Back after he’d practically created, all by himself, the flawless
sounds on Pet Sounds, Brian Wilson
was definitely reaching for the stars even further with the ideas for Smile. Continually fueled by whatever it
was The Beatles were doing at the time (it was Rubber Soul that had inspired Pet
Sounds, it was followed by Revolver
and Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band
by The Beatles in the same year! And Brian was feeling very very unsure about
his skill), while still trying to create his own wall of sound, he was a
fully realized artist, simply trying to find his way. After he had perfected
his own style of production and vocalizing, the heavy realization that the
follow up to Pet Sounds had to be
utterly amazing set deeply in. Fortunately for all us, it ended up being just
that, it just never received the proper release and fanfare it deserved.
Part of the dissolution fueled from the fact that Brian
wanted to work with the famed Van Dyke Parks. Yes, the same one I mentioned
from the Ys post, here Brian wanted
to work with Parks so he could be his ultimate lyricist. Van Dyke Parks can
deliver flourishing arrangements and music like he provided for Joanna Newsom
in 2006 and also the trippy, inspiring lyrics to match Brian’s music in the
late 60s. The Beach Boys were still a band though and if you ask me, they
probably weren’t too fond of Brian working exclusively with this Parks’
character. They probably pressured the situation, they probably vented
frustration, they probably made it very hard for Smile to have a fluid release. And eventually, instead of truly
breaking up the band by taking Brian with him and running off in the sunset to
make beautiful music together, Parks left the project and Brian eventually
shelved Smile.
In the 2000s the pressure to release the album mounted, and
rather than re-opening that vault, Brian recorded SMiLE with Parks for a 2004 release that was easily one of the best
of that year. Finally, in 2011, Smile
saw its release as The Beach Boys collected all the music together and released
it. I just very recently got this vinyl version as an xmas present and wow,
vinyl is the way to go! And while there are so many other details to cover
about its story(ies), it’s best to let the music do its talking. Beginning with
“Our Prayer,” here was a pure choral arrangement, a beautiful chorus of angels that
are simply singing directly from heaven if there is one. All of the Beach Boys’
voices are present and the melody and harmonies are downright impeccable: a
solemn, minute of bliss, perfection to start. Then it’s a minute of the
chugging “Gee,” it sounds like the car getting ready to take off, before they
finally sing, “how I love my girl” and the small introduction to “Heroes and
Villains.” Here their voices sound unified and full of life, if only they saw
it all the way through. And the actual “Heroes and Villains” song is a
ravishing tale of love lost, drunken nights and the same old ‘bad guys/good
guys’ story. Supposedly this song was written very quickly as Brian and Parks
capitalized on their chemistry: legend says that Parks came up with the words
after hearing Brian’s melody the very first time. It changes styles to
accompany the vocals and the directly fast-paced style introduced a
terrifically towering new style to The Beach Boys, not likely heard on Pet Sounds.
One of the other songs they created in timely fashion was
“Surf’s Up,” and honestly, that has to be one of the finest songs on Smile. There’s this fanfare from the
trumpet at the beginning, as Brian sings words about feeling lost and
definitely like everything is moving away. The other voices are playing a
feature in the background and the pensive feel of the song allows for the
emotion to really come through. The first part is much more atmospheric, the
second part showcases the piano and the voices even more. The tiny adjustments
in dynamics and how it just speeds up and slows down, all controlled by the
piano, is masterful: and singing about a “broken man, too tough to cry.” It
changes into perhaps a last section, where the “surf’s up” is finally sung and
while it’s now very clear that the star of the show on this song is Brian’s
voice as it supports the piano line, the culmination at the end is justified.
These are just a couple of the songs off this amazing album that at least
finally did get released. – Bryan
