, or
vamp… They would all fit. You could put them one in front of the other, or arrange it in any way you wanted. It
was sort of like making films I think.
—Carl Wilson, 1973[35]
Carl Wilson likened the assembly process to film editing, a view shared by Smile archivist Alan
Boyd who stated: "I think he was right about that. The kind of editing that the project required
seemed more like the process of putting a film together than a pop record."[42][43][nb 6] This
fragmentary approach can be related to "dangling clauses", a concept defined by David
Bordwell thusly: "An unresolved action is presented near the end of one section that is picked
up and pushed further in a later section. Every scene will tend to contain unresolved issues
that demand settling further along."[43] This results in ambiguity for when and where
most Smile songs begin and end, as many of them lack clearly defined song structures.[35]
Brian was aware of the techniques of musique concrète[44] and the usage of chance operations
in making art.[according to whom?]Parks said that the duo was conscious of musique concrete, and that
they "were trying to make something of it", naming Brian as a pioneer for its application in pop
music.[44]Marshall Heiser interpreted the album's style of jumpcuts a "striking characteristic",
and that they "must be acknowledged as compositional statements in themselves, giving the
music a sonic signature every bit as noticeable as the performances themselves. There was no
way this music could be 'real.' Wilson was therefore echoing the techniques ofmusique
concrète and seemed to be breaking the audio 'fourth wall' – if there can said to be such a
thing."[35]
For his use of recorded noise and tape manipulation on Smile, Brian is considered by
American music journalist Paul Williams to be one of the earliest pioneers
of sampling.[45]Author Domenic Priore argued that Brian "manipulated sound effects in a way
that would later be extremely successful when Pink Floyd released The Dark Side of the
Moon in 1973, the best-selling album of the entire progressive rock period."[46]

Music and lyrics[edit]

The Smile recordings are multigenre, and would have incorporated cowboy
songs, country, comic songs, doo-wop, barbershop, chanting, noise, cartoons, and field
recordingswith a unified homage to Americana.[47][48][49][50][40] According to English musician
and ethnomusicologist David Toop, Smile contains traces of Sacred Harp, Shaker
hymns, Mele, and Native American singing. He also cited Frank Sinatra, the Lettermen, the
Four Freshmen, Martin Denny, Patti Page, Chuck Berry, Spike Jones, Nelson Riddle, Jackie
Gleason, Phil Spector, Bob Dylan, the Penguins, and the Mills Brothers as some of the many
contradictory templates he's heard "buried within Smile's music legacy," characterized by
Wilson's consistent pattern of "cartoon music and Disney influence mutating into avant-garde
pop".[47][51] Professor Kelly Fisher Lowe referred to Smile as an "experimental
rock record."[4] March Richardson believes the album was Wilson's attempt at "the great art
pop album of the era."[3] Wilson felt that Smile was too advanced for him to consider it pop
music, and explained that he admired and was influenced by Johannes Sebastian Bach for his
ability to construct a continuum of complex music using simple forms and simple chords.[15]
In 1966 after being asked by a journalist how he would label his new music, Wilson responded,
"I'd call it contemporary American music, not rock 'n' roll. Rock 'n' roll is such a worn out
phrase. It's just contemporary American."[52] In 2011, Brian questioned a journalist how they
would categorize Smile, with their response being "impressionisticpsychedelic folk rock," and
that while most rock seems to be about adulthood, Smile "expresses what it's like to be a kid in
an impressionistic way," and "depicts the psychedelic magic of childhood," to which Wilson
replied: "I love that. You coin those just right."[5] That same year, when he was asked what
words come to mind when listening to Smile: "Childhood. Freedom. A rejection of adult rules
and adult conformity. Our message was, 'Adults keep out. This is about the spirit of
youth.'"[35][53] Sessions participant Michael Vosse believed that Smile, had it been completed,
would have been "basically a Southern California, non-country oriented, gospel album—on a
very sophisticated level—because that's what he was doing, his own form of revival music."[23]
Instrumental and vocal arranging[edit]
"Cabinessence" ("Home on the
Range"–"Who Ran the Iron
Horse?")

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 Described by MOJO as
"Smile in
microcosm,"[54] "Cabinessence"
provides an example in where
the group experimented with
soaring vocal jazz
harmonies overdubbed
onto splicedbacking tracks.
Biographer Jon
Stebbinsdeemed the song
"some of the most haunting,
manic, evil-sounding music
the Beach Boys ever made"
with itswaltz chorus replete
with "demonic chanting,
buzzing cellos, and rail-spike
pounding."[55]

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The eclectic selection of instruments in Smile range from classical instrumentation such
as harpsichords and clarinet, toAfrican percussion such as conga drums and woodblocks, and
occasionally electronic instruments such as Rhodes piano and the Electro-
Theremin.[56][pages needed] The song "Cabinessence" for example features use of fuzz bass,
cello, dobro, bouzouki,banjo, upright piano, harmonicas, and accordions.[56][page needed] Desiring a
delicate approach to sound, Wilson avoided the tradition of using standard rock
percussion.[15] In some cases, he opted a keychain to evoke the noise of rhythmic, rattling
jewellery ("Surf's Up"),[57] slide whistles as fire sirens ("Fire"),[58] and crunched celery ("Vega-
Tables").[59] Wilson further explored impressionist arranging with voices and other instruments,
from using a muted trumpet as a baby's cry ("Look"),[60] to the group roaring farm animal noises
("Barnyard").[61] Toop likened Smile to Third Stream tone poems "best described inCharles
Mingus's term 'jazzical'".[47] Accordingly, there are similar explorations in acoustics evident in
the work of composersCharles Ives, Les Baxter, and Richard Maxfield; with Toop
considering Smile to be a "descendant" of Arnold Schoenberg, Sun Ra, The Sauter-Finegan
Orchestra, Moondog, and Mingus.[47] Parks noted: "The first thing I can remember in the studio
was how Brian used tuneful percussion, like a piano or a Chinese gong. Even a triangle has
pitch. Brian was very fond of pitched instruments. They reminded me of the orchestrations of
the early 20th century done by people like Percy Grainger, the man who wrote 'Country
Gardens', [sic] who was infatuated with tuneful percussion. He stood out in my youth as a great
composer because of what he did with sound, and Brian was doing that."[46]
Wilson wrote mixed arrangements for exotic percussion, keyboard, woodwind, string,
and brass sections,[62] usually altering the conventions in which the instruments are played in
an effort to expand their sonic possibilities. Examples of such would be playing an upright
bass with a plectrum alongside a tic-tac bass, or muting a piano by taping its strings.[47] In other
instances, Wilson experimented with using brass instruments played like a Tibetan horn or an
elephant's trumpet.[57][47][nb 7] Observable is an exercise featuring toy train whistles, tubas, a duck
decoy, and a jug banged on by a mallet with hesitation by one participant, which caused
Wilson to stop for a second and remind them: "Remember one thing: There's no rules to
this."[63]
 Do You Like Worms?
("Bicycle Rider")

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One Smile motif, a simple
rhythmic and melodic theme
referred to as "Bicycle
Rider", initially served as a B
section to the piece "Do You
Like Worms?" before being
destined for the "Heroes and
Villains" chorus.[64] It is said
to have been an outlet for
Wilson's "obsession with the
sound of 'light' wheels—the
gentle clicking of a coasting
bicycle," and recurs in several
tracks.[65]

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Author Erik Davis wrote of the album's disconnect to contemporary rock music clichés
associated with the hippie subculture, noting that "Smile had banjos, not sitars," and "the
'purity' of tone and genetic proximity that smoothed their voices was almost creepy, pseudo-
castrato, a 'barbershop' sound that Hendrix, on 'Third Stone From the Sun,' went thumbs down
on."[66][nb 8]Jazz musician and professor Brian Torff noted Smile to contain "choral arranging" and
a "rhapsodic Broadway element".[67]Paul Williams agreed that the human voice is palpable
on Smile, and suggested that Brian's "fascination with the relationship between music and
voice, and a veritable eruption of musical and sonic insights, new language, [and] new
combinations" exhibited what he believed to be "a love of the human voice in all its myriad
manifestations" ultimately resulting in "a sort of three-ring circus of flashy musical ideas
and avant-garde entertainment".[48] In direct contrast to Pet Sounds, Wilson
emphasizes vocables over lyrics with an encoded narrative, and in a style not dissimilar
to baby talk or Glossolalia.[47][68]Williams concludes that Smile was to be "perhaps the story of
the unnatural love affair between one man's voice and a harpsichord".[69] Online British
journal Freaky Trigger put forth: "While the lyrics are usually pretty damned literary, at their
most extreme, they’re divorced from any kind of meaning in the straightforward sense." While
suggesting that "the line between the sung word and mere sound become criss-crossed and
blurred again and again and again ... where the word becomes subservient to sound, which is
only six or so steps on the road to sound-for-the-sake-of-sound," and reflecting on the image of
"Brian jammin' with Sun Ra and John Cage," the journal concludes that it was a style of music
which could be simply classified as doo-wop, a genre that the group had already familiarized
themselves in for years.[39] Al Jardine elaborated that there were differences between the vocal
arranging on Smile compared to what the group had previously accomplished.
It was just more textural, more complex and it had a lot more vocal movement. "Good
Vibrations" is a good example of that. With that song and other songs onSmile, we began to
get into more esoteric kind of chord changes, and mood changes and movement. You'll
find Smile full of different movements and vignettes. Each movement had its own texture and
required its own session. ... "Cabin Essence" was a tough one. Just the alacrity of the parts
and the movements. There was wind driven part in the parts around "who ran the iron horse" –
a lot of challenging vocal exercises and movements in that one. But we enjoyed those
challenges. There was almost like a competition among us between who could do their part
better than the other guy – but a healthy one. ... there was one part that I'd forgotten about
where we sang this dissonant chord – this strange chord, which sounded like the whistle of a
train. It was very clear and it actually sounded like a real train.[70]
Psychedelia and humor[edit]
Brian Wilson's experiments with psychotropics such as cannabis, lysergic acid
diethylamide (LSD) and the amphetamine/barbiturate combination desbutal[71][30] were influential
on the texture and structure of the work,[72][67] some participants stating lyrical elements
stemmed from their use.[nb 9] Writer Bill Tobelman speculated that Smile is filled with coded
references to Brian's life and LSD experiences (a presumed Lake Arrowhead, California "trip"
being the most important). This is supported by the track "Love to Say Dada", which can be
abbreviated as "LSD". He also argues that it was influenced by Wilson's interest in Zen—
notably in its use of absurd humor and paradoxical riddles (koans) to liberate awareness from
the mind—and that Smile as a whole can be interpreted as an extended Zen koan.[73][nb
10]
Contemporary interviews display Wilson as an avid follower of the rapidly
approaching psychedelic scene impending West Coast pop music, and he anticipated
that Smile would be the preeminent psychedelic pop art statement.[74] He also believed that
psychotropics were closely related to spirituality, citing his own psychedelic experiences which
he considered "very religious."[75] In 1966, Wilson prophesied that "psychedelic music will cover
the face of the world and color the whole popular music scene. Anybody happening is
psychedelic."[74][nb 11] The Guardian argued that until the negative effects of LSD surfaced in rock
music via Skip Spence's Oar (1969) and Syd Barrett's The Madcap Laughs (1970), "artists
tactfully ignored the dark side of thepsychedelic experience," which could be suggested
by Smile in the form of "alternately frantic and grinding mayhem" ("Fire"), "isolated, small-hours
creepiness" ("Wind Chimes"), and "weird, dislocated voices" ("Love to Say Dada").[76]
[Brian] told me that he felt laughter was one of the highest forms of divinity, and that when someone was
laughing their connection with the thing that was making them laugh made them more open that they could be
at just about any point. Which I agree with. You can find that in all art forms: the minute you have someone
laughing you also have them vulnerable, which means either you can shock them, make them laugh more—or
at that moment you can be very honest with them. And Brian felt that it was time to do a humor album.
—Michael Vosse, 1969[23][22]
Arthur Koestler's book, The Act of Creation, had a profound effect on Wilson that carried
deeply into the Smile project, specifically the human logistics of laughter. Wilson pointed to the
book's three-category division of the human mind: Humor, Discovery, and Art;[77] he has
admitted that he was most influenced by Koestler's first rule of ego, Humor, as he explained in
2005: "The Act of Creation by Arthur Koestler turned me on to some very special things…it
explains that people attach their egos to their sense of humor before anything else. After I read
it, I saw that trait in many people…a sense of humor is important to understanding what kind of
person someone is. Studying metaphysics was also crucial, but Koestler's book really was the
big one for me."[78] As a consequence, the Smile songs are replete with word
play, puns, colloquialisms, vernacular, double entendres, slang, and miscellaneous dialect.
One example is "Vega-Tables", which includes the lines "I'm gonna do well, my vegetables,
cart off and sell my vegetables"; the phrase "cart off and" is a bilingual pun on the
word kartoffeln, which is German for potatoes. At one stage, Wilson apparently toyed with the
idea of devoting Smile as a comedy album and a number of scrapped recordings were made in
this vein.[20] David Anderle remembered: "Brian was consumed with humor at the time and the
importance of humor. He was fascinated with the idea of getting humor onto a disc and hot to
get that disc out to the people."[79]
Thematic concepts[edit]
[Smile] compresses half a dozen different songs into one ("Cabinessence") and at the same time it repeats a
single melodic and rhythmic theme (the "Heroes and Villains" chorus) in otherwise separate songs, breaking
down the walls that give songs identities without ever offering conceptual ("rock opera") explanation or
resolution.
—Paul Williams, from Back to the Miracle Factory, c.1993[48]
Several key subjects of the album are generally acknowledged both musically and lyrically:
Wilson and Parks intended Smile to be explicitly American in style and subject, a conscious
reaction to the overwhelming British dominance of popular music at the time.[80][38] It was
conceived as a musical journey across America from east to west, beginning at Plymouth
Rock and ending in Hawaii, traversing some of the great themes of modern American history
and culture including the impact of white settlement on native Americans, the influence of the
Spanish, the Wild West and the opening up of the country by railroad and
highway.[15][81][38] Some historical events touched upon range from Manifest destiny, American
imperialism, westward expansion, the Great Chicago Fire, and the Industrial Revolution.[citation
needed]
The concept of Smile did not lend itself to any formal narrative development, only to
themes and experiences; though Smile references some specifically, it is only in passing.[35]

