Brian Wilson's Smile

[liquidvirus]

The album finally gets to see the light of day on 5th october i think
http://www.simplemp3s.com/albums/img/covers/cover10616_large.jpg

so there still might be some hope for CD

[Mr Cowbell ?]

Yeah but "smile" has been rumored for over 30 years. I cant wait another 19 years or so for CD, so I hope GnR isnt on the Brian Wilson time table.

[loretian]

I was under the impression that Brian Wilson's Smile had been released in several forms already.? Is this just meant to be the final, official version?

[Izzy]

Who's Brian Wilson

[Gunner80]

Who's Brian Wilson

Dude,  I feel sorry for you. BW was the man behind 'The Beach Boys' one of the greatest groups ever. Do yourself a favor and pick up their greatest hits. It's called The Sounds of Summer.

[Izzy]

Who's Brian Wilson

Dude,? I feel sorry for you. BW was the man behind 'The Beach Boys' one of the greatest groups ever. Do yourself a favor and pick up their greatest hits. It's called The Sounds of Summer.

Now i remember!

The Beach Boys...good

 

God awful pop music - damn stuff by the Spice Girls is better than that - truly ground breaking stuff. I don't think.

Go on, tell me how it revolutionised music - they only impact that had was for the worse.

[tippasaurus]

I think most critics place Beach Boys "Pet Sounds" among the greatest albums ever.  Much of it was Brian Wilson's baby.  I'm looking foward to hearing "Smile" in its original intended form.

[SisterMorphine]

Who's Brian Wilson

Dude,? I feel sorry for you. BW was the man behind 'The Beach Boys' one of the greatest groups ever. Do yourself a favor and pick up their greatest hits. It's called The Sounds of Summer.

Now i remember!

The Beach Boys...good

 

God awful pop music - damn stuff by the Spice Girls is better than that - truly ground breaking stuff. I don't think.

Go on, tell me how it revolutionised music - they only impact that had was for the worse.

You obviously don't have a  clue at all.

The Beach Boys were the ONLY competition to the Beatles in the sixties, with stunning, pushing-the-boundaries music. Don't just take in the dumb [though well-played and well-arranged] early stuff - they one-upped the Beatles and in turn were one-upped. It's the most hallucinogenic, dizzingly beautiful stuff ever made. Plus they were like a fucking garage band live - as "Concert" shows. Soft? They hung out with and recorded songs by Charlie Manson when Axl was in nappies. They're spooky and weird, and they made some tight-ass fucking discs around the late sixties/early seventies.

Godawful pop music? Jesus. Open your mind and open your ears. It's not all about metal from the last twenty years.? Pet Sounds, SMiLE and a dozen other records opened the door and brought us to the point where unbalanced, megalomaniac singer/pianists, [like Brian Wilson], could make complex, multi-layered, thought-provoking albums. Sound familiar?

[kj_jive]

Smile was rehashed and released as Smiley Smile but Smile was never released/finished.

The Beach Boys are due an awful lot of respect.? They pushed the limits of production...something that was unheard of in their time.? Heroes and Villains, Smiley Smile, Pet Sounds, Wild Honey are all great and pychadelic and beautiful.? However, The Beach Boys always get typecasted as pop surf music...which they were, in the beggining of their carrer.? That stuff is good too...but in a much different way.? They also released a lot of junk towards the end of their career in the Brother Years.

Brian Wilson was a maniac and a genious The Beach Boys were one of the first great American Rock Bands.

edit: oh and by the way...they have about 20 greatest hits/compilation cds.  The record label kept making them reissue and make compilations/greatest hits of their past albums...one of the reasons the public lost interest in them

[Gunner80]

Who's Brian Wilson

Dude,  I feel sorry for you. BW was the man behind 'The Beach Boys' one of the greatest groups ever. Do yourself a favor and pick up their greatest hits. It's called The Sounds of Summer.

Now i remember!

The Beach Boys...good

 

God awful pop music - damn stuff by the Spice Girls is better than that - truly ground breaking stuff. I don't think.

Go on, tell me how it revolutionised music - they only impact that had was for the worse.

Please don't compare great music to garbage that was known as The Spice Girls!

[Eazy E]

God awful pop music - damn stuff by the Spice Girls is better than that - truly ground breaking stuff. I don't think.

Go on, tell me how it revolutionised music - they only impact that had was for the worse.

Ummm... Their "impact" is the only reason we have Sgt. Peppers... How in the fuck is that "for the worse"?

I think McCartney said that "God Only Knows" is his favourite song of all time, but he can't listen to it because he has an emotional breakdown.  Does that sound familiar to anyone?

