What is the DU take on Brian Wilson's "Smile"?

[ChavezSpeakstheTruth]

Reviews please

[arwalden]

1. What? No Picture?

From what I remember it was a nice smile. Very warm and friendly.

[meegbear]

2. I think he has a nice smile

[ChavezSpeakstheTruth]

3. The release of the album "Smile" ya wise arses!

[JimmyJazz]

4. I don't know about Brian Wilson's, but someone sent this one to

me yesterday! I'm still laughing at it, too. Thanks. :7

[ChavezSpeakstheTruth]

5. AAARGHHHH!!!!!

The nightmare continues!!

"We were running with the night
Playing in the shadows
Just you and i
Till the morning light
(we were running) oh, oh
Running with the night
You were looking so good girl
Heads were turning
You and me on the town
Ooh, we let it all hang out
The fire was in us, we were running
We were gonna go all the way
And we never had a doubt"

[emulatorloo]

6. BRIAN TOTALLY PULLED IT OFF

It is just terrific - sounds great, I am very very very very happy with it. I was a little skeptical when I heard he was going to record Smile, but it is excellent. GO BUY IT.

Here is 5 star review from Rolling Stone:

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

Here are press clips from http://www.brianwilson.com/news/

"Comparing Smile to pop music is like comparing the poster paint daubings of an infant to the vast canvasses of Velasquez. But Smile stands up with any of the great music of the 20th century. In its interweaved and repeated melodic strands it echoes Prokofiev's Kije Suite.  In its appropriation of American folk it stands up there with the work of Gershwin and Copeland.  In its sheer contemplative beauty it rubs shoulders with Miles Davis' Kind Of Blue. One of the greatest albums of the 21st century."  – New Music Express


"There is a remarkable consistency about Smile's complex tapestry of delights. Wilson can rest secure in the knowledge that he's finally delivered the masterpiece that's surely the long playing equal of that still awe inspiring 'Good Vibrations'. Genius? You bet. Brilliant". 
– MOJO (4 stars)


"This new studio recording sounds far more timeless, or out of time, than nostalgic. This Smile is beautifully performed and sung <... and> is as organic as Wilson wanted for the original. The music has an originality that sounds remarkable even now. Listening to this piece of genius again reassures me that spending £162 to see all three performances of Smile wasn't so crazy after all."
– The Wire


"The cumulative effect is almost overwhelming - sad, lush, startling, tragic and beautiful. What's ironic is that it makes far more sense now than it might have done 37 years ago." 
Time Out


"It is, frankly, wonderful. So brimming with ambition and musical intelligence that its timelessness is a given. One of the most creatively accomplished, wonderfully mind-boggling items in the rock canon."
– Observer


"Now pop's one true 'great lost masterpiece' has been completed. Only a cloth-eared fool could remain unmoved. And given the album's ambitious theme it's as timely now as it was in 1967."
– i-D


"The album is worth the wait - it gives you musical courage. Wilson's an extraordinary writer.  He pushed popular music to whole new levels. It's fantastic."
– Roger Daltrey


"Complex and intense but of such beauty, this is as good as we could have hoped for."
– Music Week


"Mind-blowing. It unfolds in its original, and never before complete, sequence as a thing of rare beauty and cumulative power. As wondrous and as complex as the claims made on its behalf for all those years."
– Observer - Music Monthly


"The breadth of Brian's reference points is similar to the Beatles. They wrote about England and growing up in Liverpool, while he sings about 20th century Americana. They are songs of such pathos and must be among the most beautiful ever written." Peter Blake


"The best psychedelic pop album in the world, bigger than Pet Sounds and maybe the the best ever."
– Musik Express Magazine (Germany)six stars (best usually is 5 stars)

[ChavezSpeakstheTruth]

7. I heard clips on iTunes and was BLOWN AWAY - I'm buying it right now

Thanks!

[emulatorloo]

8. Try to get the CD if you can (rather than iTunes download)

most of the tracks segue (SP?) together so I don't know how the iTunes store version will handle that --

Plus the included Lyric Book is fun, great picture of 60's Brian, and good liner notes

Have seen on sale for 12.99 - 14.99

[ChavezSpeakstheTruth]

9. I will buy it on CD but the download gets me the quick fix. Plus I'd be

the CD in iTunes anyway. Thanks for the advice tho! :thumbsup:

[ChavezSpeakstheTruth]

11. the segues from the iTunes are smooth!

[ChavezSpeakstheTruth]

10. ((((((((HOLY CRAP!!!)))))))) Its awesome!

I am in fucking HEAVEN! Brian - you are God, sir!

