Brian Wilson presents SMILE

[Rodgre]

I just got my copy.

I'm half way through and I'm beaming. It's totally redone from the bootlegs we've listened to for years, yet they've captured pretty much everything... all the weirdness, the random edits, the glorious vocals.

I was scared, but now I'm relieved. More review later.

Roger

[spectralgrey]

I've only listened to the low quality stream on http://www.smilethealbum.com but even that is amazing.

I'm going to see Brian Wilson on Friday and I think I'll pick up a hard copy of the album then. That is, if I can't bear to hold out for the double LP release.

Surf's Up is the high point of the album for me.

"Columnated ruins dooooooommiiiiiiiiinnnnnoooooooooooooooooooooo"

[concubine]

yeah, i agree. like i wrote on the other smile thread, they did an excellent job of replicating the originals. seriously, there are a few songs where had i not known they re-recorded everything, i'd have thought they were the original recordings (except for the vocals, of course). i'm impressed.

i also mentioned in the other thread some concerns about the marimba in windchimes. the marimbas don't seem to sound quite as wooden, or resonant, compared to the original version, causing me to wonder if they are synthetic here. but with marimbas being so easy to come by, and the fact that any decent percussionist can play one, i don't want to believe that they used a synth. i mean, there'd be no valid reason for it.

you can tell brian's trying hard not to slur with his singing, but he stills brings to it a certain confidence that makes it work.

[Mason]

I picked this up yesterday afternoon and have been listening to it ever since - except while I slept (but it was still playing).

As someone who dropped a lot of money on boots and nerded out pretty hard over SMiLE, I was prepared for this release to kinda suck. Have you heard Wilson's recent solo records? Not so good - and I'm prejudiced in this guy's favor. But this SMiLE really satisfies.

I could dig a little more bass sounds all the way around, from the horns or string/electric bass.

On one song, "I Wanna Be Around," a woman sings along with Brian and it's totally STRANGE to hear a female voice on this music. It was the Beach Boys, you know? Not the Beach Boys With a Girl Stopping By Occasionally.

I really recommend it. It doesn't sound old or new. It's a very singular work that is a lot of fun. It's sad in parts, sometimes silly, and smart throughout.

Good times.

[junkstar]

I think the marimbas are real. I think that most every sound on the album is from the actual instrument aside from the harpsichord. A shame, since the harpsichord is at the center of the magnificent tune Wonderful. Some piano parts are probably synths too. Not certain.

[thereminman]

I like what Mason said about 'doesn't sound old or new'.
Maybe the best music is like that.

I am digging Smile, and like many of you, I too have absorbed all those session tapes etc from way back when---and it is, in it's new form,
such a nice nice piece of work.

So few quibbles do I have, and for a piece of music that we've heard bits of for twenty years , isn't that remarkable?
I mean, wouldn't you think we'd be engaged in much much more backseat driving.....but Wilson, Van Dyke Parks and Wilson's other partners gave us such a beautiful peice of work.

I'm happy happy.

[KOKI]

What i love about records (good records) is this property of be lost in time, i mean that im sure that people will appreciate it 1000 years after it was released and was appreciate at the time of its release. This happens with Smile, its an awesome record and i think it have a plus extra : we all have listened to tons and tons of smile recordings and even thought that we really enjoy this final version and will still enjoy it after a lot of years (im kinda sure of that) we actually have done this for almost all the time we know the record existence, as i said on another post i have no words in english (i am from southamerica) to express how overwhelm i am with brian wilson work . and im very happy that a lot of people think like me.

SALUTES!

[inverseroom]

Had to read the liner notes through tears. It's so good, I can't stand it--honest and true and beautiful. A pleasure to hear a guy Brian's age singing lush pop songs without any autotune, and to know what he went through to finish the thing. Talk about exceeding expectations! A year ago the whole idea was ridiculous, and it all came together so fast and so perfectly and without apparent compromise, almost like a dream. You can hear the sound of the musicians playing together, working off one another, enjoying one another's company--a band fresh from the best-received tour anyone's mounted in twenty years. Absolutely miraculous that it exists at all, let alone sounds so totally fucking great.

Spend the dough to get the new issue of Sound on Sound--there is an extensive article on how the project came together and how it was recorded and mixed.

Thanks for starting this thread, Roger!

[twitchmonitor]

But why did they have to re-record everything? Didn't they still have the tapes from back in the day? Was it a legal issue? Did the tapes degrade? Whatthedillyyo?

[Rodgre]

But why did they have to re-record everything? Didn't they still have the tapes from back in the day? Was it a legal issue? Did the tapes degrade? Whatthedillyyo?

I don't know, but one thought might be that if it was done using the old tapes, it would technically be a Beach Boys record. Brian is the only remaining Wilson brother, and we all know how Mike Love feels about the subject... Mike is touring as The Beach Boys, so why confuse the two camps?

Again, I'm just thinking out loud. I don't know the real reason.

I'm in great shape,
Roger

[greenmeansjoe]

I just bought "Smile" last Thursday, and love it to pieces.

My only real worry was that it would be too stiff and modernized and stifled by overproduction. I'm so glad that isn't the case.

Man, seriously, if Of Montreal or somebody like that made this record, people would be shitting their pants with joy and excitement.

Spectralgray, I'm in total agreement with you over "Surf's Up." That "columated ruins dooooooominoooooooo" part hits me like a ray of sunshine.

My favorite record of the year so far is The Arcade Fire's "Funeral." But the record that makes me happiest is definitely "Smile." Great stuff.

Joe

[joeysimms]

While i'm really happy that Brian was able to finally get this thing out, the magic is not there on the new recordings as much as it is on the originals.

[junkstar]

I have a cool pro-Mike Love essay written a few years back by Peter Bagge up on my site for a few days. Great reading if you are interested: http://www.boltrecords.com/baggeessays

[junkstar]

...and I always neglect to mention that the 'egoboard' link in my signature leads to a Beach Boys message board. Stop by and get a tangled up with some fanatics if you are so inclined!

[jdsowa]

Brian Wilson special on Showtime tonight (tuesday) at 9pm.