 BRIAN
WILSON PRESENTS >> SMiLE. NONESUCH
2004
Headphone
alert!!! Burn the incense! Plug in the lava lamp! Tune in! Turn on!
Drop out! Burn one down! Or not! Have fun! Why? Because this is the
trippiest record to come out since the '60s. Maybe that's why it took
37 years to come out. Brian Wilson and his writing partner
Van Dyke Parks wrote and recorded this when they were 24 years old,
but while most of their sessions ended up on other Beach Boys albums,
SMiLE became the most cherished bootleg in rock history. This
would have been released a full six months ahead of The Beatles' masterpiece,
Sgt. Pepper's, if not for inter-band squabbling over the radically
noncommercial sounds, when candy-coated pop reigned supreme. This
caused Wilson to shelve the tapes and begin his well-documented
slide into depression and addiction.
The
re-recording and release of SMiLE is further evidence that
Wilson is back from the drug nightmare and mental illness despair
that plagued him for decades, and the world is a better place for
it. Take whatever dislike or preconceived notions you may have about
him and his old band, The Beach Boys, and throw them out the window.
SMiLE is epic, and worthy of Beethoven-like accolades. Trust me,
there's no "Kokomo" on this record. The opening stanza features the
unmistakable and often duplicated (without success) harmony of Wilson
on "Opening Prayer." "Heroes and Villains" is a kaleidoscope of
sound that features traditional rock instruments along with a string
section, horns, and even a glockenspiel.
It's
a record full of colors and images, a painting without paint, and
infinitely beautiful, especially the cello on "Old Master Painter/
You Are My Sunshine." "Barnyard" is funny as hell, the sounds of animals
filling the air. The grand finale is teased at the end of the first
movement on "Cabin Essence."
The
second movement starts with the aptly named "Wonderful" which is lush
but rudimentary in its nursery school simplicity. "Child Is The Father
Of The Man" is full of hope while the classic "Surf's Up" finally
gets the proper treatment it deserves. The funniest stanza of the
movement is "I'm In Great Shape/ I Wanna Be Around/ Workshop/Vega-Tables."
Psychedelic in nature, the sounds will have listeners' heads spinning,
sending them drifting to another space in time. Now you can find out
just how "Good Vibrations" was intended to be used, and it is majestic
and magical in its design.
SMiLE
is a masterpiece. Brilliant. By Tim Donnelly
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