Smile was partly intended to combat the British Invasion sparked by the Beatles in 1964
In reference to how George Gershwin "Americanized" jazz and classical music, Wilson in his
own words intended to "'Americanize' early America and mid-America."[7] Most of the album's
thematic direction was given to Parks with hardly any instruction from Wilson. Together, the
two desired a back-to-basics approach to songwriting, as Wilson summarized, "We wanted to
capture something as basic as the mood of water and fire."[15] Parks said that the duo "kind of
wanted to investigate … American images. … Everyone was hung up and obsessed with
everything totally British. So we decided to take a gauche route that we took, which was to
explore American slang, and that's what we got."[14] He clarified this notion further by saying,
"So this is what this stuff was: American music. We would use the thematic America. We would
be the Americans. Why do that? Everybody else was getting their snout in the British trough.
Everybody wanted to sing 'bettah'', affecting these transatlantic accents and trying to sound
like the Beatles. I was with a man who couldn't do that. He just didn't have that option. He was
the last man standing. And the only way we were going to get through that crisis was by
embracing what they call 'grow where you're planted'."[80] Historian Darren Reid interpreted that
the focus on older American themes was a self-conscious, deeper reflection on the hedonistic,
modern Americana of the Beach Boys' earlier songs.[82]
Aside from focusing on American cultural heritage, Smile's themes include scattered
references to parenthood and childhood, physical fitness, world history, poetry, and Wilson's
own life experiences. Many traits in Smile lyrics are reminiscent of patrician period
imagery[83][page needed] and the Romantic poetry movement that began in the mid-to-late 18th
century, with the biggest focus being on the Songs of Innocence and of Experience collection
of poems written by English poet William Blake. Thematic links to Songs of Innocence and of
Experience by concept of childhood and spirituality carry throughout other songs and tracks.
However, the piece "My Heart Leaps Up" by William Wordsworthoriginated the idiom "Child Is
Father of the Man" later recycled by Wilson and Parks. Other general Smile themes have been
recited by Smile visual artist Frank Holmes to have included "travel, nature, history,
communications, love stories, virtue, betrayal, bucolic splendor, astrology, [and] mystery."[60]
Smile drew heavily on American popular music of the past; Wilson's original compositions were
interwoven with snippets of significant songs of yesteryear including "The Old Master Painter",
the perennial "You Are My Sunshine" (state song of Louisiana), Johnny Mercer's jazz standard
"I Wanna Be Around" (recorded by Tony Bennett), "Gee" by the 1950s doo-wop group the
Crows and quotations from other 20th century pop culture reference points such as the Woody
Woodpecker theme and "Twelfth Street Rag". These references tended to thematically blur
with the other Smile elements, and there was no definite line drawn between the established
Americana and spirituality themes. Perhaps the least obvious example of this blur would be
"The Old Master Painter"—the "master painter" described in the song's lyrics refers to
God.[84] This is continued in the lyrics to the Wilson/Parks original "Surf's Up", which
imagines religious experience, "canvassing the town", and "brushing the backdrop". Various
18th–20th century works such as "The Pit and the Pendulum", "This Land Is Your Land", "See
See Rider", "Frère Jacques", "Auld Lang Syne", "My Prayer", "The Charge of the Light
Brigade", and Poor Richard's Almanack are also alluded to in song lyrics or titles.
"The Elements"[edit]
"The Elements" was a reputed four-part movement which encompassed the four classical
elements: Air, Fire, Earth, and Water.[85][nb 12] According to Domenic Priore, conversations
between him and Van Dyke Parks have told that "The Elements" were meant to invoke the
increasing attention to health, fitness, and environmentalism by anti-warpeace
movements.[86] Alternatively, Darian Sahanaja—a close associate of Wilson and Parks—has
said: "Brian never ever referred to any of the pieces as being part of some Elemental concept,
and whenever I did bring up the concept he didn’t seem to react to it with any enthusiasm. I
brought it up again while Van Dyke was around and didn’t get a clear reaction from him either.
My gut feeling is that it was one of many subplots and underlying themes being tossed around
back in the day. It does however tie in nicely with the concepts of western expansion, manifest
destiny, birth and rebirth, and so I’m sure they would respect a listener’s
interpretation."[87] Contemporary statements made by those involved with the original album
sessions offer somewhat deeper insight into Smile's elemental suite. As described by David
Anderle in an issue of Crawdaddy!:
[H]e was really into the elements. He ran up to Big Sur for a week, just 'cause he wanted to get
into that, up to the mountains, into the snow, down to the beach, out to the pool, out at night,
running around, to water fountains, to a lot of water, the sky, the whole thing was this fantastic
amount of awareness of his surroundings. So the obvious thing was to do something that
would cover the physical surroundings. … We were aware, he made us aware, of what fire was
going to be, and what water was going to be; we had some idea of air. That was where it
stopped. None of us had any ideas as to how it was going to tie together, except that it
appeared to us to be an opera. And the story of the fire part I guess is pretty well known by
now.[32]
During the latter half of the 1960s, Wilson began an obsession with fitness that led him to move
the furniture out of his living room in order to make room for tumbling mats and exercise bars;
later briefly serving as the co-owner of his own health food store.[88] Wilson reported in 1967, "I
want to turn people on to vegetables, good natural food, organic food. Health is an important
element in spiritual enlightenment. But I do not want to be pompous about it, so we will engage
in a satirical approach."[89] Derek Taylor remembers: "He'd be sitting with me in this restaurant
going on and on about this supposedly strict vegetarian diet of his, preaching vegetarianism at
me while at the very same moment he'd be whacking down some massive hamburger."[90]

Track listing[edit]
See also: The Smile Sessions § Track listing
The most ambiguous and least realized parts of the 1966 Smile concept was its ambitious
narrative, length, track listing, and track order. The material recorded was set to be divided into
a then-undecided number of musical suites or movements. No official sequencing was decided
in 1967, and although numerous track listing and running orders were eventually established
decades later,[91] Brian Wilson has stated that the original Smile would have been "less
uplifting" than his finished 2004 version. He also claimed that he and Van Dyke Parks had
originally thought of the album as a two-movement rock opera or cantata.[7][15][nb 13]
Given the technical limitations of record production in 1967 and the sheer bulk of material that
was being recorded, Wilson recorded far more music than could possibly have fit on one LP,
yet the album was only ever envisaged as being a single disc.[60][92] In November 1966, Wilson
reported: "This LP will include 'Good Vibrations' and ‘Heroes And Villains' and ten other tracks
[plus] lots of humor – some musical and some spoken. It won't be like a comedy LP – there
won't be any spoken tracks as such – but someone might say something in between verses."[93]
The 2011 release of the The Smile Sessions compilation proved conclusively that virtually all
the musical "components" used to create Wilson's 2004 version of Smile are present in one
form or another among the original 1967 recordings, yet the original intended track order and
arrangement of the various songs, segments, and link pieces of Smile have remained either
inconclusive or mostly forgotten among the people involved. A few weeks prior to Christmas
1966, a handwritten note containing a non-ordered track list was delivered to Capitol Records
by Brian.[94] This list was long considered crucial evidence of Wilson's intentions for the piece,
but in 2006 it was discovered[by whom?] Brian had never seen it before. A comparison of the
handwriting indicates that it may have been written by Carl Wilson, or possibly Brian's sister-in-
law, Diane Rovell:[citation needed]
 "Do You Like Worms?"  "Wonderful"
 "Wind Chimes"  "I'm in Great Shape"
 "Heroes and Villains"  "Child Is Father of th
 "Surf's Up"  "The Elements"[nb 14]
 "Good Vibrations"  "Vega-Tables"
 "Cabin Essence"  "The Old Master Pai

"Heroes and Villains: Part I"

MENU
 0:00
Brian Wilson attempted
countless mixes and
arrangements of "Heroes
and Villains" using
inventive modular recording
methods that were
reminiscent of musique
concrète.[44] In this thirty-
second excerpt, tape splices
are executed every six
seconds on average.

Problems playing this file? See media

help.

"Heroes and Villains" was the ultimate keystone for the musical structure of the album, and the
considerable time and effort that Wilson devoted to it is indicative of its importance, both as a
single and as part of the Smile narrative. Like "Good Vibrations", it was edited together from
many discrete sections. Additionally, most individual tracks on Smile were composed as
potential sections of "Heroes and Villains".[nb 16] Nearly thirty sessions for the various versions of
"Heroes and Villains" spanned from May 1966 to July 1967.[95] There are dozens of takes
spanning each section of the song, multiple versions of both the variant sections, and many
attempts to splice together final mixes. One of the other centerpieces of Smile was to be "Surf's
Up", which had been for many years perceived as the intended ending climax of Smile,
preceding a section described as a "choral amen sort of thing."[23][nb 17] "Good Vibrations" was
completed by Wilson and released in October 1966 whileSmile sessions were underway.
All of the other tracks were either not recorded or only exist in part-completed form, and
many Smile-era recordings lack their full vocal arrangements, lyrics and melodies. Many of the
shorter tracks, along with many other brief instrumental and vocal pieces, were evidently
intended to serve as bridging sections that would have been edited in to provide links between
the major songs.[35] Nearly all of the Smile tracks fluxed in state between August 1966 and May
1967, with the only exception being "Our Prayer": a short hymnintended by Wilson to be the
opening "spiritual invocation" of the Smile album.[96][97] A track entitled "Holidays" was recorded
as an oblique instrumental in September 1966, and is one of the few pieces from Smile where
every section was performed as part of one whole take.[98][nb 18] "You're Welcome" is a short
chant sung by the Beach Boys over a thumpy background track featuring a glockenspiel and a
timpani.[nb 19] The other Wilson brothers also experimented with their own compositions in
between sessions for theSmile album, but it's doubtful if they were to have been included in the
album.[nb 20] A brief medley of the traditional standards "The Old Master Painter" and "You Are
My Sunshine" was also recorded,[nb 21] along with a short instrumental cover version of "I Wanna
Be Around".[nb 22]

Artwork and promotion[edit]

