The SMiLE Sessions

There is a legend. It is said that a long time ago, in a far off land, a mad creator produced an album so mind-blowingly amazing that those who heard it went mad. In the vein of Dr. Frankenstein, this creator would take various instruments, both conventional and unconventional, and weave the sounds together in different studios to create a body of music. The people of the time were not quite ready for the music and so the creator locked his monster away in the deepest, darkest dungeon, never to be heard from again. This is the legend of the greatest album never to be released. Until now. This is the story of SMiLE.

Between 1966 and 1967, post the seminal Beach Boys album, Pet Sounds, Brian Wilson set off on his most ambitious project yet. Inspired both by the production of The Beatles’ Revolver and his constant desire to be better than Phil Spector, Wilson experimented with new sounds and ideas. At the time, he was also experimenting heavily with drugs and his psyche was very unstable. Coupled with the fact that Mike Love, the group’s main vocalist, allegedly hated the album and legal troubles with the group’s newly formed record label, Brother Records, the album was shelved. Ironically, the lead single from the unreleased SMiLE, “Good Vibrations,” was to be one of the most successful singles of the band’s career. Brian Wilson descended into insanity after this and over the next few decades he battled mental illness, drug addiction and obesity. Not wanting to release the original recordings, Wilson rerecorded Smile in 2004 and gave the world a sneak peak at what was to ultimately come.

On November 1 2011, The Beach Boys finally released their masterpiece. The fans were made to wait 45 years and with just one listen, this album proves that it was totally worth the wait. Theoretically, this double disc release is not SMiLE, but it’s the closest thing to it we’ll ever get. This album is drawn from the original masters and is a collection of those sessions from ’66 and ’67. As with Pet Sounds, the production is pristine. In a way, Brian Wilson sacrificed his sanity to create an album that will be revered for its production quality. He succeeded. This album includes the hits “Good Vibrations” and the semi-autobiographical “Heroes and Villains” as well as the songs in between which link the two.

Listening to this album in the context of 1967, it’s easy to understand why many wouldn’t have been ready for it. This album was recorded before the emergence of The Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band and long before Pink Floyd’s Dark Side Of The Moon and The Wall. If you’ve heard Brian Wilson’s solo offering, you have an idea of what to expect with this album. The major difference is that the musicians are not session musos, they’re The Beach Boys. Not only that, it’s The Beach Boys in their prime. Also, Brian Wilson is not the only one on vocal duties. The album was also produced at the peak of Brian Wilson’s mad genius. There are eight bonus tracks on disc one, which consist of demos, stereo mixes, a solo version of “Surf’s Up” and a “Backing Vocals Montage.” Disc 2 contains different and/or extended versions of songs from the album. For the serious collectors, there are other versions of the album which include multiple CDs, vinyls etc.

The SMiLE Sessions will stand firmly next to albums such as Pet Sounds, Sgt. Peppers and Dark Side Of The Moon in the canon of music’s greatest albums.

– Brett Schewitz