ALBUM REVIEW: The Beach Boys - Smiley Smile

    Last time on the ever expanding saga of The Beach Boys, SMiLE was shelved from release. Now the reasons behind the album's cancellation are complicated, varied, and it would be far too time-consuming for me to explain how and why, and no it was not because of Mike Love. I would say to read my review of The SMiLE Sessions to better understand, but frankly even that wouldn't quite do SMiLE's eventual collapse justice in my mind. What's important now is that the original sessions are declared off-limits by Brian, and this is the result: Smiley Smile contains plenty of songs that would have been on SMiLE, but now in an incredibly stripped down, lo-fi form; an antithesis to the original ethos of SMiLE almost. The result damn-near killed the band, as critics were disappointed and fans dropped the group, and the release of Sgt. Pepper's certainly didn't help matters. It almost seems that the album was even disavowed by the group itself, with Carl Wilson infamously calling it "a bunt instead of a grand slam." In hindsight, however, I'm of the opinion that the album was treated far too harshly. Ignoring the likes of "Heroes and Villains" and "Good Vibrations," Smiley Smile is one of the most out-there psychedelic albums of the 60s, and would unknowingly usher in a new age of creative blossoming for The Beach Boys, one that I think cements them as one of the finest groups of their era.

    To elaborate from earlier, about half of the album's material has a sizeable root from SMiLE, with the most notable of these being the album's two singles - "Good Vibrations" and "Heroes and Villains." Both of these songs are multi-part suites, and while "Vibrations" does predate the album by about a year, they nonetheless serve as strong material for the album. The only distracting factor of these is that, unlike other SMiLE-era songs, these have not been re-recorded to fit with the lo-fi aesthetic of the album, leaving their baroque leanings to stick out just a bit when listening to the album, especially with the incredibly polished "Good Vibrations." "Heroes and Villains" opens the album, and while it misses some key components from the SMiLE mix, it still is a fun suite of segments and vignettes that come together to form something greater than the sum - Al Jardine's claim that this version is "a pale facsimile" compared to the SMiLE mix seem like pure exaggeration in my book. Now "Vegetables," "Wonderful," and "Wind Chimes" are unrecognizable from their original mixes - the percussive heavy, rich "Vega-Tables" is transformed into a sound collage leaning, thumping, fun number. "Wind Chimes" trades its marimbas for dissonant noise and a droning organ in what is consistently one of the most praised re-recordings on the album. Indeed, it's a personal favorite of mine, as the darker sound is the perfect contrast to the formerly upbeat and happy sounding SMiLE version - a picture of Brian Wilson during two phases. Of all the re-recordings, though "Wonderful" is the one that's by far the most unique, as its harpsichord is substituted for sloppy organs, low, almost mumbled vocals from Carl Wilson, and a sound collage-esque bridge. I didn't like this redo for a very long time, but on my latest listen I've finally learned to come around and appreciate this interpretation of the song.

    Of the new material, however, it takes on a decisively more psychedelic spin than any of the SMiLE material could've hoped to reach. The peak of this is the surreal, almost comedic "She's Goin' Bald," a song split into three distinct segments, complete with pitch shifted vocals and spoken word segment. It's easily one of the most, if not the most, out there song the group ever composed. "Fall Breaks and Back to Winter" is also a bizarre instrumental, based around a wordless vocal line from the group, backing foreboding percussion and organs that eventually resolves into a peaceful woodwind section before going right back. "Little Pad" is a charming tune about living in Hawaii, and a decisively rough cut by deliberate choice - the group is blatantly making mistakes at the beginning. "With Me Tonight" is a gentle wall of low organs and classic Beach Boys harmonies, and it's a sweet number. Perhaps the only low point is the R&B of "Gettin' Hungry," which is an almost annoying number that can't hold a candle to the R&B they would do later that year on the excellent Wild Honey album. It doesn't help that the short closer of "Whistle In" is a somewhat weak way to end - perhaps the legendary "Surf's Up" track would've ended the album had Brian not vetoed it's inclusion (a decision that is said to have nearly broken up the band).

    Is it SMiLE. Of course it isn't, but that doesn't necessarily make Smiley Smile bad in concept - far from it, actually. I'm left to believe that so much of the vitriol towards this album, both at the time and to an extent now, is because it isn't SMiLE, which leads to listeners overlooking the wonderful, out-there psychedelia of this album that makes it so special in the group's catalog. Luckily, much like most of the group's catalog, it's seen one hell of a resurgence in acclaim in recent years, and more than ever people see the album as the gem of the Summer of Love that I believe it should be held up as. It kick-started an era for the group that, while lacking in commercial success, was filled to the brim with creative material and strong albums - the golden age was in full swing. 

RATING: ✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯✯

Listen to Smiley Smile.