Of course we should all ignore the fact that we wouldn't have Wilson Phillips if it wasn't for Brian.  The Beach Boys more then make up for that though.

[Mattman]

The Beach Boys used to be my favourite group along with The Beatles, back when I was first getting into music.  I don't listen to either of them as much now, ever since I got into hairbands and all that kind of stuff.  But every time I hear one of their songs, I just have to smile.  It's some of the most beautiful music ever...always takes me right back to summer, no matter what season it is.  The only Beach Boys album I have is one of the compilations.  I'm going to get Pet Sounds one of these days, but I have no money for albums these days.

I probably won't be getting Smile, though, and I'm afraid to say that part of that is because of my ageist attitude in music...I don't usually buy albums by bands over 40, except for the occasional Bon Jovi or Metallica album.  Maybe because I'm more interested in the famous early stuff, but also because I find it harder to identify with a 60-year-old rock musician, than I do with their younger self who made all the early songs.  But also, I like the Beach Boys the group, I've never gotten so much into Brian Wilson solo.  I did listen to some of his last album the other day, and his voice has coarsened and deepened a bit, to where it's not quite the same as on the early Beach Boys records.  Smile now doesn't seem so much a lost Beach Boys record as Brian Wilson's solo opus...which it is, I suppose.  I don't know, maybe I'll check out.

Anyway, I really feel sorry for Izzy.  Poor sap doesn't listen to the Beach Boys. 

[Is he struggling?]

Having bought and loved 'Pet sounds' and read many things about Smile without hearing very much of it before today (my curiosity about the album was aroused as its story has often been metioned as a possible precedent for Chinese Democracy), I went out and ought it today.

Initial impressions? There are some pretty astounding vocal arrangements and musical ideas on there - plenty to get your teeth into. And each of the four 'movements' flow really well. However, at times the vocal tracks tend to obscure the instrumental tracks too much for my liking. On top of that, Old Brian's voice is sounding kind of weak therse days. I really need to get hold of a bootleg from the original sessions to get a better idea of how it should have really sounded

But 'Good Vibrations' is still the greatest pop song ever, OK?

Go on, tell me how it revolutionised music - they only impact that had was for the worse.

To be fair, 'Pet Sounds', for all of its sweet music and melodies, was one of the first mainstream albums to heavily feature downbeat and introspective lyrics, and therefore is often credited/blamed for introducing 'navel gazing' into pop (which is not a wholly good thing, of course).

[kj_jive]

But 'Good Vibrations' is still the greatest pop song ever, OK?

Amen Brother!  I can still remember growing up listening to that song as a little boy with my dad...its classic....and a bit eerie.

[Eazy E]

The album got a 5-star review from Rolling Stone...

http://www.rollingstone.com/reviews/album/_/id/6490422/brianwilson?pageid=rs.Reviews&pageregion=double1

[MadmanDan]

Didn't The Beach Boys do that song for the movie "Cocktail" from 1988 with Tom Cruise? That was great!

[mr_yoshimaroka]

But 'Good Vibrations' is still the greatest pop song ever, OK?

Amen Brother!? I can still remember growing up listening to that song as a little boy with my dad...its classic....and a bit eerie.

That's what I noticed about the music in Smile. Sure it sounds like barbershop 'happy' kinda music, but it has grim undertones. You can tell by some of the lyrics that Brian's depressed. A good comparison would be like that Police song "Every Step You Take". Most people thinks it's a love song and it does sound upbeat, but it really isn't.

[Mr. Dick Purple]

Don't go comparing now Mr Sting With Mr. Brian, don't get me wrong I like the beach boys and I like the Police, but I think The Beach boys are different than The Police or Sting.

[Gunner80]

Don't go comparing now Mr Sting With Mr. Brian, don't get me wrong I like the beach boys and I like the Police, but I think The Beach boys are different than The Police or Sting.

Yeah, Sting's music stinks!

[Mr. Dick Purple]

Don't go comparing now Mr Sting With Mr. Brian, don't get me wrong I like the beach boys and I like the Police, but I think The Beach boys are different than The Police or Sting.

Yeah, Sting's music stinks!

That's a Good One , Not! 

[loretian]

I've been listening to this album for a few days now, and I'm extremely impressed.  His "modular" music approach makes the music somewhat harder to get into, but once it soaks in, it's that much cooler.

The vocal melodies are indescribably beautiful, a classic Beach Boys sound, and the buildup to Good Vibrations just elevates it that much more.  I absolutely love the choral parts at the beginning of In Blue Hawaii (I can't remember the exact name of the song at the moment)