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| Ten Thousand Motels |
Lost Beach Boys Album Premieres in U.K.
By JILL LAWLESS, Associated Press Writer
LONDON - In 1967, Beach Boys songwriter Brian Wilson shelved "Smile," an ambitious concept album intended as the group's masterpiece. Thirty-seven years later, "Smile" received its live premiere in London � and most critics agreed it was worth the wait.
Wilson, 61 and performing again after years as a near recluse, received a five-minute standing ovation at the end of Friday's show at London's Royal Festival Hall. A black-clad Wilson led an 18-piece band in performances of several Beach Boys hits, followed by the complete "Smile" � concluding with its best-known track, the pop classic "Good Vibrations."
Fans were rapturous. The Guardian newspaper hailed the work's "groundbreaking complexity and sophistication," while The Daily Telegraph called it "a glorious, tangled symphony of celebration and sadness."
"Smile" was intended as a follow-up to The Beach Boys' groundbreaking 1966 album "Pet Sounds," and its lush orchestration took advantage of advances in recording technology.
The perfectionist Wilson worked for months to build the album's multilayered sound, but shelved it shortly before its scheduled release, explaining that the songs were "not commercial."
Over the years, "Smile" gained a reputation among fans as the band's lost masterpiece.
It may not deserve that status, Times of London critic Stephen Dalton wrote Saturday, but he nonetheless hailed "the grace and wisdom" Wilson displayed.
"Smile," he said, was "a 40-minute crazy-paving collage of song fragments and Looney Tunes jingles, all bookended by the lush glory of 'Heroes and Villains' and the rapturous warble of 'Good Vibrations' ... It was clearly adventurous for its era but it is not difficult to see why Wilson's label and fellow Beach Boys balked at releasing it."
Wilson is due to play five more London concerts this week, followed by several dates around Britain and continental Europe.
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| gotdablouse |
The reality is that Smile never got finished apart from the stuff that ended up on Smiley Smile. Also GV was a single that was unrelated to the Smile project, a bit like Penny Lane and Sergent Pepper if you will. |
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| mac_daddy |
Beach Boys
SMiLE (Odeon)
Silver CD->CD-R->EAC->WAV->FLAC
Odeon Records version of the SMiLE album.
Total Running Time: 01:16:32
File Size: 380MB
01 - Our Prayer
02 - Heroes and Villains Suite
03 - Do You Like Worms
04 - Mrs. O'Leary's Cow
05 - Child Is Father of the Man
06 - Cabinessence
07 - I Love To Say Da Da
08 - Look
09 - Old Master Painter,You Are My Sunshine
10 - Wind Chimes
11 - Barnyard
12 - Vega-Tables
13 - Friday Night
14 - He Gives Speeches
15 - Holidays
16 - With Me Tonight
17 - Wonderful
18 - Wonderful - Insert
19 - Three Blind Mice
20 - Water,Cool Cool Water
21 - Surf's Up
22 - Your'e Welcome
23 - George Fell Into His French Horn
24 - Bicycle Rider
25 - Can't Wait Too Long
26 - Wind Chimes
27 - Cabinessence
28 - Heroes and Villains,Barnyard,I'm In Great Shape
29 - Good Vibrations - Sections
30 - Smile Promo |
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| mac_daddy |
if you are into this stuff, then read me  |
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| mac_daddy |
two more links:
Smile lyrics
Smile Shop (check it out!) |
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| Zack |
I have been a huge fan of Smile for years. What I really want to know is the set list from Friday night's show, which will reval a lot (there were more than 20 songs recorded for the album). Anyone seen one? Thanks |
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| Zack |
I found it. Smile was the second set.
Prayer
Heroes And Villains
Do You Like Worms
Barnyard
The Old Master Painter
Cabinessence
Wonderful
Child Is Father of the Man
Surf's Up
I'm In Great Shape
Workshop
Vegetables
Holidays
Wind Chimes
Mrs O'Leary's Cow
I LoveYou Da Da
Good Vibrations |
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| doo doo doo Dude |
I'm a huge fan of this album and have been for years. It's nice to see it finally being resolved by BW as well as being so well received by the fans.
mac daddy, let me know if you come upon any good sounding boots of these performances. |
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| Ten Thousand Motels |
quote:
doo doo doo Dude wrote:
I'm a huge fan of this album and have been for years. It's nice to see it finally being resolved by BW as well as being so well received by the fans.
That's good. But didn't Mike Love write those songs? |
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| doo doo doo Dude |
quote:
Ten Thousand Motels wrote:
That's good. But didn't Mike Love write those songs?
