Reviewing Smiley Smile and Smile: Was Brian Wilson too Ambitious?

[@Paul-dw2cl]

back in the 60’s they shoulda just released SMiLE

[@ChristopherElli-cc1ly]

In late 67 when Smiley Smile came out to a Beach Boys fan, you had think "WTF"

[@natelemon3808]

Hey! Where did you purchase this? I’m looking for the LP and it seems bleak as hell.

[@zachmorgenstern3243]

These were library copies. I would assume Brian Wilson presents Smile should be easy to find on CD since it's from 2004. I was later gifted a vinyl of Smiley Smile (from a local, indie record store) so it should also be accessible. From what I understand the Beach Boys have a new and ambitious marketing team so if their major albums aren't easy to find now, they will be soon.

[@Giggens]

Great video man!

[@bobbyd7524]

I prefer "The Smile Sessions" to those two albums. As for another "Pet Sounds," I consider that to be the "Sunflower" album.

[@Paul-dw2cl]

I like Friends & 20/20 combined, but with the bad songs edited out

[@josephharnett5075]

I think Surfs Up is one of the most beautiful songs Brian ever wrote a Masterpiece

[@mikeysaint4368]

If Brian Wilson's version of Smile from 2004 is close to what he originally had in mind in 1967, then it would have been a disappointment and struggled to chart. For me, it's actually inferior to Smiley Smile, Wild Honey, Friends, Sunflower and Surf's Up. Brian Wilson's Smile leans so heavily on Heroes and Villains, and Surf's Up, and those two songs are forced to prop up an underwhelming and pretentious album with generally weak songs. Smile relies far too heavily, too, on layered backing vocals instead of actual song content. It's probably the weakness of the songs that drove Wilson mad, because his musical ambition far exceeded the quality of songwriting, except for the two songs I've mentioned, and Heroes & Villains is far better in its shorter form, anyway.

[@Claude_van]

Smile is probably the greatest piece of musical art of the 20th century.

[@Paul-dw2cl]

fact-check: Brian met Melinda in the 80’s