Smile

I gave this lost classic a listen after tons of great reviews and boy was I disappointed. I just don't get it. It sounds like the ramblings or a schizophrenic. If I wanted that I would listen to Wesley Willis. I fail to see any genius in the material and I couldn't bear to listen for long. Unless you are fan of Brian Wilson and the Beach Boys.... stay away. Unless you like to be tortured by music.

This album must be listened to in effort to see the musicality and artistry, and without comparison to the Beach Boy's discography. The album brings amazing harmonies and a more mature sound, presented in an artistic format.

The musicians have fun with this album! It does what it says it will do... makes you smile!

I'd heard that this was one of those missing gems of musical history,so I had to check it out and was mostly confused. I may have even given the album a higher rating than it deserves because my reaction was not angry, but like I was missing something given all the hype. Its not that I would call it bad, it just wasn't all that fun and catchy as pop music, nor did it have any seeming depth as serious experimental music. It just lurched from song to song and lurched within songs. The false endings and sudden restarting of Heroes and Villains became tiresome. And was this supposed to be Rock and roll? Because it came to sound like some sort of experiment with older American music forms Randy Newman might make, but then not release for sale. I'm not the greatest Beach Boys fan, but I'd give Wilson an honest chance.

I think the high marks, as easy as it would be to make catty remarks about them, are superfans who may have other areas of more sensible taste, but are blinded by their love of Wilson in a whole context and mistake the way this album inflames their nostalgia for great accomplishment by the album itself. Maybe it is just one of those controversial taste dividing lines between otherwise agreeable persons. In any case, borrow this before you buy it, otherwise you will be thinking about what you could have done with that $15 for a LONG time to come.

I bought this album in the fall of '04 because I liked the Beach Boys and I saw that Good Vibrations was on this CD. I was only vaguely aware of Brian Wilson's involvement with them and at the time I mostly associated him with the song Brian Wilson by The Bare Naked Ladies. It sounds pretty crazy to me now, but I had just never heard much about the Beach Boys and Brian beyond most of their surfer songs and Lennon and McCartney's fondness towards Pet Sounds. Needless to say, I had no idea what I was in for when I listened to this. I had put it in my car stereo immediately upon leaving the store and initially thought I had made a mistake. It wasn't like anything I had ever heard before. Then, almost surreally, there started to be sounds of doo-wop or 'oldies' rock that I really like and then I was totally taken away by the music. It was almost organic, in that the music felt so fresh and alive and blended so seemlessly from one song to the next. I couldn't believe what I was hearing and afterwards was almost obsessed with learning everything I could about Wilson and SMiLE. I found out I was far from the only one who was moved by the music this way.

I consider it an honor that I got to buy this final completed album when it came out and experience it like I did. Also, as a side note, when I was listening to Good Vibrations at the end of the album basking in what I had just heard, I thought I was in familiar territory and then there was an extra section of chanting during the part of the song where it gets quiet that wasn't in the original release of the song, and it was so perfect and unexpected and it really did make me smile listening to it. I'll never forget that.

David Crosby was right when he said that Brian Wilson's song writing was quite beyond what was in Vogue in the '60's among the Rock and Roll artists.....that he used chords no one dared to use... and i would simply agree...his harmonies and melodies are so unique and sublime!...and in this recording...one finds such a diverse set of songs that are just simply fabulous!...to me, Brian Wilson represents what a true musician should be...artistry, talent and daring individualism, always bringing something new to the fore...what a Troubadour indeed!