That's funny. Actually, Mike Love's lost album ("Country Love") will, thankfully, remain lost. |
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| mac_daddy |
Hi, doo doo doo Dude!
the only one I have sofar is the one I posted the tracklist of above. But I am pretty sure that I will run across the recent performances soon... |
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| doo doo doo Dude |
quote:
mac_daddy wrote:
the only one I have sofar is the one I posted the tracklist of above. But I am pretty sure that I will run across the recent performances soon...
Thanks, mac d. I have the Sea of Tunes and Vigotone boots but am curious to hear the shows since Wilson has finally revealed the proper sequencing and has included the "lost" Van Dyke Parks lyrics which have never been booted. |
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| Gazza |
Id love to hear them as well. Never heard the "Smile" bootlegs either. I also always understood - as said above - that the project was never actually completed.
Ive been toying for months with the idea of a cheap flight to Newcastle, Glasgow or Liverpool for the upcoming shows but had to eventually give it a miss.
I also think Brian's "lost" solo album "Sweet Insanity" is worth checking out for anyone who likes him but who hasnt heard it. |
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| doo doo doo Dude |
quote:
Gazza wrote:
Id love to hear them as well. Never heard the "Smile" bootlegs either. I also always understood - as said above - that the project was never actually complete
With the exception of some missing lyrics (which may or may not have been recorded), he pretty much finished the album but never sequenced it and mastered it.
PM me Gazza, and I'll hook you up if you like.
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| mac_daddy |
quote:
doo doo doo Dude wrote:
PM me Gazza, and I'll hook you up if you like.
how about me..? can you hook me up, too |
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| glencar |
Brian Wilson left the sandbox? |
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| mac_daddy |
quote:
glencar wrote:
Brian Wilson left the sandbox?
not sure what you mean there...
I will say that I listened to the Odeon release for the first time, and it is quite impressive...
I look forward to hearing the more of this material, as well as the recordings of the recent European live performances. |
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| Factory Girl |
I never got into the Beach Boys.
Maccy, "your" Keith pictures scares me.  |
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| Gazza |
>not sure what you mean there...
when Brian retired from the road in the mid sixties due to his increasing mental health problems, he basically retreated to the bedroom of his home in LA (on Bellagio Road, if you know where that is, Mac - although I might have to check if thats the correct name) for much of the next twenty years.
he had a piano in the bedroom and there he'd compose pretty much of all his "pocket symphonies" over the next few years, including "Pet sounds", "Smile" etc. To give him the right vibe, he had a sandbox (with sand taken from a nearby beach) installed underneath his piano stool so he could feel inspired when composing.
In the last few years he's freed himself from the domineering influence of Dr Eugene Landy who while he got him off drugs and helped him look after his physical health, dominated his life 24 hours a day at great personal expense. He remarried a few years ago, has released some good solo albums and after an absence of some 35 years, returned to the road.
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| doo doo doo Dude |
You are correct Gazza. I live in L.A. too and Bellagio Rd is in Bel-Air. By the way, got your e-mail. mac daddy, e-mail or PM. The one's I'm giving you are the best of the best (so far):
Smile - Sea of Tunes Vol.16
2-CD Vigotone Smile Set
You guys will dig it, a true psychedelic experieence.
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| mac_daddy |
oh, so glencar was taking a shot and Brian's instability (must be payback for my INXS comment )
yes, you got the road name correct, Gazza. I know the house...
and, yes he really was a mess, but musically, he has always been a genius. To think he hears this stuff (harmonies, melodies) in his head BEFORE he writes it down - it would drive me batty, too... |
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| Joey |
What's wrong with a little " instability " ?
http://www.rockpalastarchiv.de/bild/bild/who08.jpg
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| mac_daddy |
>>>What's wrong with a little " instability " ?
great line, Joey. That made me laugh today...
great shot of Petey, too...
you'll keep me abrest of onsale dates for the Who in SoCal, won't ya..? |
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| Joey |
" you'll keep me abrest of onsale dates for the Who in SoCal, won't ya..? "
You bet your sweet A## I will !!!!!
" 20 Feb 2004 - 'Then and Now' CD to be released March 30th!
Features "Real Good Looking Boy' (Dec 2003) and 'Old Red Wine' (Feb 2004)
16 Feb 2004 - Rumors of imminent US Tour announcement surface!!
Australian Radio claiming a visit due, as well as Japan, All RUMORS so far ... stay tuned
12 Feb 2004 - Mar 22, 24, 25 Kentish Town Forum
21 Jan 2004 - March 29th Royal Albert Hall Tix onsale NOW - TOMMY! "
" Pete announces 2004 -2005 plans for the Who!