Capitol began production on a lavish gatefold cover with a twelve-page booklet in December.
Considered by some to be one of the one of the most legendary album covers in rock,[99] its
artwork was commissioned from Frank Holmes, a friend of Van Dyke Parks he had met at a
coffeehouse three years earlier.[100] Holmes based the cover art from an abandoned jewelry
store he'd seen near his home in Pasadena, added onto several visual interpretations of the
album's lyrics that were illustrated by Holmes for the bonus Smilebooklet scheduled for its
packaging.[100] According to Michael Vosse, the "Smile shop" portrayed on the cover came from
Brian's desire for a humor album, "and everybody who knew anything about graphics, and
about art, thought that the cover was not terribly well done... but Brian knew better; he was
right. It was exactly what he wanted, precisely what he wanted."[23][22] The cover image would
have been one of the earliest instances of a popular music group featuring original
commissioned artwork rather than a photograph of the performers.[101]
Parks considered work by Holmes to be the "third equation" of Smile, and that they would have
not continued on the project the way they did without thinking of it in cartoon terms, as Parks
believes: "To me, it was a musical cartoon, and Frank showed that, without being told anything.
There is some reference: Frank was supposed to do something 'light-hearted', but there were
no specific instructions and he came up with the perfect video vessel for realizing what we
were doing, something I thought was an integral part of the situation. I think that still stands; I
think of Smile in visual terms."[102] Capitol later added the repeated written instances of "Good
Vibrations" on the album cover, which were not featured on the original design by
Holmes.[94] Color photographs of the group were also taken by Guy Webster. 466,000 covers
and 419,000 booklets were printed by early January 1967; with the aforementioned track list
displayed on the back cover, along with a photographed depiction of the group minus Brian
surrounded by astrological symbols.[102][103] Holmes explains his role in the project:
In around June, I met Brian and Van Dyke, and by October I was done with my work and they
were putting things together. It was kind of sporadic: I’d get a little piece of it here and there,
and I submitted the cover. Then I had a meeting with Brian and Capitol, and I discussed my
idea to put together a booklet of these illustrations to Karl Engemann, I think, and then we went
to George Itake, the art director, and explained my concept to him – about the drawing on one
side and the photograph on the other. I used to take work over to show Van Dyke what I was
working on, from time to time, and one day Brian was there, and Van Dyke introduced me to
Brian. "Hey, Brian’s doing this album," he says, "and I’m going to be writing music with him."
So I said, "Do you have a cover?" "No." And I said, "Well, let me give you some ideas." So I
came up with that store-front idea, and they seemed to like that, and I think Brian took it to
Capitol and said they wanted to have this on the cover. ... I thought that was a good image
because of the way, any time you go into a store, you’re entering something, and the door
opens and you go in, but its designed; it’s like a funnel. So I thought, "Well, this would be a
good graphic image on the front cover" – something that would pull you in. I knew that sales
were important in selling music. This was something that would be pulling you into the world
of Smile – the Smile Shoppe – and it had these little smiles all around. There’s two people in
there, too, a husband and wife – a kind of early-Americana, old-style, 19th-century kind of
image.[104]
I also recall [a conversation] with Brian and Dennisabout the Beach Boys never having written surf music or
songs about cars; that the Beach Boys had never been involved in any way with the surf and drag fads...they
would not concede.
—Derek Taylor[90]
Sometime after Pet Sounds was released, the Beatles' press agent Derek Taylor started
working as a publicist for the group, gradually becoming aware of Brian's reputation as a
"genius" among musician friends.[105] Taylor was confused, wondering to himself: "'If that's so,
why doesn't anyone outside think so?'"[105] In response, Taylor devised a campaign that would
reestablish the band's outdated surfing image, and thus promoted Brian as an exceptional
"genius" among pop artists, something which Taylor personally believed himself.[105] As a result,
the Beach Boys were profiled extensively during the Smile era. Band members Al
Jardine,[106] Mike Love,[107][108] and Bruce Johnston[109] all spoke positively of the album's recording
sessions in contemporary music journals, with Dennis Wilson famously confessing to a
reporter: "In my opinion it makes Pet Sounds stink—that's how good it is!".[110][111]
In November 1966, Brian Wilson was filmed performing a solo version of "Surf's Up" on grand
piano for a CBS News special on popular music: Inside Pop: The Rock Revolution.[112] Although
he was filmed in late 1966, the special was not aired until several months later. The month
after filming for CBS, the KRLA Beat magazine published a surreal vegetable-themed
psychedelic piece written by Wilson. The story described the experiences of "Brian Gemini" as
he encountered various characters lurking within the "Vegetable Forest", a few of which were
based upon real-life acquaintances Anderle, Vosse, and Hal Blaine.[113]
The Beach Boys' album Smile and single "Heroes And Villains" will make them the greatest group in the world.
We predict they'll take over where The Beatles left off.
—Hit Parader, December 1966[104]
Some time in December, Brian informed Capitol that Smile would not be ready by January 1,
1967, but he advised that he would deliver it prior to January 15.[94] Capitol continued sending
promotional materials to record distributors and dealers, and ads were placed
in Billboard[114] and teenage magazines[115] including Teen Set.[116] Within these ads, the album
had been compared as an artistic achievement to the films Citizen Kane and The Magnificent
Ambersons, both directed by film auteurOrson Welles. Capitol also circulated a promotional ad
for employees at its label, using "Good Vibrations" as the backdrop against a voice-over
reciting the album's promotional tagline: "With a happy album cover, the really happy sounds
inside, and a happy in-store display piece, you can't miss! We're sure to sell a million units... in
January!"[116] Wilson's conception of the work evidently changed around this time.

Project collapse[edit]
Once Brian Wilson missed the January deadline, he rigorously continued work mostly on
"Heroes and Villains" and "Vega-Tables" as potential singles.[117] Throughout the first half of
1967, the album's release date was repeatedly postponed as Brian tinkered with the
recordings, experimenting with different takes and mixes, unable or unwilling to supply a
completed version of the album.[115] Desperate for a new product from the group, EMI released
"Then I Kissed Her" as a single without the band's approval.[nb 23] The success of the relatively
remedial single—which would ultimately best the chart placement of "Heroes and Villains"—
was another potential cause for Brian abandoning the initially more adventurous sound collage
of "Heroes and Villains" and settling for a more traditional song-structure.
I walked away from the situation as soon as I realized that I was causing friction between him and his other
group members, and I didn't want to be the person to do that. I thought that was Brian's responsibility to bring
definition to his own life. I stepped in, perhaps, I took a leap before I looked. I don't know, but that's the way I
feel about it.
—Van Dyke Parks, 1984[118]
On April 14, 1967,[119][120] after gradually distancing himself from Wilson and the group, Van
Dyke Parks left the project in the wake of signing a record deal with Warner Bros. Records so
he could work on his debut album Song Cycle.[121] As a result of Parks having quit, Brian Wilson
lost sight of the album's direction.[121][nb 24] He went back and forth considering many different
ways to execute Smile, fluctuating between ideas such as a sound effects collage, a comedy
album, and a "health food" album.[20] Eventually, the number of possible variations for song
edits became too overwhelming for him.[40][nb 25] Audio engineer and The Smile Sessions co-
producer Mark Linett speculated that Wilson could not have finished the album simply because
his ambitions were impossible to fulfill with pre-digital technology, accordingly: "In 1966,
[assembling pieces] meant physically cutting pieces of tape and sticking them back together —
which is how all editing was done in those days — but it was a very time-consuming and labor-
intensive process, and most importantly made it very hard to experiment with the infinite
number of possible ways you could assemble this puzzle."[60] Sessions co-producer Alan Boyd
shared the same view, stating that the tape editing "would have been probably an unbearably
arduous, difficult and tedious task."[40]
After undergoing several months of internal conflict, Derek Taylor announced to the British
press on May 6, 1967 that the Smile tapes had been destroyed and would not see
release.[122] Later that month, Taylor terminated his employment with the group in order to focus
his attention on organizing the Monterey Pop Festival, an event the Beach Boys declined to
headline at the last minute. This cancellation came to be seen as an admission of the band's
failure to integrate with the burgeoning 1960s counterculture, resulting in a cataclysmic blow to
their reputation.[123]
A few weeks later, Wilson finalized "Heroes and Villains" as the Beach Boys' next single. In the
months leading up to its release, it had garnered a considerable amount of hype, with many
publications referring to it as another recording milestone on par with the innovations present in
"Good Vibrations". Reflective of the Beach Boys popular status up until May 1967, they had
been voted as the world's number one vocal group within readers polls conducted by UK
magazine NME; ahead of the Beatles and the Rolling Stones.[124] In June 1967, Wilson
personally delivered an exclusive acetate of "Heroes and Villains" to radio station KHJ by
limousine.[20] As Wilson excitedly offered the vinyl record for radio play, the DJ refused, citing
program directing protocols, which Terry Melcher recalls "just about killed [Brian]".[125] Upon its
release in July, "Heroes and Villains" disappointingly peaked at only number 12 on the
Billboard pop charts, and was met with general confusion amongst underwhelming reviews.
This included the seminal rock figure Jimi Hendrixnegatively describing the single as a
"psychedelic barbershop quartet" to NME[76] Wounded by the relative indifference to "Heroes
and Villains," Wilson's emotional state began to plummet further, as the band's future
manager Jack Rieley wrote for an online Q&A on October 18, 1996:
Brian blirted [sic] it out one evening at [his home], and later spoke about it several times in
agonizing detail. He had expected that [the single] would be greeted by Capitol as the work
which put the Beach Boys on a creative par with the Beatles. All the adoration and promotional
backup Capitol was giving the Beatles would also flow to his music because of ["Heroes and
Villains"], he thought. And the public? It would greet [the song] with the same level of
overwhelming enthusiasm that the Beatles got with record after record. As it was, Capitol
execs were divided about [the song]. Some loved it but others castigated the track, longing
instead for still more surfing/cars songs. The public bought the record in respectable but surely
not wowy zowy numbers. For Brian, this was the ultimate failure. His surfing/car songs were
the ones they loved the most. His musical growth, unlike that of
Messrs. Lennon and McCartney, did not translate into commercial ascendancy or public
glory.[126]
Despite Smile's official cancellation in May, Wilson continued working and revising the year's
worth of material he had amassed for as long as he could bear its repetitiveness. He then
became desensitized to the material, feeling it was increasingly necessary to start all over from
scratch. In 1985, Wilson expressed: "Time can be spent in the studio to the point where you
get so next to it, you don’t know where you are with it, you decide to just chuck it for a
while."[127] Brian gradually retreated from the public eye and over the ensuing years became
disabled by his mental health problems to fluctuating degrees. The Smile period is often
reported as the pivotal episode in his decline, causing him to become tagged as one of the
most notorious celebrity drug casualties of the rock era.[128][115] In 2011, Brian said, "I told the
company, 'No, I don't want this to be released; I want this to go on the shelf.' We didn't tell
them for how long. We told them 'For a while.'"[40]
Substance abuse and paranoia[edit]
Brian began to encounter serious problems with Smile around late November 1966. Around
this period, he was exhibiting consistent signs of depression and paranoia.[nb 26] By the
beginning of 1967, Brian's behavior became increasingly erratic, and his use
of drugs escalated. Taking advice from his astrologer who told him to beware of "hostile
vibrations", Brian holed up in his bed for days smoking cannabis and eating candy
bars.[121] Jules Siegel was exiled from Brian's social circle on the grounds that his girlfriend had
been disrupting Brian's work through ESP.[116] While such actions were a concern for some of
his friends and many similar stories of his sometimes bizarre off-duty behavior became the
stuff of legend, those who worked for him during this period have stated that he was totally
professional in the studio.[100] Although Brian's paranoia was consuming him, it was not
completely unfounded. Other people have said that he had good reason to be wary of his
surroundings, pointing to his high position in the music industry and an instance where the
master tapes for "Good Vibrations" had been stolen by an unknown party for three
days.[86] Rumors were abound that the Smile tapes were being leaked from their Los Angeles
studios, and that Brian believed – as a result – the 1967 Sagittarius single "My World Fell
Down" was a deliberate Smile pastiche.[129] Brian's ill-perceived security of these studios are
said to have contributed to his decision to construct his own personal recording studio.[129][130]
Brian's mindset during Smile was that whichever next big statement on popular music was
marketed first was the one which would set the standard against which all other albums would
have to be judged.[82] Reportedly, his first exposure to the Beatles' February 1967 single
"Strawberry Fields Forever" affected him. He heard the song while driving his car and pulled
over to listen, commenting to his passenger Michael Vosse that the Beatles had "got there
first,"[91] although he denied the story's accuracy in later years, affirming that the song had not
discouraged him.[131] At the time, Brian was reportedly having doubts on whether Smile would
still be received as a culturally relevant work among record-buyers and the contemporary rock
audience.[132] Parks believes that Derek Taylor facilitated the Beatles with Smile acetates while
they were in progress with their 1967 LP Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band, explaining:
"They heard Smile in part—the first eight-track—up at Armen Steiner's studio at Yucca and
Argyle. It was after Brian found out that they had been in the studio, we heard. We walked into
the place and heard that the Beatles had been there. We knew that the nest had been found,
and Brian was very sad. He felt violated, raped. So we didn't go back there; we took the tapes
and Brian got an eight-track machine. It was easier than losing the security he wanted, but the
damage had been done." He asserts that Brian's attitude changed completely after the
episode, making him "question the loyalties of the people who were working for him," and that
to be "invited to a session was a big deal in those days, and certainly to know what Brian’s
process was would be something that everybody desired at that time, because he was such an
opinion-maker and he was inventing new formats, new ways of working."[133]
We started to get indications that Brian was taking some hallucinogens, like LSD and stuff like that—a lot of the
writers were doing that at the time—but it took a tremendous toll from him. He drove me around the parking lot
of William Morris about twenty times, explaining to me about this great trip he had just taken, and I just wanted
to be as far away from that as possible! Because I didn't want to know about it—I wanted the innocence!
—Al Jardine, 1998[134]
Following the recording session for the "Fire" section of "The Elements" at Gold Star
Studios on November 28, 1966, Brian became irrationally concerned that the music had been
responsible for starting several fires in the neighborhood of the studio.[91] Brian falsely claimed
for many years that he had burned these session tapes,[135] but that was not the case, although
he did abandon the "Fire" piece for good. Parks deliberately stayed away from the session—
during which Brian encouraged the musicians to wear toy firemen hats—and that he later
described Brian's behavior as "regressive,"[136] something which band mates also observed
during and after this session.[137] Besides the "Fire" session, Parks was uncomfortable being
placed in the middle of the overwhelmingly drugged atmosphere that typical Smile sessions
beheld,[138][139] which he has said to have indulged in only at Brian's insistence.[18]
David Anderle was head of the Beach Boys' label Brother Records during the period when
Brian was working on the Smilealbum. Anderle painted a portrait of Brian , which reportedly
frightened him when he saw it, convinced that Anderle had somehow captured his soul on
canvas. Anderle would go on to tell Rolling Stone years later that things had not been the same
between him and Brian afterward.[20] In subsequent years, participants have acknowledged that
the lack of mental health awareness in the 1960s made it difficult for people to comprehend
what was happening to Brian or how to best approach the symptoms that were arising at an
overwhelming pace.[nb 27]
Brian went to see the movie Seconds after hearing that Phil Spector was one of the film's
investors. It briefly impacted Brian, who had entered the theater late, and upon arriving
heard Rock Hudson's character "Mr. Wilson" greeted on screen, mistaking that the film was
talking directly to him. He would expound on the experience saying that it had "completely
blown" his mind, and that, "The whole thing was there. I mean my whole life. Birth and death
and rebirth. The whole thing. Even the beach was in it, a whole thing about the beach. It was
my whole life right there on the screen. … I mean, look at Spector, he could be involved in it,
couldn't he? He's going into films. How hard would it be for him to set up something like
that?…You can understand how that movie might get someone upset under those
circumstances."[140][nb 28]
Group and label pressure[edit]

