399. Brian Wilson, "Smile"

 

Some albums just get released and some come accompanied by an extensive backstory and a legend and this is one of the latter.  Originally conceived as the follow-up to Pet Sounds and then abandoned when Brian Wilson literally lost his mind, Beach Boys fans spent decades speculating about this album and piecing together hypothetical versions of it using bootleg demos and unreleased tracks.  Can you imagine?

Finally in 2004, Wilson and his touring band went into the studio and recorded this album from scratch, based on the original music and lyrics that had been written for the album back in the 60's, and released it to near-universal acclaim.  Even the hipsters loved it, I think because then you could admit you liked the Beach Boys without looking like a dork.

I am sad to report that this will have to be one of those respect-but don't-like albums for me.  I appreciate the meticulous artistry that went into every song, but I don't like any of the songs all that much and some of them are just embarrassing, like "Vege-Tables," about, yes, vegetables.  Some of it is just boring.  

Another striking thing about this album is how un-rock it is.  There's almost no guitar; most of the instrumentation is mostly brass and strings.  The vocal harmonies are really front and center, which is fine, but it gives the whole thing a show-tuney feel.  So, good for you, Brian Wilson, but just not my thing.

One post-script: I saw Brian Wilson live at the Victorious Festival in Portsmouth, England, in 2018, and it was not an entirely pleasant experience.  Wilson mostly stared into space and moved kind of robotically.  He looked completely fried, to be honest.  Also there was a horrifically drunk Englishman standing near us with an older couple that I assumed were his parents because they were looking at him disapprovingly and apologizing whenever he careened into someone nearby, which was often.