Finally Pete's camp announced the band's upcoming game plan Sept 20, 2003 on Pete's official site:
The band has agreed upon a work plan for the coming year and beyond. ...
His main creative work will be songs for a new Who album. These will be based on his story, now complete, The Boy Who Heard Music. He and Roger plan to demo the new material before the end of the year prior to going into record the album in March 04. This of course will be the band's first studio album since 1982 'It's Hard.' The proposed release date for the album is the early Summer and the idea is to follow it up with a US and UK tour, taking in other regions in 2005.
Both Pete and Roger wanted to share this information with you at an early stage. It is hoped that the recording sessions will be filmed for webcasting and that some live, interactive sessions, via the website, will also take place.
STAY TUNED!! "
The Petey !!!!
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| Gazza |
What makes him even more of a genius is the fact that he's been deaf in one ear since childhood. All those great arrangements and harmonies - and he's only ever heard them in mono.
Anyway - Seersuckersuit sent me this piece from the Los Angeles Times on Feb. 20th. Thanks Tim & Joni!
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He Can't Suppress a 'Smile'
Brian Wilson buried a musical masterpiece 37 years ago. His doubts now gone, the former Beach Boy has revived and reshaped the songs.
By Randy Lewis
Times Staff Writer
February 20, 2004
There's no surf, no sand, no little deuce coupes and only a couple of California girls in sight of the North Hollywood recording studio. Inside, the 61-year-old architect of "Good Vibrations," "Surfin' U.S.A." and "Fun, Fun, Fun" sits stoically at his keyboard, surrounded by a small army of musicians, and stares into one of two video monitors.
Song lyrics crawl across the screens as the other performers, most of whom weren't born when Brian Wilson's songs topped the charts four decades ago, serve up the densely layered vocal harmonies and rainbow of instrumental colors that his compositions require.
Wilson frequently looks away from the monitors and occasionally switches them off, but likes them nearby as a safety net.
Who can blame him? The songs he's working on aren't the familiar rock hits he created with the Beach Boys, those relentlessly sunny tunes that painted a fantasy of Southern California life as an endless summer of perfect waves, hot rods and blond beauties.
Instead, he's putting the finishing touches on a work he dreamed up 38 years ago, at the height of his creative rivalry with the Beatles.
After years of wrestling with depression and drug and alcohol abuse, after half a lifetime of trying to forget his fabled lost masterwork, Wilson can smile again.
"This feels so good," he says to a reporter when the session is over. "So good I can't believe it."
Tonight, he'll unveil "Smile" at a concert in England, where fans have long accorded him the heroic status that Americans reserved for the Beatles. Paul McCartney is expected to join him on stage during at least one of six sold-out shows at London's Royal Festival Hall.
Over the next three weeks, Wilson will give 16 "Smile" concerts in Britain, Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands and France. He plans a U.S. tour in the fall to coincide with the CD release of the newly recorded work.
To tens of thousands of pop fans, Wilson's completion of "Smile" is no less exhilarating than the discovery of a completed manuscript for Schubert's "Unfinished" Symphony would be to classical music scholars.
"I can hardly wait," says Rick Rubin, a producer who has worked with acts ranging from Johnny Cash and Tom Petty to the Red Hot Chili Peppers and the Beastie Boys.
Wilson, his hair now streaked with gray but still thick and full, has been touring regularly since 1998, something many pop fans never thought they'd see, given his history of emotional instability.
Now they'll get the music that most never dreamed they would hear.
The Beatles' Rivals
Wilson was 24 when he went to work on the album he conceived as "a teenage symphony to God." Originally to be called "Dumb Angel" to reflect its themes of humor and spirituality, it was retitled "Smile."
It was 1966, and a string of more than two dozen hit singles and 10 hit albums had made the Beach Boys, a band from Hawthorne, the most popular American group and the Beatles' chief rivals atop the sales charts. Pop music was going through a transformation in which the album was supplanting the three-minute single as the dominant format.
Wilson has long said he felt a sense of artistic competitiveness with the Fab Four. Each group has acknowledged the influence of the other.
The Beatles' 1965 album "Rubber Soul" inspired Wilson to move beyond the teen simplicity of the Beach Boys' early work to the musical maturity and emotional expressiveness of 1966's "Pet Sounds." The ambitions of "Pet Sounds" helped spur the Beatles to new heights in their next album, "Revolver."