The Capitol Records Building in Hollywood

In a 2011 press statement, Capitol/EMI admitted: "The reason Smile did not see release in
1967 had more to do with back room business … than anything else."[83][page needed] Supplementing
Brian's mental and substance abuse issues during these sessions were significant personal,
business and legal pressures. In October 1966 the band began establishing Brother
Records with noted difficulty,[79] on January 3, 1967 Carl Wilson refused to be drafted for
military service, leading to indictment and criminal prosecution which he challenged as
a conscientious objector[141] and in March 1967, a lawsuit seeking US$255,000 (US$1,800,000
today) was launched against Capitol Records over neglected royalty payments.[142] Within the
lawsuit, there was also an attempt to terminate the band's contract with Capitol, a legacy of
Murry's management, prior to its November 1969 expiry.[142] The case was settled out of court,
with the band receiving their $200,000 in exchange for Brother Records to distribute through
Capitol Records, along with a guarantee that the band produce at least one million dollars
profit, which has been recalled as a point "when things started getting bad."[23]Paul Williams
saw that "Ironically, the independence that forming Brother Records was supposed to bring to
Brian Wilson and the Beach Boys was the very thing that knocked Smile–and the Beach Boys–
out of the water. David Anderle's initial idea in the formation of Brother Records was sound, but
the time it takes to put this type of thing through the courts was not conducive to the production
race that was important during this period of radical change in pop."[130]
Just because I said I didn't know what [the lyrics] meant didn't mean I didn't like them. I have zero against Van
Dyke Parks. That's why I said, "What the fuck does that mean?" It's not meant to be an insult. He didn't get
insulted. He just said, "I haven't a clue!"…People don't know the way I think. And they don't give a fuck about
the way I think, either. … I was just asking: What did it mean?
—Mike Love, 2006c[143]
Infighting within the group was also a potential factor in the demise of Smile. The December 6,
1966 session for "Cabin Essence" was the scene of an argument between Van Dyke Parks
andMike Love where the latter requested that Parks explain the meaning of the lyrics he was to
sing. The event was said by Parks to be the prime catalyst for his reduced involvement
in Smile, which led him to gradually move away from the project.[144][145] Love has since
defended his actions, elaborating that he was displaying uncertainty over the song's lyrics,
worried whether they would be appreciated and understood by the fanbase the band had built
their commercial standing upon. The surrealism and obtuseness of the lyrics had led Love to
adopt the term "acid alliteration" when describing them.[146][120] Despite these reservations, Love
contributed vocals when asked and followed Brian's odd requests to engage in behavior such
as acting as an animal on the floor while recording vocals.[137] In the years following, Love has
asserted that whatever misgivings he had toward Smile laid specifically toward some of the
lyrics and not the music.[147][148] Carl Wilson corroborated Love's statements in the 1990s, and
also added that he himself personally loved the lyrics.[77] In 2013, Al Jardine spoke on the
matter: "He’s a big Chuck Berry fan and he loves those kind of lyrics. … Mike was always
trying to pinpoint Van Dyke saying, 'What does that mean?' And he would go, 'I don't know, I
was high' (laughs). Mike would go, 'That's disgusting, that doesn't make any sense.'"[128]
In 1975, Derek Taylor told NME: "A key factor in the breakdown had to be the Beach Boys
themselves, whose stubbornness by this time had seemingly twisted itself into a grim
determination to undermine the very foundations of this 'new music' in order to get back to the
old accepted, dumb formulas."[149] Danny Hutton reflected in 2012 that during the sessions
for Smile and Pet Sounds there was worry in the Beach Boys camp that they wouldn't be able
to perform the songs live to a satisfactory degree, and that the provided lyrics were too
discomforting to the band especially after having achieved relatively stable mainstream
success.[91][132] Other people who were present at the sessions—including David Anderle and
Michael Vosse—have also reported that Smile vocal sessions had been tenuous between
Brian, Parks, and the other Beach Boys,[91][23] which was reported to have caused Brian
"tremendous paranoia" knowing every studio visit would lead to an argument.[120] It was
reported that during this time, Brian had been forcibly assumed into a benefactor role for the
band and his family, which added to his hesitancy in delivering a product that had the potential
to be a great commercial failure.[20] Accusations like these culminated in several publications
between the late 1960s and early 1970s which reported that it was Love in particular who had
issues with straying from the formulaic style of the Beach Boys earlier material.[20][nb 29] Love has
hypothesized that his vocal opposition to those who supplied Brian with hard drugs caused
those participants to start spinning the web that pinned him as the reason to why Smile was
shelved, something he says was further perpetuated by writers who weren't there.[137] He also
stated that his criticism of the drug culture mostly stemmed from observing the detrimental
effects it played on his cousins.[143] In response, Parks has repeatedly accused Love
of historical revisionism,[145]believing that Love held hostility toward Brian and Smile, and that it
was "the deciding factor" in the album's postponement.[150][nb 30] Reacting to promotion for the
Beach Boys'50th anniversary reunion and The Smile Sessions compilation in 2011, Parks
released a statement on his website:
Certainly, I did walk away from Smile. … I comment only to combat any doubt that Mike Love
delayed the release of Smile by 40 years purely out of a mislaid jealousy. Smile was an
obviously good work. … Yet, revising facts isn't necessary for the progress of profit. I sure wish
Brian were here to weigh in.[145]
In the ensuing years, Brian has stated on several occasions that the other Beach Boys
met Smile with huge disapproval, and that he was disappointed with their reactions.[147]Other
times, he has said that the group eventually grew to like the material as sessions
progressed.[60] In 1976, Brian corroborated that some group members were opposed to the
recording of "Good Vibrations", but declined to name who specifically.[151] In the 2000s, Brian
named Love's opposition a contribution to the project's failure[91] explaining, "He
was disgusted with it, he said 'I'm disgusted with this,' he said this is nothing like anything like a
surf song or a car song or any kinda Beach Boy-type of song. I said 'Mike. If you don't wanna
grow, you shouldn't live.'"[152] The group was filmed by CBS during December 15 vocal sessions
for "Surf's Up" and "Wonderful" which were reported to have gone "very badly."[140] In reference
to all of these claims, Alan Boyd has noted that group opposition is not audible on the
recordings he has heard,[60] while others observed no "Let It Be style sniping" on The Smile
Sessions.[40]

Reappraisal[edit]
For many years after its shelving, Brian Wilson was terrified of Smile; repeatedly denouncing
the album while associating its music with all of his failures.[15] At various points, he considered
the recordings "contrived with no soul,"[153] being imitations of Phil Spector without "getting
anywhere near him,"[123] and "corny drug influenced music."[154] Over the years, he gradually
became more comfortable discussing the work, calling it "too advanced" to have been released
in 1967.[nb 31] In 1993, Mike Love believed that Smile "would have been a great record," but in its
unfinished state is "nothing, it's just fragments."[155] In 2013, Jardine felt "There's performances
we probably should have finished. I can't tell you exactly what they are, but that's the way I
feel."[70]
According to visual artist Jeremy Glogan: "Smile and conceptual art both emerged from the
same Era. Each signaled a radical from what had preceded in popular music and art
respectively, and each heralded a shift away from 'the art object', whether LP record or formal
art object, as a definitive self-referential statement."[156][page needed] Toop argued that attempts to
complete Smile are "misguided", naming Smile a "labyrinth" which exists "in a memory house
into which Wilson invited all those who could externalize its elements" notwithstanding the
user's familiarity with the album's fragments. He then proposes the inquiry: "Can a song say it
all, depth breadth and flow, break its banks in flood yet still be a song?"[157] Freaky
Trigger shared the same view, writing: "There is no ‘correct’ track sequence, there is no
completed album, because Smile isn’t a linear progression of tracks. As a collection of modular
melodic ideas it is by nature organic and resists being bookended."[158] David Anderle believed
"there never was a Smile" while Marshall Heiser says "Possibly the best term offered yet to
describe the project is: 'sonic menagerie'".[35]
Brian Torff, referring to Smile's advanced structures, noted: "Here was a guy who could craft
something that was almost symphonic. … Not many people had that craft in pop music at that
time. … [He was] really expanding the boundaries of what rock and pop music could be."[67] In
2011, Uncut voted Smile the number one "greatest bootleg recordingof all time".[159] The album
is often compared by critics to works by other artists that have either remained unreleased or
unfinished due to various circumstances. Similarly-fated albums include Charles
Mingus' Epitaph,[101] Brian Eno's My Squelchy Life,[160] Mark Wirtz's A Teenage
Opera,[161] and The Who's Lifehouse project.[162][163]
Tom Nolan wrote that Smile was "a step, not 'better than Sgt. Pepper'", and that "it was just so
new. even in its raw form. It didn't even need lyrics."[20] Williams felt necessary to point out,
"You should not feel dumb if you don't enjoy it. It's not a work of genius. It's a passionate
experiment that both succeeds and fails. As a failure, it's famous. Its success, now that we all
can hear it, is likely to be much more modest."[48] Devoted to "new American music that is
outside the commercial mainstream," online publication NewMusicBoxtook exception
with Smile, with it being "an album recorded more than 45 years ago by one of the biggest (and
most financially lucrative) musical acts of all time."[101] It explained that: "Wilson’s experiments in
1966 and 1967 seem normative of the kinds of things most interesting musicians in any genre
were up to at that point and even tamer than some of them. The blurring of boundaries
between musical genres was pretty much commonplace at that time, as was the attitude,
however real or imagined, that just about any musical undertaking was somehow an expansion
beyond anything that had come before it," and that "the same pride of place in American music
history held by other great innovators" such as Charles Ives, George Gershwin, John
Cage, John Coltrane, and James Brown, would "probably" never include Smile. However, as it
explains: "[T]his has more to do with the vagaries of reception history than with actual history.
For many people, the Beach Boys will always be perceived as a light-hearted party band that
drooled over 'California Girls' while on a 'Surfing Safari'."[101]
Historical speculation[edit]

Wilson was quoted saying that ifSmile had been released, "Sgt. Pepperwould have kicked our
ass",[164] though several critics believe Smile challenges the legacy of the Beatles and Sgt.
Pepper.[82][165][15][166][167]
It is widely believed that the release of Smile would have reformed the public perception of the
Beach Boys.[168] Pitchfork Media has described the album as a "rite of passage for students of
pop music history," and adds "If you're wired a certain way, once you learn theSmile story, you
long to hear the album that never was. It looms out there in imagination, an album that lends
itself to storytelling and legend, like the aural equivalent of the Loch Ness Monster. … So you
might start hunting down bootlegs, poring over the fragments, and finding competing edits and
track sequences, which only feeds your desire to know what the 'real' Smile could have
been."[3] They also believed that the album could have dramatically veered the course of
popular music history and speculated: "Perhaps we wouldn't be so monotheistic in our pop
leanings, worshiping only at the Beatles' altar the way some do today."[165] For a
special Smile edition of the 33 1/3 book series, Luis Sanchez writes:
If the counterculture had suddenly made it possible for a generation of Americans to define
themselves against their cultural inheritance, Brian and Parks weren't convinced. Their work
spoke of an urge to explore their native culture not as outsiders, but to identify with it
emphatically and see where it led them. If Brian Wilson and The Beach Boys were going to
survive as the defining force of American pop music they were, Smile was a conscious attempt
to rediscover the impulses and ideas that power American consciousness from the inside out.
It was a collaboration that led to some incredible music, which, if it had been completed as an
album and delivered to the public in 1966, might have had an incredible impact.
Considering the material that does survive, on its own terms, we can try to understand
why Smile remains vital, and why it still matters as music. ... The music appeals not through
any kind of detached countercultural outlook, but by taking the best aspects of The Beach
Boys' music–scope of studio production, vocal harmonies, a sense of possibility–and shifting in
a way that makes them sound total, consummate, as if this music is the music Brian
was meant to make. There is nothing phony or fawning about any of it.[169]
Paste Magazine suggested that Smile would have had a greater impact than the Beatles' Sgt.
Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967), explaining: "There have been countless rock
opera, art rock and prog rock projects, but most have merely dressed up mediocre rock 'n’ roll
in the gowns of grandiosity. But Wilson used the moving parts and shifting textures of art music
not to show off but to reflect adulthood's mixed emotions. He used the through-line of classical
composition not to replace pop's intimacy but to reinforce it, linking one personal moment to
the next."[15] Arizona publication AZ Central wrote in 2011: "If Smile had arrived in 1967, it
would have placed the Beach Boys on the front lines of pop's psychedelic revolution, out there
with the Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, Pink Floyd's The Piper at the Gates
of Dawn, the Doors' first album and the Jimi Hendrix Experience's Are You Experienced? It
doesn't sound like any of those albums, but it clearly shares their spirit of adventure in a way
that would have been unthinkable just two years earlier."[40] In 1999, Freaky Trigger wrote that
the album was not "the best album ever," but that it is "astoundingly original" for being
antithetical to contemporary rock music, and that the nature of its "twilight existence challenges
the legitimacy of that legend of rock which puts Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band at
its summit." It concludes that:
Smile is so attractive is because it's the tangible evidence of an alternative rock history which
turned out differently ... None of which would matter a damn if the record was boring. It isn't ...
The very idea of basing an album around laughter and good health seems cracked, naive and
baffling, but that's what Smile allegedly is: a humour record. And given that every year the
angst, contrariness and cynicism of rock’n’roll culture gets more tedious, more oppressive,
maybe even more dangerous, the more people exposed to Wilson’s damaged but beautiful
humanism the better.[166]

