Smile, At Last

The best reissue of 2011? Well, actually, it was most likely the best new album of 2011. Huh? Okay, the Beach Boys' "Smile" album was, until 2011, the most famous unreleased album ever. Recorded in pieces in 1967, this was supposed to be Brian Wilson's ultimate check and mate to the Beatles. But Brian's shattered confidence, his drug use and the sheer complexity of his vision for the album took its toll; "Smile" was shelved, the Beatles released "Sgt. Peppers", and the rest is history. Shards of "Smile" appeared over the years as some reworked tracks were sprinkled throughout later albums. But then in 2009, Brian revisited the "Smile" tracks, and re-recorded his version with his new band...

Finally, a blueprint for the REAL "Smile"! (Brian's new version is okay, but we all wanted to hear those gorgeous original Beach Boy vocals, especially because Brian's voice hasn't aged well...) So I figured it'd be a matter of months while the record company guys slapped together all the "Smile" snippets already released into a complete package. Nope, they did this one right. "Good Vibrations" is here intact, and other tracks were released as part of the "Good Vibrations" box set a number of years back as unfinished tidbits, but most versions here on "Smile" are subtly different than what's been previously released. Ah, those BB harmonies intact!

So, bottom line: if "Smile" had been released as originally planned in 1967, would it have stopped "Sgt. Pepper's" in its tracks? Hard to say, since the good Sgt. has had a 45-year head start staking a claim on popular culture. Here's my spin: "Sgt. Pepper's" has been maligned as "the death of rock", mainly because the ornate arrangements and overdubs were the antithesis of 'rock & roll' -- who knows, this may have been the primordial genesis of the latent punk movement! -- but if "Smile" came out first, those same arguments would then have been aimed Brian's way. Finally I think that "Sgt. Pepper's" is the better album experience, but that the best songs on "Smile" kick the Sgt. to the curb. "Cabin Essence", "Surf's Up" and "Good Vibrations" win, hands down. Jeez,"Cabin Essence" and "Surf's Up" give me goosebumps just typing the titles -- take that, "A Day In the Life"!