Wilson was determined to top his rivals again with "Smile." He promised it would be as much of a progression over "Pet Sounds" as that was over its predecessor, "Beach Boys Party!"
"Smile" was expected at the end of 1966 � while the Beatles were working on "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band."
Immediately after "Pet Sounds," Wilson created the band's most intricately crafted recording, "Good Vibrations," a song intended for "Smile." It became the Beach Boys' biggest hit up to that time, proof that there was a market for Wilson's increasingly sophisticated music.
Wilson's further evolution with "Smile" stemmed from his collaboration with Van Dyke Parks, a Mississippi-born singer, songwriter, pianist, arranger and producer who had moved to Southern California in the 1950s.
Parks brought a strong literary sensibility to the lyrics he wrote for "Smile," which he and Wilson envisioned as a work rooted in American history, culture and musical vernacular. It was to contain doses of comic-book humor reflecting the whimsicality of the dawning psychedelic age. (Jimi Hendrix once described what he'd heard of "Smile" as the music of "a psychedelic barbershop quartet.")
But Parks' impressionistic lyrics led to dissension among the Beach Boys. Mike Love, the band's front man during concerts, was particularly sensitive to pleasing fans and found Parks' lyrics obscure.
Other band members worried that "Smile's" musical sophistication wouldn't translate into radio hits. By then, Wilson had left behind the simple three-chord pop song in favor of careening melodies, unconventional chord progressions and shifting sonic textures.
Complicating the picture, the group was attempting to start its own label, Brother Records. As part of that move, the band sued Capitol Records.
Capitol printed nearly half a million "Smile" album covers, anticipating the arrival of a master tape in fall 1966. But Wilson, working in the studio while the other Beach Boys were on tour, missed deadline after deadline as he continued polishing his work.
Lack of support from his band mates was a factor in the delay. But he also was feeling stress from the lawsuit and the weight of his responsibility for ensuring the livelihood of the ever-expanding Beach Boys family � on top of an ongoing struggle with his domineering, abusive and jealous father, Murry.
The final blow came in June 1967 with the release of "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band." Wilson had been bested by his rivals, and he scrapped "Smile."
The band later came out with a watered-down version called "Smiley Smile," a faint echo of Wilson's original vision.
Myth Versus Fact
The fate of "Smile" has become legend. Although most of the world never heard the album, several influential musicians and journalists were allowed into some of the recording sessions in late 1966 and early 1967.
The idea that rock music might be considered art rather than merely entertainment was in its infancy. Yet no less an authority than Leonard Bernstein expressed admiration for the sophistication of "Surf's Up," one of "Smile's" cornerstone tracks, played for him as part of a CBS News documentary about a new generation of musicians.
Unlike the guessing game often played with legendary rockers who died prematurely � what music might Hendrix, Buddy Holly or Jim Morrison have made had they lived longer? � the fantasizing over "Smile" is based on more than wishful thinking.
Most of the album's songs had been recorded by the time Wilson abandoned the project. For years they lay dormant; reel upon reel of tape waiting to be stitched together and brought to life by their creator. Eventually, tantalizing bits and pieces surfaced, officially and unofficially.
Books and countless articles have been written about Wilson's masterwork, and the theorizing has raged on via the Internet. One enterprising group in Europe came up with "Project Smile," a CD-ROM containing all the existing bits and pieces of the work, circulated for free among users worldwide. That do-it-yourself approach had been the closest possibility to a completed version, because Wilson long refused to even discuss it.
"Until about three years ago, you couldn't even mention 'Heroes and Villains' to Brian," Wilson biographer David Leaf said, referring to another key song from "Smile." Leaf is making a film documentary about the completion of the album.
But Wilson's attitude changed after the enthusiastic fan response to his performance of "Heroes and Villains" at a 2001 all-star tribute to his music in New York.
He has not simply dusted off songs intended for "Smile." He has reunited with lyricist Parks to structure the disparate pieces into a fully developed three-movement pop suite and craft a few new lyrics and musical links.
Out of the Darkness
Wilson says he was able to revisit perhaps the darkest chapter of his past because "I have emotional security."
He gets it from his wife of nine years, Melinda, the three children they've adopted, a team of doctors from UCLA that has diagnosed and helped him manage his depression, and a sympathetic group of musicians whose goal is to aid Wilson in realizing his musical vision.
After failing to deliver "Smile," the Beach Boys continued to produce acclaimed albums, but ceased to be a commercial force in pop music.