Cultural impact[edit]
The potential of what Smile would have been was the primary thing that inspired us (Elephant 6). When we
started hearing Smile bootlegs, it was mind-blowing. It was what we had hoped it would be, but a lot of those
songs weren't finished, so there was still this mystery of not hearing the melodies and lyrics. We wondered,
"What are these songs and how do they fit together? Is this a verse?"
—Robert Schneider[83][page needed]
Various artists have cited Smile and its themes as a major influence. Kevin Shields of the
Irish shoegaze band My Bloody Valentine has said that the 2013 album MBV was inspired
by Smile, expounding "The idea was to bring a lot of parts together, riffs or chord changes
without making a song out of it. … I wanted to see what would happen if I worked in a more
impressionistic way, so that it only comes together at the end."[170] Composers for the
1994 Super Nintendo role-playing video game EarthBound cited Smile and related work as
major influences on the game's soundtrack.[171] The Elephant 6 Recording Company, a
collective of independent artists which include Apples in Stereo, the Olivia Tremor
Control, Neutral Milk Hotel,Beulah, Elf Power, and Of Montreal, was founded through a mutual
admiration of 1960s pop music, with Smile being "their Holy Grail".[83][page needed] According
to Kevin Barnes, of Montreal's album Coquelicot Asleep in the Poppies: A Variety of Whimsical
Verse (2001) was partially based on Smile.[172] The album Black Foliage: Animation Music
Volume One (1999) by the Olivia Tremor Control has been compared to Smile for its
dichotomous vocal harmony pop and avant-garde tape manipulation.[173][174]It is reported
that Lindsey Buckingham accessed Smile master tapes for research purposes during the
making of Fleetwood Mac's Tusk (1979), and that the tracks "That's All For Everyone" and
"Beautiful Child" most strongly exemplify the results.[175] Domenic Priore believes
that Smile influence is evident on the Flaming Lips' The Soft Bulletin (1999),Mercury Rev's All
Is Dream (2001), the Apples in Stereo's Her Wallpaper Reverie (1999), Heavy Blinkers' 2000
eponymous LP, the Thrills' So Much for the City (2000), and XTC'sOranges &
Lemons (1989).[176]
Referring to a Smile track where "a whole bunch of tubas [are] having a conversation with
trumpets," Questlove of neo soul band the Roots said "[Brian Wilson]'s a modern day
Stravinsky … The way he constructs his music, he's a madman. … He was doing stuff [40
years ago] that modern people do now, looping his work and stuff."[177] Elvis Costellodescribed
a Smile piano demo of "Surf's Up" as akin to an original recording of Mozart in performance,
and added "It's such an amazing tune. The words are very much of the time, they sound
beautiful when they're sung—and quite of lot of that is true with the rest of the songs that come
from this period, where obviously there was a stress and strain in realizing the music."[134] Black
Flag vocalist Henry Rollins has written enormous praise to Smile, calling the album "one of the
best things you are likely to hear in all of your life. There are moments on Smile that are so
astonishingly good you might find yourself just staring at your speakers in unguarded wonder,
as I have."[178] Don Was of Was (Not Was) has said, "In the fall of 1989, I was working with a
band who turned me on to the bootlegged recordings of Brian Wilson's legendary,
aborted Smile sessions. Like a musical burning bush, these tapes awakened me to a higher
consciousness in record making. I was amazed that one, single human could dream up this
unprecedented and radically advanced approach to rock 'n roll."[179] Speaking about Smile, Billy
Corgan of the Smashing Pumpkins has said, "I really hear America. I really feel that he was
trying to sum up America. He was literally trying to bring Mark Twain into rock and roll, and he
almost got there."[180] Power pop musician Matthew Sweet felt: "Van Dyke's lyrics are so cool
and Brian did right by them. He and Brian are trying to capture an impressionistic thing. That
time is so experimental, and looking at it now, it's easy to see why it could be overlooked —
because people just don't instantly understand really abstract stuff. It takes time to have a
conversation about it before we realize what an amazing thing they did."[83][page needed]
Independent musicians and groups such as Ant-Bee, Melt-Banana, Jim O'Rourke, Adventures
in Stereo, Rufus Wainwright, and Secret Chiefs 3 have all recorded cover versions
of Smile tracks. Smiling Pets (1998) is a tribute album which largely focuses on various artists'
interpretations of Smile-era recordings by the Beach Boys.[173][181] In 1995,
theWondermints performed a live cover of "Surf's Up" at the Morgan-Wixon Theater in Los
Angeles with Brian in the audience, who was then quoted saying "If I'd had these guys back in
'66, I could've taken Smile on the road."[182] Both albums Making God Smile: An Artists' Tribute
to the Songs of Beach Boy Brian Wilson (2002) and Smiles, Vibes & Harmony: A Tribute to
Brian Wilson (1990) features cover artwork reworked from the original Smile album artwork.
The cover artwork for power pop band Velvet Crush'sTeenage Symphonies to God (1994) was
based on Frank Holmes' artwork for Smile.[176] Dutch avant-garde group Palnickx paid homage
to Smile on their 1996 rock-themed concept album The Psychedelic Years; the tracks "Phase
Ten/Thirteen (Brian Wilson)" and "Phase Twelve (Fire/Rebuilding After the Fire)" feature
multiple references to the project's themes, tracks, and legends.[183] Weird Al Yankovic recorded
a song on his 2006 album Straight Outta Lynwood modeled after Smile's aesthetic, entitled
"Pancreas". Brian Wilson himself would later revisit Smile's themes and cut-up structure within
his eponymous debut solo album Brian Wilson (1988), which features the eight-minute-long
psychedelic western saga "Rio Grande".[184]
Scenes from the films Grace of My Heart and Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story both feature
homages to Smile. The latter contains the song "Black Sheep", a parody of Brian Wilson's
music style composed by Van Dyke Parks. The albums sessions were dramatized in the made-
for-television biopics Summer Dreams: The Story of the Beach Boys andThe Beach Boys: An
American Family. Portions of the Smile sessions will evidently also be dramatized in the
upcoming Wilson biopic Love and Mercy, featuring Paul Dano as Brian Wilson and Max
Schneider as Van Dyke Parks. The 1993 fiction novel Glimpses by Lewis Shiner contains a
chapter in which the protagonist travels back in time to November 1966 and helps Wilson
complete Smile.[173] References to Smile, its bootlegs, and the Beach Boys are made in the
2006 novel Eat the Document by Dana Spiotta.[185]

Legacy[edit]
Smiley Smile[edit]
Main article: Smiley Smile
The Beach Boys still needed to complete an LP record to fulfill their obligations to Capitol
Records, so an album replacement was recorded throughout June and July. As Wilson
retreated to his recently acquired Bel Air mansion, it became the venue for the recording of
much of the Beach Boys' next album, Smiley Smile.[186] Released that September, the album
included newly stripped-down recordings of several Smile tracks. It was received with
confusion by critics and was the group's lowest-selling album to date in the US, making only
number 41 on the Billboard 200, although it fared considerably better in Britain, where it
reached number nine on the album chart.[168] The album was later described by brother and
bandmate Carl Wilson as "a bunt instead of a grand slam".[187]
Reconstructions[edit]
See also: 20/20 (The Beach Boys album), Surf's Up (album) and Good Vibrations: Thirty Years
of The Beach Boys
In mid-June 1967, before the release of Smiley Smile, Capitol A&R director Karl Engemann
began circulating a memo which discussed conversations between him and Wilson of a 10-
track Smile album. It would have followed up the release of Smiley Smile, and would not have
included the selections "Heroes and Villains" nor "Vegetables".[188][189] During promotion for the
June 24 release of the "Heroes and Villains" single, Bruce Johnston told NME that
the Smile album was expected for release within two months.[190][page needed]By July, the group's
dispute with Capitol was resolved; it was then agreed that Smile would not be the band's next
album.[83][page needed] Carl Wilson would soon frequently revisit the session tapes, taking into mind
the possibility of salvaging them for future release.[86][nb 32]

"Surf's Up" from Surf's

Up (1971)

MENU

0:00
Though it was initially met
with fierce disapproval by
Brian Wilson, a later
composite version of
core Smile track "Surf's Up"
was completed by the Beach
Boys in 1971 and released
as the Surf's Up album's lead
single. Since portions of the
 instrumental track were
missing a lead vocal, one
was overdubbed by Carl
Wilson.

Problems playing this file? See media

help.

A contract signed with Warner Bros. Records in 1970 following the group's departure from
Capitol included a clause that stipulated a finished Smile to be delivered by May 1, 1973. Later
in 1970, Brian spoke in a radio interview with Jack Rieley—who was then a DJ that Brian had
recently met at his health food store called The Radiant Radish—about the track "Surf's Up",
saying "It's just that it's too long. Instead of putting it on a record, I would rather just leave it as
a song. It rambles. It's too long to make it for me as a record, unless it were an album cut,
which I guess it would have to be anyway. It's so far from a singles sound. It could never be a
single."[191] Soon after, Rieley became the group's manager and adviser. With permission from
Brian, between mid June and early July 1971, Rieley and Carl retrieved most of the
original Smile multi-tracks for careful examination. The primary reason for this trawl was to
locate the masters for "Surf's Up", which was decided for inclusion on the Beach Boys
forthcoming album of the same name. As progress continued, Brian gradually withdrew from
the song's assembly, presumably due to the negative memories associated with
the Smile sessions. Yet, the Surf's Up album was completed and released in August 1971 with
its title track serving as the album's closer.[192] Besides its title track, Surf's Up bears no
connection to Smile neither thematically nor musically, and no other tapes from the latter's
sessions were used. Sometime after, Brian and American Spring contributed guest vocals for a
cover of "Vegetables" by Jan and Dean.[190][page needed]
Early in 1972, the Beach Boys announced that they would be finishing Smile to follow up on
the critical and commercial success of Surf's Up. By the end of the year, the idea was either
abandoned or forgotten, with Brian refusing to participate in any further Smile-related
reworkings, leading the group to pay a $50,000 fine.[74][86] When asked about Smile in a 1973
interview at his home, Brian told Melody Maker that there wasn't enough material to put
together the album, and that it would never be released. Suddenly on a whim, he then
performed the beginning of "Heroes and Villains" on piano while "switching into an unfamiliar
lyric and tune" which was explained by Brian to be the song's full original version. Wife Marilyn
was astonished when told of the event, as Brian hadn't performed "Heroes and Villains" for
anybody in years.[193] Asked again three years later, Brian said that he still felt an obligation to
put out the album, and that it would be released "probably in a couple years."[151] Later in the
1970s, Bruce Johnston said that an assembled release of Smile would be a "bad idea"
commercially. He expounded that its release could only satisfy a highly-niche audience,
deeming the material too inaccessible for mainstream record-buyers, and explained,
"Sometimes, you're kind of let down. Say you discover the tapes and you say, 'Oh yeah?' It's
been talked about so much…It would live up to your expectations [only] if you were Zubin
Mehta analyzing a young composer's work."[194]
In 1981, Johnston announced that there were plans to issue a brief six-minute compilation of
the album's recording sessions without Brian's knowledge. He reasoned, "It's better to do it that
way, because musically now, as opposed to '66 or '78, it would be more interesting to just give
you a peek at it than to do the whole thing. There's been too much press on it. It's like talking
about bringing out the '67 Rolls Royce and they finally show it in '81. You go, 'Oh,
no.'"[195] Sometime in 1988, Wilson confirmed that Smile was being compiled and mixed for an
imminent release,[196] but that it "got sidetracked with business" and worried whether the album
would sell due to it being mostly background tracks; he also considered asking the Beach Boys
to overdub the remaining vocal tracks.[197]
In 1993, the five-CD boxed set Good Vibrations: Thirty Years of The Beach Boys was released
containing almost thirty minutes of archival Smile material.[nb 33] It also contained the first official
release of a reconstructed Smile album, with its sequencing ordered by David Leaf, Andy
Paley, and Mark Linett.[198] These recordings made it clear that Smilehad been much closer to
completion than had previously been thought,[115] and this prompted much excitement by fans
over what additional songs might exist, and debate about how the songs fit into
the Smile running order. There was hope in the 1990s that The Pet Sounds Sessions boxed
set would be followed up with a dedicated Smile release, but it failed to materialize, with one
reason being the arduous compiling and sequencing.[199] In 1995, a three-CD box set
entitled The Smile Era was reported for release in the fall which evidently never
happened.[200] Don Was reported: "We showed Brian an interactive CD-ROM of Todd
Rundgren's and told him that this is how he should release Smile. He could load up an
interactive CD with seven hours of stuff from those sessions and just tell the people who buy it,
'You finish it.' Brian's into it; now it's up to the record company."[201]
Bootlegs[edit]
See also: The Beach Boys bootleg recordings
Smile has given rise to a community of fans, thriving on the internet, who make, exchange and
disseminate Smile in countless versions. Smile was to dematerialize only to instantaneously rematerialize with
new signification as bootleg, as MP3, as rumor and as myth.
—Jeremy Glogan[156][page needed]
Throughout the 1980s, cassette bootlegs of the album's sessions were being passed around
various musician circles.[87][179] By the beginning of the 1990s, Smile had earned its place as the
most famous unreleased pop album, and was a focal point forbootleg recording makers and
collectors.[3] With the emerging popularity of the Internet in the mid-1990s, the
bootlegged Smilerecordings became more widely available through a series of websites and
"tape trees". A few websites actually offered full downloads of the tracks, and fan edits and
arrangements started to appear. Beginning in 1997, the bootleg label Sea of Tunes(named
after the Beach Boys' original publishing company) began releasing a series of CDs featuring
high quality outtakes, session tracks and alternate recordings that ranged across the group's
entire career. Among these was a three-CD set featuring over three hours of sessions for
"Good Vibrations", and several multi-CD sets containing a significant number of the tracking,
overdubbing and mixing sessions for Smile.[202] Those involved with releasing these bootlegs
were later apprehended by authorities, and it was reported that nearly 10,000 discs were
seized.[173]
Unofficial reconstructions of the album were often attempted by fans in order to "complete" the
album and give the recordings a cohesive listening structure;[203] for decades, fan-created
playlists were the only way for the public to listen to an approximation of Smile as it would have
been heard performed by the Beach Boys.[15][nb 34] The idea of personalized Smile tape mixes
could be accredited to Domenic Priore, whom within his 1988 book Look! Listen! Vibrate!
Smile! encouraged readers with blank home-made cassette tapes to compile their
own Smile album.[29] Parks himself has since attributed Smile to be a "pioneering event" for
interactive record design.[204][205]
Brian Wilson Presents Smile[edit]
Main article: Brian Wilson Presents Smile
Brian Wilson and Van Dyke Parks revisited Smile with Brian's touring musicians in 2004, 37
years after its conception. First, in a series of concerts (debuting at London's Royal Festival
Hall on February 20, 2004), then as the solo album Brian Wilson Presents Smile, released in
September 2004.[15] The album debuted at number 13 on the Billboard 200chart, and later
earned three Grammy nominations, winning Brian Wilson his first solo Grammy award for Best
Rock Instrumental Performance ("Mrs. O'Leary's Cow"). In 2005, the album won graphic artist
Mark London and Nonesuch/Elektra Records the 2005 ALEX award for Best Vinyl Package.
The Smile Sessions[edit]
Main article: The Smile Sessions
On October 31, 2011, a compilation of the Smile recordings was released under the title The
Smile Sessions.[206] The recording features a disc which presents a listening experience
mimicking the template of Brian Wilson Presents Smile. This compilation was released to mass
acclaim and won the Best Historical Album award at the 55th Grammy Awards.[10]