[mark0rama]

12. I'm ecstatic for Brian

The clips I've listened to on iTunes sound great. Never been much of a Beach Boys fan (though like many non-fans, I'll make an exception for "Pet Sounds").

But my favorite thing about this is the closure it brings Wilson himself; clearly it was important to him to address this major piece of unfinished business in his life. The story of his lost masterpiece was always heartbreaking to me - one of the memorable tragedies of rock history.

That he's overcome his personal demons to complete it at last is a triumph in itself.

[ChavezSpeakstheTruth]

13. This is the greatest triumph I have ever heard. His legacy is now secure

FOREVER - I am seriously getting weepy listening to it!

[Enraged_Ape]

14. Loved it, but I sure wish Dennis and Carl were still around for it

The Wondermints do a terrific job on the complex and soaring vocals, but they just don't have that extra "oomph" that the Wilson brothers exhibited so beautifully on Pet Sounds. And let's face it, after decades of ciggies, Brian's voice is sorta trashed, though he sounds better on this album than he has in years.

That having been said, I cannot speak highly enough of the genius in this album. It truly is a modern-day symphony, the ultimate ode to innocence lost and regained on both national and personal scales. It's wonderful to finally hear these songs crafted in the fashion that Brian envisioned. "Good Vibrations" has always been one of my favorite songs, but it just sounds spectacular here. It's the perfect overture to the ideas and musical themes heard on the rest of the album. (The addition of the "HUM-DE-DA" chorus in this song is especially stirring; I wonder why it was left off the original single.)

Anyway, if you don't have this album, you must buy.

[ChavezSpeakstheTruth]

15. The best thing I've heard in years and years - why don't modern musicians

make music of this caliber anymore?

[Squeech]

16. Because nobody can afford to rehearse it

In the '70s you could assemble four or five guys in a house somewhere and compose complicated music together, and rehearse every day until you got it right. That was why you could have bands like Mahavishnu Orchestra or Yes.

Now nobody has that kind of time-- or, more precisely, everybody has to eat, which means everybody has to work, which means nobody can take the time to make that kind of music. Okay, we have bands like Tool, but Tool isn't King Crimson. (Nowadays even King Crimson isn't King Crimson.)

Granted, Brian was working largely independent of the band-- most of the instruments on Pet Sounds and the original Smile sessions were played by session musicians, while Carl and Dennis and Mike and Al were off on tour bringing home the bacon. But we wouldn't even be having this discussion if Brian didn't break every rule in existence somewhere along the way.

[no name no slogan]

18. It's more about the industry than anything

In today's recording industry, even selling "only" half a million units is considered an abysmal failure. The major record labels are no longer in the business of "developing" talent, and are only in it to shift units. That's why damn near everything sounds the same, and you're average casual listener can't tell the difference between Jessica Simpson and Brittney Spears-- or any of the so-called "alternative" bands on "alternative radio" stations-- anymore.

No major label in their right mind would release something like "Smile" today. It only has maybe two hits on it, it doesn't sound like anything on the radio today, and its creator doesn't have the "star" appeal of the kids on "American Idol".

The industry has undergone massive consolidation in the last 20 years, and there's little room for anything outside of the four or five archetypes defined by radio "consultants" and moneymen who control the industry. Hell, even such "breakthrough" acts like Nirvana sounded like little more than warmed over Black Sabbath and Sex Pistols records from the 70s.

[no name no slogan]

17. I picked it up last night, and seeing it LIVE tonight!

I've got the CD at work, but haven't had a chance to listen to it yet. However, if the reviews are any indication, I bet it's amazing.

:toast:

ON EDIT: HOLY SHEEEEYIT!!!! This is fan-freaking-tastic!!!! Right up there with Pet Sounds-- in many ways it almost sounds like the sequel to Pet Sounds-- the young boy of Pet Sounds becoming the man in Smile. This is truly amazing-- and IMHO is helped by Brian's mature voice!

It would be nice to hear the other Wilson brothers on this-- I wonder if any of the original vocal takes are still around? I'd be curious to hear those some day, just for history's sake.

This is truly a triumphant moment for Brian. This music sounds as new today as it did in 1966-- you truly don't see many pop musicians even attempting things like this. Brian Wilson is an American treasure, and follows in the tradition of other great American pop composers like George Gershwin and Burt Bacharach.

I can't wait to hear it tonight-- live!!!! Be sure to see it if he comes to your town!!!

[MadHound]

19. Great great work

Brian once again he is the musical genius behind the Beach Boys. The shame is, is if this had been released as scheduled, '66-'67, it would have been considered a landmark historical album on par with the Beatles Sgt. Pepper. As is though, it is a great work, and one that won't leave my musical rotation for a long while.