Wilson retreated from the world, and his musical output slowed to a trickle. Melinda Wilson believes that he was in the grip of a depression that went undiagnosed and untreated.
"Like many people with depression who don't get proper treatment, he tried to medicate himself with drugs," she says.
His first wife, Marilyn, brought in Hollywood psychologist Eugene Landy to help Wilson in the 1970s. Landy lived 24 hours a day with Wilson, recommended medication (provided by one of Landy's associates who was an M.D.) and interceded in the Beach Boys artistic and business decisions.
The band members and Wilson's relatives grew alarmed when Wilson rewrote his will to make Landy the main beneficiary. They filed suit against Landy, contending that the psychologist had taken over Wilson's life. In 1991, a judge put the songwriter's affairs under the control of a court-appointed conservator.
Melinda describes her husband's path back to "Smile" as consisting of many "baby steps." It started with his resumption of concert appearances in 1998, followed by a more ambitious tour in 2000 in which he and his new band performed "Pet Sounds" in its entirety.
Now, he says, at least privately to Melinda, the album he had formerly written off as "a mistake" is "the best work I've ever done."
It's not intended as a reconstruction of the album the world should have heard 37 years ago. "It's the way I feel about the music now," Wilson says.
And how does he feel about it now? "I think it's perfect."
Wilson talks about his music haltingly, at times giving clipped responses of "yes," "no" or "I can't answer that question"; at others offering simplistic-sounding explanations. (Asked how he and Parks composed "Wonderful," a "Smile" song that dazzles musicologists because it abandons the conventional notion of key signature, he says, "We did it through concentration.")
Such comments reflect his inherent shyness, Melinda says. But the impression that develops over the course of two interviews is that what he feels about his music is the music and that verbal explanations are, for Wilson, redundant.
Wilson doesn't appear concerned, nor does anyone in his entourage, that after 3 1/2 decades of analysis and debate, rumor and speculation, the myth will overshadow the music.
"It's so far beyond what I would have imagined it could be," guitarist Jeffrey Foskett says after a complete run-through of "Smile" at rehearsal.
"The way I see it is that the Beach Boys' first 10 albums made them stars, 'Pet Sounds' made them great, and 'Smile' made Brian Wilson a legend. I just hope that in completing this, it gives him peace and lets him put this behind him after all these years."
In one of "Pet Sounds' " directly autobiographical songs, Wilson sang, "I guess I just wasn't made for these times."
Now, he says, "I think the time is right."
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| mac_daddy |
I meant to copy this and forgot about it (so thanks SeersuckerSuit, and Gazza)... great article.
there was another one in yesterday's paper reviewing the performance... |
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| doo doo doo Dude |
Pete is a huge Brian Wilson fan and of course Moonie loved the Beach Boys. He even covered/butchered "Don't Worry Baby" in the late 70's and his "Barbara Ann" cover from "Kids Are Allright" is absolutly priceless.
Actually saw the Who and BW play on the same bill at Neil Young's bridge school benefit a few year's ago and it was awesome. Apparantly Pete broke down in tears watching BW's set he was so moved. I've often thought the Who's tight (and often underrated) vocal harmonies (especially Ox's impressive falsetto) were heavily influence by the BB's. "A Quick One" is a great example. |
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| gotdablouse |
Wow, France, need to look into this! Damnit, it's at the Olympia!
I must say that Surf's Up is probably one of the best pop songs ever written, it's simply beautifiul and I listened to it a lot on the Vigotone Smile collection.
I wonder if he'll put out a studio release or maybe a live CD?
I say him open for Paul Simon in San Francisco in 2001 and it was ok, but his show wan not very polished, there were tons of musicians onstage in rather ragged outfits and there weren't too many staging effects with Brian sitting on a stool most of the time, looked like a rehearsal session comparted to Paul Simon's much slicker show. In fact it was a bit pathetic... and it reminded me of a John Lee Hooker show I caught a few months before his death in a park, a ragged band of musicians surrounding a star.
Anyway let's hope it's a bit more "polished" this time around.
[Edited by gotdablouse] |
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| gotdablouse |
Looks like I got lucky tonight and scored a seat at the Olympia, dead center, first row of the mezzanine!
Thanks for the tip guys! |
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| mac_daddy |
quote:
gotdablouse wrote:
Looks like I got lucky tonight and scored a seat at the Olympia, dead center, first row of the mezzanine!
Thanks for the tip guys!
I hope you are taping 
enjoy yourself - it should be a very special evening. |
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