Notes and references[edit]

1. Jump up^ Of these, they were "Surf's Up", "Heroes and Villains", "Wonderful", "Cabin Essence"
and "Wind Chimes".[38] Wilson removed the sandbox installation once he realized his pets were
using it as a litter box.[91]
2. Jump up^ Smiley Smile sessions immediately followed at Brian Wilson's home studio on June
3.[207]
3. Jump up^ Among these include "Brian Falls into a Piano", "Brian Falls into a Microphone",
"Moaning Laughing", and "Underwater Chant".
4. Jump up^ The only fruitful product of these sessions turned out to be "Workshop", which was a
recording of various power tools later recycled for the Beach Boys' 1968 single "Do It Again".
Among those participating in these recordings directed by Brian included his wifeMarilyn, sister-
in-law Diane Rovell, Van Dyke Parks, Jules Siegel, Danny Hutton, David Anderle, photographer
Bob Gordon, and friend Michael Vosse.[98]
5. Jump up^ Wilson honed his atypical production methods over several years. In the 1960s, it
was common for pop music to be recorded in a single take, but the Beach Boys' approach
differed.[41] Using multitrack technology, elements such as backing vocals and guitar solos were
often recorded independently and would later be combined to the basic track. From 1964
onward Wilson also began to physically cut tape to craft his recordings, allowing hard-to-sing
vocal sections to be recorded, cut and attached with sticky tape to the start or endings of songs.
By the time of the Summer Days album in 1965, Wilson was becoming more adventurous in his
use of tape splicing. An example is the a cappella track "And Your Dream Comes True", which
was recorded in sections and then carefully edited together to create the final song. [208]
6. Jump up^ When compiling The Smile Sessions, Boyd made use of film editing software Final
Cut Pro. In an MOJO interview with Harvey Kubernik, Linett recounts that someone once said,
"Brian was trying to do digital editing 20 or 30 years before it was invented."[43]
7. Jump up^ One particular segment, "George Fell into His French Horn", was where Brian
instructedsession musicians to speak to each other while blowing into their French horn mouth
pieces.[49]
8. Jump up^ When asked whether Wilson enjoyed the then-recent use of the sitar in pop music,
Wilson responded, "Yeah. I think it's interesting, and if I feel I can make a record that uses an
instrument such as a sitar, then I'll do it."[52]
9. Jump up^ Jules Siegel stated the "vegetative" elements their marijuana use brought on
inspired Wilson to write "Vega-Tables".[209] Despite this, Parks has denied that lyrics
for Smilepromoted or were based upon drug use.[145]
10. Jump up^ After being asked in a 1988 interview about whether his music is or was religiously
influenced, Wilson referred to the 1962-published A Toehold on Zen, and said that he believed
that he possessed what is called a "toehold," defined metaphorically as "any small step which
allows one to move toward a greater goal." He elaborated, "I learned from that book and from
people who had a toehold on... say somebody had a grasp on life, a good grasp—they ought to
be able to transfer that over to another thing."[196]
11. Jump up^ Although Wilson often claimed during the 1960s that he was attempting to create a
new "white spiritual sound" and move into religious music,[140] in 2004 he denied that Smilewas
religiously influenced.[7] Parks has commented that his associations with the spiritual aspect of
 Wilson's work were "inescapable", but disliked writing lyrics which dealt with religious belief,
believing it gives the appearance of "trying to be uppity".[210]
12. Jump up^ "Fire" (also known as "Mrs. O'Leary's Cow") is the only surviving recording that is
certain to have been part of any identifiable movement on the original Smile album, while
"Vega-Tables' was considered to fulfill the "Earth" portion of the movement. For Brian Wilson
Presents Smile, the other missing components were filled in "Wind Chimes" (Air) and "Love to
Say Dada", which lost its birth/rebirth origins and was instead repurposed as "In Blue Hawaii"
(Water).[85]
13. Jump up^ Smile was presented as three complete movements for Brian Wilson Presents
Smile andThe Smile Sessions: Americana, Cycle of Life, and The Elements.[207]
14. Jump up^ Domenic Priore speculates: "When Brian put together a song listing for Capitol so
that they could commission artwork for the back of the Smile album in 1966, 'Vega-Tables' and
'Wind Chimes' were listed as separate tracks from 'The Elements'. This has also led to some
confusion, but is rectified by the Frank Holmes artwork entitled 'My Vega-Tables', which is listed
by his drawing as part of 'The Elements'. Had Smile been released in 1966, perhaps we would
have seen a track listing on the record itself, featuring ‘The Elements’ — a numeric listing —
ahead of its various section titles, listed alphabetically."[211]
15. Jump up^ Written inside scribbled brackets, suggesting that the track had been in a state of
flux.
16. Jump up^ This includes "Do You Like Worms?", "I'm in Great Shape", "Vega-Tables", "Love to
Say Dada", "He Gives Speeches", "Cabin Essence", and "My Only Sunshine". The complexity
of Wilson's production at this time can be gauged by the sheer bulk of session material that has
survived—more than 60 tracks in the five-CD The Smile Sessions boxed set are session
recordings for "Heroes and Villains".[60]
17. Jump up^ Domenic Priore reported in 2011: "I don’t always subscribe to things Brian Wilson
may say now because, a lot of the time, I think Brian is kind of reading ad copy, in a way, when
you talk to him. But when the Smile compilation was done in 2004, Brian actually revealed to
Darian that 'Surf's Up' was part of 'Wonderful' and 'Child Is Father to the Man.' But memory can
be a weird and unexpectedly moving part."[212]
18. Jump up^ "Holidays" was re-recorded with vocals for Brian Wilson Presents Smile as "On A
Holiday" in 2004.
19. Jump up^ It was later released as the B-side to the 1967 "Heroes and Villains" single.
20. Jump up^ Of these, instrumental tracks labelled "I Don't Know" (by Dennis Wilson) and
"Tones" (also known as "Tune X"; by Carl Wilson) have survived.[98]
21. Jump up^ It was marked as "My Only Sunshine" on tape boxes.
22. Jump up^ Domenic Priore noted: "One odd thing about the release of Brian Wilson Presents
Smilein 2004 was a change in the original sequencing of pieces. ... Brian had informed studio
bass player Carol Kaye that 'I Wanna Be Around' and 'Workshop' had been put together as a
'rebuilding after the fire' – a coda. In 1988, Wilson also mentioned to Andy Paley that the
musical reference of Johnny Mercer's song 'I Wanna Be Around' was specifically used to invoke
the lyrical phrase 'I wanna be around to pick up the pieces of our broken love affair' – that is to
say, picking up the pieces after the fire. In two places, and in two different eras, Brian had laid
down clues to collaborators that the 'I Wanna Be Around'/’Workshop' combination was a cool-
out and reconstruction after 'Mrs O'Leary's Cow'."[37]
23. Jump up^ Mike Love: [re: New Musical Express] "The record company didn't even have the
decency to put out one of Brian's own compositions. The reason for the hold up with a new
single has simply been that we wanted to give our public the best and the best isn't ready
yet."[213]
24. Jump up^ Carl Wilson "Brian ran into all kinds of problems on Smile. He just couldn't find the
right direction to finish it."[127] Bruce Johnston "It was almost like he was climbing Mount
Everest, and he was getting more boulders hanging on his back and snow coming down on him
while he was trying to finish, and finally he just didn't finish it."[60]
25. Jump up^ Danny Hutton: "It's almost like when you hear a commercial ten times, and all of a
sudden you start humming it, and you don't even know if you like it or not, because you've
heard it so many times you can't even judge…He lost that ability of the 'freshness' to know
which part should go where…Because of the outside pressure and being confused on what to
do with these series of pocket symphony parts that he had, I think there was a moment where
 he just threw up his hands and said 'the time has passed,' which it hadn't been but in his
head."[132]
26. Jump up^ Wilson exhibited varying signs of poor mental health before this point, notably at the
end of 1964 where he suffered a nervous breakdown on a flight to Houston.[214] He had also
begun experiencing auditory hallucinations as early as 1965.
27. Jump up^ Mike Love: "When we were younger, no one really knew what was wrong with
Brian. Nobody knew about mental illness. We just had no clue about that as kids, as cousins
and brothers, growing up..."[215] // Bruce Johnston: "I listen to them [tracks of Smile material]
and I don't feel any joy, I feel uncomfortable, I can hear Brian disintegrating. The music was
cool but it's always tinged with the reality of making it. Brian degraded us, made us lay down for
hours and make barnyard noises, demoralized us, freaked out... we hated him then because we
didn't really know what was happening to him."[155]
28. Jump up^ Brian had already developed an enduring obsession with the music of Phil Spector
upon hearing the song "Be My Baby" by the Ronettes a few years earlier.[216][217] During
theSmile era, he would say, "Spector started the whole thing. He was the first one to use the
studio. … I heard that song three and a half years ago and I knew that it was between him and
me. I knew exactly where he was at and now I've gone beyond him."[140]
29. Jump up^ The statement "Don't fuck with the formula" is often attributed to Mike Love speaking
to Brian Wilson during 1966 recording sessions for either Pet Sounds or Smile. The 1971 article
(written by Tom Nolan) is the earliest known use of the phrase being seen in print, and it was
paraphrased by David Anderle in reference to Love.
30. Jump up^ After being reminded several years later of Love's recent self-proclaimed love for the
material, Parks reportedly stated laughingly, "I'm just incredulous. I can't believe that he's an
enthusiast. I wouldn't condemn him if it took him some time to come to that conclusion. I'll just
say that they have an expression in Texas that goes along with such a delayed reaction and
that is: he's a little slow out of the shoot [sic]. All hat and no cowboy."[218]
31. Jump up^ Biographer Peter Ames Carlin disputes this, saying that Wilson invented this story
as a generic line to feed journalists in 2004, and that "[being] ahead of his time is exactly what
they were looking for."[40]
32. Jump up^ A portion of "Workshop" was recycled for the closing of the 1969 single "Do It
Again". The Beach Boys also completed the tracks "Our Prayer" and "Cabin Essence" for
their20/20 album. A "Vega-Tables" outtakes was included on Wild Honey as "Mama Says". A
section of "Child Is Father of the Man" appears in "Little Bird" for Friends.
33. Jump up^ Never-before-released tracks included "Do You Like Worms?", "I Love To Say Da
Da"; the Smile versions of "Wonderful", "Wind Chimes", "Vegetables"; session highlights of
"Surf's Up", "Cabinessence"; and some erroneously titled "Heroes and Villains" outtakes.
34. Jump up^ One of the most popular of which, Purple Chick presents: The Beach Boys Smile,
was an online mix tape assembled shortly after Wilson began performing the Smile material in
2004. The mix combined bootlegged 1960s Smile sessions with recordings from Wilson's
finished 2004 solo album.[219]
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202. Jump up^ BeachBoys.com (unofficial website) – Rarities: Sea of Tunes III
203. Jump up^ Leone, Dominique. "Brian Wilson: Smile". Pitchfork. Pitchfork. Retrieved
June 2013.
204. Jump up^ Ragogna, Mike (March 21, 2012). "From The Beach Boys & Randy Newman
To Fleet Foxes & Skrillex: A Conversation With Van Dyke Parks, Plus Calling JB Baretsky's
Bluff".Huffington Post.
205. Jump up^ Kozinn, Alan (July 22, 2013). "'Smile' and Other Difficulties". The New York
Times. Retrieved August 2, 2013.
 206. Jump up^ "Beach Boys' 'Smile Sessions' Bumped to August 9 Street Date".
Retrieved August 10,2011.
207. ^ Jump up to:a b Badman 2004, p. 188.
208. Jump up^ Bell, Matt (October 2004). "The Resurrection of Brian Wilson's
Smile". Sound on Sound. soundonsound.com. Retrieved July 16, 2013.
209. Jump up^ Peet, Preston; Siegal, Jules (January 1, 2004). "The Last Word on
Drugs". Under the Influence: The Disinformation Guide to Drugs (First ed.). New York, United
States:Disinfo. ISBN 1932857001. Retrieved August 2, 2013.
210. Jump up^ Priore 2005, p. 89.
211. Jump up^ Priore 2005, p. 86.
212. Jump up^ Jamow, Jesse (June 20, 2012). "How to Steal a SMiLE : An Alternate
History of The Beach Boys’ Lost Classic". Relix.
213. Jump up^ "Beach Boys Think This Too Dated". New Musical Express: 10. May 7,
1967.
214. Jump up^ Beets, Greg (July 21, 2000). "Review: Pet Sounds: Fifteen Minutes With
Brian Wilson". Nick Barbaro. Retrieved June 22, 2013.
215. Jump up^ Fine, Jason (June 21, 2012). "The Beach Boys' Last Wave". Rolling Stone.
RetrievedJune 8, 2014.
216. Jump up^ Carlin 2006, pp. 44, 140.
217. Jump up^ Gaines 1986, p. 167.
218. Jump up^ Petridis, Alexis (June 24, 2011). "The astonishing genius of Brian
Wilson". The Guardian (London: The Guardian). Retrieved June 2013.
219. Jump up^ "Purple Chick presents: The Beach Boys Smile – a reconstruction Review
by Ronnie".Ear Candy Mag. Retrieved June 2013. |first1= missing |last1= in Authors list
(help)

