Brian Wilson Smile CD

Long Awaited Rel.Of Follow-Up To "Pet Sounds" Album.

Personnel: Brian Wilson (vocals, keyboards); Brian Wilson ; Probyn Gregory (vocals, whistling, guitar, whistle, brass); Nelson Bragg (vocals, whistling, whistle, percussion); Jeffrey Foskett (vocals, guitar, hammer dulcimer); Scott Bennett (vocals, guitar, keyboards, percussion); Scott Bennett (vocals, guitar, keyboards); Darian Sahanaja (vocals, keyboards, percussion); Andreas Forsman (violin); Eric Holm (viola); Anna Landberg, Markus Sandlund (cello); Stockholm Strings 'N' Horns (strings, horns); Viktor Sand (flute, clarinet, saxophone); Björn Samuelsson (trombone); Staffan Findin (bass trombone); Dave Stone (acoustic bass, acoustic bass guitar); Jim Hines (drums, percussion, sound effects, musical saw); Nick Walusko (vocals, guitar); Taylor Mills (vocals, sound effects); Paul Mertens (harmonica, woodwinds, saxophone, electronics); Bob Lizik (bass guitar).
Audio Mixer: Mark Linett.
Liner Note Author: David Leaf.
Recording information: Sunset Sound, Hollywood, CA (04/13/2004-04/17/2004).
Photographers: Melinda Jean Wilson; Guy Webster; Jasper Dailey.
Unknown Contributor Roles: Jeffrey Foskett; Probyn Gregory.
Arranger: Brian Wilson .
The white whale of '60s record-making, the Beach Boys' aborted SMiLE album gradually gained a legend that not only inflated its rumored importance and complexity, but gave credence to an odd notion -- that completing it, then or ever, was impossible. In truth, SMiLE should have been released and forgotten, reissued and reappraised, and finally remastered for the digital era and ushered into the rock canon ever since Brian Wilson halted work on it in May 1967 (after an exhausting 85 recording sessions). Instead, it languished in the vaults and remained the perfect record -- perfect, of course, because it had never been finished. Reports that the recording of "Mrs. O'Leary's Cow" had caused a nearby building to burn down and whispers of "inappropriate music" gave it the character of a monster, one that cursed all those who approached it and claimed the heart and mind of its major participant. Wilson's love of "feels" -- short passages of cyclical music that could be overdubbed and rearranged countless times -- had made 1966's "Good Vibrations" the ultimate pocket symphony, but had also quickly spiralled into the instability that consumed him during its follow-up, "Heroes and Villains," projected to be the centerpiece of SMiLE.
Happily, a new recording of SMiLE by Brian Wilson reveals the record as nothing more (or less) than a jaunty epic of psychedelic Americana, a rambling and discursive, playful and affectionate series of song cycles. Infectious and hummable, to be sure, and a remarkably unified, irresistible piece of pop music, but no musical watershed on par with Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band or Wilson's masterpiece, Pet Sounds. For the first time ever, the program for SMiLE was compiled, after Brian Wilson first listened to the original recordings with his musical midwife, Darian Sahanaja of the Wondermints (which has long functioned as Wilson's live backing band), and then worked them into a live show and album recording. The work that evolved divides into three sections: SMiLE begins with Americana, which takes the dream of continental expansion from the old Spanish town saga of "Heroes and Villains" to the landing at Plymouth Rock and, finally, the end of the frontier at Hawaii; it continues with a Cycle of Life that progresses from the virginal grace of "Wonderful" to the simultaneous peak and decline of the creative life on "Surf's Up"; and ends with an environmental cycle called The Elements, which includes "Vega-Tables," (Earth), "Wind Chimes" (Air), "Mrs. O'Leary's Cow" (Fire), and "In Blue Hawaii" (Water).
Since Wilson himself was previously the most opposed to SMiLE appearing in any form, it's a considerable shock that this new recording justifies even half of the promise that fans had attachedRolling Stone (p.94) - 5 stars out of 5 - "[With] brief bridge melodies, youthful harmonies more precise and uplifting now...and an enthralling profusion of instrumental colors. Trombone, timpani, theremin and tenor sax brush by and disappear; a banjo shows its head; strings vibe around..."
Rolling Stone (p.153) - Included in Rolling Stone's Top 50 Records Of 2004 - "[It] ranks in symphonic beauty, goofy humor and spiritual loveliness with the Beach Boys' greatest achievements."
Spin (p.67) - Ranked #10 in Spin's "40 Best Albums of the Year" - "The meaty songs you know and the link tracks you don't give simple humanity the complex orchestrations humans deserve."
Entertainment Weekly (p.73) - "With a new melodic idea occurring every 45 seconds on average, it's a gorgeous trip back to a time when anything seemed possible..." - Grade: A
Uncut (p.98) - 5 stars out of 5 - "[M]uch of it harks back, both lyrically and musically, to the past....SMILE is likely to remain a unique and unlikely moment of retrieval, restoration and renaissance."
Uncut (p.74) - Ranked #1 in Uncut's "Best New Albums of 2004" - "SMILE combines arcane and obtuse lyrical imagery, complex harmonising and densely compacted layers of instrumentation to quite awesome effect."
Mojo (Publisher) (p.62) - Ranked #37 in Mojo's "100 Modern Classics" -- "SMILE now exists in tangible form, beautifully played, sung and produced."
Mojo (Publisher) (p.98) - 4 stars out of 5 - "[T]here is a remarkable consistency about SMILE's complex tapestry of delights....This legendarily fragmented work now possesses a unity to rival that of PET SOUNDS."