Bibliography[edit]
Books

 Badman, Keith (2004). The Beach Boys: The Definitive Diary of America's Greatest Band, on Stage
and in the Studio. Backbeat Books. ISBN 978-0-87930-818-6.
 Carlin, Peter Ames (July 25, 2006). Catch a Wave: The Rise, Fall, and Redemption of the Beach
Boys' Brian Wilson. Rodale. ISBN 978-1-59486-320-2.
 Dillon, Mark (2012). Fifty Sides of the Beach Boys. Toronto, Ont.: ECW
Press.ISBN 9781770901988.
 Farquharson, Alex (2005). Brian Wilson: An Art Book. London: Four Corners.ISBN 0954502515.
 Gaines, Steven (1986). Heroes and Villains: The True Story of The Beach Boys (1. Da Capo Press
ed.). New York: Da Capo Press. ISBN 0306806479.
 Hall, Mitchell K. (9 May 2014). The Emergence of Rock and Roll: Music and the Rise of American
Youth Culture. Taylor & Francis. ISBN 978-1-135-05357-4.
 Henderson, Richard (2010). Van Dyke Parks' Song Cycle. Continuum. ISBN 978-0-8264-2917-9.
 Hoskyns, Barney (2009). Waiting for the Sun: A Rock 'n' Roll History of Los Angeles. Backbeat
Books. ISBN 978-0-87930-943-5.
 Hinton, Brian (2000). Country Roads: How Country Came to Nashville. London:
Sanctuary.ISBN 9781860742934.
 Kent, Nick (2009). "The Last Beach Movie Revisited: The Life of Brian Wilson". The Dark Stuff:
Selected Writings on Rock Music. Da Capo Press. ISBN 9780786730742.
 Leaf, David (1978). The Beach Boys and the California Myth. Grosset & Dunlap. ISBN 978-0-448-
14626-3.
 Lowe, Kelly Fisher (2007). The Words and Music of Frank Zappa. U of Nebraska Press.ISBN 0-
8032-6005-9.
 Preiss, Byron (1979). The Beach Boys. Ballantine Books. ISBN 978-0-345-27398-7.
 Priore, Domenic (1988). Look, Listen, Vibrate, Smile: The Book about the Mysterious Beach Boys
Album. Surfin' Colours Hollywood. p. 264. ISBN 9780867194173.
 Priore, Domenic (2005). Smile: The Story of Brian Wilson's Lost Masterpiece. London:
Sanctuary. ISBN 1860746276.
 Sanchez, Luis (2014). The Beach Boys' Smile. Bloomsbury Publishing. ISBN 978-1-62356-956-3.
 Schinder, Scott; Schwartz, Andy (2007). Icons of Rock: An Encyclopedia of the Legends Who
Changed Music Forever. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press. ISBN 978-0313338458.
 Stebbins, Jon (2011). The Beach Boys FAQ: All That's Left to Know About America's
Band.ISBN 9781458429148.
 Toop, David (1995). Ocean of Sound: Aether Talk, Ambient Sound and Imaginary
Worlds([Reprinted] ed.). London [u.a.]: Serpent's Tail. ISBN 9781852423827.
 Toop, David (1999). Exotica: Fabricated Soundscapes in a Real World: Fabricated Soundscapes in
the Real World (1. publ. ed.). London: Serpent's Tail. ISBN 978-1852425951.
 Trynka, Paul; Bacon, Tony (1996). Rock Hardware. Balafon Books. ISBN 978-0-87930-428-7.
 Williams, Paul (2010). Back to the Miracle Factory. Tom Doherty Associates. ISBN 978-1-4299-
8243-6.
Journals

 Nolan, Tom (October 28, 1971). "The Beach Boys: A California Saga". Rolling Stone (94).
 Siegel, Jules (October 17, 1967). "Goodbye Surfing, Hello God!". Cheetah (1).
 Toop, David (November 2011). "The SMiLE Sessions". The Wire (333).
 Vosse, Michael (April 14, 1969). "Our Exagmination Round His Factification For Incamination of
Work in Progress: Michael Vosse Talks About Smile". Fusion 8.

External links[edit]
 The Beach Boys An Introduction to "SMiLE Sessions" on YouTube
 1966 and 1967 Smile sessionography
 "Epiphany at Zuma Beach or Brian Wilson Hallucinates Me" by David Dalton (2002)
 "The Zen Interpretation Of Brian Wilson's And Van Dyke Parks" by Bill Tobelman
 Smiley Smile – fan site with message board
The Smile Sessions
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Smile Sessions

Compilation album and box set by The Beach Boys

 October 31, 2011 (iTunes)

Released
 November 1, 2011 (worldwide)

Recorded October 15, 1965–June 18, 1971

Studio Various, Los Angeles[show]

Length  48:24 (tracks 1–19)

 143:05 (2-CD)

 396:28 (box set)

Label Capitol

Producer Brian Wilson (original recordings)

Compiler  Alan Boyd

 Mark Linett

 Brian Wilson

 Dennis Wolfe

The Beach Boys chronology

Summer Love The Smile That's Why God

Songs Sessions Made the Radio
(2009) (2011) (2012)
 Singles from The Smile Sessions
1. "Cabin Essence" / "Wonderful"
Released: June 15, 2011

The Smile Sessions is a compilation album and box set released by American rock band the
Beach Boys on October 31, 2011 that focuses on abandoned recording sessions which — if
completed — would have followed the Beach Boys' eleventh studio album Pet Sounds. It
features comprehensive session highlights and outtakes, while the first 19 tracks comprise an
approximation of what the completed Smile album might have sounded like based on a
template established in 2004 for the rerecorded Brian Wilson Presents Smile.
The Smile Sessions received wide critical acclaim upon release.[1] It was voted number 381
in Rolling Stone's 2012 list of the "500 Greatest Albums of All Time"[2] and won the award
for Best Historical Album at the 55th Grammy Awards.[3]

Background[edit]
See also: Smile (The Beach Boys album) § Reconstructions
Though certain fragments of the original Smile recording sessions subsequently leaked from
1967–2011 via studio albums, compilations and bootlegs, a comprehensive and official
package had not been compiled by Capitol Records, largely due to the logistics in organizing
the hundreds of convoluted song components and out of respect for Wilson who was once
deeply disturbed by some of the recordings, associating the album with all of his failures.[4]
Work on what would have been the original Beach Boys version of Smile began in 1966,
following the release of their album Pet Sounds, and based on the complex engineering
methods of their single "Good Vibrations". After Wilson abandoned the project, sporadic
attempts would be made over the next few decades to either finish or release the album as it
was. During this time, recordings from the sessions would surface in underground trading
circles and become a focal point for bootleg recording makers and collectors.[5][6] Plans
for Smile's resurrection as an archival release go back to the early 1980s, when it was
proposed that the album be issued in some form by Wilson and/or compilers.[7] An official
release of some archival Smile material was finally included in theGood Vibrations: Thirty
Years of The Beach Boys box set in 1993. A few years later, Capitol Records issued The Pet
Sounds Sessions box set, which featured an assortment of alternate mixes and highlights of
the Pet Sounds recording sessions spread over four CDs. There was hope that the box set
would be followed by an official Smile release, but it failed to materialize.[5]
Thirty-six years after the original album's conception and a period of mental rehabilitation,
Wilson reconciled with the project and released a new interpretation of the source material via
a solo album entitled Brian Wilson Presents Smile in 2004.
Work on The Smile Sessions began in mid-2010 before the project was greenlit.[7] In an
interview with Jeremy Roberts on February 3, 2011, Al Jardine revealed "Capitol Records
plans to issue a Beach Boys version of Smile sometime this summer to begin the celebration of
the Beach Boys’ 50th anniversary. Smile is the Holy Grail for Beach Boys’ fans, so it will be
good." Jardine also mentioned that the surviving Beach Boys "didn't do any new recording. I'm
happy to see it finally come out. Brian’s changed his mind about releasing the material, but it
was inevitable, wasn’t it?"[8] The release was confirmed by Capitol Records on March 11, with
the acknowledgement that an official release was planned for later in 2011.

Reconstruction[edit]
Disc one of The Smile Sessions assembles the Smile album as it may have sounded in the
1960s while loosely following the template spelled by Brian Wilson's 2004 interpretation.
Wilson himself made a few suggestions to the compilation's sequencing after it was presented
to him by the compilers Mark Linett, Alan Boyd and Dennis Wolfe.[9]Brian has stated that the
exact running order was not decided in 1967 and that the original Smile would have been "less
uplifting" than his 2004 version.[10] Although the tracklisting to The Smile Sessions is different
from what it would have been on the original 1967 Smile album, interviews with Linett clarified
that the tracklisting of the first disc would "present the whole piece as close to it as was
envisioned, or as is envisioned, as possible ... with input from Brian as from everybody else".[7]
When asked whether Linett and Boyd had arrived at what he had envisioned during the 1960s,
Brian responded: "Somewhat, yeah. To some degree. It's not a far cry from what I thought it
would be."[11] Linett argued that The Smile Sessions may be more accurate to Brian's vision
than if he had completed the album in 1967, surmising that "he would have been happier if he
had had a bigger canvas to present this," referencing the overwhelming amount of material that
would have had to have been condensed into a two-sided vinyl LP, and Brian's ambition to
"expand the boundaries of what a pop record was beyond what anybody was doing at the
time."[11]
Not all of the tracks feature material recorded solely in the February 1966 through May 1967
timespan in which Smile was being worked on. In reference to including sessions from Smiley
Smile, Linett stated, "Of course there’s things that some people think – should Smiley
Smile sessions be there – [with tracks such as] 'Can't Wait Too Long', we get into a very fuzzy
area."[9] Some elements were recorded by the Beach Boys at later dates or for other purposes.

 Brian Wilson's lead vocals for "I'm in Great Shape" and "Barnyard" are taken from his and
Van Dyke Parks' piano demo of "Heroes and Villains" (which includes the other two
songs), recorded on November 4, 1966 for KHJ Radio and featured in full as track 36 on
Disc Two in the 5-CD box set edition. The vocals were stripped from the demo and laid on
the existing backing tracks, comprising instrumentation, backing vocals and animal noises
by the band.
 "The Elements: Fire" contains wordless vocals that were recorded for "Fall Breaks and
Back to Winter" on June 29, 1967.
 "Holidays" and "Wind Chimes" segue together with a pitch-shifted version of the Smiley
Smile "Wind Chimes" coda, recorded July 11, 1967.
 The water chant intro to "Love to Say Dada" was recorded on October 29, 1967 for an
early version of "Cool, Cool Water".
 Carl Wilson's lead vocal on "Cabin Essence" was recorded for the 20/20 album on
November 20, 1968.
 The "bygones", Carl Wilson's backing vocals and the "Child Is Father of the Man" coda of
"Surf's Up" was recorded on June 18, 1971.
The Smile reconstruction presented in disc one is largely mixed in single-channel mono due to
missing stems and as a nod to Wilson's producing methods at the time. Digital manipulation
was used; most prominently on "Surf's Up", in which the instrumental track is mashed up and
synced with the vocal stem from an alternate performance of the song.[7]

Release and reception[edit]

After numerous delays, The Smile Sessions was released online via iTunes on October 31,
2011, and the next day on CD, vinyl, and through other online services via digital
download.[12] The compilation was made available as a single CD, a deluxe 2-CD package, as
well as a limited edition deluxe box set composed of 5 CDs, 2 LPs, 2 7" vinylsingles, and a 60-
page booklet that features high quality photographs, essays and recording sessionography.
 Professional ratings

Aggregate scores

Source Rating

Metacritic 96[13]

Review scores

Source Rating

Allmusic [14]

The A.V. Club A[15]

Consequence of Sound A+[16]

The Guardian [17]

One Thirty BPM 100%[18]

Paste [19]

Pitchfork Media 10/10[20]

Rolling Stone [21]

Ultimate Classic Rock [22]

The Smile Sessions has been acclaimed by a majority of notable music publications. It was
crowned as the best reissue of 2011 byRolling Stone magazine and the box set version of the
album won the Best Historical Album award at the 55th Grammy Awards.[3][23]
Pitchfork Media gave the album a perfect score and had particularly high praise of "Surf's Up"
stating, "To my ears, the song is a high-water mark of pop songwriting, positively haunting with
its melodic twists and turns. And Brian's vocal performances, with wild leaps into the upper
reaches of his falsetto, give the track an almost unbearable poignancy." PopMatters claimed
"There is something holy in the tapestry of the album" and when reflecting on the drama
surrounding the album's history stated "Contemporary bands could certainly stand to realize
that all the band myths and stories in the world don’t matter much if you can’t bring the songs,
and no one brought the songs like Brian Wilson." The Los Angeles Times encouraged its
inclusion in "every library of American recording history," suggesting, "university composition
departments, music professors, budding recording engineers and composers should study
it."[24]
Musicians including Henry Rollins have given enormous praise to the compiled recordings,
calling it "even better than advertised ... Sonically, the album is one of the best things you are
likely to hear in all of your life. There are moments on SMiLE that are so astonishingly good
you might find yourself just staring at your speakers in unguarded wonder, as I have."[25]
Awards and accolades[edit]

Awarder Country Accolade Year Rank

United The 500 Greatest Albums of All

Rolling Stone 2012 381
States Time[2]

National Academy of Recording Arts United Grammy Award for Best

2013 N/A
and Sciences States Historical Album

Track listing[edit]
Compact disc[edit]
All songs written and composed by Brian Wilson and Van Dyke Parks, except where noted.

Movement one
No. Title Lead vocals Length
1. "Our Prayer" (Brian Wilson) group 1:05
2. "Gee" (William Davis, Morris Levy) group 0:51
3. "Heroes and Villains" B. Wilson, Mike Love 4:52
4. "Do You Like Worms (Roll Plymouth Rock)" B. Wilson 3:35
5. "I'm In Great Shape" B. Wilson 0:28
6. "Barnyard" B. Wilson 0:48
7. "My Only Sunshine (The Old Master Dennis Wilson 1:55
Painter / You Are My
Sunshine)" (Gillespie/Davis, Mitchell)
8. "Cabin Essence" Carl Wilson, Love 3:30
Movement two
No. Title Lead vocals Length
9. "Wonderful" B. Wilson 2:04
10. "Look (Song for Children)" (Brian Wilson) group 2:31
 11. "Child Is Father of the Man" group 2:10
12. "Surf's Up" Brian Wilson, Carl Wilson 4:12
Movement three
No. Title Lead vocals Length
13. "I Wanna Be Around / Workshop" (Johnny instrumental 1:23
Mercer/Brian Wilson)
14. "Vega-Tables" B. Wilson, Jardine 3:49
15. "Holidays" (Brian Wilson) instrumental 2:32
16. "Wind Chimes" (Brian Wilson) C. Wilson 3:06
17. "The Elements: Fire (Mrs. O'Leary's instrumental 2:35
Cow)" (Brian Wilson)
18. "Love to Say Dada" (Brian Wilson) Love, B. Wilson, Bruce 2:32
Johnston
19. "Good Vibrations" (Brian Wilson, Mike Love) C. Wilson, Love 4:15
[show]Bonus tracks
[show]Deluxe edition, disc two
Vinyl LP[edit]
Both discs (Capitol T-27658) are pressed with Capitol's black/rainbow LP label used
from 1962–1968. The replicated album cover remains entirely true to the original,
bearing the original catalog number for the mono release (T 2580).
LP one
[show]Side one, movement one
[show]Side two, movement two
LP two
[show]Side one, movement three
[show]Side two, LP exclusive content
Box set edition[edit]
5-CD Set
All songs written and composed by Brian Wilson and Van Dyke Parks, except where
noted.
[show]Disc one

All music composed by Brian Wilson, except where noted.

[show]Disc two
[show]Disc three
[show]Disc four
[show]Disc five
Bonus vinyl LP
As above.
Bonus 7" double-sided vinyl discs
Below are loose reproductions of what were intended to be lead singles for the
original Smile album: "Heroes and Villains" (Capitol 27658) and "Vega-Tables" (Capitol
27667). Both discs feature the Capitol orange/yellow swirl "West Coast label" originally
used from 1962–1968. "Heroes and Villains" was issued with its previously unused 1967
picture sleeve complete with original catalog number (Capitol 5826). "Vega-Tables" is a
vinyl-exclusive mix.
All songs written and composed by Brian Wilson and Van Dyke Parks.
[show]Single one
[show]Single two

Personnel[edit]
Recording[edit]
The Beach Boys

 Al Jardine – lead, harmony and backing vocals; sound effects

 Bruce Johnston – harmony and backing vocals
 Mike Love – lead, harmony and backing vocals
 Brian Wilson – lead, harmony and backing vocals; piano, organ, harpsichord
 Carl Wilson – lead, harmony and backing vocals; electric guitar, bass guitar;
percussion
 Dennis Wilson – lead, harmony and backing vocals; drums; Hammond organ
Additional musicians

 Charles C. Berghofer – upright bass

 Hal Blaine – drums, percussion
 Jimmy Bond, Jr. – upright bass
 James Burton – dobro
 Frank Capp – percussion
 Jerry Cole – guitar
 Al De Lory – piano, tack piano
 Jesse Ehrlich – cello
 Gene Estes – percussion
 Carl Fortina – accordion
 Sam Glenn – saxophone
 Jim Gordon – drums, conga drums, tambourine
 William Green – clarinet
 James Horn – clarinet
 Armand Kaproff – cello
 Carol Kaye – bass guitar, banjo
 Larry Knechtel – grand piano, organ
 Paul McCartney – celery on "Vega-Tables"
 Jay Migliori – saxophone
 Oliver Mitchell – trumpet
 Tommy Morgan – harmonica
 Van Dyke Parks – upright piano, tack piano; marimba
 Bill Pitman – guitar
 Ray Pohlman – bass guitar
 Don Randi – piano, harpsichord
 Lyle Ritz – string bass
 Billy Strange – guitar
 Paul Tanner – Electro-Theremin
 Tommy Tedesco – guitar, bouzouki
 Alan Weight – trumpet
Production staff[edit]

 Alan Boyd – compilation producer, editing, liner notes, producer

 Chuck Britz – engineer
 Stacey Freeman – product manager
 Frank Holmes – design, drawing
 Mark Linett – compilation producer, editing, liner notes, mastering, mixing, producer
 Domenic Priore – project consultant
 Tom Recchion – art direction, design
 Peter Reum – photography
 Diane Rovell – contractor
 Mikel Samson – production design
 Guy Webster – photography
 Brian Wilson – arranger, compilation producer, composer, liner notes, main personnel,
photography, producer
 Dennis Wolfe – compilation producer, liner notes

Chart positions[edit]

Peak
Chart
position

Belgian Albums Chart (Flanders)[26] 84

Dutch Albums Chart[27] 20

Finnish Albums Chart[28] 46

French SNEP Albums Chart[29] 84

German Media Control Albums Chart[30] 26

 Peak
Chart
position

Japanese Oricon Albums Chart[31] 14

Norwegian VG-lista Albums Chart[32] 13

Spanish Albums Chart[33] 90

Swedish Albums Chart[34] 9

Swiss Albums Chart[35] 65

UK Albums Chart[36] 25

US Billboard 200[37] 27

References[edit]
1. Jump up^ "The Smile Sessions - The Beach Boys". Retrieved November 11, 2011.
2. ^ Jump up to:a b "The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time: The Beach Boys, 'Smile 2011
Version'". Rolling Stone. November 18, 2003. Retrieved June 10, 2012.
3. ^ Jump up to:a b Alyssa Toomey and Rosemary Brennan (February 10, 2013). "2013
Grammy Awards Winners: The Complete List". E!. Retrieved April 12, 2013.
4. Jump up^ Himes, Geoffrey (October 1, 2004). "Brian Wilson Remembers How To
Smile". Paste Magazine. Archived from the original on January 8, 2008. Retrieved May
28, 2014.
5. ^ Jump up to:a b Wilonsky, Robert (December 23, 1999). "The Forever Frown". Phoenix
New Times Music. phoenixnewtimes.com. Retrieved July 29, 2013.
6. Jump up^ "The Smile Sessions review".
7. ^ Jump up to:a b c d Christman, Ed (March 11, 2011). "Beach Boys Engineer Mark Linett
Talks 'Smile' Release". Retrieved July 31, 2013.
8. Jump up^ "Pretty Darn Close - Beach Boy Al Jardine On His New Solo Album, Plus
SMILE - Worldnews.com". Article.wn.com. Retrieved June 5, 2013.
9. ^ Jump up to:a b "SMiLE Sessions - Mark Linett Interview (transcript)". Icon Fetch.
iconfetch.com. Retrieved July 31, 2013.
10. Jump up^ "Ear Candy Mag interview with Brian Wilson (10-16-04)".
11. ^ Jump up to:a b Masley, Ed (October 28, 2011). "Nearly 45 years later, Beach Boys' 'Smile'
complete". Arizona: AZ Central. Retrieved November 19, 2014.
12. Jump up^ "Beach Boys' 'Smile Sessions' Bumped to August 9 Street Date".
Retrieved August 10, 2011.
13. Jump up^ The Smile Sessions at Metacritic Retrieved May 1, 2013.
14. Jump up^ "The Smile Sessions". Allmusic. Retrieved November 11, 2011.
15. Jump up^ Murray, Noel (November 8, 2011). "The Smile Sessions". One Thirty BPM.
Retrieved November 11, 2011.
16. Jump up^ Roffman, Michael (November 3, 2011). "The Smile Sessions". Consequence of
Sound. Retrieved November 11, 2011.
17. Jump up^ Petridis, Alexis (October 27, 2011). "The Smile Sessions". The Guardian.
Retrieved November 11, 2011.
18. Jump up^ McMullen, Chase (November 9, 2011). "The Smile Sessions". One Thirty BPM.
Retrieved November 11, 2011.
19. Jump up^ Kane, Tyler (November 1, 2011). "The Smile Sessions". Paste.
Retrieved November 11, 2011.
20. Jump up^ Richardson, Mark (November 2, 2011). "The Smile Sessions". Pitchfork Media.
Retrieved November 11, 2011.
21. Jump up^ Fricke, David (November 1, 2011). "The Smile Sessions Box Set". Rolling
Stone. Retrieved November 11, 2011.
22. Jump up^ Swanson, David (November 12, 2011). "Smile Album Review". Ultimate Classic
Rock. Retrieved November 12, 2011.
23. Jump up^ "10 Best Reissues of the Year: The Beach Boys, 'The Smile Sessions Box Set'".
Rolling Stone. Retrieved June 5, 2013.
24. Jump up^ Roberts, Randall (November 6, 2011). "'Smile Sessions' reveals creation". The
Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2 July 2014.
25. Jump up^ Henry Rollins. "Henry Rollins: The Column! The Beach Boys' SMiLE: Even
Better than Advertised". LA Weekly.
26. Jump up^ "ultratop.be The Beach Boys – Smile" (ASP). Hung Medien (in Dutch). Ultratop.
Retrieved August 23, 2012.
27. Jump up^ "dutchcharts.nl The Beach Boys – Smile" (ASP). Hung Medien. MegaCharts.
Retrieved August 23, 2012.
28. Jump up^ "finnishcharts.com The Beach Boys – Smile" (ASP). Hung Medien.
Retrieved August 23, 2012.
29. Jump up^ "lescharts.com The Beach Boys – Smile" (ASP). Hung Medien (in
French). Syndicat National de l'Édition Phonographique. Retrieved August 23, 2012.
30. Jump up^ "Album Search: The Beach Boys – Smile" (in German). Media Control.
Retrieved August 23, 2012.
31. Jump up^ ビーチ・ボーイズ–リリース–ORICON STYLE–ミュージック "Highest position
and charting weeks of Smile by The Beach Boys". oricon.co.jp (in Japanese). Oricon Style.
Retrieved August 23,2012.
32. Jump up^ "norwegiancharts.com The Beach Boys – Smile" (ASP). Hung Medien. VG–lista.
Retrieved August 23, 2012.
33. Jump up^ "The Beach Boys – Smile" (ASP). Hung Medien. Retrieved August 23, 2012.
34. Jump up^ "swedishcharts.com The Beach Boys – Smile" (ASP) (in Swedish).
Retrieved August 23, 2012.
35. Jump up^ "The Beach Boys – Smile– hitparade.ch" (ASP). Hung Medien (in German).
Swiss Music Charts. Retrieved August 23, 2012.
36. Jump up^ "Chart Stats – The Beach Boys – Smile". UK Albums Chart. Archived from the
original (PHP) on July 22, 2012. Retrieved August 23, 2012.
37. Jump up^ "allmusic ((( The Smile Sessions > Charts & Awards > Billboard Albums )))".
allmusic.com. Retrieved August 23, 2012.